Alsina Publishing to present my flash fiction trilogy

I'm excited to announce that Alsina Publishing will present my fantasy fiction trilogy via LingoBites, their app for language learning via story-telling.

I'm also so pleased and grateful that Selina Fenech, an incredible Australian artist and author, agreed to let me use her beautiful artwork for the trilogy cover!

This gorgeous piece, entitled "Saviour" perfectly illustrates my stories! Check out Selina's website for all her fiction, artwork, coloring books, figurines, etc. You will be amazed!

Update on this post:  LingoBites is in Beta launch mode and I have a limited number of free trial codes to give out--contact me if you are interested!

Rejections can be sweet...

However, their critique of the manuscript let me down very easy!  I am going to frame it and post it by my writing desk for encouragement!  Thank you, Thirty West Editorial panel!

Excerpts:

"These pieces are unique, fresh, and beautifully written. The muses here have constructed some unique narrative voices and superbly distinct pieces ..." "Supremely creative."

"...one must be widely-read and knowledgeable of literary, artistic, and historical touchstones to fully catch all of the allusions here. That makes the target audience for these pieces much less universal than some other pieces."  "The unique thoughtfulness and dedicated execution of these pieces far outweighs any audience concerns."

"Not only is this magnificent on a conceptual level, but the beauty in the writing lies in its use of literary devices throughout. For instance, the internal rhythm and rhyme in “Guinevere to Arthur” is so seamless as to seem easily done..."

"..the level of intellectualism and foresight, the knowledge and exploratory nature of poetic structure and elements, and the skill and artistry in execution make this a great piece that any publishing company should be honored to print."

Whale Road Review publishes my poem "The Astronomer's New Eyes"

Many thanks to the Whale Road Review for their May publication of my poem:

 "The Astronomer's New Eyes" in their Summer Issue 7.

Whale Road is a unique journal that publishes poetry, short prose, chapbook reviews and pedagogical papers!

This poem was written in honor of my husband, astronomer James R. Webb, of course!

June publications!

June has been a good month for me!

First, Alsina Publications accepted two flash fiction fantasy pieces, with a view to a third to complete the trilogy.  Alsina is launching a new language learning app, LingoBites, that will help students and other customers learn languages by reading stories!

Then Highland Park Poetry republished my poem "The Last Thing I'll Lose" in their Muses Gallery bird themed summer issue.

The Ginger Collect, self professed publishers of "The Weird, the New Age and the Strange" were kind enough to publish two of my poems in their Issue Two:  "The Story of the Stones" and "Under a Graveyard Sun."

Songs of Eretz Poetry Review also featured my poem "Plague Graffiti" on their page.
This poem was based on a BBC news article:

(Songs of Eretz Editor’s Note:  "This is a unique and moving elegy that resonates as much today in the age of indiscriminate terror attacks as it would have 500 years ago during the black plague that struck Cambridgeshire.")

Thirty West Publishing House's beautiful hand-bound chapbooks!

Thirty West Publishing House produces hand-bound chaplets and chapbooks.  As I previously posted, they recently chose my poem "The Surest Poison" as winner of their sonnet challenge (part of their celebration of National Poetry Month) and now editor Josh Dale is publishing a chaplet of all the weekly challenge winners!  It will include work from four different writers and four different genres/forms, and will include my winning sonnet as well as a second sonnet "Blood Pacts."  Many thanks to TWPH for their support of poetry and writers!  I would like to learn to make hand-bound chaps like these!  In Josh's picture, you see some of the tools he uses and the resulting chapbooks.

P.S.
If you look closely at the picture, you will see that my two poems happened to fall in the middle pages of the chaplet!

Retirement vs. Jubilación

Although I haven't posted about any financial/frugal ideas lately it doesn't mean they haven't been on my mind.  With the house paid off, now my main focus is building up our liquid savings and saving for our mythical retirement.  Since my husband and I enjoy our current occupations so much, I have a feeling that retirement will not be our choice, but something forced upon us by circumstances beyond our control, but we'll see.  In any case, someday either one or both of us will be officially retired, at least partially.  I guess one could say I've been semi-retired for 10 years now, since I began working part-time, but the difference is I have not considered myself retired.  I have come to realize retirement is a state of mind, not just a financial one.

