CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

Still working on the next poetry collection. This one's an experimental  piece written from the perspective of someone in a futuristic and/or fantastical mercenary company. It’s not all Balls to the wall Firefights and gunships Daring rescues Heroics and near-miss slips   It’s not all Royal balls And blushing men and maidens Drawn by holstered blaster Or sheathed sword Both battle-worn.   Sometimes it’s the quiet of a pre-raid wait Or a small cell complete with shackles While your company debates The whyfors of your capture The jurists’ long delay And the value of a single man They can send into forays   Sometimes, you get to sleep In the bunk that you’re assigned And to dream without the fear Of raids or a mission misaligned   Sometimes, there is peace A moment, rarely more Where you can ponder why it was You sought your fortune In a life of war.    

Things have been progressing slowly over on my writer's channel on Youtube, however, this short reading came out today.    Nothing survives in a vacuum, however, and yesterday, when I was editing it, I had a follow-on piece come to mind. Slated to appear in Another 366 Days of Flash Fiction, the next collection of flash, this draft piece looks at what came after the events in the reading. Recruitment in Recovery Conway came to see me himself. After I’d refused to respond to his recruiting center’s invite…and ignored his emails, texts and calls. Seems there’s only so far you can move when you’re in the tank, and the client is one of your company’s major funding points. “Any reason you don’t want to hear what I have to say?” he asked. The man was straight to the point, I’d give him that. I just stared at him. There’s something to be said for regen tanks, but privacy isn’t part of it. At least he kept his eyes on my face. “I did make sure I got you into the car,” he add

This year has so far seen a release each month. In the first quarter, we saw additions to three different series. The first was A Collection of Shifters , the thirteenth volume in the C.M.'s Collections series, which has brought together all the short fiction and poetry written to a certain theme. This one brought together all the shifter stories...or most...that I have written to date, and included at least one new novella-length piece. It was released on January 17, 2023. Links to where it can be found are listed at Books2Read, here: https://books2read.com/u/3JoJNX     The second release occurred on February 18, 2023. This was The Undiscovered, the third book in the Strays of Lunar One series, featuring Oliver and Lewis, two werewolf mercenaries in space...as they ran for their lives, while helping one of the mistakes of their past. Links to where this book can be found are listed at Books2Read, here: https://books2read.com/u/3nDGxB . The third and final release of the first q