Stephen J. Alexander's Blog
January 31, 2022
Keeping Afloat by Samantha L. Terrell
Sharp observational American poetry for our times…
Keeping Afloat is a poetry anthology published in 2021. All poems were written by internationally acclaimed American poet, Samantha L. Terrell, and the book is also beautifully illustrated by Scotland’s finest artist of the hour, Jane Cornwell. Jane is obviously well-known to me personally, as she designed the covers for each of my novels in The Sweet Nightmares Trilogy. But, the poet was until I was asked to review her work on behalf of JC Studios Publishers, UK, a complete unknown quantity to me.
Ms. Terrell, I understand, has been published both in the United States and internationally several times before the release of this, her latest collection. She’s got a keen eye for detail and draws her inspiration from everything in the world around her.
In perusing her bio, it seems that when not expressing her inner most thoughts and feelings in rhyme, Terrell enjoys nothing more than sailing or kayaking with family near to her home in upstate New York. Clearly, water and living close to it, is her principal inspiration for ‘Keeping Afloat’. Though, that very term also suggests a struggle or struggles of some sort lie ahead for the reader.
The first two pieces in the collection, Denial? and Just Add Water set the tone perfectly for the rest of the anthology. This is to be a text that worships the wonders of H2O. But, there is also a seething undercurrent of extreme concern for the human condition that glides smoothly to the surface. Denial? carries an interrogation point in the title. Many more of Terrell’s poems in the collection place numerous question marks throughout.
Yet despite all the querying, I feel she makes her position very clear from the outset. Terrell is upset about where we as a species are headed. And, who of sound mind wouldn’t be in favour of her stance?
At times, it feels as if she’s asking the reader for help in finding the answers to her questions. It’s almost a kind of psychic plea in desperation.
I hear her loud and clear though.
Each and every one of these beautiful poems can be related by the reader to any number of the worrying situations facing our planet during this period. From global inequalities to health catastrophes, terrorism and global warming, this is very easy poetry to relate to if you are of a certain character. The line in Just Add Water about the steadfast lie of clocks, always suggesting that we are going somewhere – headed in one direction – is so thought-provoking all on its own.
In Flooded, I found so much depth and potential for multiply layered meaning; Terrell could just as easily be talking about the current vaccination arguments as seeking a circuit break in her homeland from the terrible divisions caused by Trump. Then again, it could be referring to something else entirely like Kyoto, racism or inequality in general.
But it doesn’t really matter. What does, is that Samantha L. Terrell is a voice of reason. In amongst all the chaos in one of history’s most turbulent moments for decades, she makes absolute sense.
Moving swiftly on, I loved the spice references in Fulfilment. The powerful message of the poem is landed softly yet deftly through its use of somewhat more homely metaphors. In Literary Outcasts, I also adored how she’s managed to weave in a cheeky little cameo for her Scottish illustrator, alluding to a comment the artist had made about the American writing style.
Far be it from me to suggest that the initial point raised may not have immediately been seen as a compliment to Samantha L. Terrell when voiced. I wouldn’t want to speculate about how a serious poet might have taken the notion of her verse reading as if it were all written while people watching in Starbuck’s! However, I would strongly recommend to her now that this is true and only in a very positive way!
I think that one of the main elements of both American poetry and prose that we British readers adore, is that sense of ease that comes across. It’s that sentence at the start of Catcher in the Rye that never ends, yet rolls so cleanly and languidly off the tongue. It’s as if most of the greatest works of fiction and verse of the 20th Century were just calmly reeled off in a single afternoon, while sipping a latte and gazing dreamily, detached yet so coherently connected to the chaos all around. For me, that is my portrait of an American artist. And, Samantha L. Terrell certainly sits up there with the best of them.
Honestly, there is just too much good in this book to be able to pack into one short review. I could so easily wax lyrical about all of the poems in the collection. But, I’m going to round off with just a few more soundbites.
The opening stanza of Biding Time is brilliant in its simplicity:
“If life
Were as
It’s meant to be,
I would live
As far as I can see.”
In Survival, who would dispute the line, “We are who we are not because of but in spite of our upbringings?” This is so wonderfully provocative.
The poem, Beached in the Night, During a Storm is also so relevant to everything that’s happening around us all at the moment, that reading it just made me want to cry out, “Yes! You’re right! You’re spot on!”
Then, I’d also like to give special mentions to Learning from Pompeii and Ubiquitous Fish. But, I really must finish up now. And so to the final poem in the book, The Nature of Wishing Wells.