In Spanish, we say a retired person is "jubilado" which technically means "freed" or "released" rather than "retired."  I have felt released and freed most of my life, so in that sense I've been retired all along! "Jubilación" sounds a lot like "jubilation" in English, which of course means great joy and elation, so I guess the term is a more positive-sounding one than "retirement" which sounds like you're retreating from life.

Anyway, in the effort to save for retirement I try to keep frivolous, impulsive purchases on a tight rein but I also like to keep track of low-cost purchases that deliver high satisfaction and make life more pleasant.

This year my frugal winners are:

A Cool Gear thermos on sale at Tuesday Morning that keeps my iced tea cold for 24 hours.  (The first one we got for free but its top eventually broke so I needed a new one--I now use the old one at home but I needed one with a tightly sealed top for work)  Cost: $10  (normally this type of thermos goes for $25-30 at the supermarket).

A cushioned zero-gravity chair for Jim--the removable cushion alone was worth the price I paid for both the chair and cushion.  It's a sueded material that makes the chair look much more living-room-worthy. Cost: $80

A Hamilton Beach room odor eliminator Cost $25.  Wow, this has really helped cat-related odors in my room and doubles as a personal fan and gray noise generator as well!

The Ghazal Page published my poem "Rilke Returns to Ronda" -- late to report

For some reason, I never announced the publication of my latest favorite poem,

"Rilke Returns to Ronda,"

a ghazal in an earlier issue (number 63) of The Ghazal Page.

This poem was inspired by my visit to Ronda, Spain last year.  I found out that Ernest Hemingway had famously visited Ronda, and so had Rainer Maria Rilke, one of my favorite poets. Rilke had been experiencing terrible writer's block and stayed a few months in a hotel in the hills there, during which he experienced a re-awakening of inspiration and began writing again.

I had been toying with the idea of writing about Rilke in Ronda but had not hit upon a way to approach the theme when I heard of The Ghazal Page's "places" challenge and realized it had to be a ghazal!  I had not written a tercet ghazal before but this one seemed to demand to be one, maybe because Rilke wrote his famous "Spanish Trilogy" in Ronda! 

Rilke's real first name was "Rene" so I used "reborn" in the last stanza, according to the tradition.
I make a passing reference to Hemingway as well!  While I was in Ronda, my travel companion wanted to see the bullring, which is the oldest existing one in Spain, so I saw that firsthand.  And the carpark we used was called "Poeta Rilke!"

"Seagrapes" published by The Australia Times Poetry Magazine

The Australia Times Poetry Magazine published my poem "Seagrapes" in February; the cute illustration is by TAT artist Shallamar Mugot.  I'm very sad to find out that TAT will be closing its doors by May of this year.  I loved learning about Australia via its writers' works!  Poetry editor Maureen Clifford is the best!

The Ghazal Page publishes my ghazal "Wings" about Ada Lovelace in their Freedom issue.

POEMS

Beatriz F. Fernandez
Wings

"The Surest Poison" wins Thirty West Publishing House's sonnet challenge

Many thanks to Thirty West Publishing House for choosing my poem, The Surest Poison, as winner of their sonnet challenge!  They are a micropress based in Philadelphia, which naturally appeals to me.  They will possibly re-publish this sonnet in a chaplet compilation of their contest winners.  This was a great way to celebrate National Poetry Month!

Red Bird Weekly Read site publishes my poem "Origins"

Red Bird Chapbooks, a respected publisher of multiple genre type chapbooks, featured my poem "Origins" on their "Weekly Read" column and their facebook site.  Many thanks to editor Sarah Hayes!

Red Bird does not limit itself to poetry chapbooks, so visit them to see all the possibilities they offer!

From their site:

"Red Bird Chapbooks is a venue for emerging and existing authors to bring forth small collections of their work in artistically appealing forms. We publish quality, handcrafted chapbooks, broadsides and pamphlets that introduce aspiring and inspiring writers and artists to a larger audience."

