Poll: General Fund Poetry for October 2013

There is only $1.50 in the general fund this time.  You may direct it into any of the three open epics.  Everyone is eligible to vote in this poll.  I will keep it open until at least Monday morning.  If there's a clear answer then, I'll close it.  Otherwise I may keep it open a little longer.

( Read and vote! )

BINGO: row

Silly me, I forgot that origfic_bingo allows bingo claims on fills that have been written but not posted yet.  So I have bingo claims to make, and I've requested a new card.  Here is Row 2.

Dark in the Dell under Weathertop

Tolkien wrote about PTSD.  He did it really quite well.  He didn't make a big fuss about it, just included it because he knew what war did to people.

Frodo of the Nine Fingers, and the Ring of Doom.

Poem: "The Small and the Swift"

This poem came out of the October 1, 2013 Poetry Fishbowl.  It was inspired by prompts from freshbakedlady and Dreamwidth user Corvi.  It also fills the "Wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey: Time Travel" square in my 8-13-13 card for the Ladiesbingo fest.  This poem has been sponsored by Anthony & Shirley Barrette.

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New poem available in Polychrome Heroics

Recently I posted a big climactic poem, "Weaving Damask," in which Farce reveals herself as a nemesis and Damask finally coalesces into a superhero. Then I came across the comic "Superman: Grounded" and I posted an essay about its implications.

That got me thinking about one of the major character conflicts for Damask, who is a plural person: Ham is an action hero, while Clement is a first responder. They're both keenly interested in saving the day, but they do it in totally different ways and therefore have different priorities. Naturally they're going to have disagreements over that. So I wrote a poem in which they consider what it means to be a hero. Here's a teaser ...
(This has been sponsored.  Click the title to see the whole poem.)


"That Kind of Hero"


Ham

"I can't believe that
you let Farce get the drop on you!"
I snarl at Clement.

The headspace we share
is much like a house,
each of us with our own room.
Clement's door is a deep green
with a round brass handle,
currently shut tight.

-----

A Smartwatch

 ... is on its way.  Bear in mind that the first iteration of anything is likely to be clunky until people work the bugs out.  But hey, we've been waiting for this one for decades.

I'm also amused because in my Terramagne setting, smart tech developed along the lines of the vidwatch first, and the larger phone version came later.

Origfic Bingo Card 10-6-13

Here is my new card for the origfic_bingo fest. This bingo challenge encourages original material across all formats and lengths. It's a terrific fest if you want gen and/or gentle fiction.  There are Gen, Romance, and Kink cards available or you can mix those categories.  Read the rules first. A signup post appears the first week of each month, when anyone can request a card whether you've completed a bingo or not.  (See all my bingo cards.)

If you'd like to sponsor a particular square, especially if you have an idea for what character, series, or situation it would fit -- talk to me and we'll work something out. This is a good opportunity for those of you with favorites that don't always mesh well with the themes of my monthly projects. I'll still post some of the fills for free, because I'm using this to attract new readers; but if it brings in money, that means I can do more of it. That's part of why I'm crossing some of the bingo prompts with other projects, such as the Poetry Fishbowl.

Underlined prompts have been filled.

Row 1: five poems
Row 2: five poems

This fest allows bingo claims for fills that have been written but not posted yet.  The card below is Gen/Romance/Kink.

B	I	N	G	O
desperate	grace	a kiss goodnight	war	family
flirting	face to face	domestic / tradesman kink	failure	innocent
tickling	object penetration	FREE SPACE: Parade	service	waxplay
telling a story	entertainment	jealous lover	gender play	orgasm denial / control
childhood romance	experiment	worrying	beauty	impossible

Poem: "Backtalk"

This poem came out of the July 2013 crowdfunding Creative Jam.  It has been selected in an audience poll as the free epic for the October 1, 2013 Poetry Fishbowl reaching the $200 goal.  It was inspired by a prompt from chordatesrock, who wanted to see the dastardly General Fallon in action.  This poem belongs to the series An Army of One: The Autistic Secession in Space; you need to read at least "Backup, Try Again" for this to make sense.

WARNING: The following poem contains extreme verbal violence, emotional abuse, and psychological manipulation.  If these are sensitive issues for you, please think carefully before deciding whether to read ahead.

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Half-Price Sale in One God's Story

Based on an audience poll, there will be a half-price sale in the series One God's Story of Mid-Life Crisis.  The sale will run from Monday, October 14 through Sunday, October 20.  This series deals with themes of morality, substance abuse and recovery, personal growth, and family of choice.  There are currently 7 poems totalling $170.50 at half price.