Throughout, our poet has raised many important concerns in her beautifully crafted, flowing and emotionally charged text. Yet, despite all of her questions unanswered, Terrell aptly concludes by leaving us with a small glimmer of hope. But, that is after all, the nature of wishing wells…
Review by Stephen J. Alexander
Author and Reviewer
January 28, 2022
The Race by John Russo
He has nothing to do with the Night of the Living Dead… But he is very funny!
I connected with John only as recently as this week out there in the Twitterverse. I’d reached out to suggest that I’d started writing book reviews and John answered the call.
Unlike my first victim, Priscilla M. Goins, I don’t know very much about John Russo. I’ve never even seen a picture of him. All I know is that he’s American and that he writes a sharply funny story in that great laconic American style. His dialogue is precise and witty throughout. And, it needs to be. John’s story is very much driven by the conversation between two brothers somewhere in the southern States.
I imagine the story takes place in a very near future setting. I worked in the UK a couple of years ago with a young man who left his job as an office clerk with me to take on a role with Amazon, researching how they could have drones deliver all parcels in future. John also clearly knows this future method of delivery is not far off!
When the brothers decide to shoot down one of these delivery drones, a whole race (hence the title) against all manner of crazy obstacles kicks off. If I say anymore it will spoil what is after all only a very short piece of comic prose.
And so to the rating of it: It has to be 5-stars. It can’t be anything less. It is very well written and there is a laugh out loud moment on every page. Mr. Russo does say on his Amazon bio that he intended to be funny! And funny he is! I strongly recommend this story. It’s a quick read and it will lift any mood! https://www.amazon.com/John-Russo/e/B09PSVS21X/ref=aufs_dp_mata_dsk
https://www.amazon.com/John-Russo/e/B09PSVS21X/ref=aufs_dp_mata_dsk
January 27, 2022
EARLY BIRD SPECIAL BY PRISCILLA M. GOINS
“A classy American short story”
Now… To begin. I met Priscilla on Twitter. Social Media is such a crazy concept! I’m 48 years old and I still haven’t decided quiet yet whether or not I like smart phones. And, to cap that, I’ve fallen out with so many family members and old friends over the years on Facebook or just in SMS messages!
Buuuut! Twitter is something else. There are thousands…. No! Millions of great people all over this beautiful planet of ours who we can connect with through Twitter.
Some idiots misuse the community for sure. It’s a kinda digital microcosm of reality in its own way, I guess.
Though, there’s also something much more real about Twitter than any other set up. The #writerscommunity and the #writingcommunity of Twitter are tight groups full of supportive like minded people doing what they feel compelled to do (by God? By their inner beings? By “the little people”?) I dunno… What and whomever floats their boats I suppose!
And, that’s where Priscilla and I met back in 2019, I think? We’ve communicated for a long time. I would love to think that in some kinda post-Covid utopia, she and I might make it all the way to Hollywood with our creations and can one day sit down for real with my wife and her husband and have a great night out on THE MAN!
But, for the time being, we’re just two like-minded indie writers searching the waves for the right break….
And man! If anyone ever deserved to hit the big time in writing circles, it is Priscilla M. Goins. She is witty. She is sentimental. She understands character to a very high degree. She naturally writes men, women, old folk, young folk, and her mastery of dialogue in written prose is outstanding!
As a young man, I did a bachelor’s degree in the UK in American Studies. We read an awful lot of 20th Century US (and some Canadian) fiction. I’ve seen everything from James Baldwin to Ken Kesey! J.D. Salinger to Margaret Attwood. And, irrespective of race, gender, politics or class, there is something quite unique; quite beautiful for an outsider that pieces together what we define as American Literature as opposed to English Literature.
I love both.
The things that define “American Literature” for me are very hard to define in one simple sentence.
However, I might refer to… an ease when writing dialogue; a continuous informal flow; an ability to sound offhand when really you’re in total control. American writers eeeee-longate sentences; they redefine traditional structures, and write the way we as human beings really, really talk.
Now, my review will give no SPOILERS on the story of EARLY BIRD SPECIAL! (What a cool title by the way!). I will say that it is sweetly romantic. You root for the couple throughout. I will also say, as someone who once stole a golf cart and crashed it, that there is a bit of golf cart action in there too…
But, what I will say is that up alongside so many great American authors that I’ve been forced to read as a teen and others whom I have read because I love them as an adult, Priscilla M. Goins really does rate very highly against them all. Her writing possesses clarity. I clearly envisage her humour; her characters; her warmth and depth, when I read this story. It’s literature but it’s also very visual. As I read, I see it on screen. I see a real, raw talent not to be easily overlooked.
