CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

This week’s verse moves from  a speculative verse about outliving our children to a a fantasy verse about one man protecting those we love. It is taken from 366 Days of Poetry , a collection of mixed-genre poetry released in 2016. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------   The Protector's Wish If you love me—then leave me. Save the others; save yourself, for I am beyond redemption. I am well beyond your help. I know you are beside me, but my blood it stains the snow, and you have no way to staunch it, no way to stop the flow, so, if you love me, then please leave me. Leave my sword, my dagger and bow, and I will give you time to flee, and to save the others I love so, for while you cannot save me, and I cannot save myself, I can help you get away, to reach shelter, and reach help. Tie the wound off tightly, love, and take our children and yourse

This week’s short story takes us from one woman's search for a war hero on a distant war-torn world to a science fiction tale of love and family against the backdrop of a long-fought war. Welcome to Jalaya .   Separated by duty, and reunited by the same Michael has helped the villagers survive the invasion for ten years. This year, he cannot. Cut off from escape, their only hope of salvation is to return to the village, and pray. Returning to the village means returning to his fiancé, forced by a secret family tradition to remain, when duty called him to leave. But reunions will have to wait. First they have to bring their people home. Jalaya is available as a stand-alone, novella-length short story at the following links: https://www.amazon.com/Jalaya-CM-Simpson-ebook/dp/B0084RX4FO/ . You can also find Kristine Kathryn Rusch's latest free short story over on her blog: kriswrites.com . Why don't you go and check it out?

LAST WEEK, Simone was worrying about where Tiger was. This week, Tiger tells her what happened to his parents and the colony on Deskeden. Chapter 3 Excerpt – Unexpected Incursion Hey, Simone. Quick note. I’m fine. Um, why did I stay? Because mum and dad got into the ruins, and they found these strange slime moulds, and I remember what you said about the stuff in the jars. I tried to stop them from going back in, but they refused to listen, so I had to wait. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The complete series is available as short, individual ebooks, and will become available as an omnibus, later this year. In the meantime, you can find them on this blog, until one week after the last chapter in the last book of the series has been posted, at which point this series will be taken down, and a new series serialised on site. books2read.com/u/4Awrze books2read.com/u/