I'm very honored to be included in their list of published authors; the Weekly Read feature began in July 2016.  I heard about it via Trish Hopkinson's ever-useful blog!  I had also submitted a chapbook to them last year.

Looking back at 2016 -- the year of the anthology

It was the year of the anthology for me, as four anthologies have accepted my poems, three of which will be published in 2017.  Also, it will be a first for my work to be included in an art exhibit!  

2016: Year in Review

Publications: 14

The Quarterday Review print and online (Maid Marian’s Many Silences ghazal)

The Ghazal Page online (3 ghazals, From Dante to Beatrice, From Beatrice to Dante and Rilke Returns to Ronda)

The Copperfield Review online (3 poems, Maid Joan’s Gethesemane, Genesis, 1880, and the Lost Colony)

The Australia Times Poetry Magazine online (4 poems, The Last Thing I’ll Lose, Inspiration, Bahia Honda Beach Conch and Mother Re-gifts)

Stonecoast Literary Review (1 poem, Monody for a Leading Man)

Anthologies/Collections: 2

Pay Attention: Poems for Oral Interpretation (2 poems, Her Last Cotillion, Richard the Lionheart’s Mummified Heart Examined)

Total 14 publications

Acceptances

Spark: A Creative Anthology (2 poems not published yet.)

Street Voice journal (3 poems, not published yet, Poem for My Father, In the Shadow of the Miami Metrorail Overpass, Departures)

Fiolet & Wing Domestic Fabulist anthology) (1 poem, A Modern Day Amazon visits the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston)

Feminine Rising: Voices of Power & Invisibility (with Ellen Bass!)   (1 poem, Reunion)

               Shabda Press’s Nuclear Impact Anthology: Broken Atoms in Our Hands (1 poem)

               

               Arte Latino Now 2017 exhibit in January 2017 (1 poem, Calle del Cristo, Old San Juan)

               Whale Road Review (1 poem, The Astronomer’s New Eyes, for their June issue)

               Total acceptances and publications: 24

Interviews:

FEM website interview

Queens Center for Latino Studies interview—Meet the Writers—published online on their tumblr page.

Reviews:

Literary Arts Review of Shining from a Different Firmament

Svetlana’s Reads and Reviews blog: review of Shining from a Different Firmament

Nomination/Honors:

"Calle de Cristo, Old San Juan" chosen for the Arte Latino Now 2017 exhibit at Queens University in a nationwide competition!

Words Dance—actually last year, my poem Late Night Shift was a finalist in their nomination list for Best of the Net and I didn’t realize it until recently! 

Workshops/Classes:

Key West Literary Seminar Writing Workshop with Campbell McGrath  --  this workshop yielded three new poems, two of which have already been published and one, "Calle del Cristo" which was chosen for the aforementioned Arte Latino Now exhibit!

Speculative Fiction writing class (online) with best-selling, award-winning science fiction author C.S. (Celia) Friedman!  This class yielded my first completely edited short story--about a robot!  I also began a story about Death as a character.  It generated many ideas for future stories and I also had several magic world-building ideas that Celia said were original and promising for novel-length works.  I don't intend to write novels, but maybe I could manage a novella or novelette!  I also met a great group of writers who are willing to read and critique my work.

   

Stonecoast Review publishes my "Monody for a Leading Man"

My poem, "Monody for a Leading Man" has been published in Stonecoast Review's Winter 2016 issue 6.  Stonecoast Review: a literary arts journal published by the University of Southern Maine's MFA program in Creative Writing.

Pay Attention: Poems for Oral Interpretation

Pay Attention: Poems for Oral Interpretation, edited by John Pierce, now on sale at Amazon,  contains two of my longer persona pieces: "Her Last Cotillion" about Doc Holliday and his cousin Mattie (whom Melanie Wilkes in Gone With the Wind was modeled after) and "Richard Lionheart's Mummified Heart Examined" a piece in various voices about the recent discovery of King Richard's heart buried beneath a church in Rouen.  The editor's intention is that this collection of poems be used for high school dramatic interpretation competitions.  I thought it was a great idea, especially as he says it is difficult to find good pieces to use for this purpose.  When I was in Forensics in high school, I couldn't find a piece I liked and I ended up writing my own, and after I left it was used by others.   

