I am a huge fan of Ursula Le Guin as I have mentioned previously, and I recently read this compilation of some of her stories, selected by her. She described in her introduction that most of the stories in this volume are what she would call science fiction, in that they deal with other planets…
If I were you, and you were me things would be different, you see I’d be the one with all the clout and you would be at my mercy You’d plead with me to change my mind I would savour your pain And pityingly, I would say … no, wait, let’s start again …
I never felt the knife Thin and oh so sharp elegant and shiny sliding in smoothly under the rib cage into my heart For my own good, you said it’s better this way, you’ll see life is so much better when you’re dead Knife comes out bright blood contrasting the metal sheen I…
This is the right place the place of belonging Where cool winds blow the sun is warm the land is rich This is home and hearth the niche where everything fits all connected and connecting like pieces of a jigsaw finally whole Nothing unnatural comes here The cycle of like is uninterrupted untainted…
When I wrote my poem ‘Make a Wish’ last week, it got me thinking about the different traditions of wish making, and I thought it might be interesting to look at a few of those, including where they happen and their origins, if known. Wishing Trees can be found in many parts of the world.…
Wish upon a falling star and peg your hopes to a flaming meteor Blow out the candles on your cake and wish on the symbolic extinguishing of flame Wish upon a first star on where your sight lands toss a coin in a fountain throw your wish in behind break a wishbone with a friend…
You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind; a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. Your next stop...the Twilight Zone. — Rod Serling Continuing my appreciation of this wonderful old series, the following are my favourites from Season 3, first aired 1961-1962. “The…
We push off from the bank rowing out into the current moon is full, and high shining on the water scattered clouds skitter across the sky and a chill wind blows making us shiver wrapping our coats around us Our boat catches the current and takes us, swift and sure past houses, under bridges until…
When the Strugatsky brothers finished “The Doomed City” in 1972, they realized that they could not even give it to a publisher in Soviet Russia for fear of the consequences. So they hid the book for over nearly twenty years, not publishing it until 1989, when ‘perestroika’ was taking hold in Russia and the atmosphere…
Everybody’s got an opinion Everybody wants to complain Everybody thinks they know better Everybody’s insane What’s so hard about talking together What’s so hard about being polite What’s so hard about communication What’s so hard about doing it right All I ask for is peace and quiet All I ask for is silence…
Eclectic Assemblage 