Amazing Stories: Poetry Review - Transmissions to the Mystic Nebula

You can now read my latest speculative poetry review on Amazing Stories. It's a review of Christopher Vera's self-published collection "Transmissions to the Mystic Nebula". You may remember Chris was the mentor on my one and only poetic creation and it was published on his website Mystic Nebula. But this time it's about him and his wonderful, moving, intense collection of poetry. Here's a snippet:
 

Transmissions to the Mystic Nebula is a collection of intensely intimate poetry which map a life, somewhat (auto)biographical. Whether it’s the life of the poet himself or a fictional poet doesn’t makes no difference – you are pulled into an examination of events in a person’s life that are momentous and significant.

The collection is organized in a framework of communications with the “Mystic Nebula” by the/a (fictional) poet. This Science Fictional “story” is laid out at the beginning in a “Researchers Note” and the poems are punctuated by beautiful art depicting a Nebula and other space images with status reports regarding the “transmission”. The effect is...

Ah yes, well, you'll have to go to the post to read the rest! 

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Poetry: Scream Day, by William Markly O'Neal on Tales to Terrify

This weekend is big in all things Poetry with DivaDiane!

First, we have a poem I recited for the podcast Tales to Terrify. "Scream Day", by William Markly O’Neal, in which I scream and scream and scream and say some other words as well. It took me a long time to get this poem recorded well. My mic couldn't take the screaming and I'm not really a screamer, I'm a singer, after all. But I got a new mic - a Blue Snowball and it's great! I turned down the input volume and screamed away. I hope you enjoy it. You can go to the Tales to Terrify website and stream it there or download it or listen through iTunes.

Second, there's a new article of mine coming out tomorrow on Amazing Stories Magazine. Normally, it would've come out today, but we were having some issues with my access to the WordPress site and I wasn't able to upload everything myself, so it fell to publisher, Steve Davidson and he is a very busy guy. Anyway, keep an eye out for it then, the posts go up at about 11am or pop back over here tomorrow for the direct link and a little bit of exclusive info about it here!

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Flash Mobbing - Random Act of Culture in Paris, France

The Paris Choral Society, which is directed by Zach Ullery, who also directs the choir of the American Cathedral, will be performing The Messiah, by G.F. Handel Friday and Saturday, 22nd and 23rd of November at 20:00 (8pm) and 18:00 (6pm) respectively. As a means to advertise the performance and the choir, a Flash Mob event was organized.

In case you are one of those rare blog readers who doesn't know what a Flash Mob is, another name for it is "Random Act of Culture" (click the link to find out more) and they are a more or less seemingly spontaneous dance or musical offering in a public place unannounced to the people milling about or passing through. It usually happens at a train station, a public (outdoor) square or a Mall. Go here to watch a fantastic one on YouTube. And in fact, they are a YouTube phenomenon. There are many of them to watch. Enjoy!

I had the privilege to participate in one organized by the Paris Choral Society at the new Beaugrenelle Mall near my home in the 15th arondissement. We sang the Hallelujah Chorus from the Messiah by Handel and while the PCS is a pretty big choir, they asked members of the American Cathedral choir to join them and singers to bring other singer friends. The singers were arranged on balconies around a gallery. There was a piano on lowest level, where the accompanist and Zach were. When I arrived the mall was busy, but not packed. But it got fuller and fuller as the appointed hour neared and there was barely any space to stand at the balcony (which was the only way to see Zach). As it turned out, I couldn't see Zach no matter where I stood, and as there was hardly any room to move, I just gave up and tried to keep an eye on singers' mouths who could see him. And the piano was impossible to hear! Oh well. I think it turned out well though, if the preliminary videos is anything to go on.

I will post the video when it's available!

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Amazing Stories: Speculative Poetry Round-up October/November 2013

My latest blog post on amazing stories mag has gone live! As the title of this post indicates, it's all about the genre poetry you can read all over the web. It ranges from FanZines to professional journals, from the weird to science fiction and everything in between. Here's a snippet:

Hi there, genre poetry lovers! Here we are and it’s already November. In lieu of a review or interview this week, I’d like to present you with another round-up of the speculative poetry I’ve found online in the past month or so. It’s not all super current, meaning that you could’ve read some of this poetry months or even years ago, but I just found it, or was reminded of it, so maybe you haven’t seen it before either?

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How did I not know that Strange Horizons actually does a genre poetry podcast?! Anaea Lay, their poetry editor, has done a podcast of the poetry from the Indian issue, which appeared the last week of September 2013, and all of the poetry from October 2013. Poetry by Shweta Narayan, Marchell Dyon, Margarita Tenser, April Grant, and Richard Prins is featured, and you can also read everything on the Strange Horizons website.

Read the whole post here! If I missed anything put it in the comments on Amazing Stories!