Two relatively unrelated poems today. First, a poem about my emotional-overeating reaction to the previous night’s insomnia, then a brief poem (based on an email) which both pretends I can sleep and diminishes my self-worth. “…I am furniture…”

This story follows the actions of a couple who seem to have been together forever, who want to be able to create children of their own, and who will stop at nothing to do so. Involving stem cell research, cloning, mind control, human sacrifices, eventual success … and what comes after, this story isn’t afraid to touch on sensitive issues to get where it wants to go, or to take things even further from there.

This poem is about a particularly difficult and painful night of insomnia: tossing, turning, sweating, and hurting.

This story follows the actions of a couple who seem to have been together forever, who want to be able to create children of their own, and who will stop at nothing to do so. Involving stem cell research, cloning, mind control, human sacrifices, eventual success … and what comes after, this story isn’t afraid to touch on sensitive issues to get where it wants to go, or to take things even further from there.

I’ve decided to keep the poems in Worth 1k — Volume 2 in the order they were printed (for the remaining poems, as I did with W1kV1 for the last several months), and to group them not by length, to try to hit close to 2 minutes, but by meaning (as much as possible). This poem is my dealing with my grandfather’s (then) impending death. There are more poems on this subject in the book.

An essay about a possible interpretation of God’s perspective of time, relative to the “seven day week” of creation and our place in it. On the nth readthrough, I realized that I summarized much of the entire Bible in a few short pages, providing yet another iteration of the fractal story of creation. Which may make sense after you hear/read this essay.

This is the last two poems from this collection; one still clinging -briefly- to taking in and documenting the beauty of my journey, the other succumbing to the stress of being at the end of my budget and still 500 miles from home… and thus unable to buy myself a nice dinner for my birthday. Unable to find anything in between cheap and way-too-expensive in an unfamiliar city.

In a future where processing speeds allow computers to predict the future and advancements in genetic engineering allow people to design custom children, what happens when these technologies -and a couple who haven’t kept pace with post-singularity advances in technology- are combined to try to create a family? When one can not only select for simple things like gender, eye color, and hair color, but also for likely future outcomes like when and where your child will have their first kiss, or what career they’ll be drawn to, how far would you be willing to go to create the child of your dreams? In this short story, Harold and Anne are faced with questions like these in the wake of the devastating loss of their first child – created and born naturally, rather than technologically.

I wrote these four poems while at Hearst Castle in California. It hadn’t been part of my plan, but since I have some knowledge of Hearst & his legacy, I couldn’t resist the roadsigns pointing me there. It was an experience both worth having and -when I can make the time and find the money- worth repeating; I’d like to return to Hearst Castle with more time and money (and my wife) someday.

In a future where processing speeds allow computers to predict the future and advancements in genetic engineering allow people to design custom children, what happens when these technologies -and a couple who haven’t kept pace with post-singularity advances in technology- are combined to try to create a family? When one can not only select for simple things like gender, eye color, and hair color, but also for likely future outcomes like when and where your child will have their first kiss, or what career they’ll be drawn to, how far would you be willing to go to create the child of your dreams? In this short story, Harold and Anne are faced with questions like these in the wake of the devastating loss of their first child – created and born naturally, rather than technologically.

I wrote these two poems at Pier 39, in San Francisco, California. They are about food, and about money. This far into my trip, I was increasingly worried about money, so what may seem like small things to you were big things to me. My budget for the trip was next to nothing, and I’d exceeded it with days left before home.

This essay is a personal exploration of my own unusual relationship with time. It touches both on my mind and body’s disconnection from a “normal” circadian rhythm and on my imagination and creative mind being six months (to many years) ahead of the pace of technology.

Two poems at one beach then, after a drive I couldn’t find a good place to stop amidst quite a bit of beauty, another written from my recollections of same. All on the Pacific Coast Highway in California.

Imagine you could change the direction you travel through time and actually go backward in time. In this story, Brent finds himself able to do just that and, along with his brother Charlie, explores some of the possibilities that ability creates. Together they look at problems of ethics, causality, and the possibility of doing heroic deeds and making themselves vast amounts of wealth very quickly.

