February 14th, 2010 / 1:46 pm
 Author Spotlight & Web Hype

“It is like a paler Earth, he says.”

Really astoundingly good new story from our friend Matthew Simmons at The Nervous Breakdown: “We Never Ever Went to the Moon.” It’s got plot and heart and floating. In a self-interview, Matthew says that the story’s from an as-yet-unpublished collection called Happy Rock, all about people who believe in things even while other people are watching them. Somebody needs to make that collection appear, if you ask me.

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12 Comments

  1. February 14th, 2010 / 9:29 pm Tim Horvath—

      Great stuff, Matthew. I’m led to think Calvino meets Dybek…nah, that is just a tic to say “x meets y.” It is your own thing, with utter command over the ropes that steer us groundward and away from the ground. A decisive rebuff to anyone who says a story with a metafictional dimension can’t be emotionally resonant. Or rather, maybe, a rebuff to the impulse to rebuff, sheer embrace.

  2. February 14th, 2010 / 5:29 pm Tim Horvath—

      Great stuff, Matthew. I’m led to think Calvino meets Dybek…nah, that is just a tic to say “x meets y.” It is your own thing, with utter command over the ropes that steer us groundward and away from the ground. A decisive rebuff to anyone who says a story with a metafictional dimension can’t be emotionally resonant. Or rather, maybe, a rebuff to the impulse to rebuff, sheer embrace.

  3. February 15th, 2010 / 4:37 am Shya—

      I second that final sentiment, Mike. And having read the collection, I can confirm that every story in Happy Rock is excellent. It must be published.

  4. February 15th, 2010 / 12:37 am Shya—

      I second that final sentiment, Mike. And having read the collection, I can confirm that every story in Happy Rock is excellent. It must be published.

  5. February 15th, 2010 / 4:59 am Amber—

      Matthew, I love this. Also the Hopkins quote–Hopkins is one of my favorites. Well done. Can’t wait to read your collection when it finds a home.

  6. February 15th, 2010 / 12:59 am Amber—

      Matthew, I love this. Also the Hopkins quote–Hopkins is one of my favorites. Well done. Can’t wait to read your collection when it finds a home.

  7. February 15th, 2010 / 9:20 am Matthew Simmons—

      Y’all are making me blush.

      Seriously. Thanks, all. I really appreciate the love.

  8. February 15th, 2010 / 5:20 am Matthew Simmons—

      Y’all are making me blush.

      Seriously. Thanks, all. I really appreciate the love.

  9. February 15th, 2010 / 10:12 am Vin Diesel—

      “…”

  10. February 15th, 2010 / 6:12 am Vin Diesel—

      “…”

  11. May 22nd, 2013 / 8:11 pm “I am old and I leave my keys in the refrigerator. I look out the window at the moon and imagine that we’ve never been there. Not a single, damned one of us.” | HTMLGIANT—

      […] it’s right, it’s right, over and over again it’s smart and sad and correct. Here is a mention of a story way from the scarred beaches of 2010. And here is my favorite paragraph besides the ending from “Rabbit Fur Coat,” a story […]

  12. May 24th, 2013 / 9:09 pm “I am old and I leave my keys in the refrigerator. I look out the window at the moon and imagine that we’ve never been there. Not a single, damned one of us.” | GIANT READER—

      […] sighing because it’s right, it’s right, over and over again it’s smart and sad and correct. Here is a mention of a story way from the scarred beaches of 2010. And here is my favorite paragraph besides the ending from “Rabbit Fur Coat,” a story […]