Chris Tullbane's Blog, page 16

July Status Update

[image error]

With literal hordes of grasshoppers descending upon Las Vegas like a biblical plague (minus the destruction), one thing is abundantly clear:

These are the end times.

We’re in the end game now.

It’s a bad time to vacation in Vegas.

It’s time for another status update.

So let’s get to it!

 

See These Bones

There’s a lot going on in preparation for See These Bones‘ release, some of which I can’t share just yet1. But I can say that I’ve finally finished formatting the manuscript for digital and...

Poetry: Six Geese A-Laying

One of my writing challenges for myself this year was to do a ’12 days of Christmas’ poetry collection. 12 poems, one for each of the days in the song, where I put my own spin on the theme. This is one of those poems.

 

[image error]

“Six Geese A-Laying”

 

When you were five

and so small you were

almost lost in your own jacket—

 

a bundle of bones

and two eyes so blue

they drowned out the summer sky—

 

you would recoil

from every loud noise on

the nearby street,

 

from the squeal of brakes

and engines tha...

Poetry: Linear Degradation

[image error]

“Linear Degradation”

 

I left for work this morning

but never came home.

 

The man they sent in my place was older,

weaker. He had a scar across his left

cheek and gray splotches in his hair.

 

When he leaves for work tomorrow,

he too will be driving towards his end.

The man that returns home will be older still.

His eyes will weep pus and blood.

 

It’s the same each night,

this unflinching process;

 

like a printer that has run low on toner,

each new copy is paler, each man less distinct,

u...

Voice: It’s not just a TV show featuring that one tattooed dude

[image error]residents of “Writer Twitter”, I participate in a fair number of writer-centric hashtag games. Some are great ways to introduce yourself to fellow authors, some provide an opportunity to dig into what makes your manuscript work (or not work), and others are just there for silly fun.

Last week, #TheMerryWriter wanted to know one thing that would turn us off a book.

To be honest, there are a lot of things that will cause me to give up on a book, and I suspect that’s true for...

Poetry: Fever Dream, Part 2

[image error]

“Fever Dream, Part 2”

 

Last night, I dreamed

that you were tossing back highballs

from a martini glass,

and when I pointed this out,

you slapped me,

and said everyone was doing it.

 

Last night, I dreamed

that the festivities stretched

from downtown to our basement.

I lay alone, my heart twitching in rhythm

with the thumping bass,

as you danced below with strangers.

 

Last night, I dreamed

that the streets were on fire.

Store-front windows shattered musically,

asphalt groaned under the assa...