I know I’ve posted about this a lot lately, so I’ll be quick. Today Shades & Shapes in the Dark has launched and I’m so excited for you all to read it. If you’re in the Denver area, swing by at 1pm at Prodigy Coffee in Denver for our book release party.
Find the ebook and paperbacks at https://books2read.com/u/4NEqGo
Audiobook news soon!
I’m so excited to announce, that tomorrow, my dark fantasy horror novel, Shades & Shapes in the Dark launches!
The Audiobook is still finishing up production but will follow close behind in the next week or two. I will announce when that arrives.
To celebrate the release, me and several of my amazing author friends are gathering at Prodigy Coffee where we will be sharing some of our work. I’m so very fortunate to have such talented author friends. Check out their bios and links in the slides below!
If you’re in the Denver area tomorrow, you should join us from 1pm-3pm at Prodigy Coffee!
You can also check out the first and second chapters of Shades & Shapes in the Dark over on YouTube if you’re curious but aren’t sure if it’s for you.
You read that right. Everything I’ve published since 2018 is free for the next seven days on Smashwords. Trying to kick your amazon habit lately? Well, you can buy all of my books on Smashwords instead… or rather, just add them to your library because they are totally free. Even if you already have copies elsewhere, why not pick them up on a different service?
Good News! I’m almost finished Shades & Shapes in the Dark, the first novel in my dark fantasy/horror series. The first book is getting one final readthrough before it goes to the editor. Expect a release date and preorder launch soon.
But as I am wrapping up that one, I’m already almost finished the first draft of the second book, and I have written a large portion of books 3, and 4.
Sometimes when I’m working on something, the image of the cover is so clear to me, that I just have to sit down and bring it to life. But first, I thought it might be good to tell you a little more about the forthcoming series.
The four book series, Shades and Shapes in the Dark is the story of 9 year old Clarissa Lamont accidently unleashing something sinister from an ancient ritualistic site in the middle of a forest in the suburbs of Philadelphia, and her four decade long struggle to first understand the nature of this shadow monster, and then find ways to fight it.
The first book, Shades & Shapes in the Dark focuses on her first encounter with the shadow monster, she names Demon, and her early attempts to defend herself from it’s relentless hunger.
Book 2, Through An Endless Darkness Gleaming focuses on Clarissa’s teenager years and her attempts to forge a weapon and find new tools and knowledge to combat the shadow.
Book 3, An Illumination of Extraordinary Madness, focuses on Clarissa’s 20’s as she finds new knowledge and skills to protect the people she loves.
Finally, Book 4 titled, The Nature of Twilight At Dawn, deals with Clarissa’ growing into herself in her 30s, and her final confrontation with the monster in her 40s.
I’ve already released the cover for Shades & Shapes in the Dark, but today, I’m excited to release to you the cover and cover art, for book 2, Through and Endless Darkness Gleaming. Each chapter of each book contains a poem that tells a truth about Clarissa’s world.
Through and endless darkness gleaming,
Where time ceases flowing and streaming,
And the wicked things are dreaming,
In the sea of the infinite more.
The white raven’s feathers flutter,
Over a child’s head who has no rudder,
Lost in despair so utter,
As she walks across the bone strewn shore.
For Whosoever shall borrow a favor,
Will forever savor, the flavor
Of the first science’s power of darkest, blackest lore.
For that power always has a price,
In contracts made with language precise,
Made with the devils forged in the fires of the forgotten before
But perhaps a bargain made can be broken,
For her power, is only a token,
Of the loss she suffered, and the pain she made others endure
Unbound is that magic that came with the pact,
Another hidden clause in the contract,
For power seeps from the very cracks,
The cracks hidden in the earth’s deepest core
Oh friend,
Be careful what you say,
Or what you give away,
Because reader,
The danger
is greater
than before.
Preorder for my novel, Shades and Shapes in the Dark will begin soon! The book is headed off to the editor next week. The nove is a dark fantasy/horror story set beginning in the 90s and span 40 years. The story is about a dark force, that follows the main character Clarissa through her life, and how she must learn to fight back, ultimately drawing on ancient magic and wisdom. The first book begins when she is only 9 years old, and encounters the shadowlike creature for the first time.
Each chapter in the novel has a poem that opens the piece. Sometimes this poem is something to do with the character, sometimes narrative information for the reader, sometimes foreshadowing, and sometimes it includes a bit of the lore of the world.
Chapter 10 is titled: The Shadow of Samhain. It takes place on Halloween and, of course, since it’s the season, I thought I would share that opening poem.
Come all ye, gathering shades,
The time of Samhain is at hand,
We will rise to rot and scatter,
Our blight across the land.
For the first of us comes at witching hour,
To seek his contractual prize,
Lust for power brings him strength,
With every victim’s demise
But a bargain struck will not go unpaid,
A boon of power is owed,
It matters not who is struck down,
Nor the depth and breadth of your woe
More news of the novel, including the release date and more is just around the corner!
For the last ten years I’ve been teaching college courses in Anthropology and Geography. But last month I signed on to join Teach for America where I will transition into teaching middle school or high school. Sometimes at the end of the semester I would recite this poem for students, to try and capture everything we’ve learned in the entire term. Also, I wrote this about two years ago, and I realized recently that I never actually posted it even though it’s one of my favorite pieces that I’ve written.
This spoken word poem is inspired by the core message of Anthropology so artfully put by Horace Minor many years ago. he said that anthropology is, “Making the strange familiar and the familiar strange.”
