City of Legends

As promised, here are the survivors from from an unexpected quarter.  Note that poems that are not making the carry over to loveaddict are not out of my catalog, just not thematically, structurally or qualitatively suitable for the new volume.  Also, as most of the new book is new material, I can afford to be brutal…

• traveler to an antique land
  
• Cithara Song, strummed lightly as the sun leaps the horizon
  
• the trellis of human experience
  
• I will wake you tonight

Note that among the poems that will be not making the move will be the Damascus poems, and the entirety of the Great Cycle to the Goddess of Fire and Poetry as well as…the Goldenheart Cycles.  So it is obviously not an issue of literary or emotional merit.  It has even been suggested in close circles that I also punch the ticket on As such...

I am not so cruel or shallow. 

Next month, when loveaddict hits the streets, expect some other changes.

After repeated threats on my part to this effect, I am taking out of print the entirety of my books with iUniverse.

This means:

• from an unexpected quarter
  
• love gods of a forgotten religion
  
• 101 Great Love Poems

will all cease to be available as new.

I am cannibalizing the first two to provide a few works for loveaddict (and because the covers now offend me), but have never really been happy with either one.  The third is mostly a bastard child of The Panther Cycles and as such is out of place in my catalog.

I have also been very unhappy with the course that iUniverse has taken over the years, since I was grandfathered into their organization when they acquired Writers Club Press.  It is a tough decision, as 101 Great Love Poems has been one of my best sellers and is the only book of mine currently available in hardback, but I feel it is time.

Later this week I will be presenting you with a preliminary list of what poems will be rescued as these books go dead.

The new CD, blister, continues to take shape. 

Okay, I just wanted to show everyone some of the "flair" I created over on FaceBook. It was fun converting book covers, CD case artwork and even a few odds and ends to buttons to send to my friends and acquaintances.

Now comes the fun part. I am declaring a scavenger hunt for my flair. Not too difficult, no? perhaps more difficult than you might imagine, as a few of the pieces, while relevant to my works, are not obviously labeled as such. You’ll figure it out (hint: this will be slightly easier for my "friends").

So, you may find it simple to locate the covers of amomancer: nightblooming or from an unexpected quarter, you may have a harder time with the less obvious flair. To be fair with the flair, I will tell you know that there are a total of 14 pieces.

The first person (based on my received email timestamp) to collect all 14 pieces to their flair corkboard on FaceBook (remember to refresh so they show) and email me here so I can verify by looking at your profile, wins free CDs and books from the City of Legends Store worth more than $50.00. Not a ton of bucks, but if you’re smart this should take you all of 15 minutes to complete, so that’s about, what, $200 bucks an hour? And I’m paying postage, so it doesn’t matter if you’re in the USA, or Australia or Portugal or South Africa (here’s your chance, Rich).

A pingback brought this photo to my attention, one of a set of three of my ex-wife, Ann, from a film festival in Los Angeles in 2001. She was featured on the cover of my books from an unexpected quarter and Love Gods of a Forgotten Religion and remains one of the more remarkable people I have known in this life.

People ask me why I married her, considering the age difference and some major issues we were never able to rise completely above. This picture doesn’t tell the tale of the person I came to love and respect, but it does explain why just about everyone always asked her "What are you doing with HIM?" My answer to people who asked me that question remains "Well, she asked…"

Her work with young people via Sunrise House in Salinas and with the Calfiornia Friday Night Live Partnership with the students from high schools and middle schools in Monterey County, particularly North Salinas High School, proved her a most thoughtful, charitable and competent person.

Her totem-muse was "the Leopard" and she inspired such works as sparks like frozen lemons, monday mourning poem, sacred smile and brisant revelations, which has since turned into perhaps my most kick-ass contribution to poetic rock.

To this date, she remains the last woman I touched as lover.

