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Michelene’s Beauty.

September 1, 2018 by Exangel

by Rose Jermusyk.

She had come so far already, left her beloved highlands in the old country, crossed an ocean hoping the grass really was greener.

She went to church with neighbors who had come before her, but she was on her own. All alone and always in transit between her boarding room at the farm and the big house she’d been hired to clean and church where folks spoke familiar words. Always on one train or another.

Katunkadunk.

            Katunkadunk.

            Katunkadunk. The train and all her bones rattling toward the next destination. Always alone. Always fending for herself in a strange land full of rushing people.

Katunkadunk.

            Katunkadunk.

            Katunkadunk. A young man appeared next to her. She moved over politely to allow him more room.

Katunkadunk.

            Katunkadunk. The young man brushed against her. She moved a little more.

Katunkadunk. The young man rubbed against her. She moved all the way to the back of the car.

Katunkadunk. The young man moved toward the back of the car. She moved on to the next car.

Katunkadunk. The young man followed her to the next car. She continued on to a third car.

Katunkadunk. He followed her from one car to the next. She continued to move away from him.

Katunkadunk. The young man asked where she was headed. She knew no words that he would understand.

            Katunkadunk. The young man asked for a kiss. She had no words that he would heed.

Katunkadunk. The young man followed her to the final car. She stood on the back platform of the final car.

Katunkadunk. The young man tucked some stray hair behind her ear. She watched the tracks flow out from underneath the train.

Katunkadunk. The young man moved his hand down her back to her waist. She decided the train wasn’t going all that fast.

Katunkadunk. The young man looked at her dumbfounded before stepping back into the car. She walked along the tracks as the train rolled ever further out of reach.

She would catch another train at the next station. She who was always in transit. She whose bones yet rattled.

Filed Under: EAP: The Magazine, Fall 2018: Things That Go Bump.

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In This Issue.

  • Who Was Dorothy?
  • Those Evil Spirits.
  • The Screaming Baboon.
  • Her.
  • A Tale of Persistence.
  • A Conversation with Steve Hugh Westenra.
  • Person Number Twelve.
  • Dream Shapes.
  • Cannon Beach.
  • The Muse.
  • Spring.
  • The Greatness that was Greece.
  • 1966, NYC; nothing like it.
  • Sun Shower.
  • The Withering Weight of Being Perceived.
  • Broken Clock.
  • Confession.
  • Francis Coppola’s Apocalypse.
  • Sometimes you die, I mean that people do.
  • True (from “My Life with Dogs”).
  • Fragmentary musings on birds and bees.
  • 12 Baking Essentials to Always Have in Your Poetry.
  • Broad Street.
  • A Death in Alexandria.
  • My Forked Tongue.
  • Swan Lake.
  • Long Division.
  • Singing against the muses.
  • Aphorisms from “What Remains to Be Said”.

In The News.

That cult classic pirate/sci fi mash up GREENBEARD, by Richard James Bentley, is now a rollicking audiobook, available from Audible.com. Narrated and acted by Colby Elliott of Last Word Audio, you’ll be overwhelmed by the riches and hilarity within.

“Captain Sylvestre de Greybagges is your typical seventeenth-century Cambridge-educated lawyer turned Caribbean pirate, as comfortable debating the virtues of William Shakespeare, Isaac Newton, and compound interest as he is wielding a cutlass, needling archrival Henry Morgan, and parsing rum-soaked gossip for his next target. When a pepper monger’s loose tongue lets out a rumor about a fleet loaded with silver, the Captain sets sail only to find himself in a close encounter of a very different kind.

After escaping with his sanity barely intact and his beard transformed an alarming bright green, Greybagges rallies The Ark de Triomphe crew for a revenge-fueled, thrill-a-minute adventure to the ends of the earth and beyond.

This frolicsome tale of skullduggery, jiggery-pokery, and chicanery upon Ye High Seas is brimming with hilarious puns, masterful historical allusions, and nonstop literary hijinks. Including sly references to Thomas Pynchon, Treasure Island, 1940s cinema, and notable historical figures, this mélange of delights will captivate readers with its rollicking adventure, rich descriptions of food and fashion, and learned asides into scientific, philosophical, and colonial history.”

THE SUPERGIRLS is back, revised and updated!

supergirls-take-1

In The News.

Newport Public Library hosted a three part Zoom series on Visionary Fiction, led by Tod.  

And we love them for it, too.

The first discussion was a lively blast. You can watch it here. The second, Looking Back to Look Forward can be seen here.

The third was the best of all. Visions of the Future, with a cast of characters including poets, audiobook artists, historians, Starhawk, and Mary Shelley. Among others. Link is here.

In the News.

SNOTTY SAVES THE DAY is now an audiobook, narrated by Last Word Audio’s mellifluous Colby Elliott. It launched May 10th, but for a limited time, you can listen for free with an Audible trial membership. So what are you waiting for? Start listening to the wonders of how Arcadia was born from the worst section of the worst neighborhood in the worst empire of all the worlds since the universe began.

In The News.

If you love audio books, don’t miss the new release of REPORT TO MEGALOPOLIS, by Tod Davies, narrated by Colby Elliott of Last Word Audio. The tortured Aspern Grayling tries to rise above the truth of his own story, fighting with reality every step of the way, and Colby’s voice is the perfect match for our modern day Dr. Frankenstein.

In The News.

Mike Madrid dishes on Miss Fury to the BBC . . .

Tod on the Importance of Visionary Fiction

Check out this video of “Beyond Utopia: The Importance of Fantasy,” Tod’s recent talk at the tenth World-Ecology Research Network Conference, June 2019, in San Francisco. She covers everything from Wind in the Willows to the work of Kim Stanley Robinson, with a look at The History of Arcadia along the way. As usual, she’s going on about how visionary fiction has an important place in the formation of a world we want and need to have.

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