Throughout time and known human history, never since the writing and compiling of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, itself a loose collection of texts written by ancient priests, has there ever been a more tenacious and coherent script on the subject of "after-life and death" than this complete book of collected verses written by a modern Priest of Poetry under the common title of THE PLANET OF THE ZOMBIE ZONNETS: SEASONS ONE AND TWO. A current and fantastic tome of "Zombie Scholarship, this book of the undead "zonnets" (or zombie sonnets if you will) written by Juan Manuel Pérez, himself the only living Zombie Texas Poet Of The Year, entombs two full seasons (or chapters) of twenty-five episodes (or "zonnets"/poems) per season for a grand total of fifty different influential tales (or episodes). Each one rightly capable to strike an extreme emotional response that perhaps was "unexpected." This book is an ultimate facility, capable of helping you stay alive (or undead if you so please).
The grand proponent of wild, Texas chupacabras, the lover of fantastic, comic book characters, and the advocate of last century's monsters, all in the form of sometimes experimental poetry is at it again and there is no human, super or otherwise, on this tiny, blue Earth that can stop him. Is he a super-speculative genius trapped in what the unassuming think is a common poet? You hear him read live and you might start to wonder what a marvel he really is. Enjoy this very creative and speculative, poetry book that is not just a fast read but a kick in the pants of what poetry can also be like. In Sex, Lies, And Chupacabras, Juan Manuel Perez gives a powerful voice to several shadowy figures, namely one Speedy Gonzales, a love-sick werewolf, and the creature who Juan has championed for so many years, El Chupacabra. Named the Poet Laureate of the most misunderstood cucuy ever, Juan has gathered in this collection four multi-piece works, each varying in tone but they are all in their own way very powerful and fun.
New Orleans, 1999. Jo Santos is starting a new job, and planning a wedding with his fiancée, Hope. Jo and friends revel in the guttural beauty of the French Quarter, but binged nights on Bourbon Street leave him closer to the edge, teetering off balance. Jo battles to transform his life, as he grasps for the hope of a future that is seemingly lost. Praying not to Fall is a powerfully compelling story of both the tightrope struggles and the decadent vibrancy of any given day in the Big Easy.
A haunted father who discovers a place where incomplete things--and people--are made whole. A mischievous satyr who hatches a plan to set loose chaos on a global scale. A workaholic witch in search of her kitty companion. Invasive technology to rewrite the human brain. Dragon slayers. Zombies. Time travelers. Ice skaters. These twenty short stories stretch across multiple universes and beyond death--and yet, they remain intimate, personal, emotional. They demonstrate the strength of the human spirit to find hope and seek a better tomorrow in even the darkest times. A selection of the best speculative fiction from DreamForge and Space & Time literary magazines, these are the stories we need today as we struggle through a pandemic, divisive politics, rampant misinformation, a belligerent defiance of facts and science, and new technologies that are already spiraling beyond our control. Read, my friends... and take hope.
Doomsday is here and the earth is suffering with each breath she takes. Whether it’s from the nuclear meltdown, the wrath of the Four Horsemen, a war with technology, or a consequence of our relationship with the planet, humanity is left buried and hiding, our bones exposed, our hearts beating somewhere in our freshly slit throats. This is a collection that strips away civilization and throws readers into the lives of its survivors. The poems inside are undelivered letters, tear-soaked whispers, and unanswered prayers. They are every worry you’ve had when your electricity went out, and every pit that grew in your stomach watching the news at night. They are tragedy and trauma, but they are also grief and fear, fear of who—or what—lives inside us once everything is taken away. These pages hold the teeth of monsters against the faded photographs of family and friends, and here, Wytovich is both plague doctor and midwife, both judge and jury, forever searching through severed limbs and exposed wires as she straddles the line evaluating what’s moral versus what’s necessary to survive. What’s clear though, is that the world is burning and we don’t remember who we are. So tell me: who will you become when it’s over? "Reading this collection is like dancing through Doomsday, intoxicated by the destructive, decadent truth of desire in our very mortality." --Saba Syed Razvi, author of Heliophobia and In the Crocodile Gardens "Vivid, each word a weight on your tongue, these poems taste of metal and ash with a hint of spice, smoke. She reminds us the lucky ones die first, and those who remain must face the horrors of a world painted in blisters and fear." --Todd Keisling, author of Ugly Little Things and Devil's Creek "Set in a post-apocalyptic world that at times seems all too near, Wytovich's poems conjure up frighteningly beautiful and uncomfortably prescient imagery." --Claire C. Holland, author of I Am Not Your Final Girl "A surreal journey through an apocalyptic wasteland, a world that is terrifyingly reminiscent of our own even as the blare of evacuation alarms drowns out the sizzle of acid rain, smiling mannequins bear witness to a hundred thousand deaths, and "the forest floor grows femurs in the light of a skeletal moon."--Christa Carmen, author of Something Borrowed, Something Blood-Soaked "Like a doomsday clock fast-forwarding to its final self-destruction, Wytovich's poetry will give you whiplash as you flip through page after page. The writing here is ugly yet beautiful. It reads like a disease greedily eating up vital organs. The apocalypse has arrived and it couldn't be more intoxicating!" --Max Booth III, author of Carnivorous Lunar Activities
Chloe N. Clark's poetry collection takes readers through a catalog of the speculative body. Escaping the Body is a surreal and profound journey through space, forests, monsters, myths, spells, magic tricks, forests, and the body. Escaping the Body is a collection of dreams of the flesh, exploring the cosmic rifts between the soul and the body, encouraging readers to escape their body in search of the liminal space beyond skin and bones.
Danged Black Thing is an extraordinary collection of stories about love and migration, gender and class, patriarchy and womanhood, from a remarkable and original voice. Traversing the West and Africa, they celebrate the author’s hybridity with breathtaking sensuousness and lyricism. Simbiyu wins a scholarship to study in Australia, but cannot leave behind a world of walking barefoot, the orange sun, and his longing for a “once pillow-soft mother.” In his past, darkness rose from the river and something nameless and mystical continues to envelop his life. In “A Taste of Unguja” sweet taarab music, full of want, seeps into a mother’s life on the streets of Melbourne as she evokes the powers of her ancestors to seek vengeance on her cursed ex. In the cyberfunk of “Unlimited Data” Natukunda, a village woman, gives her all for her family in Old Kampala. Other stories explore what happens when the water runs dry—and who pays, capture the devastating effects on women and children of societies in which men hold all the power, and themes of being, belonging, and otherness. Speculative, realistic, and even mythological, but always imbued with truth, empathy, and Blackness, Danged Black Thing is a literary knockout.
Writing in a wry but insightful style, Stewart provides simple examples that shed light on the terminology, written language, and "celestial" mechanics behind music. Illustrations.
The Horror Writers Association's annual anthology of the best dark verse by its members is back! Edited by award-winning poet Stephanie M. Wytovich, this year's featured poets are Sara Tantlinger, Sarah Read, and K. P. Kulski.