So….in conclusion… My new use of this website/blog is not so much to promote my own work as to big up my fellow writers… I want to help the diamonds in the rough if I can.
Priscilla M. Goins has, as many others including myself, had numerous rejection letters from agents and it hurts. She’s an intelligent, caring woman.
Without wishing to sound rude, Priscilla is not a typical “indie” genre author publishing 10 thousand books of a similar nature with no inclination to ever change that up. No.
I think that Priscilla has gone indie as a last resort, or I would prefer to think, as a stop gap before the real deal comes along!
Priscilla M. Goins is the diamond in the American rough in 2022.
She is a classic literature writer in the American tradition. And one day, I really hope that someone in the traditional publishing world picks up on her talent and allows her to reap the rewards for her immense natural talent!
Thank you Priscilla for the mention in your book and thank you for sharing it with me. I genuinely appreciate that and I loved it. Do I now really have to give this book a number of stars out of 5???? … Ok. Here goes….
MY ADVICE IS BUY THIS DAMN BOOK NOW BEFORE SHE’S TOO FAMOUS AND YOU HAVE TO PAY DOUBLE!
January 26, 2022
New Purpose!!!
I have found new purpose… Like some folk find God… I’ve found… Well, something similar but with no deity attached.
I’ve been plodding along for the last year now…
I’ve been self-promoting my books. Well, you have to don’t you?
I’ve been lazy. Sometimes, I don’t even self-promote. I fart around on Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter.
But, I’ve had an idea. There are sooooo many of us indie authors out there….So many of us who know we’re worthy… dreaming the same dream, wanting the same thing (pardon the pun), I reckon it’s high time I joined the chorus of helpers as well as being a help-myself-er.
So, would anyone like me to review their work? I’m a qualified copy editor and copy writer. I’m a former journalist and Literature & film teacher. I’m still teaching cinematography in French to French teens!!! I love reading as well as writing my own stuff. And, I’m always, always, always looking for that diamond in the rough!!!!!
So, I’m gonna get active! Call it a new year’s resolution! I’m gonna keep my writing going. But I also wanna support my fellow writers with…. Reviews of published stuff and BETA testimonies for those looking for the right kinda crit before they go public.
Please, please…If you think I can help ya in any way, I’m on stephen.alexander@orange.fr
Drop me a mail. A PDF of your masterpiece and I will honour you with a supportive response…
Stephen ;o)
December 5, 2021
THE DREAMS by Stephen J. Alexander
My little bookie wook, third in the Sweet Nightmares Trilogy is at number 76 in the Amazon Top 100 Sci-Fi Romance books on Sunday 5th December 2021. I am absolutely over the moon!!!!! I am an indie author.
Top 100 positions don’t happen to Indie authors….https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dreams-Sweet-Nightmares-Trilogy-Book-ebook/dp/B09KG9STFK/ref=sr_1_1?crid=FZ4FGNE4SYXS&keywords=the+dreams+by+stephen+j.+alexander&qid=1638706182&sprefix=the+dreams+%2Caps%2C196&sr=8-1
October 27, 2021
The Sweet Nightmares Trilogy
Made in Milan by Stephen J. Alexander
It’s Friday 24th October 2031, and Europe is a very different place… International travel of any kind requires special paperwork and a specific reason.
So, when a mysterious Englishman, haunted by his past, sits alone in a Milan bar, a curious local girl with bewitching blue eyes aims to find out just why he’s there.
Falling Strong by Stephen J. Alexander
It’s June 2032, and newly-wed bride, Alice Scott has been kidnapped.
Bound, broken and transported far away from her home in Italy, her first thought after her husband, Nathan, is to find out why she was taken.
But, while Alice thinks she’s been snatched for ransom, there’s much more to this dark romantic thriller than meets the eye.
The Dreams by Stephen J. Alexander
It’s 2046, fourteen years after Falling Strong, and Alice Scott’s life is about to change irrevocably once again. Obsessed by a series of strange dreams, and completely convinced they have hidden significance in her real life, Alice goes long haul in search of answers…
Leaving Nathan at home in Los Angeles, she embarks on an epic journey around the entire globe. Only, the truth turns out to be far more complicated than Alice could ever have imagined.
Desperate to get back to all that she knows and loves, Alice must first confront a strange man she knows only as The Maker.
July 2, 2020
2nd July 2020 … Dear writers of Twitter …
Dear Writers of Twitter,
When I set up and then failed to regularly maintain my blog, my only aim was to sell my book (See below).