Okay, one miracle down (you have no idea how much furious effort is going on in the background to accomplish all of this)…

The City of Legends Store has re-opened.  You can get there by slicking the linked name (in the previous sentence) or by following the top of the page link that reads "The City Store" (trying to keep it simple).

We’re offering some discounts on some books and CDs as a "Pre-tour Blowout", and as always, free shipping and custom signing.  Shopping cart services are courtesy of PayPal.

Available in the ‘Store are:

Books:

• As such…romantic poetry of rebirth
  
• Ronin in the Temple of Aphrodite
  
• Psalms of the Monster River Cult
  
• The Morgantown Suite Poems
  
• The Compleat Panther Cycles

CDs:

• Nemicorn
  
• The Naked Reads
  
• Amomancer:  nightblooming
  
• the last romantic verb

Not in the store?

• from an unexpected quarter
  
• Love Gods of a Forgotten Religion
  
• PanthEon
  
• 101 Great Love Poems (hardback and paperback)
  
• Invocato

But I may later decide to fold them in…I just hate making the store too chaotic and huge.  All of those not in the official store can be purchased elsewhere.

And yes, when Evangelist is done, it will be available through the City Store.

The response to my suggestions earlier today of some of the projects for the new year has been gratifying and overwhelming. I am grateful the fans feel comfortable addressing what they want and that they care so passionately.

INAMORATA will be a reality. Will it be the book I put out before the Frontiers in Writing conference in Amarillo? I don’t know…depends on my emotional stamina (my lovelife is a strange and beautiful thing at this time) and a few other factors that could push any of the other projects forward or backwards.

I do promise that certain key poems in LOVE GODS OF A FORGOTTEN RELIGION and FROM AN UNEXPECTED QUARTER will certainly make the leap as those two volumes go out of circulation, and you can probably guess at least a handful of those, but the vast majority of the volume will be material previously unpublished in book form.

Also, INAMORATA will have at least two things in common with my blockbuster THE COMPLEAT PANTHER CYCLES (TCPC): Size and content volume. I plan to make this an oversized volume with 300-400 works.

Editor? I haven’t decided yet. I have found being my own editor for a few volumes very exhausting, so I will probably seek a new editor. Candidates, the line forms here…

Cover model? I have a few candidates already. She’ll have to be something to stand alongside the likes of Jillian Ann, Ann-Michelle and Sarah Chadwick Spiker. I also want to do internal illustrations, as in TCPC and I want a cover that combines the eroticism of the original, unpublished cover design of TCPC with the archival beauty of RONIN. A challenge. But a life without challenges is an illusion.

Beyond that? Not certain, but I had to pick up a new project with the wrap up of the two new CDs and the 2 new books in the last few weeks. I am nothing if not a workaholic.

Well, it’s Thursday and I have a lot to do…

but I don’t really feel like it. Getting over my first real cold in some time, dealing with my Grandmother’s stroke, mild upheavals at work and the fun of life in general.

The show, this week’s FROM OUT OF THE CITY podcast (available at RADIO CITY OF LEGENDS and iTUNES Music Store for download or subscription. void where prohibited by law) is all but in the can. This is good.

The poll I set up to help guide my choices of works for the Valentine’s Day podcast is cranking along. No huge surprises. Again, vote early and vote often. I set it up to allow multiple choice and re-votes every 1 hour.

I see where the lovely and talented Nordette Adams went ahead and used the facial transformer on her AD site. Very cute.

Still a little miffed at Authors Den. They set up their own podcast, including CHAPTERS, POEM OF THE DAY and "OPEN MIC". The latter specified basically open reads, and I don’t do open microphone reads, except where it suits me. (Really attractive hostess? Where’s the sign-in sheet?) So I direct them to few of my works, incuding some full chapter reads from THE COMPLEAT PANTHER CYCLES. They put a couple of my full-production pieces under OPEN MIC and ignored the chapter reads.

