{"id":7823,"date":"2016-04-18T09:35:51","date_gmt":"2016-04-18T13:35:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cemeterydanceonline.com\/?p=7823"},"modified":"2016-04-18T09:35:51","modified_gmt":"2016-04-18T13:35:51","slug":"review-underwater-fistfight-by-matt-betts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-underwater-fistfight-by-matt-betts\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: &#039;Underwater Fistfight&#039; by Matt Betts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Underwater-Fistfight-Matt-Betts\/dp\/1935738828\/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1460065136&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=underwater+fistfight\" target=\"_blank\"><strong><em><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-7824\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/underwaterfistfight.jpg?resize=196%2C293\" alt=\"underwaterfistfight\" width=\"196\" height=\"293\" \/>Underwater Fistfight\u00a0<\/em>by\u00a0Matt Betts<\/strong><\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Raw Dog Screaming Press\u00a0(April 2016)<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>98\u00a0pages; $12.95 paperback; $4.99\u00a0e-book<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Reviewed by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AntonCancre\" target=\"_blank\">Anton Cancre<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Matt Betts has been making a name for himself as a novelist lately, but that isn\u2019t how I got to know him. I was first introduced to Matt as a poet, via his superb collection <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">See No Evil, Say No Evil<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. A guy who wrote poems about cool stuff, like Godzilla and Monsters and Why You Should Totally Leave The Beach. A guy who reveled in the silly and absurd, but could find glimpses of the sublime and occasionally heartbreaking between the lines. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Underwater Fistfight<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a return to form that I have been waiting for, lo these many intervening years.<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> His introduction, \u201cEducational Supplemental #36,\u201d makes it clear that this will not be your average poetry collection. It\u2019s a quick treatise on the roots of poetry in piracy that, on the surface, is pure silly joy; yet, there\u2019s sense to it hiding beneath the waves. Amidst the gags, he\u2019s making it abundantly clear that he knows how to use language and how to play around with the words, making them go all slippery in his grasp while keeping the whole thing a right hoot.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Immediately after, he takes some undead nips at the Bard himself with \u201c12th Night of the Living Dead.\u201d Then, he turns on you. \u201cAlmost See the Bottom\u201d feels like another ode to the big G at first, until it twists in deeper and becomes something far more personal. Therein lies the balancing act he pulls off so deftly here. Using pop culture quips to feel out the edges and folds of your armor before taking a few quick jabs at your soft innards. As much as you can\u2019t help but giggle over \u201cThe Great Zombie Pyramid Scheme\u201d and all those Deathbots, I defy you to try and tell me that \u201cWhat in Neptune\u2019s Name?\u201d doesn\u2019t give you chills.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I\u2019ve always told people that Matt Betts is a poet for people who hate poetry, but I\u2019ll be damned if <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Underwater Fistfight<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> doesn\u2019t prove he stands as a heck of a reminder of what got me to love poetry in the first place.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Underwater Fistfight\u00a0by\u00a0Matt Betts Raw Dog Screaming Press\u00a0(April 2016) 98\u00a0pages; $12.95 paperback; $4.99\u00a0e-book Reviewed by\u00a0Anton Cancre Matt Betts has been making a name for himself as a novelist lately, but that isn\u2019t how I got to know him. I was first introduced to Matt as a poet, via his superb collection See No Evil, Say No &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-underwater-fistfight-by-matt-betts\/\" class=\"more-link button bg-gold white\">Continue Reading!<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Review: &#039;Underwater Fistfight&#039; by Matt Betts&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[80],"tags":[42,673,472,79,674],"class_list":["post-7823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-featured","tag-matt-betts","tag-raw-dog-screaming-press","tag-reviews","tag-underwater-fistfight"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Review: &#039;Underwater Fistfight&#039; by Matt Betts - Cemetery Dance Online<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-underwater-fistfight-by-matt-betts\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cemetery Dance Online\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-underwater-fistfight-by-matt-betts\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-underwater-fistfight-by-matt-betts\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cemetery Dance Online\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61\"},\"headline\":\"Review: &#039;Underwater Fistfight&#039; by Matt Betts\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-18T13:35:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-underwater-fistfight-by-matt-betts\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":378,\"commentCount\":1,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-underwater-fistfight-by-matt-betts\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/cemeterydanceonline.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/04\\\/underwaterfistfight.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Featured\",\"Matt Betts\",\"Raw Dog Screaming Press\",\"Reviews\",\"Underwater Fistfight\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Reviews\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-underwater-fistfight-by-matt-betts\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-underwater-fistfight-by-matt-betts\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-underwater-fistfight-by-matt-betts\\\/\",\"name\":\"Review: &#039;Underwater Fistfight&#039; by Matt Betts - Cemetery Dance Online\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-underwater-fistfight-by-matt-betts\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-underwater-fistfight-by-matt-betts\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/cemeterydanceonline.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/04\\\/underwaterfistfight.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-18T13:35:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-underwater-fistfight-by-matt-betts\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-underwater-fistfight-by-matt-betts\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-underwater-fistfight-by-matt-betts\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/cemeterydanceonline.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/04\\\/underwaterfistfight.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/cemeterydanceonline.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/04\\\/underwaterfistfight.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-underwater-fistfight-by-matt-betts\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Blog\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Reviews\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/reviews\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Review: &#039;Underwater Fistfight&#039; by Matt Betts\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/\",\"name\":\"Cemetery Dance Online\",\"description\":\"Free Horror Reads, News, Interviews, Comics, and More!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61\",\"name\":\"Cemetery Dance Online\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Cemetery Dance Online\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Review: &#039;Underwater Fistfight&#039; by Matt Betts - Cemetery Dance Online","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-underwater-fistfight-by-matt-betts\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cemetery Dance Online","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-underwater-fistfight-by-matt-betts\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-underwater-fistfight-by-matt-betts\/"},"author":{"name":"Cemetery Dance Online","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/#\/schema\/person\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61"},"headline":"Review: &#039;Underwater Fistfight&#039; by Matt Betts","datePublished":"2016-04-18T13:35:51+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-underwater-fistfight-by-matt-betts\/"},"wordCount":378,"commentCount":1,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-underwater-fistfight-by-matt-betts\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/cemeterydanceonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/underwaterfistfight.jpg","keywords":["Featured","Matt Betts","Raw Dog Screaming Press","Reviews","Underwater Fistfight"],"articleSection":["Reviews"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-underwater-fistfight-by-matt-betts\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-underwater-fistfight-by-matt-betts\/","url":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-underwater-fistfight-by-matt-betts\/","name":"Review: &#039;Underwater Fistfight&#039; by Matt Betts - Cemetery Dance Online","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-underwater-fistfight-by-matt-betts\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-underwater-fistfight-by-matt-betts\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/cemeterydanceonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/underwaterfistfight.jpg","datePublished":"2016-04-18T13:35:51+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/#\/schema\/person\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-underwater-fistfight-by-matt-betts\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-underwater-fistfight-by-matt-betts\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-underwater-fistfight-by-matt-betts\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/cemeterydanceonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/underwaterfistfight.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/cemeterydanceonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/underwaterfistfight.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-underwater-fistfight-by-matt-betts\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blog","item":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Reviews","item":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/reviews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Review: &#039;Underwater Fistfight&#039; by Matt Betts"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/","name":"Cemetery Dance Online","description":"Free Horror Reads, News, Interviews, Comics, and More!","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/#\/schema\/person\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61","name":"Cemetery Dance Online","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","caption":"Cemetery Dance Online"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/"]}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p81cXa-22b","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7823\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}