Countdown: 1 Week until The Year Just Gone (2013)

C.M.’s second volume of collected short works completed, revised and prepared for publication or published in 2013 releases in one week and five days’ time.

Like Remnants to Recent Years, The Year Just Gone consists of short stories, flash fiction and poetry, explorations of fantasy, science fiction, speculation, real-world and real-life commentary, language and word play in general.

Some of the short stories in The Year Just Gone have been released as stand-alone works, as part of An Anthology of Blades, or as both. Rather than buy them one by one, you can find them all in this volume. These stories are:

• The Soul in the Sword
• Gulvane and the Dragon
• Stiletto’s Luck
• The Reptiles’ Blade
• Death Comes in Bone

 The rest of this volume consists of flash fiction and poetry, explorations of fantasy, science fiction, speculation, real-world and real-life commentary, language and word play in general.

The Year Just Gone is scheduled for release on June 28, 2014.

Here is a taste of what to expect:

Flowers in the Wind

Written on November 4, 2013, for the October 26 entry of 365 Days of Poetry, this piece is in honour of the cherry blossoms that get blown from the trees each year.

Flowers in the wind,

twisting, turning,

a petal flurry

driven sideways,

tossed

in drifts and gusts.

Petal snow

unmelting.

Grass and earth are coated

in summer drifts

of pink

and white.

Sneak Peek 2: The Year Just Gone (2013)

Every year, C.M. Simpson gathers up the short stories, flash fiction and poetry she’s written, published, or prepared for publishing, and puts them into a single volume. This year, there are two volumes. The second volume consists of all the work produced, prepared for publication or published in 2013.

As C.M. explains at the beginning of each volume “poems and short stories form the playground I use to explore ways of putting words on paper to create different effects” and each volume contains a variety of styles and subjects, accompanied by what it was that inspired her at the time. Sometimes, the inspiration comes from elements found in the real world or a combination of elements from the real world.

After the Fire

Written on December 31, 2013, for the December 29 entry of 365 Days of Poetry, this poem started with brown leaves and grew from there.

The leaves are all brown.

The ground they have covered.

The trees stretch skeleton arms

to the sky.

The bare earth is blackened.

The fire has devoured

all that it touched.

Those not swift enough

died.

Come the rains soft and gentle,

come the cloud days

protective,

Green sparks the shoots,

from black earth

and trees.

Green sparks the shoots

from the skeletal

collective.

Sneak Peek 1: The Year Just Gone (2013)

Every year, C.M. Simpson gathers up the short stories, flash fiction and poetry she’s written, published, or prepared for publishing, and puts them into a single volume. This year, there are two volumes. The second volume consists of all the work produced, prepared for publication or published in 2013.

As C.M. explains at the beginning of each volume “poems and short stories form the playground I use to explore ways of putting words on paper to create different effects” and each volume contains a variety of styles and subjects, accompanied by what it was that inspired her at the time. Sometimes, the inspiration comes from trying to write a poem in a new genre—in this case, post-apocalyptic.

A Storyteller in the Aftermath

Written on October 4, 2013 for this anthology, using ‘Virtuality’ as a theme, this poem came to mind in the darkness of a Canberra spring evening.

The cyborg carried a world in its mind’s eye

It carried a way of forgetting

At least while the stories were spun

And when it slept

There were a myriad of eyes to watch

A myriad of invisible beams to keep it safe

But we were content to let it sleep

The longer it rested

The more we could play

In gardens that smelt of growing things

On grass, soft underfoot

Such was the power of its projections

The illusory sensations spun by its memories and the power source within

The holographic projections

Powered by memory

For a long time, it stayed

Letting us enjoy the places of its childhood

For as long as we could keep its powerpack charged

It was a small price to pay

To forget the apocalypse for a while.

Sneak Peek 2: Remnants to Recent Years (1988-2012)

Every year, C.M. Simpson gathers up the short stories, flash fiction and poetry she’s written, published, or prepared for publishing, and puts them into a single volume. This year, there are two volumes. The first volume consists of all the work, C.M. has re-discovered from her early years of writing.

As C.M. explains at the beginning of each volume “poems and short stories form the playground I use to explore ways of putting words on paper to create different effects” and each volume contains a variety of styles and subjects, accompanied by what it was that inspired her at the time. This piece was inspired by warriors returning from war.

Rest, my Warrior. Sleep.

Again, I’m not sure where the inspiration came for this poem. It was written on 19 August 2003. I want to dedicate it to the returning servicemen, who deserve to have someone watch for them when they return from war zones. Here’s hoping some of you can finally sleep and wake knowing no harm has come to you or yours.

Now you can sleep,

rest bones grown weary,

rest your mind from thoughts,

from watchfulness,

being wary.

Sleep,

in the knowledge

that your watch will be kept,

that nothing will come undone

because you lay down and slept.

Let our hands hold the weapons.

Let our eyes guard the dark.

Let our ears hark to footsteps

that don’t tread our path

Let us be the watchmen

as you lie down and sleep,

you who have watched for us,

when the dark was most deep.

Sneak Peek 1: Remnants to Recent Years (1988-2012)

Every year, C.M. Simpson gathers up the short stories, flash fiction and poetry she’s written, published, or prepared for publishing, and puts them into a single volume. This year, there are two volumes. The first volume consists of all the work, C.M. has re-discovered from her early years of writing.

As C.M. explains at the beginning of each volume “poems and short stories form the playground I use to explore ways of putting words on paper to create different effects” and each volume contains a variety of styles and subjects, accompanied by what it was that inspired her at the time. This piece was sparked by events in the real world.

Captive on International TV

This poem was inspired by the eight soldiers who were captured during the Gulf War. They were accused of having left international waters. I cannot recall if they were ever successfully retrieved or returned. This poem was written on 26 June 2004.

Eight men,

paraded on international TV

like a half-dead sparrow

allowed to flutter

while its captor yowls

drawing the attention

of

the world.