Two poems written at two different “Vistic Points” along the Pacific Coast Highway, half a day apart. This far into my road trip, you can begin to sense I’m growing weary, losing my sense of vision. Luckily my choice of locations to drive to & through was beautiful enough to wake me back up again.

Imagine you could change the direction you travel through time and actually go backward in time. In this story, Brent finds himself able to do just that and, along with his brother Charlie, explores some of the possibilities that ability creates. Together they look at problems of ethics, causality, and the possibility of doing heroic deeds and making themselves vast amounts of wealth very quickly.

Another poem written in Eureka, CA and two from the Avenue of the Giants in Humboldt Redwoods State Park, CA. If you ever get a chance to visit this part of California, I definitely recommend it.

Imagine you could change the direction you travel through time and actually go backward in time. In this story, Brent finds himself able to do just that and, along with his brother Charlie, explores some of the possibilities that ability creates. Together they look at problems of ethics, causality, and the possibility of doing heroic deeds and making themselves vast amounts of wealth very quickly.

Two of these poems were written while I was stopping for food, though neither is about the food itself. In between them is a poem about a tree, one of the biggest I’ve seen, a giant redwood in CA.

This essay is about an alternate conception about visualizing the shape of time. Rather than the standard circles, squares, and grids created by the limitations of paper and other physical displays, I suggest a new model which fits time better and is very reasonable to be displayed by today’s ubiquitous digital displays.

This poem is actually about some big rocks, though that might not be clear while listening to it. Go out and drive down the coast, though, and I think you’ll see what I mean.

This story is about a supervillain who -after his first several attempts to wreak havoc on and around the flying city in which he lives are thwarted, and his superhero nemesis is coincidentally erased from existence- goes even more insane than he was before. Stumbling around his high-tech laboratory, mumbling to himself, Brady experiences an epiphany that leads him to design a fifth iteration of his doomsday device. Find out what he designs, and where that line of thought ends up taking him, in this strange story about a stranger, mad man.

These three poems (and most of the rest of the book) were written while I was driving down the Pacific Coast Highway. Small towns along the coast were interesting. So were the dilapidated public parks all through OR and CA.

This story is about a supervillain who -after his first several attempts to wreak havoc on and around the flying city in which he lives are thwarted, and his superhero nemesis is coincidentally erased from existence- goes even more insane than he was before. Stumbling around his high-tech laboratory, mumbling to himself, Brady experiences an epiphany that leads him to design a fifth iteration of his doomsday device. Find out what he designs, and where that line of thought ends up taking him, in this strange story about a stranger, mad man.

These two poems are about driving in Oregon. Sometimes the view outside my windows was beautiful, but often the driving there was stressful, frustrating, and dangerous.

This story, They Stole God, is one of my favorites from this collection, delving into theology, cosmology, ethics & morality, while telling a tale that ends up containing dramatic & violent bank robberies and the violation of the sanctity of religious dogma – by force. Follow a group of monk-like religious adepts and their friends as they find that the deeper into the secrets of their religion they delve, the more impossible their escape from its clutches becomes. Some readers may want to look up the nature of such far-flung physics concepts as dark matter, dark energy, and the nature of singularities to understand the full scope of theology herein, and others will just want to know what strange plan they come up with next.

This poem is about the sometimes inconvenient and sometimes uncomfortable side effects of using modafinil, a drug that allows you to stay up nigh-indefinitely. I wrote 90% of Untrue Tales… Book Three in a single 60-hour session with the help of modafinil, and as stated in this poem, I’ve also used it to make cross-country drives without stopping to sleep.

This story, They Stole God, is one of my favorites from this collection, delving into theology, cosmology, ethics & morality, while telling a tale that ends up containing dramatic & violent bank robberies and the violation of the sanctity of religious dogma – by force. Follow a group of monk-like religious adepts and their friends as they find that the deeper into the secrets of their religion they delve, the more impossible their escape from its clutches becomes. Some readers may want to look up the nature of such far-flung physics concepts as dark matter, dark energy, and the nature of singularities to understand the full scope of theology herein, and others will just want to know what strange plan they come up with next.

Both poems today were written at Shoshone Falls in Idaho, just after the sun had disappeared and before the light was gone.

