Poetry the 13th: High Ground Valley Flashback/On the Midnight Stage by Walter Beck

Hello Misfits!

I’m Phoenix, your friendly Island poetry reviewer.  Long story short, I’m a college student, new godfather, LGBT activist, writer and fellow Misfit, who also happens to be friends with Diamant.  I aim to post a poetry review on the 13^th of each month, so if you have any you’d like to see featured here, please send it in!

We have a special author spotlight tonight, another of my good friends, Walter Beck.  Walter was actually the person who gave the idea for us to do poetry reviews, in addition to the book reviews, so his latest release is up first!  Being friends with Walter, I’m admitting my bias up front, but would also like to state that I originally contacted Walter because of his powerful poetry and political activism.  Our brotherhood grew organically from that soil of mutual interest.  So, without further ado, I bring you our first poetry review:

Beck’s latest release is notable from start to finish.  Akin to a double EP, it’s two separate releases married together into one.  I feel the whole thing paints a dichotomy of struggle vs. calm.

The struggle “album”, titled High Ground Valley Flashback:  The Early Days, features a cover depicting a dizzying, twisted, backwards photomanipulation of Beck; “We die young” scrawled across his chest in blood*, as he has been known to perform his works live in Indiana.  He describes this FourPlay as a collection of remixes of early works.  I describe it as “struggle” because I notice a unifying theme throughout, expressed as yells, shouts, sharp scents, battered, shirtless, still-bleeding scars of weary young warriors who take orders and march through the trenches of war, to claw and fight with heat.  All of these descriptors taken from this collection and remixed by me into the meaning I find in his words.  Whether that is the intended meaning or not, we may have to wait for an interview to find out.

These four poems use some great visualization and alliteration to present power struggle in a variety of forms, cultural warfare within the confines of a single, brick walkway and the mental worlds we escape to in order to make soul-numbing work bearable.  My favorite, however, is the “No Bad Publicity” Mix of Letter.  In what I’ve come to know as typical Walter fashion, he jauntily throws up his middle finger to those who would censor and sanitize his art, while priding themselves on so called “multiculturalism” and “diversity”.  I’m pretty certain that this speaks to Beck’s real-life experience, but it leaves me wondering how much is real and how much is poetic license.  An added bonus at the end of High Ground Valley Flashback is a photo of the writer in his natural habitat.

If you flip the book over, you find a print of an amazing painting our own, talented Jordan Diamant created of Walter.  I prefer this “album”, On the Midnight Stage, to the other.  Perhaps because this is an uncommon departure from Beck’s usual beautifully illustrated harshness and political frustrations into the land of love and romance.  The fashion of this album is that of calm, accentuated with human connection, sewn up with a thread of nature elements into one, big comfy pillow.

My favorite of this bunch, and the entire double EP, is Thawing Picture Frames.  Juxtaposing memories with newness, we find the poet transitioning from simple acts of love into true Eros.  This piece plays right into my heart, with things I personally find comforting.  I have my own bittersweet memories of new skin in badly ventilated, smoke-filled rooms, creaky gates in the summer sun, freaks playing beneath the midnight moon and the nostalgia of the photos that came before the popularity of digital cameras and smart phones.

When you put these two “albums” together as a whole, Beck takes you on a road trip from work life and dark hallways to embracing the raw essence of living in the moment and taking a rest stop to renew your spirit in hidden secrets, before journeying back to the norm.

You can purchase this compilation for $2 in the FourPlay section of the Writing Knights Press store and you can introduce yourself to Walter on facebook.  

*No cute, fluffy animals, humans or otherwise were harmed in the depiction of this poetry…  or were they…

Guest blog Time!

Stephen De Marino mans the island blog today as part of his spotlight week.

 When the Island of Misfit Independents invited me to write and to be a featured author, I was flattered beyond belief. But what to write about? I hadn’t a clue. I know, silly for a writer to not know what to write about. However, that’s me. So, I will go down that path, that has been well trod, of writing about writing, and why I write. Oh yeah, and I will have to write to do that, won’t I?

