The great thing about procrastination is that you sometimes end up accomplishing a lot of other things whilst avoiding the thing you were actually meant to be doing. In my case, last month I was procrastinating over the interactive novel I've had on and off the back burner since 2015 (which, incidentally, is now past the 500,000 word mark but still nowhere close to finished), and ended up writing a bunch of fantasy poems.

Hence I've compiled them in a short book: Fantasy, Fairies, Franiards: A Poetry Chapbook.

The poems vary a lot in tone and form. Some are rolicking couplet comedies, such as this one inspired by a Jewish friend's challah-baking exploits:

Braided

"A thousand challah left to bake!
A better way, for pity's sake!"
So Airy cried, and went to look
For help inside a magic book.
"A golem! Perfect! Where's the clay..."
And Airy sculpted, night and day.

The golem stood at Airy's height;
(So, short, but swelled with magic might);
He blinked and waited, Airy said:
"Your task involves a load of bread!"
She braided dough to show him how,
Declaring, "Braid the others now!"

The golem wove the challah braid,
While Airy 'pon the sofa laid
Herself at rest and read a book,
And never even thought to look
Outside the window, thus she missed
The golem striding through the mist.

He braided trees, and braided swords
The smith had forged to arm the hordes,
And when the smith emerged to yell,
The golem braided him as well.
"Who's screaming?" Airy left the couch,
And gazed upon it; "Jeepers! Ouch!"

She sighed and put her book aside;
"The baking's worse when someone's died!
The mourners need their braided bread!
That helper's useless, causing dread!
In future, I'll embrace the chore,
Instead of causing golem gore!"

Other poems in the book are more cynical, serious, or sinister, such as this villanelle:

She Walks the Graveyard's Gloom

She walks the graveyard's gloom
And silver steels her eye
Her words will bring their doom

They left her in that room
They never told her why
She walks the graveyard's gloom

Her knife's edge holds the moon
They left her there to die
Her words will bring their doom

Her blood drops fall and bloom
The voiceless ones reply
She walks the graveyard's gloom

The teeming shadows loom
She bids her soul goodbye
Her words will bring their doom

Nails scratch inside a tomb
And corpses claw for sky
She walks the graveyard's gloom
Her words will bring their doom

So, whatever your tastes, if you're into fantasy and poetry, you should hopefully find something of interest within.

The digital edition's only $0.99, and is available on a number of different ebook stores and apps. This universal link will let you click over to the book's page on your preferred store:

https://books2read.com/FantasyFairies...

The paperback may take a little longer to hit the various online shops, but should appear on several of them. Though if you'd like to support a local bookshop, they should be able to order a copy for you (ISBN 9781393775737).



That image on the cover was a commission my awesome and talented friend Cameron Stark did for me a couple of years ago, and I felt it'd be perfect here. He entitled it The Giantess and the Storyteller. You can check out more of Cameron's art under his Androïd Prïest handle on ArtStation:

https://androidpriest.artstation.com/