This story, They Stole God, is one of my favorites from this collection, delving into theology, cosmology, ethics & morality, while telling a tale that ends up containing dramatic & violent bank robberies and the violation of the sanctity of religious dogma – by force. Follow a group of monk-like religious adepts and their friends as they find that the deeper into the secrets of their religion they delve, the more impossible their escape from its clutches becomes. Some readers may want to look up the nature of such far-flung physics concepts as dark matter, dark energy, and the nature of singularities to understand the full scope of theology herein, and others will just want to know what strange plan they come up with next.

Both of today’s poems were written while I was driving on 84W. The first even mentions that I was going 75mph. You should see how rough the handwriting is (I’ve included scans of all the original pages of the journal in the print edition); you’d know for sure I was writing one-handed while driving.

This story, They Stole God, is one of my favorites from this collection, delving into theology, cosmology, ethics & morality, while telling a tale that ends up containing dramatic & violent bank robberies and the violation of the sanctity of religious dogma – by force. Follow a group of monk-like religious adepts and their friends as they find that the deeper into the secrets of their religion they delve, the more impossible their escape from its clutches becomes. Some readers may want to look up the nature of such far-flung physics concepts as dark matter, dark energy, and the nature of singularities to understand the full scope of theology herein, and others will just want to know what strange plan they come up with next.

The first of these two poems I wrote after spending a delightful morning & lunch with a woman I met in the tour group I took through Temple Square. We continued wandering around the various historical sites in downtown SLC, talking and having a good time, and then had lunch together before parting ways. She was in town for a convention and I was just passing through, and it was nice to be able to make a human connection so quickly and randomly. The second poem is a haiku I wrote while driving away from SLC, about a particularly striking view to be had there.

This story, Welcome to The Family, is about a strange group of cyborgs – not people with robotic limbs or organs, but whose physiology at a cellular level is a co-mingling of organic and robotic components. Cyborgs whose gross physiology bears no resemblance to the people they were before becoming members of this tight-knit group known as ‘The Family.’ This story, really, is about a boy in love, and the lengths he’ll go to to try to save the girl he loves from succumbing to the fate he himself has fallen prey to. Will he be able to protect her from becoming a member of The Family?

Both of these poems were written at Temple Square in Salt Lake City, UT – the first from outside the church’s massive walls, and the second whilst on their guided tour.

This story, Welcome to The Family, is about a strange group of cyborgs – not people with robotic limbs or organs, but whose physiology at a cellular level is a co-mingling of organic and robotic components. Cyborgs whose gross physiology bears no resemblance to the people they were before becoming members of this tight-knit group known as ‘The Family.’ This story, really, is about a boy in love, and the lengths he’ll go to to try to save the girl he loves from succumbing to the fate he himself has fallen prey to. Will he be able to protect her from becoming a member of The Family?

First a poem about literally being on the road – between Moab and Salt Lake City where, for the only night of my road trip, I’d booked a room for the night. I was exhausted when I left Moab (after a full day hiking at Arches National Park), then I drove. And drove. And drove, to SLC. The second poem recounts the disturbing wake-up-call I was greeted with, after not enough sleep.

This story contains sex, violence, bondage, pain, fear, humiliation, and death. Death by zombie.
 
This story looks at the situation at a zombie readiness training camp during its final weeks of training before a full-scale zombie outbreak. It follows the two men who are tasked with keeping the camp running while the man in charge -The Sergeant- is distracted, and how this lapse of management goes horribly awry. It also gives a glimpse of what happened with Mary, a woman totally unprepared for what she’s gotten herself into, and who goes on not only to survive the zombie outbreak, but to become one of the central characters of Forget What You Can’t Remember.

The Fiery Furnace at Arches National Park in Utah is only available for exploration as part of a paid, guided tour group – unlike the rest of the part, which you are free to explore on your own time and at your own pace and with a single (nominal) fee for access to the entire park. From the overlook, I couldn’t really see much. I certainly couldn’t tell whether it would have been worth my time and money to reschedule my entire day around the guided tour… not from the information stop where the tour signups take place, and not much moreso from the overlook. But I did write this poem.

This story contains sex, violence, bondage, pain, fear, humiliation, and death. Death by zombie.
 