I am a misfit. Not the visible misfit, necessarily. I don’t have the large “freak flag” showing that many misfits proudly wear. I am a camouflage misfit. I don’t stand out, I fade into shadows, I blend in. Yet, people know instantly that I am different, that I don’t fit into their preconceived notions of what they think I am or might be, once they realize I am there.

I am a study in dichotomy and balance. I write poetry, sappy sometimes, and I was a rugby player. I write paranormal science fiction, I game, I enjoy nerdism, yet I coach football, like to lift weights, and to most people come across as a “manly man.” I get identified as an “alpha male” all the time, but I do not like dominance games, or to throw my weight around for no reason. I can run a bar, keep control of a tense situation, but screw up in one on one conversation all the time, and am terrified of talking in front of people if I have no authority over them. I am fiercely heterosexual, married with two children, I identify myself as a Christian man, but I am a big proponent of gay marriage, and I believe that other religions may very well have a path to God that will bring them to Him. I choose to believe in a loving, encompassing world, I do my best to reject the negative nastiness that is all around us. I know it is not real, but I work to make it so. I try in all things to have a balance between strength and softness. Between compassion and conviction, between hope and reality, between run and pass, between description and dialogue, between intellect and interest, between the light and the dark. It is not an easy line; it’s what makes me a freak, is that I would even try to balance all these things.

My appearance does not help. I am a big man, 300 pounds, with all the appearance of an aging ex-jock. Many people look at my shaved head, and my tattoo, my size, and assume I am a judgmental redneck-type. Others, who read my work, expect me to be some soft mushy guy who lives with his mother and plays video games all day. I don’t live with my mother, but I am a bit softer that I wish to be. But I still dance, I coach football, I walk to work, I am somewhat active with my son and my job. Yes, I have been prone to playing video games all day when I don’t have to work, and don’t have the kids in the house. Yet, if I hadn’t knocked my head so many times, I would probably still try to play rugby at least a few times a year despite how much it hurts when I do. I shave my head, more out of convenience and a fading vanity more than a political statement. I refuse to shave my goatee off, for similar reasons. I seem to constantly surprise people, who look at me and expect just another ex-jock, or older nerd, and try to limit me, and expect limited conversation back. But I give them my best, I go in-depth on the subject, I try to learn a little something from each of them, and occasionally try to teach something back. Shocking, I know, right? Try to have an intelligent conversation…sheesh, what am I thinking?
 

After listening to me ramble, here I am finally getting to the point! Be who you are, don’t worry about whether or not anyone else accepts you. You are a misfit or you wouldn’t be here. Think about the word…mis-fit. (As compared to Mrs. Fit, that bitch you really hate at the gym or sport club.) You do not fit, you are odd, unusual, strange in some way. That’s why you write, paint or sing. These are our outlets, our way to express ourselves, to establish some control over the weirdness and the pain that is our lives. A way to declare ourselves, to try and find others like us. We do not fit with most, so we try to find, through our art, be it word, song or image, try to find others who can accept us, even if they are not like us. You may be queer, you may be fat, you may be odd, or just plain. So long as you are willing to cast aside your judgment of us, and accept us, we in turn will bring you in, give you a place to be, a place to call your own. There is no hate here, other than a hatred of being alone in a world where that is far too common. Welcome to the Island. Try not to trip over all the square pegs. 

Stephen

 
http://www.amazon.com/13-Tales-Paranormal-ebook/dp/B005UNM7JY/ref=sr_1_2_bnp_1_kin?ie=UTF8&qid=1377260035&sr=8-2&keywords=13+tales+of+the+paranormal

Interview Q&A Spot light week Two Stephen De Marino

Spotlight Day two: Author Stephen De Marino 's Q& A 

Interview Questions :

1. What shaped your imagination as a child, and do you feel that because of this your imagination as an adult is just as strong?  
My parents read to me from a young age, and my Mother, especially read me a great spread of stories.  We have a book, Tyler Gerber’s Big Red Book, which was published way back in 1942. Many of my early child hood imaginations came from stories in this book, though I didn’t always realize it until much later. I would constantly create entire worlds, scenarios, maps. I loved, and still love drawing imaginary maps of place I wanted to write about.