This poem also appears in my book, A Luminous Liminality: A Collection of Poetry and Art
It’s all about relations,
No I don’t mean sexual intercourse,
I mean how people build their foundations
How they relate to causation, or build a nation
And what they consider freedom and liberation
The tracks of humanity don’t just stop at one station
The imagination is filled with endless destinations
Everyone has hopes and dreams, sorrows and frustrations
Everyone wants to experience the sensation of cessation of suffering and damnation
Options
We are a range of cultural options
Our choices are the result of a kind of cultural adoption
Humans are a wonder to be sure
We explore, go on tour, only to identify what we consider pure and impure
We fight wars because we are insecure, but wait there’s so much more.
For every detour we endure, we can also find the cure
For our madness
For every act of hate, there one of love pushing back against the sadness
The thoughts people carry are the result of causes and conditions
A steady diet of enculturation a kind of cultural brain nutrition
Of what’s clean and dirty, right and wrong
How best to gather food or sing a song
How to unify a community and get along
Culture is about adapting and understanding where you belong
So much of it is arbitrary but we claim tradition is important because it has. Gone. On. So. Long.
But tradition is selection of past perceptions
Rooted in imagined past and cultural objections
There’s nothing inevitable about the paths we choose
The things we keep, the things we loose,
Or how we use and abuse one another
When we forget that all beings have once been our mothers
And we yell and scream and blame one other.
For our problems
And so it’s relative, the way we know
Our goals, dreams, aspirations, the places that we go
Flow below the assumptions and you will find a place to grow
But take it slow.
Because if you think you know,
You’re wrong.
Relativism is a practice,
lifelong
And that beginners mind, keeps you from getting too headstrong
Don’t assume right or wrong
Just be curious, instead of furious.
Cultural relativism is poison, a disease?
Oh please, I’ve got no interest to appease
The keyboard warriors whose agenda is to throw feces
Like our primate cousins…
Relativism doesn’t mean you allow ignorance to thrive,
It means you contrive to understand what it means to be human and alive
The things we do to survive and strive for
Opens the doors to more
Possibilities
Because every culture is a library of wonder
They all have lessons and wisdom bright with lightning and thunder
So shut up,
listen,
and put down your hands
You don’t have to like, but you should try to understand
Fresh this morning at the end of February of 2024, here is a piece of spoken word poetry titled, Growth. Text is below the video.
Organic,
Certified fresh on grocery store shelves,
Shopping in civility,
In and out like seashells,
On sea shores with shifting tides,
Circulating trash.
There,
Standing over there,
Something untenable,
Titanic,
Trembling walls of plastic,
Like tumors,
Like free trade,
Growing beyond the boundaries of what was always bountiful.
Circulating wealth into the center,
But consecrating that concentration cannot hold,
Beyond borders,
Beyond beauty,
Creeping towards climaxes of cataclysm, catastrophe,
Coffins at higher costs.
Then,
Virtual panoramas rise,
Hiding villainous views.
Prisons of perspective,
Pluralities of Plutocracies,
Lending to lingering hours,
days, weeks, months, years,
of long, lonely lifetimes.
A gaping maw of similarity,
Simulations without suspense of belief in the simulacra.
Marvels generated in single seconds,
For sensual,
Bread and circuses.
Divide and conquer,
Squabble and squander,
The grass is green of yonder,
Keeping you somber,
Silent, with overtly simple explanations,
Of Black and White thinking.
So you can,
Demonstrate your diligence.
Your dedication, and deliberate reconstruction,
Of that simulation,
Of that model,
Of the other,
So that,
Nothing ever grows in you.
Because,
Your certainty shopping at certified organic store shelves,
Is the only ritual you need.
Sometimes I think about why I became an anthropologist, about what my goals in the profession were. I think about what I’ve done with my life and what I want to do. So I guess, here’s what I have to say.
I took this photo in Oregon in May of 2022.
I have dreams of walking the world,
And resting in the arms of it’s people,
To sit and sip their hearts desires,
To journey through every kind of steeple.
I have dreams of walking the world,
To touch all it’s natural wonders,
To walk through every stormy night,
My path illuminated by lightning and thunder.
I have dreams of walking the world,
Even if it means my death,
For what better way to end your life,
By learning and loving with every breath.
I have dreams of walking the world,
And discovering all the ways I am wrong,
To learn of all my weaknesses and limitations,
Because it is the whole world to which we belong.
Hello everyone,
I decided to launch a Substack to connect with my fans of my work. I will still continue posting here on this website as always, but additional content will available on substack. The content on there will include my artwork, poetry, blogs about writing and worldbuilding, personal growth, anthropology, philsophy, YouTube Videos, Podcasts, and Recorded discussions and more.
The vast majority of my posts on substack will be free to anyone, you need only sign up for a free account. But, I will also have paid subscriber content as well include free access to every short story I publish and sometimes advanced review copies or audiobooks versions of my work. So, if you enjoy my work, consider heading over to my substack and signing up and supporting me and the things I create.
You always hear… wherever you go there you are. But who are you?
They say, Wherever you go, there you are
But I am no where to be found
I circle round all day looking
And find nothing even remotely profound
The when of me isn’t looking much better
For I will die again soon
But if I am willing to die every single moment
I can dance with the spirit of the moon
The urge to transform I cannot suppress
Nor is it a journey light of heart
To delve deep into myself in all it’s intimacy
Is to tear my ego apart
Wherever I go is not where I will be
But a moment just past recognition
I slip away so suddenly
Beyond the unknown and into a permanent state of transition
I cannot grasp the formless
And certainly not my mind
For I am not an individual
At least, nothing so easily defined
It turns out I am made from simple things
Contexts and conditions of endless configurations
To know them well is to know the source of all things
And get closer to some kind of liberation
It requires a little madness to begin
To start the process going
So I will let go of the ways I think and feel
And consider another way of knowing
Loridian's Laboratory 