042219c

Water Bear Boy

1.
 Looms like an alien war machine,
slow as a sloth,
bullets won't stop him.
Betty was his mom's BFF;
she won't let her daughter Hillary
(named for the president) go out with him,
but the way Hillary trailed her bare
hand along his armored flank
gave him a subsonic shock:
instant diarrhea for everyone within 30 feet,
except Hillary, perhaps because she was so close,
his face a burning brick, she laughs
“Did you see that bitch Lorna? OMG!“

2.
 Hillary plans to major in biology
“I don't think I'll get to go to college“ he whispers
“What, why? You tell those bastards--“
but a siren cuts across her outrage.
Love, he tells himself,
lumbering towards the First Mid-Am Bank
where a Cadillac idles by the curb;
masked men come running out,
sacks and handguns clutched,
the latter aimed back inside,
“Water Bear Boy!“ one shouts,
and they all go Bang! Bang! Bang!
He puts his forefeet on the trunk
as they all dive through the open doors,
claws sink thru asphalt and grip,
rubber squeals like a stuck pig, burns.
Soon enough, Sheriff Dan
takes the corner on two smokin' wheels;
“I've got it from here,“ he says. 

3.
 WBB has a tutor, he
doesn't ft thru the doors at R. W. Johnson H.S,
freaks are not welcome anyway,
so says almost everyone.
His tutor, Mrs Crabb, never smiles,
left her smile in her other suit, Dad says,
but “she's the only one who would help you.“
Hillary would, WBB thinks,
but her mom's a you-know-what
and won't allow it. 

4. 
They meet on White's farm, abandoned long ago,
house burned, barn sagging, rusty red tractor
out standing in its feld, weeds up to here.
Water bears, formally tardigrades,
are arthropods, Hillary says,
they can survive in pure alcohol, even liquid nitrogen
(“Holy freakin' cow,“ he says, though he googled this years ago).
Turns out Hillary has a thing for arthropods,
has an ant farm, pins Lepidoptera,
studied horseshoe crabs for a
6th-grade science project (“2nd at State“),
so WBB's exoskeleton (hard, shiny,
covered with sensory hairs) doesn't freak her out;
his cock, a standard human appendage,
will do just fne, too, it seems. 

5.
 “Wonder if you're fertile,“ Hillary muses,
lying back in the grass, hands behind her head.
Now she's freaking him out:
he's never even touched a baby,
never had a job and, and ... “shh,“ she says,
“You're a hero."


From Metastable Systems, Ebook $2.99
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/760901  

090417e

                                  Metastable Systems

I have a new book of spec poetry, Metastable Systems, out now (ISBN-13: 978-1-936021-57-4). If you want a pdf copy for potential review, let me know. Also, please tell me where your reviews are usually published.

This is a full-length book, including both unpublished poems and reprints.

You can get a pdf from me for $3 to jopnquog@gmail.com at paypal. Various digital versions available on Smashwords for $2.99 (https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/760901); print copies $13 from me, postpaid.

David

My Books That Are Still Available

the egg show, speakeasy press, poetry, 2005, ISBN 0-9762962-0-9 ($40, entirely handmade including the paper) http://www.speakeasypress.com/folded/foldedeggshow.html

Nursery Rhyme Noir, Sam's Dot publishing, short fiction, 2008, 978-09821068-3-9, 2nd printing, http://store.albanlake.com/ and Smashwords

Brushfires, Sam's Dot publishing, poetry, 2010 http://store.albanlake.com/ and Smashwords

The Tin Men (with Kendall Evans), Sam's Dot, poetry, 2011 http://store.albanlake.com/

The Edible Zoo, Sam's Dot, children's poetry, 2012, available from author, jopnquog@gmail.com at paypal ($10)

Luminous Worlds, Dark Regions Press, poetry, 2013, ISBN 978-1-937128-92-0, Dark Regions, also amazon.com

SETI Hits Paydirt, Popcorn Press, poetry, 2014, Popcorn Press, also amazon.com

Gods and Monsters, Popcorn Press, flash fiction, 2015, Popcorn Press, also amazon.com

Metastable Systems, Diminuendo Press, poetry, 2017, ISBN-13: 978-1-936021-57-4, from me (see above)

Did I happen to mention?