"Calle del Cristo, Old San Juan" chosen for Arte Latino Now 2017 exhibit

ARTE LATINO NOW 2017 has chosen my poem about Puerto Rico, "Calle del Cristo, Old San Juan" to be read and displayed in next year's exhibit at the

Max L. Jackson Gallery, Watkins Building, Queens University of Charlotte, Jan 17-Feb 17, 2017.

From their site:

"Sponsored by The Center for Latino Studies at Queens University of Charlotte in partnership with artist Edwin Gil, Art Sí and Queens' Departments of Art and World Languages, ARTE LATINO NOW seeks to highlight the exciting cultural and artistic contributions of Latinos in the United States.

 We invite artists who self-define as Latino and live and work in the United States to submit an original creative work in their medium of choice. Winners will be exhibited at Queens University of Charlotte in Spring 2017."

This poem is another offspring of the Key West Literary Seminar Writers' workshop. I received lots of positive feedback about it from the group and altered it slightly before sending it off to the competition.

I hope to visit the exhibit when I go to Charlotte for my Mom's 94th birthday!

The Australia Times Poetry Magazine features "Bahia Honda Beach Conch" on their Facebook page.

The Australia Times Poetry Magazine has published a few of my poems: two in the October issue, "Inspiration" (a sonnet) and "The Last Thing I'll Lose" and now has accepted two more, and featured "Bahia Honda Beach Conch" on their facebook page!  It was accompanied by a beautiful picture of a conch shell. I wrote the poem right after I attended the Key West Literary Seminar Writers' workshop led by poet and FIU professor Campbell McGrath.

Literary Arts Review publishes review of my book Shining from a Different Firmament!

Many thanks to the editors of The Literary Arts Review for their two-page book review of my chapbook Shining from a Different Firmament!!  They are among the few journals that review poetry chapbooks!  I was expecting a few paragraphs but they went far beyond that; their thoughtful, thorough review highlighted the most unique and relevant aspects of my book.

I read this debut issue from cover to cover with great enjoyment and interest; I especially liked the short story “Bach’s Last Composition: A Fantasy” by Lenny Cavallari and the article “From the Restorationists to the Romantics: Rochester and Byron” by Alexander Larman!  I am doubly glad for my book to be mentioned in this magazine because it appeals to readers like me--with literary interests and intellectual curiosity.  Cavallari's story reminded me of what I liked about Jorge Luis Borges' short fiction.  Larman's article made me want to read all his books!

The Copperfield Review publishes three of my historical persona poems.

The Copperfield Review, a journal which features historical fiction, poetry and great interviews of authors of historical fiction like Mary Doria Russell, Jean M. Auel, Jeff Shaara and John Jakes, has published three of my historical persona poems in their latest online issue: Maid Joan’s Gethsemane (about Joan of Arc), Genesis, 1880 (about the first electrically lit city in the world–it’s not the one you think!) and The Lost Colony (about Virginia Dare, the first child born in the Roanoke colony.)

(Image from Britannica.com Biography of Saint Joan of Arc)

Spark: A Creative Anthology will publish my poem The Fourth Brontë Sister

Spark: A Creative Anthology, a paying market, just accepted my poem, The Fourth Brontë Sister, for publication in a future volume.

This persona poem is about two Emilys:  Emily Dickinson and Emily Brontë.  Dickinson was known to be a great admirer of the Brontës.  She was such a fan that an associate of hers commented that she should be called the fourth Brontë sister!  (Hence the poem's title!)  
And she (anecdotally) asked that her favorite of Emily's poems be read at her own funeral.

 

Shabda Press reveals the cover art for its Nuclear Impact anthology

Shabda Press recently announced its forthcoming poetry anthology (which will include one of my poems) Nuclear Impact: Broken Atoms in Our Hands will feature cover art by John Sokol!

Update!:

Nuclear Impact: Broken Atoms in Our Hands is available on AMAZON  and BARNES & NOBLE.  Proceeds from sales of the Nuclear Impact: Broken Atoms in Our Hands anthology will be donated to the Women's Center in Downtown Los Angeles.