TRUE BELIEVERS: Chapter 35 — Outside the Box

True Believers is a full-length novel by Thom Dunn, based on his play of the same name. It’s a satirical tale of star-crossed lovers, aspiring comic book creators, crazed fanboys, cybernetically enhanced humans, women in refrigerators, real-life superheroes, and girls who dress like Slave Leia as their lives intertwine over a whirlwind weekend at a comic book convention in the early 2010s.

The book will be serialized on Medium throughout the month of April 2020. Here is the first chapter. Check back every day for more chapters!

The stinging still reverberates through Chad’s swollen hand as he sits behind the Boom! signing table, spinning a silver Sharpie pen between his fingers. He fields a few sideways glances from curious passersby — mostly high schoolers and awkward older couples, all of whom seem to shop at the same Hot Topic store and share one collective closet full of ironic t-shirts and half-assed Adventure Time memorabilia cosplay in the form of hats and backpacks.

Chad’s had enough time to soak in the details, because none of them come up to him to ask for his autograph. A few curious kids stopped by some fifteen minutes into the session to ask some questions, but even Chad could tell that they were doing so out of obligation and not interest, that adolescent ennui that says “Well hey there’s a thing there…