This story looks at the situation at a zombie readiness training camp during its final weeks of training before a full-scale zombie outbreak. It follows the two men who are tasked with keeping the camp running while the man in charge -The Sergeant- is distracted, and how this lapse of management goes horribly awry. It also gives a glimpse of what happened with Mary, a woman totally unprepared for what she’s gotten herself into, and who goes on not only to survive the zombie outbreak, but to become one of the central characters of Forget What You Can’t Remember.

Lost and Not Found – Director’s Cut – Episode 6: In which the main character and Tink are escorted through Skythia’s Great Museum by Paul, Skythia’s mayor, spend a romantic evening in an awesome room, then get dressed up and head to Skythia’s best restaurant to celebrate their 9th Anniversary, deciding to give living in Skythia a chance.

Today I have two new promos I just recorded. If you are a podcaster looking to run one of these promos in your podcast, please visit http://modernevil.com/podcast-promos/ to download them. For more information about my Kickstarter.com fundraiser you can read my blog entry about it, or go directly to the Kickstarter Project page. The short URL is http://kck.st/9j3MOe

Lost and Not Found – Director’s Cut – Episode 5: In which a powerful entity rewrites the world and its history, leaving only the wonderful, creative, imaginative, and magical behind, erasing and replacing all else, and in which -ten years later, after years of love and happiness and success and creativity- Tink and the main character leave Haven and come across the flying city of Skythia.

Today’s poem is another brand new, not-yet-published (because I wrote it last week) work, related in theme -perhaps- to one of my online comics from years ago.

Lost and Not Found – Director’s Cut – Episode 4: In which the main character and Tink explore the mind-bending, magical, and time-bending works in Haven’s old museum, get engaged, and find themselves surrounded at their engagement party by friends and neighbors they didn’t yet know they had.

Today’s poem is another brand new, not-yet-published (because I wrote it this morning) work, the actual subject of which I will not mention or link to, for reasons made clear in the poem itself.

Lost and Not Found – Director’s Cut – Episode 3: In which the main character and Tink wake up refreshed, eat an elaborate breakfast, take a magical bath, select clothes from an overwhelming array in their room’s closet, exchange introductions with Trunk, the two-headed innkeeper, and then head to Haven’s old museum.

Today’s poem is another brand new, not-yet-published (because I wrote it last week) work, written in the depths of depression, titled ‘give me my shovel, I want to dig’.

Lost and Not Found – Director’s Cut – Episode 2: In which the main character convinces Tink to leave Never-never Land with him, they happen upon the villages of Titana and Old Titana along their way, then continue on until they reach Haven, find an Inn, and get a room to sleep in.

Today’s poem is another brand new, not-yet-published (because I wrote it last night) work. I’ve also posted it (in written form) to my blog, less than this… so I suppose that’s a form of publishing? Anyway, it isn’t “in print” anywhere (yet).

Lost and Not Found – Director’s Cut – Episode 1: In which the main character, fed up with life in the mundane, workaday world he’d been trying to fit into, steps of of a plane in mid-air, returns to a Never-never Land not much changed since his childhood adventures there, then has an emotional reunion with Tink.

Second Thoughts – This is a story about getting so caught up in love with someone that you stop living your own life, stop moving forward. – This is a story about finding yourself so stuck in seeking the same somebody that you become unstuck from the world. – This is a story about love, and about waiting.
 
This story is also available as a handmade, numbered limited edition chapbook at http://modernevil.com/second-thoughts/ for only $2 plus shipping.

Second Thoughts – This is a story about getting so caught up in love with someone that you stop living your own life, stop moving forward. – This is a story about finding yourself so stuck in seeking the same somebody that you become unstuck from the world. – This is a story about love, and about waiting.
 
This story is also available as a handmade, numbered limited edition chapbook at http://modernevil.com/second-thoughts/ for only $2 plus shipping.

Second Thoughts – This is a story about getting so caught up in love with someone that you stop living your own life, stop moving forward. – This is a story about finding yourself so stuck in seeking the same somebody that you become unstuck from the world. – This is a story about love, and about waiting.
 
This story is also available as a handmade, numbered limited edition chapbook at http://modernevil.com/second-thoughts/ for only $2 plus shipping.

Dragons’ Truth – Chapter 15: In which Larry shows Merle how sharing enlightenment and universal truth with humanity can only make things better, changing even violent criminals’ lives in an instant.

