Pretentious Butterflies is a collection of melancholy poems written between 2013-2019.Pretentious Butterflies touches on subjects like death, anxiety, anger, despair, guilt and sadness.The poems were written as aresponse to dark thoughts, in hopes of understanding the deep emotional stress of depression and how it effects us human beings in our daily lives. The aim of this book is not to make the reader in deep dark despair or misery, but rather a hopeful book , that creativity can be an escape in dealing with desolate feelings, however heartbroken, gloomy or simply unhappy one might feel through this life.
Now in paperback, Nocturnal Butterflies of the Russian Empire was acclaimed by The Hartford Courant as "a thrilling discovery ... a reversal of the letters [of] Saul Bellow's Herzog ... [with] a Nabokovian delight in words and texts." J. is a smuggler living in Russia, making his living fencing the flotsam of communism's collapse. In Istanbul he takes a commission to trap an endangered Russian butterfly and decides to use it as an opportunity to smuggle V., his Russian lover who has no papers, back into her homeland. In the port of Odessa, she disappears, and J. continues alone to a small village on the Black Sea. Letters from V. begin to arrive, and as J. hunts the butterfly, he seeks a way to lure V. back into his life. Equal parts bittersweet love story, international intrigue, and one man's quest to write the perfect love letter, Nocturnal Butterflies of the Russian Empire, wrote The Tennessean, is "an amazing jewel of a story ... that winks with wit [and] wears its astonishing craftsmanship lightly." "An aesthetically blissful reading experience ... Nabokov's spirit, alive and kind, has touched [Prieto] with its butterfly wings." -- Aleksandar Hemon, The Village Voice Literary Supplement "...Nocturnal Butterflies is an impressive performance by a writer whose gifts are clearly abundant." -- Richard Bernstein, The New York Times "A beautiful, lavish, seedy, poetic, and magical book.... Pure pleasure for the literary mind." -- Chris Kridler, The Baltimore Sun
Apotheosis of My Butterfly embraces death and renewal, leavened with humorous and insightful repartee about art, nature, and creativity. As Edouard and Melissa develop their butterfly garden they fight to maintain their marriage against internal doubt and external forces. Physical needs and medical treatment of amputees, sexuality, grief, and death, are described frankly. Managed care malfeasance foreshadows a dramatic medical malpractice settlement. Indictment of the medical and legal professions is pointed, and serves as both caution and support to readers undergoing similar struggles. Poignantly Apotheosis of My Butterfly portrays marriage and life celebration through work, determination, art and love.
"Literature and Lepidoptera dance an elaborate pas de deux through seventy years of Vladimir Nabokov's life, from his boyhood in Russia to his life as an emigre in the Crimea, Berlin, France, the United States, and finally in Switzerland. An American literary giant, Nabokov also produced first-rate work as a scientist, and in his fiction and elsewhere eloquently advocated attention to the details of the natural world and promoted the delights of discovery." "Nabokov's Butterflies presents Nabokov's twin passions through an astonishingly rich array of novel selections, stories, poems, screenplay, autobiography, criticism, lecturers, articles, reviews, interviews, letters, and notes, plus a wealth of beautiful and fanciful drawings by Nabokov and photographs of him in the field."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
2018 Forewords Reviews INDIES Awards - Poetry Finalist 2019 Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY) Gold Medal Winner 2019 Midwest Book Awards - Poetry Winner 2019 Eric Hoffer Book Awards - Poetry Winner 2019 Goodreads Choice Awards - Best Poetry Book Finalist Andrea Gibson's latest collection is a masterful showcase from the poet whose writing and performances have captured the hearts of millions. With artful and nuanced looks at gender, romance, loss, and family, Lord of the Butterflies is a new peak in Gibson's career. Each emotion here is deft and delicate, resting inside of imagery heavy enough to sink the heart, while giving the body wings to soar.
Forget-me-nots are delicate blue cluster spring flowers used as a symbol of remembrance, true love and devotion. It is said that according to a Greek myth, Zeus thought he had given all the plants are name, whereupon a small blue flower shouted “forget-me-not!”. The name comes from the Ancient Greek μυοσωτίς "mouse's ear", which the foliage is thought to resemble. In the Northern Hemisphere, they are colloquially known as forget-me-nots or scorpion grasses. In this poetry book, The concept was to create a number of poems that are centered around stories of love and loss. The poems are somewhat melancholic, and reflects the state of heartbreak and the excruciating pain of being in love. There are over 150 Illustrations, text art and collage photographs included in this book which are scattered sparingly throughout its pages. A cohesive theme was designed in this poetry book in hopes of creating a body of work that really tries to embody the state of one's heart and soul when in deep connection with others.
