Dandelyon's Worlds

siege has a cool poem here: http://siege.livejournal.com/720234.html  I've had it open in my browser because it's just so cool, but really, browser windows aren't meant to be open forever.  

And, of course, ysabetwordsmith has new poetry from this month's fishbowl:  http://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/1942220.html  She wrote 23 poems during the fishbowl this month, and many have been published by her fans in her journal.  Go check out a few.  She also has a poll you can vote in, if you're so inclined, though that's a separate post.

And finally, haikujaguar has invited artists willing to do work for hire for writers and publishers to post links:  http://haikujaguar.livejournal.com/999976.html  I spent way too much of my writing time checking out artists last night.  Most of these artists also offered to do commissions for people who aren't looking for cover or interior art for their books. 

(The conspiracy to promote multiple open browser windows continues...)

I've been writing in between necessary tasks around the house, but the stories I'm working on are resisting quick completion.  Sometimes that's a good sign, that I'm writing something at the edges of my skills, or that needs deep thought.  This weekend, I think it's just a sign that I'm distracted by mundane stuff like having a half-painted porch and weeds the City demands I mow down (and rain, which makes mowing with an electric lawn mower problematic).

But I do have something to share.  This is from a photo prompt by red_trillium:  http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2016062480012303101Wocvlk

An Irfai Lullabye
a Torn World poem by Deirdre M. Murphy

The heroes in the Irfai songs
Sailed in boats with monster heads
Guarding to the front and rear
Like our infant sailor-beds

Each tiny cradle, built so tight
That it can float, and lull the child
While Momma works and catches food
And Poppa hunts the monsters wild

Sleep little babe, upon the waves
And dream of Death, Snagtooth and Whale
Dying on your brave harpoon
Someday the bards will sing your tale



Historical note: The Irfai tales are often exaggerated; the tales talk of tall ships with extravagantly-carved figureheads at both ends of the boats; in reality, the monster heads on traditional Irfai ships were mostly painted on, and sometimes were no more than painted eyes. However, intricately-carved cradle-boats are used in the modern day by well-off Irfai, and both intricately-carved, well-made cradle boats and cheaper (and often leaky) knock-offs are sold to tourists.

Thank You to everyone who has shown up and offered to be our muses so far over at torn_world .  The window is still open in honor of crowdfunding  being in the spotlight this week--and prompters can win a print or original ACEO.

So far, despite working overtime, an unplanned 6-hour nap, and a heat index over 100 degrees, I've accomplished the following:

I have a finished short story, Chasing the River, which continues the story of my Butterfly Girl, who ran away to the Rainbow Rainforest.  It's available for sponsorship for $17 or 17 Torn World credits for a few more days; later it will be 19 because the rewrite (as usual) made it longer.

I have a rough draft of a story, Beans and Bugs, as well as a rough draft for a unique Empire board game by the same name.  I will gladly accept sponsorships to work on the story or the game (or both) in $5/5 TW credit increments.

I have a finished poem, Barrier Grief, which was (in character) written by an old soldier, who fought in the most recent big war, but ran away to the Rainbow Rainforest before the final battle, and was unable to find his way home. This is available for sponsorship for $9 or 9 Torn World credits.

I have a couple more ideas, which may or may not pan out before Friday, when I plan to give you a final tally of my writing for this Muse Fusion.

But for now, I have my Muse Fusion Freebie--a poem about my Butterfly Girl and her newly-sworn sister:

Bridge Making

a Torn World poem
by Deirdre M. Murphy

The fibers from the old roof shingles are long—
Longer than the room was wide.
But they’re soft from age and soaking.
Dubiously, she yanks on one.
It breaks.

Obediently, she gathers up fibers in her hands,
Lining up the edges neatly, all in a row
Like the houses where she used to live.
Her new sister laughs, “not like that.
Let them be different!”

“Here, you add to this end!”
The fibers flop out, all different lengths.
“Add more and twist.”
She takes up more, carelessly now,
And twists, and the rope grows.

When they pull, it falls apart; she tries again,
Watching her sister’s nimble fingers.
Tightly twined, the fibers hold this time.
Lizard girl and butterfly girl pull gently,
The new rope holds

It grows strand by strand and twist by twist.
They let it twist back on itself, doubling its width.
Laughing, they put their feet together.
Their matching tattoos look like one tall tree.
They pull hard; the rope is good.

They put a weight on it, let the end dangle,
And sit together, talking, laughing, twisting;
The rope grows longer and longer.
Around them, the whole clan
Does the same.

Three of these will make a rail.
Nine are wide enough to walk upon.
Like people, alone the fibers are weak.
But twined together they’re strong enough
To support a life.