Dragons’ Truth – Chapter 14: In which Larry confronts the dragon Bryyt, whose arrogance and hatred has poisoned dragon teachings for millennia while holding humanity back from enlightenment.

Dragons’ Truth – Chapter 13: In which dragons invade America, and no man-made weapon is able even to slow down their fiery path of efficient destruction.

Dragons’ Truth – Chapter 12: In which Larry learns nearly everything humanity has ever put down in words.

Dragons’ Truth – Chapter 11: In which Merle arrives, reveals that an army of dragons is on its way to destroy America, then agrees to teach Larry everything there is to know about dragons in the hope that humanity will have some small chance against them.

Dragons’ Truth – Chapter 10: In which Larry and Ghadshyk discuss how Ghadshyk’s influence on a few local teachers has become a national phenomenon that is threatening to bring the economy to its knees as people everywhere become passionate about going back to school.

Dragons’ Truth – Chapter 9: In which Larry’s teachers reveal their intentions for his future education, and his parents reveal their continued disinterest, none of them realizing there’s a dragon in the room.

Dragons’ Truth – Chapter 8: Ghadshyk Comes of Age, in which Ghadshyk first reveals his scandalous relationship with a human wizard to the dragon community.

Dragons’ Truth – Chapter 7: In which Larry receives notes from his teachers about a meeting scheduled between them, his parents, and his dragon tutor – and discusses the implications of the note with Ghadshyk.

Dragons’ Truth – Chapter 6: The Second Meeting, in which Ghadshyk and Merle meet after a year and discuss what Merle has done and learned in the time he’s had.

Dragons’ Truth – Chapter 5: In which Ghadshyk explains the often-overlooked relationship between studying Algebra in middle school and leading a long, happy, and fulfilling life.

Dragons’ Truth – Chapter 4: In which Larry gets a taste of the magical security system protecting Ghadshyk’s home, learning that only dragons may enter safely on their own.

Dragons’ Truth – Chapter 3: The Story of the Ugly Dragon, In which Ghadshyk meets an unusual pink dragon who is revealed to be the human wizard Merle in dragon form.

Dragons’ Truth – Chapter 2: In which Larry, alone, is invited to enter Ghadshyk’s home, and quickly agrees that he’ll do his homework and accept tutoring in exchange for hearing the dragon’s stories.

Dragons’ Truth – Chapter 1: In which 12-year-old Larry first meets the dragon Ghadshyk.

Last Christmas – A story that follows Santa Claus as he prepares for and makes deliveries on a dark, post-apocalyptic Christmas Eve. At first Santa doesn’t know precisely what has been going on all year, but slowly the pieces begin to come together to form a picture of what remains of the world. Listen to the end to find out whether a little Christmas magic will be enough to bring holiday cheer to a world on its last legs.
 
I wrote this Christmas story in the last couple of weeks, specifically to run here in the Modern Evil Podcast. It’s a little longer than I’d hoped, but I think you’ll appreciate it.

Cheating, Death – Chapter 13: Death and Salvation – In which Melvin Spall, abandoned and alone, dreams of his own death, and Stacy joins forces with the Sergeant, discussing the true danger of the zombie outbreak with Lorraine.

Cheating, Death – Chapter 12: Rejection, Revelation – In which Melvin and Stacy gather supplies as they argue about what happened with Frances, and Melvin gets left behind once more.

Cheating, Death – Chapter 11: Together Again – In which Melvin and Stacy face a confrontation with zombies in different ways and Frances appears and suddenly attacks her cheating husband, then at sunset the Sergeant’s forces begin to assemble at Civic Center Park.

Cheating, Death – Chapter 10: Turning Around – In which Melvin walks back toward downtown to rendezvous with Stacy, and Frances’ trancelike wanderings lead her back to the grocery store where she left Melvin.

Cheating, Death – Chapter 9: Finding, Failure – In which Melvin’s solo wanderings lead him to a seemingly-safe bakery and into a situation that is more dangerous at every turn, then finds a working phone and calls Stacy.

Cheating, Death – Chapter 8: Indecision, Separation – In which Melvin and Frances get to the heart of their argument and Frances decides to leave Melvin for good, walking off into the zombie-infested streets alone.

