Hey, Your Nose is on Fire!

The Daily Grind Table of Contents      I know how that is! Or, y'know, not...

The Daily Grind Table of Contents      And now, I've got a link to a poetry reading I'm involved with ! Sunday, November 8th at 7PM EST, 4PM PST, it'll be live on Zoom - the link in the previous sentence will get you a reserved spot - and at some point after that, a recording of it'll likely be posted on YouTube. I'll make a note of that here, too, when it happens.

The Daily Grind Table of Contents      And now? My second book of poetry's out! It's called Albatrossed , and its subtitle is "A Romance in 32 Sonnets and a Chant Royal," so it's more a short story than a poetry collection. Still, after nearly 10 years of me trying to get it out into the wiorld, you can go and buy it courtesy of the fine folks at Island of Wak-Wak . Whoot!

The Terebinth Story Archive      Once again, Mrs. Pell classes the joint up with a ballade. And it's only been, like, eight pages since her last one !

And now?       Albatrossed is finally out!      This is something I originally wrote in 2017. The chant royal at the heart of the collection came first in April of that year, then I decided to expand it by writing sonnets that told what happened before and after the chant royal: it's much more a short story than it is a poetry collection, I have to admit.      To get those sonnets written, I enrolled in that summer's "Write Like You're Alive" challenge, something the folks at Zoetic Press used to do. During the month of August, participants had to create something artistic every day, and I determined that I my daily output would be one of these sonnets. I distinctly remember working on several of the pieces while sitting in the Denver airport waiting for flights to and from Baltimore for that year's Bronycon, the My Little Pony convention they used to hold there. And on September 1st, I had 31 sonnet...

The Daily Grind Table of Contents      If you're interested in another story by me, let me direct your attention to " Any Portal in a Storm ," currently available to read on the Zooscape website . Magic and science combine!

The Daily Grind Table of Contents      Magical architecture. Why did it have to be magical architecture?

As readers might recall:      I'm an aficionado of the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic cartoon series. I mean, yes, I enjoyed the original My Little Pony show from the 1980s and still have several VHS tapes of episodes I recorded from the TV back in those days, but Lauren Faust's reimagined reboot was the thing that got me writing fanfiction for the first time in my life. Any interested parties can peruse that fanfiction under two different pseudonyms: AugieDog , and Baal Bunny .      The story I'm talking about here, however, is a piece of original fiction, but anyone familiar with the MLP setting will quite clearly see the inspiration I took from it. It's called " Any Portal in a Storm ," and it's just been posted as part of the 29th issue of the online magazine Zooscape . I've sold them a couple other stories over the years, one called " 'Twas Brillig " about certain characters in the Oz books discovering that they...

The Daily Grind Table of Contents      That's what this whole series is about: neighborhood improvement.

The Terebinth Story Archive      Lowly Worm? Wasn't he one of the characters in the old Richard Scarry picture books? 'Cause I don't think he's gonna appear in this story...

The Daily Grind Table of Contents      Which must mean we're heading into Doc's part of the story next. And by "next," I of course mean, "next week."

The Daily Grind Table of Contents      After all, how dangerous could a ghost with a rifle be?

The Daily Grind Table of Contents      Could I get a look at that lexicon, Mrs. Teasdale? It'd prob'bly come in handy in a variety of ways, seems to me...

The Terebinth Story Archive      Up and over the edge of the cliff! What will Our Heroes find waiting for them? Other than, y'know, sand and shrubs and camel spiders...

Next month:       I'll be taking part in another online poetry reading.      It's the third one I've been involved with, now that I think about it, and the second one put together by Akua Lezli Hope as part of her " Speculative Sundays " series. Who would've thought it possible?      For those of you who may be wondering what you're in for, here's a link to the YouTube video of the first "Speculative Sunday" program I flailed my way through. I can promise more flailing in this upcoming second appearance, of course, and two more poems, I think, from my first collection, Two Strikes and I'm Out , available from the folks at Island of Wak-Wak. I'll probably even read the introductory poem from my second collection, Albatrossed , soon to be available from those same folks.      Since I've got about 20 minutes to fill, though, I'm pretty certain I'll read a few more things as well...

The Daily Grind Table of Contents      Like she said earlier: hardly weird at all!

The Daily Grind Table of Contents      Mmmm... Eggrolls...

The Daily Grind Table of Contents      Let's all start the new week by getting into the sights of a sniper rifle, shall we? Or perhaps it would be better if we didn't...

The Terebinth Story Archive      So when you've got seven characters in a story, two lines for each of them makes a sonnet! It's just that simple!

The Daily Grind Table of Contents      Moving on into October! So pumpkin soup for everyone!