MonSFFA’s next club meeting will take place in about a month’s time, on Saturday, September 19. We are pleased to be welcoming a guest speaker via ZOOM, Canadian independent SF author Sean Robins, who tallies 46 published novels across six series.

At our request, Sean kindly sent us a brief bio.

This is Jack, your favorite ghost in the machine. If you’ve read my series, you know these books are autobiographies, and Sean Robins is just a pen name. If you haven’t, well then, SURPRISE!

Dramatic pause for effect.

“I’m Jack” (said in my best “I’m Iron Man” voice).

*****

Okay, okay, I can hear my editor sighing from here. Sorry about that, folks. I could never resist a good meta-joke. Or a bad one. Or really any opportunity to break the fourth wall so hard that it files for structural damage insurance.

So, this is me. The real me, Sean Robins. Unfortunately, my life is nowhere nearly as interesting as my main protagonist’s. I haven’t saved the galaxy (yet), haven’t performed any heroic space maneuvers (unless you count parallel parking in downtown Toronto), and the closest I’ve come to fighting aliens was that time I tried to convince my cat to stop knocking things off my desk at three AM.

I’m a university/college-level English teacher, which means I spend my days trying to convince students that Shakespeare wasn’t just writing fancy fanfiction. Including Canada, I’ve lived and worked in six different countries, collecting stories and awkward language mistakes like some people collect postcards. I once ordered a coffee in Germany and accidentally challenged the barista to a duel. They declined, thankfully.

I’ve met people from all around the world, which is probably why my characters look like the bridge crew from Star Trek had a reunion party with the Fast & Furious family while the Guardians of the Galaxy crashed it. They are from US, Germany, Canada, Cuba, Mexico, Russia, Japan, and Ukraine, plus a ton of aliens and an a few AIs who insist they’re “not your typical artificial intelligence” (They’ve watched I, Robot way too many times). One of my female characters even impersonated Uhura once, albeit posthumously. Because nothing says “plot twist” like a dead character cosplaying.

I’m a huge Marvel fan (Team Cap, but don’t tell Tony), plus Star Trek (Kirk or Picard? Yes.), Star Wars (Han shot first, and I will die on this hill), Battlestar Galactica (So say we all!), and Stargate (Indeed™). This probably explains why my novels have more pop culture references than Ready Player One at a Comic-Con. If you’re a sci-fi fan (I assume you are, unless you got very lost in the bookstore and ended up here by accident), you’ll enjoy them tremendously. You’ll find everything from subtle nods to outright “did they just quote the entire Death Star trench run?” moments.

While the books aren’t strictly comedies (there’s also explosions, space battles, and that one scene where everyone thinks they’re going to die but it turns out they just forgot to turn off the coffee maker), I can guarantee a few laugh-out-loud moments. Think Guardians of the Galaxy meets The Martian, with a dash of Spaceballs when I can get away with it.

My favorite author is Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files), which is probably how I ended up writing in a first-person POV with the same light-hearted, funny tone as he does. Though unlike Harry Dresden, my protagonist has managed to keep his vehicle (space fighter) mostly un-exploded. Mostly. (Aliens reference intended)

So there you have it. I’m just a simple teacher who spends his free time writing about space adventures, collecting passport stamps, and trying to convince his cat that three AM isn’t “story idea time.” Though sometimes I wonder if Sean Robins isn’t the pen name, and I’m actually a space pilot using a mild-mannered English teacher as my cover story.

If any actual aliens are reading this: I’m available for space adventures on weekends and during summer break. Must provide own spacecraft. No probing.

Sean will engage us in a discussion of themes explored in his latest series, the story of a battle android that gains consciousness, and he’ll talk, as well, about his writing career in general. His “I, Anomaly” series is available on Amazon: https://mybook.to/YqPCYkm

In addition to chatting with Sean, we’ll also be revelling in our favourite “so-bad-they’re-good” sci-fi B-movies, and examining the genre’s doctors and scientists.

So mark your calendars accordingly, folks: Saturday, September 19, from 1:00PM to 5:00PM! As usual, we’ll meet live and in person at our downtown meeting hall, and concurrently online via ZOOM. See all of you then!