Pavarti's Review

A review of "Apocalypse Zoo" by Pavarti K. Tyler.  She is a writer also connected to Smashwords.  We interviewed each other a couple months ago.  I read and reviewed her "Consumed by Love".  She just published her review of my story and posted it to her blog:
http://pavarti.blogspot.com/2011/06/cathartes-aura-and-apocalypse-zoo-ebook.html
You can find "Consumed by Love" at:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/50495
It is "erotic horror" and not for those under 18 or faint of heart, but very well written.  Courageously written.  I said it was "disturbing, but sometimes you need to be disturbed".

"Cathartes Aura on the Road from Nowhere" Sneak Peek: Chapter Four

I'm picking up momentum and running strong at my August deadline.  Just finished Chapter Six and I know just how I'll finish this thing.  For a while I felt I was stuck in character development and stage direction.  I was afraid I wouldn't build to the same kind of climax I did in "Apocalypse Zoo".  I'm not afraid anymore.  This train is rumbling down the tracks.

And I have a surprise coming on the first of July.

Chapter Four, Verse One:

She floats light on her feet, centered and soft,

Eyes everywhere and nowhere, breathing smooth

As honed steel.  Bodhi sits near her right heel,

Ears perked and swiveling, nostrils twitching.

Joe pulls the fleece from his lap, exposing

The ten-inch barrel of his chrome magnum.

Sam’s mouth is wide open, his eyes half shut.

The camels shrug humps and go back to sleep.

Joe rubs his chin.  “I’ve seen this one before,”

He says.  “But the other guy had a sword.”

"Cathartes Aura on the Road from Nowhere" Sneak Peek: Chapter Three

Chapter Three, Verse Six:

With driving strides, Sam nears a yellow bus.

He slows then stops.  It is full.  Windows fogged.

Heads droop, cheeks squash, palms smear against the glass.

Stretchers stacked on two-by-four frames, collapsed

When the bumper struck the guard-rail, low-speed.

Scarcely a dent.  The driver slumped, face-down

On the wheel, hands in his lap.  Nothing moves.

Arms and legs poke like twigs from a woodpile.

Sam breathes from his mouth, ashen, unable

To look away, stumbling on noodled legs.

Riverlit Submission #3: Valentine's Morning

An excerpt from Chapter Four of "Cathartes Aura on the Road from Nowhere" and a submission for the summer issue of Spokane's literary magazine.  Not to be counted as a Sneak Peek.  You'll still see one on Sunday from Chapter Three.

Valentine’s Morning

I wake.  Val’s feet are shoulder wide.  Weight low.

Fists at her waist, turned up and loosely clenched.

Her blond hair is combed slick and braided tight.

Eyes closed.  She begins to move as through oil.

Right step back.  Left knee bent.  Hips, core, shoulders,

Elbows and hands follow like fluid, pause,

And rewind through the first stance to the next,

Smooth as clouds, strong as weather, a river

Over shined rocks.  Hands like prayer, sharp as beaks,

Inviting, deflecting, hard as hammers.

She raises fingers toward the rising sun,

Snaps a foot to her palm, repeats, repeats,

Repeats left right, returns roundhouse, windmill,

Front and axe-kick.  Stalls, knee to chest.  Breath deep

Through her gut to the earth.  Whirls the backfist

To the straight left.  Snapping air.  Bursts of voice.

Soaring over the grass on liquid feet

Sweeping low, striking high, heels of hands flash

At unseen jaws.  She stomps with a grunt.  Stops.

Feet shoulder wide.  Weight low.  Open blue eyes.

Riverlit Submission #2: Untitled

Proving that I can write more that ten-by-tens, a submission for the summer issue of Spokane's literary magazine:

Untitled

Shivering alone

Folded up, sour

My stomach and brain.

When I leave, I go nowhere.

In bed again at noon.

My flattened sheets,

Beige and gray,

Cover me, numb me,

Empower me

To hide my head,

Sleep or stand,

Shuffle or stomp around,

Drink or spit

And throw the glass.

Back to my low bed,

My fisted empty hands,

And my crushed pillow.

Head back and forth

I ask why like a child.

Riverlit Submission #1: Fake Flowers

A submission for the summer issue of Spokane's literary magazine:

 
Fake Flowers

I like flowers fake, sewn and glued, nylon

And polyester.  Woven frayed petals,

With coarse grain, plastic stems, acrylic dew.

Never lie nor wilt. Won’t curl or change face.

Sunlight or dark, will be with you always.

In a dollar vase, give me fake flowers.

Unscented, no pollen or honeybees.

Not hungry, always growing at the sun.

Fabricate me twelve bomb-proof pseudo-silk

Injection-molded polymer flowers.

"Cathartes Aura on the Road from Nowhere" Sneek Peak: Chapter Two

Chapter Two, Verse Two:

A blues riff starts and stops, starts again faint

In the distance as the hiker puts dirt

Behind his boots yard after yard, huffing

Smooth and steady as a train.  A voice croons,

Cracks, cusses, and laughs.  The guitar restarts

As the hiker drops his pack, climbs a spire

Of rock and glasses the highway.  The Jag

Rolls at camel speed while the driver strums

A six-string acoustic.  From the north pops

The revving of motorcycle engines.

"Cathartes Aura on the Road from Nowhere" Sneak Peek: Chapter One

Sometime in August, episode 2 will be ready.  Our dark-feathered, pink-headed narrator has escaped the zoo and is following the man in the camel-drawn Jaguar convertible.  I will be releasing one stanza from each chapter for the next ten weeks to celebrate the launch of "On the Road from Nowhere".  Soon, my gorgeous illustrator will have some preview art.  Here it is. Chapter one, verse seven:
 

He pushes back his plate, pours more coffee,

And lights another.  He sighs long and deep.

A grin creases his face as the sun beams

Through the trees, the breeze sways needled branches

Like praying dancers, clouds drift like canoes,

And the highway rests still as a glass lake.

A French inhale, a steaming sip, knuckles

Popped as the Jaguar’s speakers reproduce

Voices a cappella singing of roads,

Fatigue, strength, and moonlight on cool water.