Bombshell

Bombshell...

They don't use that word much anymore
to describe girls like you
As if your kind just disappeared
when excess fell out of fashion
Though how they managed to lose a woman like you
in a sea swell of dainty girls
eating yoghurt in petite pants
I’ll never know.

Bombshell.
the sound of it
Rolling…
Exploding!
suggests ships of steel and gun powder
docked in the port and overpowering the horizon
with bulk and shape...
conjures up the fat arc of depth charges
rolling off starboard sides
and teasing a voluptuous fragroom of fish into the air
scattering the self control of men to the wind like seed
It’s the sort of nickname that causes uncomfortable creases in pants
like images of lingeried girls straddling planes as they fly over base
to the salute of sailor suits
and an extra helping
of thigh and breast and arms and lips and lots of it

Bombshell.
That’s the sort of powderkeg you marry
knowing
and maybe even hoping
it will end up in divorce
and not caring
because bombshells are meant to go off.
That’s part of their excitement
Like curling irons and high heeled shoes
and words you don't really mean
thrown against the wall in a hotel room
Like the sound sex being had in the flat one over
while you curl your finger around a red phone cord
Like you walking into a bar and everybody noticing
but no one saying anything because
lust and hunger
have been tamed by sex on TV
and a burger on every corner
because the war is long gone over and
they just don't make
bombshells anymore

the Thief and the Cobbler update

Just a quickie.

A while ago I posted about Richard Williams animated film, The Thief and the Cobbler (you can read it here) which I found was a fascinating story about creativity vs profit in the art world.

Anyway, filmmaker Kevin Schreck is looking to put together a documentary on this film and looking for some support. If you're interested in this, I encourage you to check out his project here: http://kck.st/cwepzM

Zeus delayed!

Yes, he got held up at the airport, and coffee got spilled on his brand new tunic, dammit, and then, well, you know they took issue with him packing his lightning bolts as carry-on. So he’s on the next available flight, which should arrive Spring 2011-ish.

That’s a ways away, sadly, but sometimes books take up to 2 years from acceptance to publication, so I’m still short of that. Its giving me time to work on new stuff, though, which is nice.

But there’s also some good news. A while I ago I mentioned that Zeus got overwhelmingly positive feedback from the reader reviews (Athabasca sends out manuscripts they’re considering to other published authors for their opinions before making a decision) and that I’d share them here if I could. Well, I’ve been given the ok to do so, so from now until the book is out I’ll put up some quotes.

Starting with:

‘McGinnis is funny, witty (he says he’s facetious and thinks he might go to hell for his Gandhi poem(…)I don’t think he will go to hell, at least not for this, and if Gandhi’s there then hell is a hell of alot different than we are given usually to think), but he’s not cynical. He has bite and performs irony right to the end, to a good end, which is to say it’s not all simply irony. The language (..) is crisp and witty and entirely appropriate to the narrative intent, its allegorical or logopoeic purposes.’

Bad Attitude a 'Successful Self-Published Novel!'

You read it here first. Well, it was actually written here first, but if you didn't read it there before, now you are reading it here now before then!

Yes, Bad Attitude has been recognized as a successful self-published novel, ranking amongst such other novels as Legally Blond (yes!) and A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. It may not be a heartbreaking work of staggering genius, and I'm not sure if much of what happens in it is technically legal. But it's nice to make a list nonetheless.

To quoth:

So I went online to identify successful self-published novels. Here’s a starter list of 20 from many I found in a quick search on the web. Measuring success, of course, is subjective, and I’ve not read most of these books, but reviews by way of Goodreads.com, LibraryThing.com, Kirkus and Amazon seem fairly consistent.

1. Nat, Nat, the Nantucket Cat by Cheryl Barnes & Peter Barnes
2. Legally Blonde by Amanda Brown
3. The Kin of Ata are Waiting for You by Dorothy Bryant
4. One of Ours by Willa Cather
5. Lord Vishnu’s Love Handles: A Spy Novel (Sort of) by Will Clarke
6. Fifth Life of the Cat Woman by Kathleen Dexter
7. Queenmaker: A Novel of King David’s Queen by India Edghill
8. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
9. Blinking Red Light by Mister Mann Frisby
10. Still Alice by Lisa Genova
11. The First Forest by John Gile
12. Indigo by Beverly Jenkins
13. The Last Open Road by Burt S. Levy
14. Stranger Things Happen by Kelly Link
15. Bad Attitude by Leopold McGinnis
16. Mama by Terry McMillan
17. Temptation by Victoria Christopher Murray
18. One More Moment in Time by Elizabeth Anne Ryan
19. Let That Be the Reason by Vickie Stringer
20. 23 Shades Of Black by K.J.A. Wishnia

Thanks http://writersrainbow.wordpress.com!

The Morning After...

A new poem, Weird, up on YouTube. Check it out!



(Special thanks to Aidan for artistic help and camera work. Read his Traumatic(ly Random) Reviews here: http://traumaticreviews.blogspot.com)

Ok so...
last night
was weird
Wonderfully weird
Beautifully weird
and every awkward moment of it
broke me somehow
Tore the mile high brick wall
of my confidence
down
in one soundless breath

And as you lay there
naked
the taste of my cum still on your lips when we kiss
having unravelled the entire universe
with just the sound of your voice
you stare at me
daring me
with those dark eyes
like two burning constellations
to put it all back together
before you.

As if all this was just a game!
As if the need for oxygen
was just a myth!
You smile at me
nonchalantly
while inside Im Fumbling
Asphyxiating
Burning
in the vast expanse of your bed
clinging to you in the dark
for fear that if I let go
I might just drift away
into nothingness

I love that you break me
into a million little pieces
I love that you can just so carelessly pull apart
the fabric of space and time and
my pitiful little place in it.
Though it scares me
Though it terrifies me

Last night
was weird.
It was exactly everything
I didnt expect it to be
And just when I thought
Id got it all figured out
Just when the world began to bore me
It was something new again
Something Strange
Wonderful
Confusing
Weird
Scary
and awkward...

But wonderful.
Wonderfully weird.
Beautiful.
and beautiful
and wonderful
wonderful in ways
I hope I never understand.

Game Quest on Kindle!

If ever there was a book meant to be read electronically...this is it!

And that's about all I have to say about that.

Check it out here.

Beware the Edmonton Poetry Festival!

I will be reading this year (my third) at the Edmonton Poetry Festival. The EPF is a steadily growing festival in this city of festivals and brings out some pretty decent poets. I'm particularly excited about this year for two reasons.

1) it seems a lot more hip and with it this year than in the past (I mean...check out that poster!) Those of you have heard me rant and rave about poetry being boring and inaccessible...well, this is a good sign. Maybe things are spicing up?

2) They're bringing back the Poetry Sweatshop this year! Sadly absent from last year's festival (perhaps due to lack of venue? The Sweatshop was not allowed, in its second year, to return to its first year venue due to rowdiness!) the sweatshop is like theatresports, but with poetry, in a drinking establishment...with punishment. It's pretty wild, and if you ever wondered if poetry could be exciting, naughty and reckless all at once...well come out and find out!

This year the EPF runs from April 19-27th (seems to be getting longer and longer). Check out their site for all the scheduled events.

I will be reading at:

• The Blinks (80 poets, poems in 30 seconds or less!) on Monday, April 19 at the ARTery (Edmonton's coolest venue?), 9535 Jasper Avenue. 7pm-10.30 pm.
• The Poetry Sweatshop on Saturday the 24th, also at the ARTery. 3-5 pm.
• and Three Bananas Café, 9918 102 Avenue, Sunday, April 25th. 3:30 pm.

I hope to see you there!