Pond 35 - 2017 |
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Thank you authors and readers alike for making 2017 a great year for SPANK the CARP. Thank you too to all those who have supported StC through Support donations, Patreon, and tip jars. May the overlords take pity on you when they arrive to take their planet back.
The next issue will be February 1st, 2018. Look for an announcement in that issue. We have another great set of pieces this issue and because of the great response, I’ve kept the E.E. Cummings profile one more issue. - Ken
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P O E M
Craig McVay’s ‘The Twins’ takes the hard brave road of portraying what most would consider losers as they are, letting us make our own moral judgments.
S H O R T S T O R Y
‘Three Sets of Eyes’ by Kurt Mancino packs excellent character portrayal and mystery into a tightly written gem.
S H O R T S T O R Y
IMHO humorous sci-fi is hard to pull off. It usually reads like bootleg Douglas Adams or Dr. Who. Not so ‘The Good Samaritan’ by Margret Treiber. You’re in for a treat.
Author Profile - E.E. Cummings
If you haven’t read any of his unique poems, I’m jealous of you. A new world of beauty and sheer creativity awaits you. As you will see, Cummings was a real person, who lived a real and messily human life, and as such is a perfect inspiration for all of us. Enjoy Dr. Rosenblitt’s profile, and please do check out her book for in depth analysis of the genius of E.E. Cummings. (See Author's Row below) |
P O E M
‘Bust a Move’ by Deborah Guzzi is a real slap in the face of all those horrible sappy life is beautiful poems that I’m sure each of us has suffered through.
S H A P E P O E M
Mae West would get a kick out of ‘A poem called Cliché’ by Carolina Morales.
S H O R T S T O R Y
Who says we can’t have a little fun and be informative at the same time? Check out ‘Weekly Meeting’ by A. Elizabeth Herting.
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SPECIAL NOTE: Poetry is for everyone. Help me spread the beauty of poetry beyond StC. If you know of a local newspaper that might be amenable to publishing poetry, or if you have direct connections to such an outlet, please let me know. Either contact me at [email protected] or have them contact me. - Ken S.
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AUTHOR'S ROW
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Fred McGavran
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J. Alison Rosenblitt
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Patrick Reardon
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"McGavran’s are stories of obsession and experience. They are the stories of characters who are nearing death and who are thinking about what they will leave behind. They are deeply human, and entirely serious, with a touch of humor and a little bit of magic to light the way." - Anna Kasik, Englewood Review of Books
Hear Roberta Schultz's review on WVXU |
This volume is a major, ground-breaking study of the modernist E. E. Cummings’ engagement with the classics. With his experimental form and syntax, his irreverence, and his rejection of the highbrow, there are probably few current readers who would name Cummings if asked to identify 20th-century Anglophone poets in the Classical tradition. But for most of his life, and even for ten or twenty years after his death, this is how many readers and critics did see Cummings. In E.E. Cummings’ Modernism and the Classics, Alison Rosenblitt aims to recover for the contemporary reader this lost understanding of Cummings as a classicizing poet. Oxford Univ. Press
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In “Requiem for David,” Patrick T. Reardon wrestles with the suicide of his brother and the pain they shared as the children of demanding and emotionally absent parents. Novelist-poet Sandra Cisneros calls Reardon's book “the heart’s howl,” and poet Haki Madhubuti writes: “Reardon’s poetry reminds me of the great poet and Catholic priest, Daniel Berrigan.”
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William Swarts
Readers praise William Swarts’ latest poetry collection, Harmonies Unheard: for example, ”Bill Swarts rewards us with poetry of an often delightful earthiness and much ironic humor,” says Black Buzzard Press publisher and poet Bradley Straham. “This is a book not to be missed.” And, University of Vermont English Professor Emeritus Richard Sweterlitsch agrees, “His verses resonate with rich images; his themes are universal.”
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Ken Poyner
A collection of fantastical mini-fictions. A man who encounters mammoth rustlers. Houses that begin to move on their own, forcing the inhabitants to finally introduce themselves to their neighbors. Giant chickens that are hunted for processing in the chicken sandwich industry. And much more.
Humor, irony, mythical realism, surrealism, soft science fiction. |
Ken Schweda
If you enjoy thought provoking, unusual science fiction, that might not even make sense the first time you read it, then this book of short stories is for you.
A summary for them might be: first contact, pig, birds and black holes, conspiracy, more birds, lunacy (or not?), lost time. Your reaction to each story might be something like: ? ? ? , , , ? . . . !!! , , ? |
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Peter Dabbene
You've got spam! And so does everyone else. But what happens when you reply to those spam e-mails?
Peter Dabbene poses as his alter ego, Dieter P. Bieny—a man who gives spammers just enough hope to keep them coming back for more abuse. |
Jacqueline Jules
“Jules’ gift is in finding the small moments — green paisley pajamas, carrot cake, the giggle of a nine-year-old boy — and gracefully elevating them to tell the story of a life. If half of all marriages end in widowhood, Stronger Than Cleopatra is a manual for how to go on.”
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Jeanne Julian
The changing seasons provide a framework for these poems that explore the loss and rebirth in the natural world and in the spirit. "These poems challenge and resonate; the reader will be haunted by them." - David E. Poston, author of Slow of Study
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Ken Poyner
Forty-two surreal, irreal, subreal fictions of master bird races, nine foot tall women, chickens and their cell phones, the collection and consumption of oxygen, a surrogate lover for a mermaid.
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Brett Stuckel
Guided by Shadows: A Westward Walk on Spain's Camino de Santiago. Discover the absurdity of Europe’s most famous pilgrim path (a Kindle eShort, ~15,000 words, also available for Nook and Kobo).
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Carol Roan
When Last on the Mountain: The View from Writers over 50 offers nonfiction, fiction, and poetry that range from the heart-wrenching to the hilarious. Who better to bear witness to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune than writers over 50?
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Carol Roan
Speak Up: The Public Speaking Primer is an inspirational guide through the thickets of stage fright, in all its forms, to the freedom of speaking up. The journey begins with a breathing exercise and wends its way through practical advice about the use of space and energy.
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William Quincy Belle
Fate can be kind. Fate can be cruel. However, every once in a while, fate can be funny. This is the lust love story of how one man met the most unusual of women in the most unusual of circumstances.
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