Category Archives: Wordsmith

CANDICE LOUISA DAQUIN REVIEWS THE MYTHS OF GIRLHOOD

For the International Women’s Day I introduce Candice’s review of a Christine Ray‘s spellbinding book – Myths of Girlhood

“Christine Ray is an extremely rare creature, seemingly transplanted from another age and time, in that she knows absolutely no bounds and will persevere through any obstacle and has the passion of a seventeenth-century bard in her poetic composition and expression.”

Read the whole review: https://indieblu.net/2019/01/30/candice-louisa-daquin-reviews-the-myths-of-girlhood/
You can read more of Candice’s writing at The Feathered Sleep.

Christine E. Ray is an indie author and freelance editor who lives outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. You can read more of her work on her blog Brave and Reckless. The Myths of Girlhood is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble Online, and Book Depository.

Polonius – Lois E. Linkens

Lois E. Linkens on Sudden Denouement

This burnished arras, the fibre’s thick
Like short red grass. I know t’other face
With heavy gold and Denmark’s seal.
Those bleats of pain are crass
Behind so fine a pile.

https://suddendenouement.com/2019/02/25/polonius-lois-e-linkens/

Lois is a poet and student from England. She is studying the literature of the Romantics and hopes their values and innovations will filter through into her own work. She is working on longer projects at present, with a hope to publish poetry collections and novels in the years to come. She is a feminist, an nostalgic optimist, and a quiet voice in the shadows of Joanne Baillie and Charlotte Smith. It is a pleasure to present her work, and you can find more of it at Lois E. Linkens.

They will continue wandering

They will continue wandering,
these things of steel among the stars,
and weary men will still go up
to brutalize the placid moon.
There, they will found their pharmacies.

In this time of the swollen grape,
the wine begins to come to life
between the sea and the mountain ranges.

In Chile now, cherries are dancing,
the dark mysterious girls are singing,
and in guitars, water is shining.

The sun is touching every door
and making wonder of the wheat.

The first wine is pink in colour,
is sweet with the sweetness of a child,
the second wine is able-bodied,
strong like the voice of a sailor,
the third wine is a topaz, is
a poppy and fire in one.

My house has both the sea and the earth,
my woman has great eyes
the colour of wild hazelnut,
when night comes down, the sea
puts on a dress of white and green,
and later the moon in the spindrift foam
dreams like a sea-green girl.

Pablo Neruda

Update on the Sudden Denouement Short Story Contest

We have had a lot of inquiries about the Sudden Denouement Short Story Contest. We received 129 submissions to the contest from all over the globe and the editors recently completed their first round of judging, choosing the top 24 stories…

Read more on Sudden Denouement: https://suddendenouement.com/2019/02/21/update-on-the-sudden-denouement-short-story-contest/

Happy Mărțișor everyone!

Today is a day of joy and celebration for all Romanians.

We celebrate the first day of Spring and consequently, we, the beautiful Romanian women, wear the Spring over and in our hearts aided by a small symbol (mărțișor).

La mulți ani!
May your Spring be beautiful
and your hearts be the bearers of flowers and good wishes!

How it Seems to Me

How it Seems to Me

In the vast abyss before time, self
is not, and soul commingles
with mist, and rock, and light. In time,
soul brings the misty self to be.
Then slow time hardens self to stone
while ever lightening the soul,
till soul can loose its hold of self
and both are free and can return
to vastness and dissolve in light,
the long light after time.

Ursula K. Le Guin

WORK

… And work. Spell it in capital letters. WORK. WORK all the time. Find out about this earth, this universe; this force and matter, and the spirit that glimmers up through force and matter from the maggot to Godhead. And by all this I mean WORK for a philosophy of life. It does not hurt how wrong your philosophy of life may be, so long as you have one and have it well.
Jack London

Magic art by Edward Gorey.

Red Tides – Christine E. Ray

Invincible artistry in Christine‘s words:

“blue and white capsules
ingested daily
devour my melancholy, baby
always ravenous
unsatisfied
they strip protective coating
off vulnerable neurons”

https://suddendenouement.com/2019/02/19/red-tides-christine-e-ray/

You can find Christine lurking about Brave and Reckless and Indie Blu(e) Publishing. She is the author of Composition of a Woman and The Myths of Girlhood.