Now, after Lockdown, I’ve had an epiphany.
My new objective for the blog is not commercial.
I only aim to share my love of writing. And, if I can get any interested followers today, moving forward, my only intended target audience is you lot – The Twitter writing community. #writerscommunity #writingcommunity #writerslift
I assume you’ve all got cool little blogs of your own too?
On here, my only intentions are:
to attempt to put a smile on people’s faces with my wry monologues (I’ve been really down lately and in need of some cheering up myself)
and to encourage collaboration and sharing across authors’ and poets’ blog sites.
That second point there is the biggee! If you follow me, I’ll follow back! If as my meagre following grows you’d like to post or share a poem or a speech or a snippet of your fiction on my page, all I’d ask in return is that you could then post something of mine back!
If we were all to get together on this and share our “shorts”/showreels around wouldn’t that be something!!!! Wouldn’t that be a “real” supportive global writers’ community!??!?!
Let me know what y’all (notice my attempt to get with the Deep Southerners there) think!
Best,
Stephen
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2nd July 2020 … Copywriting and me!
Copywriting and me!
I’ve been doing this course online since the start of Lockdown. I really hope I can eek a freelance living out of this one day! It’s really exciting.
Every time I send off my projects, I get a buzz! I’m a 46 year old man, but the thought of waiting on a grade from my tutor after I’ve really enjoyed creating an SEO piece or an advert for a watch or a jam maker or a non profit business is just well, for want of better words … Exciting!
I reckon it’s probably wrong to send us all to university and college in our teens and 20s. I guess there are some people out there who’re really driven by academia and pleasing their teachers etc. But at that age, LOL! I did the work. I got a 2:2. “A Desmond!” I’m not an idiot! But, no real effort went into it! I went to college to get away from home … Partying on government grants, probably annoying all the hard working northern locals whose Saturday night kicks were found outside chip shops when some lone, maybe stoned, probably drunk long hair walked by the window – obviously a student! “Get him!!!!!” (or I bet sometimes accidentally her) they’d cry as they ran outside and laid the boot in.
Now, it’s a kind of professional pride here. I’ve paid for the course so I don’t wanna muck it up! Sure! But, I’m also really enjoying it! If I’d known I could’ve studied writing real, practical stuff back in 1991 instead of having to master essay styles to speculate on why Dean Moriarty was the way he was in On the Road and maybe having to compare his character to that of the narrator, Sal … Jeez! I liked some of the books on my undergrad course, yes indeed … But I preferred meeting girls in student bars and singing in a band and going to all night parties when the rest of the world slept for work! And, an American Studies degree never really did for me!
Now, is the time to study. Now is the time to get serious. That’s my story anyway.
I guess you could read this in your 20s, with your first class degree in hand, all happy with yourself. You did well and you also think you had something of a life at uni too … But, I’d disagree. I’d disagree and I’m really, really sincerely sorry for saying this but you had to pay through the nose for something your parents’ generation (X that is) got for free … In debt to the “Student Loans Company” forever! How’s that fair?! It’s not.
I wasn’t capable as a young man. I’m sort of now only just waking up from my extravagant youth, growing up a bit… I’m sorry millennials. That’s all I can say. I’m not taking the mickey. I genuinely think you got dealt a bum hand in many ways! But, I’m jealous of you all too! ‘Cos I’ve finally found a potential source of income that I could really love, and you guys are in the best position to go get all the jobs!
Anyway, enough. I’m gonna do a shout out here to the CMP –
https://ww2.collegeofmediaandpublishing.education/
I have taken 3 Lockdown courses with them. Their tutors are all prompt, thorough and really know their stuff. They’re all experienced industry pros in their respective fields. And, for a bunch of online courses – I’ve struggled to study off the computer before – the work is really accessible and challenging and interesting! I’m now a qualified copy editor and proofreader WITH DISTINCTION. I wasn’t before Covid-19 shut us all down! And, hopefully I’ll soon be a copywriter too! And, maybe even a blogger… ;op
If anyone reads these two posts I’ve put up today, they’re just thoughts n stuff really. I guess in the past I’ve been a bit egocentric and just stuck stuff up on this blog about my books and poems except when I posted about one poem from Taylor in Texas that I really liked!
The CMP course has taught me that blogs are successful if written with the audience in mind … Durr … The exact opposite of what I’ve been doing, using it as a sales pitch for:
[image error] I absolutely love this cover! It makes me think of that French thing … “Le Petit Prince” (The Little Prince) every time I see it!
