Sean Shannon - Author of The Prostitutes of Lake Wiishkoban, Teacher, Webhost, Artist-of-Many-Trades

[Sean]

Oh hi. I'm Sean Shannon, and I'm horrible at these introductions, so please allow me to cut to the chase.

I'm the author of the recently-released novel , which I tried to get traditionally published for years. I was shortlisted for the Dundee International Book Prize in 2012 (the year when Stephen Fry was one of the judges, so they got about five times as many entries as usual), and a quarterfinalist for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award in 2013, but agents wouldn't bite because they thought it was either too raunchy or (especially post-50SoG) not raunchy enough. I fought to get the novel traditionally published for years, but outside circumstances forced me into the self-publication route late last year. Now that I've gone this route, I'm trying to embrace it as best as I can.

Earlier in 2016 I also published the ebook based off of my years of experience as a part-time English teacher at community colleges around the Toledo area. I'm also the creator and host of the webseries Socratic Sense, which explores the intersection of teaching with politics and popular culture, and furthers my efforts to try to make education more accessible and relevant to today's students.

I also work in other media, including photography and poetry, and do a fair deal of political blogging, which you can see on my website at seanshannon.org. I'm not as active online right now as I'd like to be, mainly because of several pressing 'real life" issues that are taking up a lot of my time right now, but I'm hoping to change that later this year.

I've garnered reputations for being both very introverted and very intense. Those are both true, but they only paint part of the picture, because I do joke around a lot and I try not to take myself too seriously. Times being what they are, it's not so easy for me to be jovial right now, but I'm trying my best.

So. Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Hugs?

[Jane]

Welcome to the house of fun.

We'll put a smile on your face. Or send you away screaming :-)

[G.G., Genre Buster Extraordinaire]

I'm all for hugs :) Welcome aboard Sean :)

[Alexis]

Hi Sean! That last paragraph spoke to me, especially this sentence; "Times being what they are, it's not so easy for me to be jovial right now, but I'm trying my best." I've never been as cynical, depressed and bitter as I am these days. If I didn't block it and everyone tied up in IT completely out, I'd be angry 24/7 and that's no way to live. Now I'm purposefully blind and deaf to it all and that's no way to live either.

I try so hard to get lost in my book but ugh, it's hard.
Jesus Christ, I'm using your thread as some sort of impromptu therapy session.

Let's talk BOOKS.
Why did you choose to name the mousy librarian/prostitute whos into anything from spanking to lesbianism to furries, ALEXIS?

LOL

[Christina]

Sean wrote: "Now that I've gone this route, I'm trying to embrace it as best as I can."

Hi Sean. You have certainly come to the right place. I suspect soon enough you'll not just embrace, but be as proud, satisfied, and content as the rest of us. ;)

[Justin]

A book about prostitutes? Hmm..alright then lol

[Erica]

Welcome to the group Sean!

[Sean]

Everyone: Thank you for the warm welcome, and hugs to all.

Alexis: I chose "Alexis" as my protagonist's name for a couple of reasons, the first of which is kind of mundane: At the time I wrote the initial first drafts (short story, then screenplay, then full-blown novel), I was traveling on Alexis Road several times a week here in Toledo to get to the college i was teaching at.

Secondly (and, I suspect to you, more importantly), I wanted a name that was at once both tight and complex. "Alexis" is only six letters long, but it's a three-syllable word that has that tricky x-sound in the middle. I thought the name conveyed the characteristics I wanted to give my protagonist: Kind of a "plain jane" on the outside, but full of complexities and contradictions when you get to know her.

[Annie]

Jane wrote: "We'll put a smile on your face. Or send you away screaming :-)"

#Truth

Hellooo and welcome, Sean! You just be you and it'll all be good ^_~

Hugs,
Ann

[Sean]

So my first ebook of critical thinking exercises went so well, I just released another one: 50 Critical Thinking Exercises for Humanities Classes 2

I'm also hard at work developing an education news/politics podcast, and I'm hoping to get an anthology of short stories put together before the end of the year.

Missed you all. :x