Late start to this today. Got up at 5am to burn all the (so far) unpacked boxes in the rain (so as to not set the mountain on fire with a stray spark or ember), and then got distracted by a woodpecker going to town on a nearby apple tree. Stood and watched him for probably half an hour.
Retirement suits me.
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New episode of KEENEVERSATIONS is now available. My guests this week are Somer Canon, Mike Lombardo, Wesley Southard, and Oliver Seneca.
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Women In Horror Year: Day 137
Everything Endless by Linda D. Addison (with Jamal Hodge)
Winner of the Bram Stoker Award and the Elgin Award for Poetry Collection
A cosmic collaboration between Science Fiction & Fantasy Association Grand Master Linda D. Addison and visionary versifier Jamal Hodge, Everything Endless, sheds brilliant light in dark times. With themes of creation, cosmos, the macroscopic and the microscopic, this collection tells the story of life itself and expresses fervent hope for a more creative future. Working in conversation, with alternating poems, the authors blend their unique voices and styles into a symphony of startling images. Never forgetting their roots, these Black poets bring the rhythm of call and response alive across the page with the laser focus of 10,000 suns.
Invoking the traditional “call and response” method, Linda and Jamal have crafted a unique poetry collection, in that they swap placement (much like how Mary and I organized THINGS LEFT BEHIND if that better illustrates it for you) — meaning whatever occurs in Linda’s poem, the next poem by Jamal will respond or echo that in some fashion, and so on and so on, back and forth. This layout and structure makes for an exhilarating, engrossing read — particularly for those who perhaps think they don’t like poetry.
While ostensibly science-fiction themed, there is a strong horror undercurrent herein, particularly in examining the darker side of human nature and consciousness. Throughout the book, we are reminded that matter can not be created or destroyed — only transformed, and at times, the dread of cosmic horror seeps through.
It also feels generational, in a sense. Linda’s been doing this as long as I have (longer, actually) and Jamal is part of the new generation of horror writers, and it’s interesting to see how each of them approach the craft as the book progresses and the poetry becomes further entwined.
Available in hardcover, paperback, and eBook from Raw Dog Screaming Press. Signed copies available from Vortex.