Cheating, Death – Chapter 7: Taking, Chances – In which a couple of guys decide that the chaos of the zombie outbreak has created the perfect chance for some looting, and Melvin tries to protect his family and to gather supplies before things go horribly awry for everyone.

Cheating, Death – Chapter 6: Leaving Safety – In which a young woman wakes up in the back of a van with no idea that there’s been a zombie outbreak while she was passed out, and Melvin leads his family away from the imminent disaster of the over-crowded stadium to try to find food and shelter.

Cheating, Death – Chapter 5: Hysterics and Histrionics – In which panic leads to pandemonium, and the morning’s distressing events lead to an argument between Melvin and Frances about his cheating.

Cheating, Death – Chapter 4: Go With the Flow – In which two teenagers argue about each other’s choice of late-night sneaking around before being whisked away to Mile High Stadium for safety, and Melvin’s family gets separated from each other there when zombies are noticed inside the stadium.

Cheating, Death – Chapter 3: On the Road – In which the police attempt -ineffectively- to keep things under control on the roads leading out of Denver, and Melvin gets his family in their SUV and on the road with the zombies already spreading into his neighborhood.

Cheating, Death – Chapter 2: Breaking News – In which the local news tries to decide how to frame the story of the ongoing zombie outbreak, and Melvin’s family is awakened to see how that news show goes horribly wrong, putting Frances in a panicked state as she tries to get her family ready to escape.

Cheating, Death – Chapter 1: Trouble In Traffic – In which a truckload of zombies is spilled across I-76 on the outskirts of Denver, and Melvin Spall narrowly avoids becoming one of the first victims of the zombie outbreak.

I wrote this flash story in my attempts to get something started for NaNoWriMo; it was one of several failed attempts. This brief scene seemed pretty-well-resolved after only a few sentences, so I thought I’d share it here. Enjoy.

Untrue Tales From Beyond Fiction – Recollections of an Alternate Past, Book Three: Escape from Exile -or- Confusion and Contraction -or- How to Get Out of Hell, episode 10: In which the tall stranger explains Trevor’s true place in the world, Trevor’s daughters make a shocking reappearance, then without much warning an unexpected authority extracts Trevor (and other anomalies) from the room.

I’ve been feeling pretty depressed, lately, so I thought I’d read a couple poems from this collection that are in the neighborhood of how I’ve been feeling.

Untrue Tales From Beyond Fiction – Recollections of an Alternate Past, Book Three: Escape from Exile -or- Confusion and Contraction -or- How to Get Out of Hell, episode 9: In which Trevor and Nirgal find themselves at the End of The World Ball where Trevor addresses the crowd, sings them a song, dances with a beautiful young woman he’d never met before, and -ignoring a violent interruption- kisses her.

Cheating, Death – Appendix Z: About the Zombies
 
For more information, please visit:
http://modernevil.com/cheating-death/

Untrue Tales From Beyond Fiction – Recollections of an Alternate Past, Book Three: Escape from Exile -or- Confusion and Contraction -or- How to Get Out of Hell, episode 8: In which Trevor, Nirgal, and the Gollum share memories, come up with a plan that will allow the living to escape Hell, and take the ’scenic route’ out of it.
 
Also includes a promo for Mike Luoma’s new podiobook, Alibi Jones, a science fiction adventure.

This is another poem that was originally published in 2004 as part of The Vintage Collection, which I copied word for word and typo-for-typo from the hand-written and hand-typed originals. The intention was, as with my other, more recent poetry collections, to capture the raw immediacy of what was captured at the time. This poem is not part of a series; this poem, ‘In Mind’, is a “found” poem – which would have been obvious to you if you’d just listen to it. :p

Untrue Tales From Beyond Fiction – Recollections of an Alternate Past, Book Three: Escape from Exile -or- Confusion and Contraction -or- How to Get Out of Hell, episode 7: In which Trevor plays an intense, violent, and chaotic dodgeball game against Satan and the damned, then comes to terms with an outcome that is both somewhat less and far more than he’d expected it to be.
 
Also includes a promo for my new book, Cheating, Death, available now as an eBook and for pre-order in paperback (and coming soon to the podcast). If you like zombie books, you’ll enjoy Cheating, Death.