2. Did you have imaginary friends? Do you still have them and have they grown up with you? 

I was too grounded I think in many ways, I didn’t have the “friends” that a lot of kids have, the fully developed person that they blame stuff on, that ran around with them. None of the “Calvin and Hobbes” action for me. I did however constantly imagine myself in different roles, as a space captain, pirate captain, cannibal chief, corporate captain, captain of industry, steamboat captain. Something to do with nifty hats I think…

3. What is your earliest memory of reading? 

The earliest memory I have of reading on my own is actually the newspaper. I read the newspaper from a very young age (3-4 years old) and would read about these events that were happening the world over. I found it pretty fascinating. 

4. What was the first story you ever told and how old were you? 

 I would have to say the first story ever told was to my mother about how Heather Steele stole the cookies and not me when I was three. However, the first story I ever wrote down that I remember was in my early teens. I was writing a piece about how a choir boy turned into a mercenary because of the teasing that happened to him. Somewhat self-based.

5. What inspires your creative world? 

That’s a pretty complicated question, and one I constantly wonder about myself to be honest. I draw inspiration from many sources, but especially most recently, my children. My Daughter, Sarah is an aspiring young artist, and a misfit herself. My son, Vito has a vibrant and fertile imagination that is astounding and makes me wonder how my Mother handled me as a child without losing her own mind. He radiates images so loudly it’s hard to think about your own stuff at times. I read heavily in the Masters of Science Fiction, Isaac Asimov, Larry Niven, Gordon Dickson, Herbert, Poul Anderson, Heinlein.

6. What would you want readers to know about you in order for them to understand the world you create?

 I don’t know that they need to necessarily need to know ANYTHING about me to understand the world I create, if I have done my job well. I want what I write to be complete enough and properly constructed enough that they can get it without knowing anything about the author.  I don’t necessarily have an “agenda” that needs to be imprinted upon them. Folks can draw their own conclusions and their own ideas from my stories, without my leading them in a particular way. Indeed, it is interesting to see what different people have gotten out of the story I am currently writing, without my telling them anything about it.

7. What's your 'writing ritual'? 

Coffee in my right hand, brain in my left. Seriously, though, most mornings after my work out I get into my SCP (Steve Command Post) chair with the laptop and work for a bit in the mornings while my wife is on the treadmill. When I am going to write for an extended period, I set myself up with my thesaurus, my copy of Sin and Syntax, any research materials, and take two deep breaths and dive in.

8. Who are your favourite Indy authors currently?  

Well, honestly, right now, you guys [Diamant]. I *blush* must admit to being a newbie to the indy scene, but I am learning rapidly. Most of my initial experience with the independent authors has been from an editing standpoint rather than as a writer. Writing short pieces for anthologies and such helped me dip my toe in…then it got grabbed and sucked me up to my navel. Here I am. 

(* Blogger note : Awwww :D Thanks!!!) 

9. Do you feel there is anything that holds you back as an author? 

 Pretty much everything. I work full time. I like spending time with my kid and wife. I have a horrible video game addiction. I am a lazy bastard in general. Oh yeah, add in Facebook, watching football, and you know…reading stuff. So yes pretty much the whole darn world holds me back. The only thing forcing me onward, honestly, is the fact that I promised Michelle (my ornery, lovely, amazing, stubborn wife) that I would finish this book. She has read several of my false starts and always got pissed when I didn’t finish them. So…onward I go.

10. What advice would you give to new indies about the art of self-publishing?   

Make time to write, keep it separate from your time to promote. Write in the morning, deal with promotion in the afternoon. Or, if like Aubrey you work at night, write before work, promote after work.  Also, if you get a book deal, get a signed contract, get a lawyer to look it over. Be diligent. Business is business, and friends are friends, but always check your numbers, always check your accounts. Don’t assume. If you do not watch out for yourself, no one else will. 