Please let me know what you think!

Current Sponsorships:  $0

I'm delighted to let you know that the first poem for the theme is my Surprises At Sea.  It's posted for Torn World supporters (subscribers) to read. 

If you want to support my work, you can make this poem public by sponsoring it for $10 or $10 Torn World credits.  (Credits from a subscription will also let you read other subscribers-only material on the Torn World site.  Either will get you (or "anonymous, if you prefer") an attribution on the site as the sponsor for that work, and my thanks!

In other news, the pollen count is dropping, maybe tomorrow I'll be less sleepy!

Look how many poems Ysabet wrote on Tuesday--and these are only the ones that didn't sell; if you click back from this post, you'll see that there were more too, because you can read them!

http://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/1588499.html

thesilentpoet  is writing poetry to raise money to go to a conference.  She applied for a travel grant, and was denied.  She sold many of her books.    Now she's busking in the hopes that some of the people who read her work will have the wherewithall to tip.   And she's willing to take prompts.

You should check out the poetry even if you can't afford to help.  Today's poem is over here--and there are poems every day since Valentines' Day. 

The theme for the poems is  various folklore, fairy tales, and other mythologies.   It's been interesting watching what she does with one of my favorite topics.

MG Ellington (xjenavivex ) also blogs over at Science in My Fiction, and in honor of Valentines Day today's post discusses Love and Brains. In conjunction with that, she has published my pantoum, Love is vital to brain development in her blog: JV's Journal.

I hope you'll go check them both out!

In related news, I did a reading at Capricon including two Torn World poems and one story, and got a good reception for all of them.  (I was nervous about the poetry, having really no basis to predict if the audience would be poetry-friendly.)

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

I've mostly missed the internets over the last--gosh, nearly a week! I've headed in to work, then back here, and fallen asleep on the couch before I read a half-dozen posts or even play my dumb facebook clicky-games. I think I've seen more Kleenexes than web-pages over the last few days.

I inadvertently complicated the problem by not reading the ingredients on the store-brand Zyrtek I had, so instead of merely having a miserable cold I also had severe stomach cramps, gas, bloating, and even more exhaustion than the cold caused. This has NOT been good for getting stuff done!

But I did want to tell you my poem, Shliiritiri's Rede has been nominated for a Rhysling.  In a post-apocalyptic world, each isolated group of people had to explain what happened; this is just one of those explanations.  this was also designed to be a piece of a world with complex and contradictory opinions about gender, and should not be assumed to be the correct explanation of what happened.  There's lots of opinions about that!

I'm really excited about this nomination!

Everyone's welcome to go read the poem, whether you're eligible to vote or not!

The Rose and Bay awards are open for nomination. You can nominate your favorite creative crowdfunded projects for this award. Here is a post linking to each nomination page (fiction, art, poetry, webcomics, other creative projects, and donors are this year's categories).

Anyone is eligible to make nominations, though a creator cannot nominate their own work.  Each of you is welcome to nominate any crowdfunded project you've been enjoying.

A sample nomination, with Torn World information, is as follows:

Project Title: Torn World
Creator Name: Ellen Million, Elizabeth Barrette, Deirdre Murphy, Valerie Higgins, and others
Link: http://www.tornworld.net
Category: Other Project (an original unique shared world with fiction, poetry, mythology, art, and encyclopedia-style articles about the world)
Summary: Torn World is a shared science-fantasy world where the co-creators write, draw, paint, and othewise create a complex world by telling the stories of the people of that world.
Crowdfunding Method: Torn World is crowdfunded through subscriptions to the site, sponsorships to specific stories, and donations to the creators during monthly Muse Fusion events, where the Torn World creators create cool new stuff in response to the prompts and questions posed by the audience.

Torn World is eligible in the "other" category, since Torn World includes poetry, fiction, mythology, art, and worldbuilding articles.  If you wish to nominate Torn World, the other category nomination page is here. 

I also crowdfunded other projects:

• Dandelyon's Verse (for instance, Green Eyed Friend and Grandmother's Stories).  My poetry landing page is here, and it includes poetry since I started the project

• Fireborn, which I had hoped to finish in 2010; I still owe you the end of this story, and will get bak to it.. The landing page for Fireborn is here.

• Feather-Blessed, my series of short stories about girls turned into dragons by a magical feather.  You start the series here.

If someone wants to nominate any of these projects and needs more information to fill in the blanks, just let me know.

And if she gets 10 new commenters, on the song or on any of her other writings in her LJ, she'll record it so we can hear the tune!

It's called "The Chocolate Chip Country". I hope some of you will go check it out, and comment. I'd love to hear the tune!

http://stryck.livejournal.com/815023.html