My latest SF poetry chapbook, SETI Hits Paydirt, is now an ebook:

http://www.drivethrufiction.com/product/161767/SETI-Hits-Paydirt?site=&

"On the Brink of Never" on sale

Apocalyptic poetry anthology e-book, half price!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/173579377571/permalink/10151796453327572/

Luminous Worlds now available as an ebook

My book of dark poetry, Luminous Worlds, is now a $2.99 ebook at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Luminous-Worlds-ebook/dp/B00G799OF0/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1382882872&sr=1-1&keywords=luminous+worlds

Ebook of Nursery Rhyme Noir on sale this week

Just $2 foe 30,000 words of nursery rhymes, death, & puns!

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/42875

50% if you use this coupon code BC35L

On sale thru Dec. 15th

barking up the wrong book

My latest poetry book came out as an e-book. I've never read an e-book, and I will continue to not do so as long as the things I want to read are available in dead-tree format. I can already see a day, probably within the next few years, when I will have to get an e-book reader because the younger authors whom I follow will probably publish only in that format. Sad. You can't look at a wall full of bookshelves covered with e-books, all stored on a single electronic device 6 inches high and 4 inches wide, and get the sense of satisfaction that musty pulp gives. Just last night I started reading a novel by Kate Wilhelm, published in the 1970s, which my wife bought back then, and some of the pages fell out! You don't get that kind of excitement from an e-book. Plus, when you fall asleep reading a bark book, and it falls to the floor, so what, even if the dog does eat it. The same certainly cannot be said for an e-book reader.

Brushfires on Smashwords

My latest book of poetry, "Brushfires," is now available as an e-book from Smashwords, at the price of $2.25. Here is the link:

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/54253

Brushfires includes a lot of new poetry never published anywhere else, as well as poems covering the last couple of decades of my work. And it has a cover by the incomparable Richard Fay.

If you want some examples of the kind of poems I write, check out the archives of www.strangehorizons.com

Nursery Rhyme Noir now an ebook

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/samsdot

Talking animals, murder, low humor. Yes, we're talking Mother Goose. Hasp Deadbolt was never needed more than right now! It's too late for the pussy in the well, but who may be next?

Here's the direct link. The book's available in lots of formats.

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/42875

Luc Reid's new flash e-book

Hello,



I wonder if you'd be interested in a free review copy of my new eBook, Bam! 172 Hellaciously Quick Stories, a vast collection of flash fiction. It's something to read one story at a time at bus stops and in line at the grocery store, or else to read a dozen stories at a sitting. Bam! follows normal characters in strange and impossible situations: parallel universes, robot insurrections, inexplicable light bulb thefts ... it tells of Cinderella's divorce, inventions gone horribly wrong, heartbreaking successes, children with the power of gods, a self-aware teddy bear forgotten for decades in a toy box, and much more that is unlikely and yet (one hopes) familiar and meaningful.



I'm a Writers of the Future winner, the author of a popular blog about the psychology of habits (www.willpowerengine.com), the founder of the Codex writers' group, a former radio commentator for Jacksonville, Florida NPR affiliate WJCT, a founding member of the flash fiction group The Daily Cabal (www.dailycabal.com), and a columnist for Futurismic (www.futurismic.com). My fiction and non-fiction have appeared in Strange Horizons, Clarkesworld, Abyss & Apex, Brain Harvest, and elsewhere.



If you're interested in reading and possibly posting your candid opinions about the book on a blog, Amazon, or elsewhere, I'd be happy to provide you with a free review copy. I expect to have a print edition out next year, but currently only electronic formats are available:



* .mobi (Amazon Kindle and some other eReaders)
* .EPUB (most other eReaders)
* HTML
* Microsoft Word
* Adobe Acrobat (.PDF)



If your computer, smart phone, iTouch, or eReader needs a different format, just let me know.



Best wishes,

Luc Reid