This is another poem that was originally published in 2004 as part of The Vintage Collection, which I copied word for word and typo-for-typo from the hand-written and hand-typed originals. The intention was, as with my other, more recent poetry collections, to capture the raw immediacy of what was captured at the time. This is the third of the ‘Love’ poems, and it is about the happy flowery version of love that people like to feel – but it’s also about the way modern use of the word ‘Love’ has diluted its meaning to the point of foolishness.

Untrue Tales From Beyond Fiction – Recollections of an Alternate Past, Book Three: Escape from Exile -or- Confusion and Contraction -or- How to Get Out of Hell, episode 6: In which Nirgal is nearly convinced to destroy the Gollum, then is reunited with his original party only to watch Trevor agree to duel the devil for a chance to free his friends.
 
Also includes promos for Calls for Cthulhu and its companion Calls For Cthulhu Podcast. Visit http://www.callsforcthulhu.com/ for more info.

This is another poem that was originally published in 2004 as part of The Vintage Collection, which I copied word for word and typo-for-typo from the hand-written and hand-typed originals. The intention was, as with my other, more recent poetry collections, to capture the raw immediacy of what was captured at the time. This is the second of the ‘Love’ poems, and it is also not about the happy flowery version of love that people like to feel.

Untrue Tales From Beyond Fiction – Recollections of an Alternate Past, Book Three: Escape from Exile -or- Confusion and Contraction -or- How to Get Out of Hell, episode 5: In which Nirgal’s first sexual encounter is transformed into an impossibly fast and visible reproductive act within an imagined biology at the whim of an ancient goddess, then finally finds out that his recent experiences may not have been at all what they’d seemed.
 
Also includes promos for Nathan Lowell’s podiobook South Coast, and for Greatest Uncommon Denominator Magazine.

This is another poem that was originally published in 2004 as part of The Vintage Collection, which I copied word for word and typo-for-typo from the hand-written and hand-typed originals. The intention was, as with my other, more recent poetry collections, to capture the raw immediacy of what was captured at the time. This is the first of only three ‘Love’ poems from this collection (though there were other love poems that are not part of the numbered series), and you can tell I wrote it immediately after working on the ‘Homicide’ series. But that’s how love is, sometimes, right?

Untrue Tales From Beyond Fiction – Recollections of an Alternate Past, Book Three: Escape from Exile -or- Confusion and Contraction -or- How to Get Out of Hell, episode 4: In which Nirgal eats breakfast, sings some more, and is drawn into an unbelievably detailed sexual encounter with a ghost-like nurse.
 
Also includes a promo for A.P. Stephens’ The Stolen Moon of Londor, and a mention of my new novel-in-progress, Cheating, Death, which you can read as I write it. Find out more at http://modernevil.com/cheating-death

This is another poem that was originally published in 2004 as part of The Vintage Collection, which I copied word for word and typo-for-typo from the hand-written and hand-typed originals. The intention was, as with my other, more recent poetry collections, to capture the raw immediacy of what was captured at the time. This is the last of the ‘Homicide’ poems from this collection, and it is a bit different. After last week’s poem stuck so rigidly to the syllabic structure of the 8 poems that came before it (yes, there is a ‘drip’ for every syllable in any one of the suicide poems or the first three homicide poems), this one is … not as structured. In fact, it’s a bit nuts. Hopefully it’s exactly as nuts as its content. Enjoy.

Untrue Tales From Beyond Fiction – Recollections of an Alternate Past, Book Three: Escape from Exile -or- Confusion and Contraction -or- How to Get Out of Hell, episode 3: In which Nirgal discusses the size and shape of Hell with his traveling companions, then sings with a whirlwind/demon to negotiate the party’s delivery from Hell directly to the Wolyd Centre.
 
Also includes a promo for Scott Roche’s Archangel, and a mention of my new “Subscribe to Teel McClanahan III” option which you can find out more about over at http://teelmcclanahan.com/subscribe.

This is another poem that was originally published in 2004 as part of The Vintage Collection, which I copied word for word and typo-for-typo from the hand-written and hand-typed originals. The intention was, as with my other, more recent poetry collections, to capture the raw immediacy of what was captured at the time. Or, in the case of this experimental poem, the intention was to create an experience that felt nearly as real for listeners as for the fictional subject of the poem. This is probably my favorite of the Homicide series. Try to listen to the entire thing.