A mystery, a thriller, and a cutting-edge sci-fi adventure all in one, Stamping Butterflies bends time, genre, and consciousness itself to tell the spellbinding story of two worlds, three lives, one future–and the question upon which everything depends: who is dreaming whom. . . . From Marrakech to China’s Forbidden City, from a doomed starship carrying a cryogenically preserved crew to an island prison camp, the fate of the world is being played out in the minds of two dreamers. One, a would-be assassin obsessed with enigmatic equations, has set out to kill the U.S. President. The other is a young Chinese emperor ruling thousands of years in the future. Each believes he is dreaming the other. One must change the future; one must change the past. And time is running out for both. Caught in the maelstrom is a motley cast of characters, each an unwitting key to the ultimate fate of both worlds: Moz, a resourceful young Marrakech street punk, and his half-German girlfriend, Malika; Jake Razor, a self-exiled rock star; and psychiatrist Katie Petrov, who finds herself racing against a looming death sentence to pry free the secret of her condemned patient–a secret with the power to restore hope to the future...or stamp it out forever.
Who Knows Where Butterflies Die is a timeless story of the human spirit's desire for freedom Were made to believe that learning the alphabet or chemistry and mathematics and this and that is more important than learning how to act like humans. Yet, believe it or not, its humanity that would save the world. Humanity is what prevents revolution and war. Humanity is what prevents tyranny, famine, mass killing, and torturing one another. Its sad to know that external forces are leading people to lose the respect and understanding they used to have towards each other. With the never-ending invention of newer technologies, I feel that the world has fallen into a race to turn people to robots. Everyone seems to be in a competition to show off the latest gadgets in their hands, but they hide the quality of their hearts in their chests. With all the new developments that are pushing us into a deeper isolation, I dont know where were headed. I just know that thats whats leading us to a gradual, global self-destruction in many ways. Excerpt from Who Knows Where Butterflies Die Praise for Who Knows Where Butterflies Die An important and powerful story that brings awareness to the pain and devastation innocent families experience when mired in a homeland full of oppression, war, and revolution. Brock Tully, inspirational speaker and author of 9 books, including The Great Gift Who Knows Where Butterflies Die Its a must read. It inspires us to take responsibility for the world we are creating by our action and inaction. Ted Kuntz, educational speaker and author of 4 books, including Peace Begins with Me
Book of Fragments Volume Two is a continuation of artworks from the first volume (Book of Fragments) which was published in 2018. Whereas the first book explored contemporary topics in landscape, this volume focused more on the deeper inner struggles of human existence. Life has changed a lot in the past years, and narratives such as chivalry, honor, faith and deeper meanings have been lost in the process of machines taking over. We sleep with machines, eat with machines and are on the verge of thinking like machines. One can’t help but keep wondering, where will this all eventually lead humanity to? In this book, I attempted to self-discover and explore. What does it mean to be human, what does it mean to be separated from one self? If we took our parts fragment by fragment, will we still be human? The era has changed and the vocabulary followed suit. I somehow found myself trapped in the in-betweens of what is right and what is wrong. Book of Fragments Volume Two is my response to what my soul has been experiencing, where my mind has wandered, and where my thoughts have traveled to. This is a crucial era of change, and I, like many others, are struggling to find meaning without losing our soul. I hope one will find solace and understanding in this body of work. It was a one-year process of experimentation and I hope this book illustrates the new language I tried to speak. And so, with the grace of God others will hear and understand.
A Personal and Professional Metamorphosis Story Maya Williams is an ambitious, hardworking, New York businesswoman, stymied on her way up the corporate ladder by sexist, male executives. When sent to the Hawaiian island Kaua’i to speak at a conference, she finds herself having to make a choice that may jeopardize her entire career. On Kaua’i, Maya experiences the chill island life for the first time, and as she meets the people who open her eyes to different ways of thinking and being, she begins to see life, work, love—and herself—in a whole new light. When Maya returns to the corporate world, as an executive, can she implement her new philosophies and still succeed? And will her personal and professional metamorphosis ultimately bring her the happiness and freedom she dreams of? Annicken R. Day is the founder and CEO of Corporate Spring, co-author of the book Creative Superpowers, a public speaker, and an executive advisor. Fly, Butterfly is her first novel.