I’ve always had a red-headed stepchild relationship with AD. I remember about a year ago I got an email about a special program they were running for longtime members (I was a very early member…) but when I contacted them to take advantage of it, I was told it was a mistake for me to have been included on the mailing…but they’d give it to me anyway, since I had received it. Yeah, classy.

I get to call iUniverse in a couple of weeks and pull the plugs on two of my books, FROM AN UNEXPECTED QUARTER and LOVE GODS OF A FORGOTTEN RELIGION. They’ve both been solid sellers, but both are long in the tooth, and have covers featuring she-who-must-not-be-named (according to her lawyer), so I am avoiding any further harrassment and burying them. An hour after they go off distribution, you know that the value to collectors will skyrocket. Hmmm…maybe I should buy a stack and hide them for a few months.

Besides, both books have the same substantial editing error in them that I categorically refused to pay the publisher to clean up, so, screw ‘em.

I am leaving 101 GREAT LOVE POEMS with iUniverse, as it is my best-seller to date. Besides, I like their work on the hardbound edition and will probably put them back to work for my 101 GREAT EROTIC POEMS later this year and the annoying 101 GREAT METAPHYSICAL POEMS in a year or two, not to be confused with 101 GREAT ADULTERY POEMS and 101 GREAT I-SHOULD-HAVE-SEEN-IT-COMING POEMS.

Maybe 101 GREAT SELF-INDULGENT DRIVEL POEMS? That might have to be a double-thick book.

I had a call a few minutes ago from my old friend Anastacia, who mentioned that the other day, owing to her friendhip with me, that someone asked her if she was "the Panther"…

okay, for the record, let’s sort this all out…one more time…there will be a test.

The Panther (a/k/a the Black Panther) was the prime muse behind The Panther Cycles. A successful writer and artist in her own right, she now lives on the West Coast and I have not had any contact with her in probably six or seven years. She did the layout and cover art for my book "PanthEon" and was NOT involved with the creation of THE COMPLEAT PANTHER CYCLES.

The Crimson Panther (a/k/a Brigit, the Goddess) was a major muse I had an affair with and have remained friends with. She took the handoff from the Black Panther, is considered one of the "3 panthers" from a dream I had even prior to her entry into my life and I have occasional contact with her, as we are collaborating on projects. And yes, the art looks remarkably like her.

The Golden Panther (a/k/a the Leopard) was my second wife and a major muse. I have not heard from her in some time. "Damascus" is my set of works most associated with her, as at the time we met she was dating only women…then she changed her mind for a few years. Last I heard she was back with women. She was the cover model for two of my books, FROM AN UNEXPECTED QUARTER and LOVE GODS OF A FORGOTTEN RELIGION. For nearly the entirety of the last eight years, she is the only woman I have been involved with, romantically.

La Pantera is Mari Laureano, the extraordinary erotic poet from New York. We are friends and she wrote the rear-jacket blurb for THE COMPLEAT PANTHER CYCLES. She is married and we’ve never been involved. Her website is www.furiverse.com

A2Panther, Anastacia, is an old friend of mine who actually was about my only close friend who tried to talk me out of marrying Ann. We are close friends and she, from time to time, tries to fix me up with friends of hers (although the one I was really, really interested got away while I was married to the Leopard). We went on exactly one blind date, aeons ago, where we both realized from first glance that there was zero chemistry between us. She is nowadays happily married and lives in the DC suburbs.

Some have suggested that the Goldenheart was actually the Golden Panther…she could also be actually the Crimson Panther (she, like Brigit, was also a redhead)…but as that relationship never had a high-water mark to measure, I am disinclined to accept that analysis.

Finally, the model who appears on the cover and in the inside art for THE COMPLEAT PANTHER CYCLES is Jillian Ann, a young woman and accomplished alternative-scene model and techno-musician. We have never met face to face and I have never been involved with her. She is merely a representation, not an actual player in the tableau (however, that position is still open and I am taking applications).

Got it straight? don’t make me matrix this…