Anomalous Appetites now available!

The speculative poetry anthology Anomalous Appetites edited by John Irvine is now available and features my very unsettling poem "the Bruise". Check it out here:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/anomalous-appetites/3236199

Goodreads Review of Sabre's Call by Troy Chambers

Sabre's Call by Troy Chambers

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
So Pasolini and Kenneth Anger walk into a bar. I don't have a punchline, but at its best Sabre's Call would reflect a meeting of these minds. Were Sabre's Call the book it thinks it is, it would be a revelation, a mature argument in favor of an ideology that seldom in this day and age presents mature arguments for itself. It would be a Promethean instead of a Luciferean endeavor and Chambers would convince several people to shed the yokes of one social topdog or another. Sabre's Call is bold, full of fairly transgressive (though occasionally uninspired) imagery and utterly devoid of shame or fear. For these things, Chambers has earned the third star in the review. Were the characters stronger, the book less of a mouthpiece and the plot better developed, it might have earned a fourth, which would be damn impressive for a book written by a Satanist conservative, since I'm a Gnostic Anarchist with a pretty wide socialist streak and a lot of concerns over declining ethics and widespread inhumanity. Chambers has a lot of literary and rhetorical growing to do and hopefully in the future, will extend into greater philosophical depth and go beyond proselytizing into revelation, which might not be altogether beyond him considering the fervor of his convictions and the brutal potential he exhibits.


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My Goodreads review of the 27s by Eric Segalstad

The 27s: The Greatest Myth of Rock & Roll by Eric Segalstad

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
Rock and roll can grab you in its teeth, gnash your heart to bits, open your mind so wide you can't keep cultural debris out, change your way of thinking and dressing, make you reconsider the flowers mother says are poisonous. The great voices and minds of rock and roll wield a cultural power that is shamanic at its highest resonances. But to walk with these spirits, is to dance with death, to become an icon of your generation sometimes means staying there forever, being remembered in a bathtub in Paris or a plaid 90s sepulcher with syringes strewn about. Eric Segalstad' s the 27s unabashedly, unashamedly and unrepentantly tells the story of these tragedies with sparkling language and beautiful illustrations. He uses insights into astrology and numerology to look into the roots and consequences of one of rock's black magic numbers. This is a book like no other. While there are any number of books about Jim, Jimi, Janis and Curt, there are few that place them in the company of the other casualties of their age, others who did not get to step through the gates into adulthood. I found myself really thinking about my upcoming 27th birthday, about the trials artists go through and about the sort of person who would sing lyrics like "I wish I was like you, easily amused..." and "hey, wait, I got a new complaint". This book shines, cuts and illuminates, all without saying that Jim Morrison was a six foot penis that penetrated the world til it went soft or turning into transparent DARE propaganda. That's a true accomplishment. This book covers everyone from Robert Johnson, to Canned Heat's Alan Wilson to Jeremy Ward of the Mars Volta. A must for any rock fan's shelf. The upcoming hardcover will be a must for their coffee table too.


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