#MacroMicroCosm

[bewitchingbooktours]

Messengers of the Macabre: Halloween Poems by LindaAnn LoSchiavo and David Davies

Secrets of the Spell                     I. Wasted Breath Spite stirred in guts like poison mixed incake. Insistent maleness and disparity Assembled heated breath, enough to hex A British play. Heed this — or rue the day.

Old Scottish combat zones, intent on war’s Mythology and trophies, replicate Themselves wherever men fish for acclaim To get their stories splashed across the stars— In letters, law, or laboratories. When males engage with chemicals, rank brines, Intent on alchemy, employing fire, Rapt by discoveries perhaps benign, They’re being scientific, praised. They’ll bask Inbacklit glows that manly fame bestows.                               The patriarchy does its best to hoard                               Awards — like weapons needed for attacks.

 When females huddle over cauldron smoke, Ancestral recipes astir once more, Rapt by solutions stronger than strychnine, Which sheriff thought, “Girls having fun outdoors!”? Suspicious scribes malign spell-casting crones, Implying they are doing devil’s work.                               The patriarchy does its best to warn,                               Forbid, discourage daughters, sisters, wives                               By commandeering rights to accolades. Distrust of women’s power led to laws. In 1542, King Henry VIII Signed Britain’s first Witchcraft Act. Hundreds died, Even if those accused denied the charge.                     II. Macbeth Elizabethan dramatists — all men! — Put witches in the plot for novelty.

Meanwhile, witch hunts harassed the innocent.                               Misogyny’s increase deserved byplay.                               Real sorceresses jinxed “the Scottish play,”                               Their hex comeuppance. Bloodshed was repaid. Macbeth depicts a pagan coven — though Their wisdom’s minimized by childish speech Like “Double, double, toil, and trouble” — rhymes For children, to infantilize this spell. With “eye of newt, toe of frog,” thespians Portraying the Weird Sisters cursed the Thane Of Cawdor, who rebelled against his king. Macbeth’s debut was struck— streaked with bad luck.                     III. Met Death Before Scene 5, the Bard went backstage — found Lady Macbeth mystifyingly dead, Unnerving King James in his royal box.

 Which elements affected Brits the most? Staged sorcery incited constant fear His majesty intensified with trials. Mark my words: women have always fought back, Preserved infernal mysteries. Bewitched. Dark invocations learned by stealth live on.                               Macbeth’s unholy spell won’t be withdrawn                               ‘Til every “witch’s” unfair death is mourned.

Messengers of the Macabre: Halloween Poems

LindaAnn LoSchiavo and David Davies

Genre: Poetry

Publisher: Audience Askew, Nat 1 Publishing LLC

Date of Publication: 18th October 2022

ASIN: B0B3NK7QG6

Number of pages: 49

Word Count: 6,400 approx.

Cover Artist: Benyamin Agum

Tagline: Your portal to the dark side

Book Description: 

All Hallows’ Eve, Samhain, Day of the Dead… during this interval, the barriers between the two realms are thinnest. Normal turns paranormal; what's natural becomes the supernatural. That's when the messengers of the macabre are in their rightful element. 

Step inside this collaborative chapbook and embrace a haunted harvest of verses embracing bewitchment, boneyards, and all things that go... BOO!

Book Trailer: https://youtu.be/dQJA4_d_EsU

Amazon      Amazon CA    AmazonUK

About the Authors:

New York City necromancer LindaAnn LoSchiavo, a wily clairvoyant, honed her psychic abilities during childhood and has the power to haunt any benighted soul who disparages this chapbook.

Some of her Elgin Award-winning poems have been seen here: Bewildering Stories, Blood ‘n Bourbon, Mermaids Monthly, South Broadway Ghost Society, Star*Line.

Formidable dragon slayer David Davies left Wales under baleful circumstances for The Lone Star State. “Have sonnets, will travel,” announces his business card.

His Pushcart- and Bram Stoker-nominated poems and stories have been known to appear in: Granfalloon, Green Lantern Press, MacroMicroCosm, Moon Shadow Sanctuary, Ripples in Space.

https://messengersofthemacabre.com/

a Rafflecopter giveaway

[macromicrocosm]

MMC Recovering Villains: What's in it?

So, the new issue of MacroMicroCosm is out, what’s inside? RL Arenz III gives us quick synopses of each entry in MacroMicroCosm Recovering Villains.

