3 New Book Covers

Every so often, I redesign book covers just to keep them fresh (and because my visual art becomes stale to me after a while). These are the latest three.

The Utopian / Dystopian Compass

As published in The Juice and Other Stories. Photo by Bakr Magrabi on Pexels.com The world was heading due south, and there wasn’t a thing else I could have done about it. I get that my place in history will be as a fool, a mass-murderer, and a psychopath. I’m leaving this tome because someone...

Mrs. What’s Her Name

16 July 2012. 8:06 a.m. My name is What’s-Her-Name. Obviously not, but that’s how I think of myself. The Others call me Karen; I suppose they need a label to attach to me. I suggested Tits McGhee, but nobody else thought that was funny. It seemed logical, once they let me out of bed and...

“Colors” Never Fade

When my grandmother died, I learned not only had I lost my family’s matriarchbut I had never been in the family group. I discovered that I had been in a competitionwith my aunt and uncle, though the rulesof engagement remain a secret.We all wanted to be the most important,I gather, and my second-highest incomewas a...

I’m Glad I’m Not in Dixie

* sung to the tune of “(I Wish I Was in) Dixie’s Land” I’m glad I’m not in the land of cottonwhere subjunctive’s long forgotten.Stay away! Stay away!Stay away from Dixie, man. In Dixie Land, I’m not a kingI’m just a brown-skinned ugly thingStay away! Stay away!Stay away from Dixie, man. ‘Cause I’m not a...

Pantsing, Plantsing, Planning & Proficiency

After having finished nineteen books over a period of thirteen years, with questionable success in marketing them, I am taking a needed break from writing. It's a shame, as I feel as though I have just achieved some level of mastery over my art. To fill the creative gap, I have taken up (very amateurish)...

The Edge

Here is an excerpt from my latest novel, Trinity's Redemption. It is the start of Chapter Two, "Birth and Rebirth" and in some way is meant to repudiate the hackneyed and overused 'show not tell.' I prefer 'interesting, not boring.' Apparently, they stopped teaching that in writing school.In any case, here goes.My first memory is...

Duty Bound to Hold It Down

"Harlem Dandy" by Miguel Covarrubias, 1927 I remember the day he leftand I became the man of the house.I was four and duty bound to hold things downwhile he joined the Army of my imagination.That he was simply leaving was lost on me.A father's leaving must augur some noble cause,and I was duty bound to hold...

Papa Don’t Take No Mess

his hands never leavethe filth of him crawls beneath her skinas feces stain the cuticlesof her thumbless handsshe gnaws around his feculencewith feline precisionknowsshe cannot remove himwithout defiling her tongue speak his nameshe will notbut he is there in the mirrorthe blue of his eyesthe sneering curl of his thin upper lipthe leering gaze papadon’t...

Don’t “Show” or “Tell”

I attempted to free my writing self by "channeling" advice on how to improve. Specifically, I asked my muse(s) about the concept of "show, not tell." This is what I got. Would you mind very much if what we show you becomes the basis for twenty-first century writing? I didn’t think so. Here it goes:...