CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

Poetry is another place where I like to explore. For instance, can you really tell a story in verse, as short as it is, with the different conventions that govern it...and do poems have to be 'literary' or can they be 'genre-fun.' Well, I don't know...so I tried some fantasy rogues to see what happened.   A Falling Out   Sotto voce Your voice carries It echoes ‘round the cave It echoes down the tunnels It gives no answers that I crave. Lower it, or better still, Shut your mouth. Be quiet, Unless you really want To become part of something’s diet. For these caverns are not empty They hold lair and prey and hole And many are the creatures here Where you sought to hide the goods you stole And if we do retrieve them From whatever point you thought them safe And if we do escape this maze You’ll find my share’s been raised.  

 Exploring worlds a long way from my own possibilities - flash fiction is where I go to play. Risky Business The scent of the roses hung like curtains of burgundy around us, heavy drapes of a honeyed velvet richness it sat like chocolate on our tongues. Breathing became a meal of overpowering sweetness. It cloyed on our tongues saturating our lungs in candy. It was like drowning in syrup, too strong, but never strong enough. Toward dusk honeysuckle and violets added their own blends, and we marched on, forcing one foot in front of the other. “Are we there, yet?” Carlie asked, and I lifted my head, peering through the pollen’s shimmer toward where the trail led. The arch had grown to a gateway, and our approach had been noticed. Already, the great wooden barriers were being swung open, men and women in gleaming armor waving for us to hurry. “We can make it if we run,” I told her, and around us the team broke into a shambling run. The honeyed depths of the Orion’s Chasm...

 I like to try and poetry from the perspective of someone else, someone looking at something a different way...or trying to write away a memory they'd rather not have. While I initially had a fantasy setting in mind for this piece, it could be set anywhere, from a space station to a 1980s pub. It's the character dealing with the memory and its trigger that is central, here. Red Wine Recalls Red wine in the glass Glistens like blood upon the ground Brings to mind the carnage That I not too long ago have found   My fingers tremble And, handshaking, I set the wine glass down My stomach rolls uncomfortably And I turn my gaze to the floor above   The memories, they linger My find, my loss…my love  

Summer is coming – and Winter, too – and my entire ebook collection will be discounted in the @Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale, which runs from July 1 to July 31, 2023. Watch this space for updates and links to the sale as it draws closer.  

This month's release is now live: A scouting mission that uncovers more than expected. A rescue mission gone awry. A ploy that preserves a race and brings humanity to its knees. And a plague. And this is just the start of what Oliver and Lewis’s scout team must overcome. Can they do that in time to save their team mates from a force set on the conquest of known space? And can they avoid Delight and Odyssey as they do it? Or will they finally be brought to trial for a bite neither of them regret? And be removed from the field at a time when they are needed most?   The Unearthed , the fourth book in the Strays of Lunar One series , is now available, and can be found at one of the links on Books2Read, here: https://books2read.com/u/3R5L1p