Last, get yourself a good editor. If you need to pay for one, fine. If it’s your friends, fine. But get someone who will not be a “teddy bear” and will tell you what is broken or not working in your book .A good proofreader/editor is worth their weight in gold. They can help you with your art, they can help you be a better writer, they can be the coach that you need to become more, to get your story to its full potential.  At the same time, comments about HOW you write, take in.  Comments about WHAT you write, stuff in the orifice of your choice.

Though there are a ton of horror stories out there, have fun! Welcome to the world of writers. We are weird, strange, and bizarre folks, but we work hard to make new worlds. Being an independent writer means you are on the cusp of an amazing revolution in the literary world.

 

Week two spotlight is an unpublished author with a work in progress.

This is why I chose author Stephen De Marino; once again when I was looking for the first four authors in to start us out I put names in a hat. What made me place Stephen's name in the hat was that he'd just recently sent me pages to read from his WIP.

I took the pages with me to work, on occasion after I had run the audit, and finished all tasks on my checklist, I would have time to look over projects, and books, people send me to read. I read Stephen's pages very quickly, not because they were a quick read, but because I was riveted.

His work excited me on a level that I had not felt in quite some time. As I say each author I spotlight has given me a spark and a reason to offer them a slot be they published or not. Strongly descriptive words building a world for me that I felt was akin to one of my favourite authors Raymond Chandler. I'll be speaking more on that when I post my review of his work.

I shared the pages with my co-worker who is always up to reading new authors, He enjoyed what he read as well, and gave me his opinion on it.

We all start somewhere, and we all need that chance to be recognised for the worlds we build and share. There are many of you out there; I know this, and that is why I am giving you spotlights as well. I wrote my first book when I was fifteen, twenty-two years later I am finally sharing my work with the world. It takes a certain kind of steel in the veins to be an indy in my book, Stephen took the chance to show me something. He put it on the line, and is one of us who dared to dream.
Sorry this is so late, I will make it up to you, Steve.

Aubrey
 

http://www.amazon.com/13-Tales-Paranormal-ebook/dp/B005UNM7JY/ref=sr_1_2_bnp_1_kin?ie=UTF8&qid=1377260035&sr=8-2&keywords=13+tales+of+the+paranormal

 

 Guest blogger Author Stevie Conradi on how she returned to writing and the discovery of Indie author community. 

 How I re-discovered writing (with a little help from my friend ): I originally started writing when I was about 12 years old. I always had a soft spot for angsty stories staring my favourite characters. Sometimes I felt there wasn't enough angst in my favourite shows, so I started to create my own. My first ever story was a 2.5 pages, handwritten story about TJ Hooker (yes, I'm that old, lol). What I didn't realise until much later was, that this was my way of dealing with the chaos in my family (first, absent father, then later abusive step-father). Eventually, my stories grew longer and more complex, but they were still fan fiction. And since it was too much of an effort to always translate my stories for my English speaking pen pals, I started writing in English altogether. 

My most active fandoms were Star Trek (in my earlier days) and then later Nash Bridges and Third Watch. I can't really pinpoint when I stopped writing, but I think it was when I was about 20. It was the time when I met my fiancé and moved out from home. There was no need to deal with those family problems any more, plus with a relationship, professional training and then later university, there simply wasn't enough time. But looking back, I have to say there was always something missing, like something nagging at the back of your head. 

Then in 2009 I met a fellow Pet Shop Boys fan after a concert in Berlin. Once she learned I used to write, she urged me to start again. And that's exactly what I did. Again, I started with fan fiction. My first 'new area' story was 4 pages typed. Then my friend and I started to write together and eventually, our stories became longer and longer (we have a WIP which is over 80 pages already and is nowhere near finished). Then, with us being fans of some of the same stuff, like Sherlock Holmes and Victorian London, and Diamant looking for authors for their urban fantasy anthology Other Voices, we started writing something original. And now I have to say, my life feels complete again. The nagging voice at the back of my head is gone - or rather it now urges me on to find time to write. And guess what? I officially call myself an "author" now and it feels damn good! 

Stevie

 https://www.facebook.com/StevieConradi?fref=ts