Editorial: Send in the Clown(Prince of Crime)s by Lis Goryniuk-Ratajczak

Synopsis

What is a villain? Lis Goryniuk-Ratajczak asks the question in the introductory Send in the Clown (Prince of Crime)s as the devil's advocate. A villain is not necessarily evil but, instead, a point of view foreign to our own morality. Alternative customs, strange beliefs, unique societal hierarchies, and opposing religious faiths create a chasm that can be bridged with open minds willing to cross the great divide. Evil is real, but rarely experienced. Division can be the basis of greater understanding between humanity's nations if we are brave enough to sojourn through dangerous separation to unify through our commonality.

Short Fiction: What Doesn’t Fall Apart Gets Broken by Leah Holbrook Sackett

Synopsis

What Doesn't Fall Apart Gets Broken is Leah Holbrook Sackett's colourful soliloquy on the internalization of the soul being reflected externally. And the steps we take to hide the wounds behind a perfect facade that cloaks the inner turmoil from external representation. At the core is a choice to share our torn soul or the decision to hide our wounds behind a mask of indifference.

Serial Fiction: Mouth of the River Part 2 by Elyssa Campbell

Synopsis

Issue 3 (MMC Anti-Heroics) introduced us to Elyssa Campbell's creation, Thomas, in the first part of Mouth of the River. By the end we, the readers, realized the duality of the young protagonist who was realized as a singular being. In part 2 we are offered a glimpse at the halves who form the entity known as Thomas, experiencing both views and tasting the integration process of two into one.

Short Fiction: Like Screams from Deep Space by Gregory J. Glanz

Synopsis

Ridley Scott's classic, Alien, delivered a tagline that promised new terror. "In space, no one can hear you scream." A horrific promise which was delivered. Like Screams From Deep Space, by Gregory J. Glanz, nonchalantly introduces a rebuttal to the idea that silence, an inhuman threat, and a solitary state of being are the holy trinity of horror. With ease, Glanz argues each point through new filters. When sound rolls in waves of crescendo or trickles each drop with a tempo felt, as the mirror is placed before the protagonist to reveal a human antagonist more terrifying than fiction, and solace isn't found within a group but in the labyrinth of discarded memories. The unspoken question of our identity entwined in the story with the characters begets silent reflection. Who are we? And what defines us?

Serial Fiction: Aegis: Redemption by RL Arenz III

Synopsis

Aegis: Redemption is the swan song for Kyle Ross by R.L. Arenz III. The bookend for the 4-part story returns Aegis to the readers with a cragged, weathered exterior. Scars cover Kyle, both externally and internally. We find ourselves asking, "is it too late for redemption? And if not, what is the price for absolution?

Poetry: To Bury a Curious Girl by Amirah al Wassif

Synopsis

To Bury a Curious Girl is the last of Amirah al Wassif’s poems to be published in Volume 6. It is the swansong of a girl in an oppressive environment fighting for her ability to expand her future, and punches with an impact the world needs to see.

Art: Between the Rocks by Dariusz Janczewski

Black and white photograph. Mineral and florae. Come see.

Art: Framed by Cement by Dariusz Janczewski

Black and white photograph. Architectural and brave.

Interested? Recovering Villains is available in Print & Digital.

[peterwestergaard]

Three poems in the literary magazine Astral

Three poems in the literary magazine Astral

Three poems from Warning Light Calling have been published in Volume 7 of Astral along with a lot of amazing poetry, an article and a preview of Sacha’s novel My Heart is The Tempest. Info on the issue, links are below, please share it as much as possible. Link: https://www.vraeydamedia.ca/macromicrocosm-online/2022/4/19/astral-issue-is-live About MacroMicroCosm A Quarterly Digital literary &…

[saphaburnell]

Contain This! Container Shipment Fundraiser for the Ukraine

Bring on the coffee, tea and energy drinks, my Beautiful Machines! It’s time for a 24 hour fundraising stream!

Compassionate Resource Warehouse is a Canadian charity Vræyda Media Inc (my publisher & employer) worked with personally. We filmed videos for Compassionate Resource Warehouse in the past. They are a charity I trust with every nickel, dime and gold crown, and I know every ounce of the donated funds will go directly to the crises wherever in the world they are.

CRW is fundraising to send two shipments of medical & humanitarian supplies to Poland, in order to help refugees from the Ukraine. I want in on that. As a community, I know we can do fantastic things, and every bit, cheer or dollar can be a gigantic help to volunteer-led charities like CRW.