Another big shout out to my illustrator –
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauracoppolaro/
But, that’s not all I am … I love trying to engage and trying to make people either agree with my rants or at least laugh at or with me!
So, the time has come. Answers on a postcard please (millennials won’t get that reference) – Let’s see if my latest blogs have improved on the pre-Lockdown ones …
And, if so, I may just have to keep writing them daily!
Cheers
Stephen ;o)
2nd July 2020 … The Lockdown Rollercoaster (Thoughts)
The Lockdown Rollercoaster
Since Lockdown began I’ve been through all sorts of different emotions. I guess we all have, right? Firstly, everyone’s big thing was to stress about when Bozo the Clown was going to let Britain go on permanent hiatus along with our friends in the rest of Europe. The gravity of events occurring in some of our more urban areas hadn’t quite sunk in yet and the idea of a Wednesday morning paid up lie in beyond 8am sounded great!
But then even Bozo (I’m sorry, I can’t call him Boris or Bojo) got sick and nearly died!!!
A couple of weeks into Lockdown, I was teaching English to high school kids remotely and getting into a routine. The kids were on the whole, working hard too, from their homes and that was that.
I dispensed with my usual introspective selfishness and started to look out for people in my community while still making sure I got at least a bike ride or a long walk in each day for the exercise. I started planting veg in earnest, totally wrapped up in all of the sad and tragic news. We cancelled our family supermarket delivery to free up the slot for more vulnerable people and my wife signed up to do some shopping for the old in our village. I started donning the old mask and went shopping in the superstore for the first time in years – socially distanced – except down the tightly packed wine and spirits aisles.
Wanting it all to end…?
I don’t know about you all, but I’ve kind of had enough now. I’ve got projects and plans! Grand schemes and stuff that I want to do! I want to get back to France in the summer; see how the land lies over there with the in laws, parler francais!
Of course, in terms of Covid-19 we’re all well here… I’m stressed about other things I won’t go into. I just hope that if you’re reading this, you’re good to go and safe! Are you able to think back on the positives? Do you question what we’ve achieved as a society during Lockdown? And, will anything really change come the autumn?
Positives +
Farm shopping for fruit and veg went up! People learned to sew masks and bake bread…People baked a lot of bread. I had to ask on a village Facebook forum for some yeast when the shops ran out in April! Lots of people have taken up outdoor hobbies, painted garden fences, mended stuff that needed it and seen their extended families more than ever on weekly Zoom quizzes or group chats just to share Lockdown tales.
… Oh, and Liverpool won the league!
Negatives –
On the flip side, when you don’t have to get up at 6.30am every day, procrastination and binge watching/drinking/eating have been on the rise too right? And, I for one find it tricky to breathe behind the mask!
But worst of all, it’s the still not knowing… We’re all going back to work (unless we’re fired, laid off, or as a staggering 40% of the UK population are apparently now thinking… “of quitting” and looking for a stress free future). Yet, the disease is still out there… People are still dropping dead…Leicester’s been locked down again as the rest of the country starts to open its pubs! And, we’ve still got a Tory government (Yawn).
I get their worries about economy etc. Yeh! I’m middle aged. My communist days are well behind me! But, at what cost, business as usual? Surely nothing can be worth risking our lives over? There’s no vaccine! What’s changed since March on that score? They no longer refer to the science or the “R number” on the 6 o’clock news ‘cos they’ve locked all the scientists in a closet somewhere and only kept out the ones on the payroll who say what they want them to say! Sad really… The capitalists have had the ideal opportunity to seek a different route through this, yet heck no! Hedge funds and profits and going back to polluting the skies for the few by the few are all clearly still far more important than the rest of us!
I hear you Bozo! Don’t think I don’t. “The plebs have got their football back. They’re not looking anymore. Let’s get everything open and cut the distancing down to metre while we’re at it! They never notice so long as they can drink beer, fight and watch the good Old Etonians’ pig skin game!”
Then there’s Brexit! Recession in the EU or recession out and with no deal? I know what I’d choose… Seems insane to me! We could all be eating either cheaply imported chlorinated battery chickens or Corona Special Batwings on a stick by the middle of 2021 and I for one want neither! But the alternative… Tofu. Plastic flavoured feta. Or, plant based burgers. Vile. You need a whole bottle of ketchup to cover that stench!
… I’ve got a French passport by marriage. I know loads of people who’ve become Maltese or Italian because of a grandad, and surely there’s loads of Brits who can go Irish and then move on down to Spain or Greece for a place in the sun!
Is it time to move on? Who knows…It’s time I stopped this blog anyway.
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