Hyperreality (or what not there isn’t to believe?)

*‘The attraction of the void is irresistible.’*
Jean Baudrillard

If you feel like you are unsure of what is real and what is unreal then you are not alone. Our materialistic mode of life is accelerating and expanding so rapidly that it is saturating our modern cultures to the point of abstraction. Life in materially-privileged societies is increasingly shifting into a world of image and show. Many people today are living within their bubbles that are customized by all the digital conveniences tailored to individual needs. By being surrounded by conveniences that satisfy all our needs we are deliberately excluding so much else, including all of life’s serendipities.

Reality – whatever that is or was – has retreated behind a spectacle of make-believe that is playing at being the new, shimmering façade for the 21^st century. One result of this is that things which once stood in opposition to one another are losing their meaning and becoming indistinguishable. That is, fixed identities that used to make life easy for us – us/them, friend/enemy, good/bad, and the rest – are now more like false realities. Life has shifted, or has been pushed, into a realm of invention that is being exploited ever more overtly by politicians, mainstream media, and their propaganda machinery. Out of this, a different sense of reality has emerged that succeeds in absorbing differences and contradictions and making them seem smooth rather than jagged. And the result is what I refer to as hyperreality.

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The Saffron Collectors

The Saffron Collectors

A World where Transformation is Contagious

My new book has just been released in the US, UK and Spain.

The Saffron Collectors will be published in June 2018 by the Beautiful traitor Books imprint. The imaginative book presents a world where transformation is contagious’ and where the young protagonists find themselves in an unusual orphanage called the Azafran Home for Girls under the supervision of the enigmatic La Madre. The major activity at the orphanage is the planting and growing of saffron flowers and the collection of its delicate spice. And the girls need to be made ready for when the time comes for the harvesting of the saffron spice. As the main protagonist, Teresa, develops a stronger bond and relationship with La Madre, she suspects that there is more to the Azafran Home for Girls than just picking flowers.

The Saffron Collectors comes fully color-illustrated with over 40 hand-drawn watercolor paintings from Naomi Hasegawa, a young artist.

I Hope Someone Remembers – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

parallax

Photo: https://media.iwm.org.uk/ciim5/36/103/large_000000.jpg

A World War 1 trench, not quite the Hyatt, Hilton or whatever, way beyond my experience.

I Hope Someone Remembers

Trenches could not be loved,
they were open tombs,
flooded, muddied, with
congealed wire garlands and
sodden timber treads,
and the stench of the living dead all round,
their sunken eyes testimony to
the glue of resignation and guilt.
Our feet blackened for love of country,
our minds already lost
in battles of their own,
Dante’s Inferno come to life,
with the sting of gas and metallic chatter,
always the thudding, crumping, shells
that shake our bones
and reshape our vision.
Our thoughts occasionally turn to
going home, could it be?
But that thought is scotched
as machine guns lace the air,
and the referee’s whistle calls play,
all the while the unrelenting cries
of death and pain rain down.
No more to hold a hand or taste…

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where shadows fall — Natalie J Case

I received word yesterday that my manuscript for Where Shadows Fall has been accepted by my publisher. This means it should be ready for release in time for holiday sales. Where Shadows Fall will serve as the ending of the Shades and Shadows trilogy, though not likely the end of stories in that world. I have […]

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and back again… — Natalie J Case

My those two weeks of vacation disappeared in a flash! I had an amazing time visiting Rome and Pompeii and Florence and Venice and Paris! Lots of great food and lots of wonderful vistas. I got home last week, but was unfortunately sick with a cold I picked up in Paris. Woke up with it […]

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sale time — Natalie J Case

As I was looking for a book, I came across a small cache of copies of Through Shade and Shadow with the original cover. If you recall, when we released In Gathering Shade, we redesigned the cover. So here I sit with a bunch of the old covers and I thought that would be a […]

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Seven Days of Summer 2018 ~ Waiting For Me To Catch Up by Paula Cas

Title: Waiting For Me To Catch Up
Rating:PG-15
Summary:When Jeremiah Parks returned to the city of his birth, his life was in such turmoil that he failed to realize the most important thing in the middle of all the chaos. Now he has to learn to open his life to someone new while helping his Clan Leader keep history from repeating itself.
Author’s Note:A huge THANK YOU to BJ Jones for allowing me to play in her ‘verse over at Sylum Clan. THANK YOU to Taibhrigh for the terrific banner art for my Sylum stories.

Waiting For Me To Catch Up

Living and Dying by Submission Rules — Two Drops of Ink: A Literary Blog

By: Peter B. Giblett Everyday Rules, Laws and Common Sense How do you interpret rules? This is a lighthearted look at submission rules. There are times I admit to being somewhat a rebel. Seeing the “don’t walk on the grass signs” but doing just that, barefoot of course. At the same time, I confess to…

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Philmont “77” A Poem by Charles “Danny” Hutson

Dan Hutson was my father-in-law. He treasured his time as a Boy Scout leader, and told many stories about my husband as a teenager.

Oro Cas Reflects

Philmont “77” A Poem by Charles “Danny” Hutson

This poem was written by my father in 1977 which was the year me and him had the adventure of a lifetime for a father and son.

My older brother and I were both in the local Boy Scout troop and our father was the Scoutmaster for many years. It was a wonderful arrangement between a father and his sons.

It got even better when I decided to follow in my older brothers footsteps and go to the “high adventure camp” known as Philmont that the Boy Scouts had created in northeastern New Mexico.

During the last training week I attended in northern Virginia one of the leaders had to drop out of the trip and my father was asked if he would be interested.

Of course he said yes and the rest is history.

This poem tells a story. It is…

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how about a sale? — Natalie J Case

Today and tomorrow only, my first book, Forever is on sale for your Kindle pleasure. Just 99 cents gets you a gothic tale of a girl born into a family of vampires, and her life as she grew to understand her differences, sought her freedom, loved, lost and more. “I am comfortable in the dark, […]

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