Hardwired Humanity: Cyberwizard Productions

 

Sarah Wagner 

 

This fantastic collection of short sci-fi is great entertainment. Sarah Wagner weaves humanity into each tale and vignette. In an age in which we are realizing more and more the fusion of man-machine to machine-man, Wagner reminds us of the deep human issues involved in our love affair with technology.

The storyalone , “Shadow”, excerpted on the publisher’s webpage, is worth the cover price . And yet, there’s so much more to enjoy. Her first story struck me as a more mature version of something out of a Heavy Metal movie. Her scenes are clearly enough depicted to recall numerous movies; her pacing never lags for overabundant description. It’s a quick read for those who want a quick read. For those of us who like to wade in deeper waters, there’s plenty here to start more than a few deep philosophical ponderings and discussions.  

“Shadow” is definitely the best novelette I’ve read this year.

David M Pitchford

 

 

http://www.cyberwizardproductions.com/altered/hh.html

Poems Between Lovers

After the Vows: Poems Between Lovers

Available now via Diminuendo Press (and the usual places).

You are not Orpheus

You are not Orpheus, love, nor would I

have you be, and I will not slip in to

Hades hands. Understand my love is new

even when mundane is the order of

the day and I wish for words of passion

and wit. My days are incomplete without

a kiss from your lips, in a smile or pout.

Fanciful dreams in romantic fashion

still find their way into the world around

me, but now my prince has a face I can see

and when I look in your eyes, I see me.

My name in your voice is sweeter, I say

more musical than any poetry,

or song, Orpheus ever thought to play.

Siobhan M Pitchford

Aphrodite in Your Shadow

So well you take me as I am. I fear

to imagine what would be should that fair-

fortuned force that fogs your eyes suddenly

shed the scales that put me in your vision

as you describe it. I see no such man

within my mirror, but thank the heavens

that you see me so. And how do I see

you? Aphrodite shone as bright, I’m sure,

yet your steadfast nature is earth scented,

unlike Venus’s too fickle fragrances,

therefore so much the more desirable.

Yet, how can I compare you and be fair

when she is myth and you of fleshly make

she I wonder of—you I worldly hold.

David M Pitchford

What Feeds US — Poems by Diane Lockward

What Feeds US — Poems by Diane Lockward

Check out the news on friend Diane’s inclusions in Rattle!

Congratulations, Diane!

Buy her book. It’s worth twice the cover price. Heart-felt, therapeutic, soul-touching, spiced throughout with humor and poignant with irony. I give it four stars only because I loved her Eve’s Red Dress even more and give it five. Check out both; I highly recommend them.

Heaven-tickling sculpture of Virtue

Janet Leigh wrote: The other night while I wasn’t looking, Allen Taylor of World Class Poetry Blog tagged me to write a six-word memoir, no small feat I assure you. Here’s the one I rejected, although on some level it rings true:
Namesake destiny provides sequel to Psycho.
But those who know me best would agree this sounds about right:
Headliner: breech birth, embraced life headlong.

Apparently, the game is based on a bet presented by Ernest Hemingway that he could condense his life story into six words. Hemingway wrote: For Sale: baby shoes, never worn. Now this bet was discovered by Bookbabie who started the six-word memoir meme with these rules:

1. Write your own six-word memoir.
2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like.
3. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to this original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere.
4. Tag 5 more blogs with links.
5. And don’t forget to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!

So . . . I’m tagging Sio, Ali, Steve, Von Darkmoor, and my soul.

My 6W bio? (considers the compound word as a single word)

His life: heaven-tickling sculpture of virtue

ALT: optimist, embodiment of multiple, paradoxical abundances

Fringe-monkey version: revolution of living art, poetry, and . . .

Wizard’s Bane

CyberwizardProductions – Wizard’s Bane

Dale is in very deep trouble . . . And I’m about 25 pages from the end of the book! Oh, for more time to read. Wonderful story telling and character building gives this novel a solid core on which the author carefully crafts muscular description and fleshes it out with a fresh turn of slipstream narration and plot.

Next to my own novels, this is the best SFF novel I’ve read so far this year! And, of course, mine are not yet published, so click over and pick up your copy of this unique trilogy – or is it a series . . .

What Feeds US — Poems by Diane Lockward

What Feeds US — Poems by Diane Lockward

I’ve been reading this book of poems again. It’s amazing to me how differently we read poetry after a few weeks, months, or years. It’s the best argument I could ever make for purchasing poetry books: we pick up more experiences and our perspective changes minutely such that each time we come to a poem – to any work of art – it is new and different because we are changed (hopefully evolved) by the intervening time and experience.

Diane Lockward’s poetry ages very well. Like wine. Only better, because wine eventually reaches its height and begins a slow, downhill slide toward becoming vinegar. Lockward’s poems may be a bit acidic up front, but they always settle on the discerning palate. And her poetry covers a range much like any good wine tasting: several varietals with a plethora of nuances.

Perhaps at another time I’ll write a full review of her in the extended metaphor, pairing each of her poems with a particularly well-suited wine. Meantime, I recommend Sauvignon Blanc with “Meditation in the Park” and a nice Rioja with “Reconstruction”.

Enjoy!

Tom Jones’s Lost Survivor

Independent Publishers Group

This is one of the best war novels I’ve ever read. Jones uses very memorable characters to depict a story not merely about war, but also about the psychological impact war has on the soldier and his loved ones when he returns from the field as a survivor. Powerful!

What Feeds US — Poems by Diane Lockward

What Feeds US — Poems by Diane Lockward

I had the pleasure of reviewing Lockward’s book Eve’s Red Dress, which remains one of my favorite poetry collections. Now, after long weeks, I have begun to review What Feeds Us. Again, this is a wonderful compilation of poems. [this is just a blurb and some notes, not the actual review]

As much as I find shaped poems tedious and usually too cutsie, I have to own up to the fact that “Organic Fruit”, an ode to the avocado is too well crafted to take a potshot at for being composed to resemble an avocado – which is to say that it’s one of the best, if not the best, shaped poem I’ve seen. And certainly the best for its length.

The poem on the publisher’s site is spectacular. And, in my opinion, they were wise to use one of the better poems and not the best in the collection to advertise. Hey, it’s gift-buying time. This is a great gift for any reader or lover of poetry. Pick up a copy for yourself as well as your friend—and suggest it as an interesting departure for your reading club. You’ll be very glad you did!