TRUE BELIEVERS: Chapter 37 — Even a Cybernetically-abled Human Can Cry

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!

“You’re not even listening to me!” Billy says in the midst of another melodramatic monologue to no one in particular as they work their way through the teeming rows of Artist’s Alley for the fifth time today. The sound of his voice is grating on Calvin even more than usual. Not because Calvin really was listening to his friend’s rant — Billy is right about that — but because he wasn’t arguing or disagreeing with him either.

Billy has an uncanny ability to make anything contentious.

“All I’m trying to say is, the X-Men are a metaphor for racism. Therefore, anyone who doesn’t like the X-Men is a racist. It’s a logical fact,” Billy insists.