On March 22nd, we’re banding together as beautiful machines, for a full day of live readings, art, games, video games & music. We aim to entertain, and through that entertainment, raise funds for those containers.

We are mighty and beautiful.

We can and will view the world with compassion, grace and a helping hand. I hope to see all of you on the 22nd.

Vræyda Media Inc has also stepped up. Any purchase made from vraeydamedia.ca will have partial proceeds donated to Compassionate Resource Warehouse. Pick up back-issue or current copies of MacroMicroCosm Literary Journal, or any of Vræyda Literary’s books or pre-orders, and you not only get something amazing to read, but you know it directly helped others. To combine with this, all orders of any of my books from vraeydamedia.ca will come with a signed card & message from yours truly.

If you would like to donate directly to Compassionate Resource Warehouse, please visit their website & make sure you designate your donations to ‘Ukrainian Refugees’.

Featured Streamers (Seeking more Streamers):

Donation Perks (Seeking Perks):

Donate on the day of, or show proof of donation to CRW, and you can receive the following perks! If you are a streamer, or creator and want to donate items, downloads or services to the event, please contact Sapha directly.

$2

A back-issue digital copy of MacroMicroCosm Literary Journal.

$5

An .epub or .pdf copy of NEON Lieben or Son of Abel.

$10

A personal thank you message & the above.

TBD

$100

A personal live reading evening (either in person if donated within Southern British Columbia, or virtual via discord/twitch/youtube/zoom elsewhere) with Sapha Burnell

[polymathjournal]

The Polymath Review staff are working to our favourite cinematic moments today, and Liz can’t pause without this iconic scene from one of the most underrated movies of all time.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is close to perfect.

What’re your favourite movie moments? Hit us up on Tumblr, or @MacroMicroCosm on Twitter: #CinemaGold

[macromicrocosm]

Unapologetic Villainy: An Author Apology

"In our stories is a mirror for our greater sense of belief, regardless of whether that belief is particularly religious, or where it falls on the political spectrum. Authors need to demonstrate why terrible ills are wrong, to defeat  the evils which penetrate our world. "  -- Sapha Burnell

An Excerpt of the Article by Sapha Burnell

Heroes require villains. Stories require adversity to function. Outside a 'Western' model of hollywood storytelling, the tales wafted and weft move from one chaotic position to order, or order to chaos. Something has to happen, even if the antagonist is the sense of place, or an ideal struggled against. Or that damned tardy Goddot. 

But what do we do, when the villains are too detrimental to write? Or our heroes turn darker than a shade of Batman's cowl? After a reality check (does the villain need to be that harsh?, is this sensationalist without due cause?), and a reminder of both an author's sovereignty over their creative process and responsibility to connect with and validate a part of the human condition, the question remains; what value does writing a villain so far removed from one's own moral centre have? 

I stand with my fellow authors, who believe  fiction guides culture. In our stories is a mirror for our greater sense of belief, regardless of whether that belief is particularly religious, or where it falls on the political spectrum. Authors need to demonstrate why terrible ills are wrong, to defeat  the evils which penetrate our world. 

The crux point to Son of Abel is Caleb Mauthisen’s search for the Mark of Cain realized, when his ex Delilah takes him to a man of pure evil. In order for my fledgeling 2015 self to fathom what sort of man could have the ultimate evil mark within my mythological universe, I pictured the most evil person on the planet…

Read the rest on…

[macromicrocosm]

Haven (Volume 5 Issue 3) is LIVE!

Safety in Numbers! Find a Comfortable Hidey-Hole!

MACROMICROCOSM HAVEN

is on Sale Now!

Welcome back to another edition of MacroMicroCosm!

If you are visiting in this strange and unfamiliar land for the first time, let us guide you on your sojourn through the weirdly fantastical works carefully crafted for your entertainment. In these tumultuous times allow your mind to wander through mythical settings of unique vision that face a different variation of danger with elegant form and mysteriously outlandish scenarios. Or dive into one of the reviewed books that refuses to deviate from the gritty realism of life and doesn't flinch in the face of the fleeting truth of life. Maybe you want to get lost in visuals conjured by beautiful poetry that know how to pluck the heartstrings of the soul.

Whatever the purpose of your visit, come closer to the proverbial camp fire with a warm mug of your beverage of choice and let us dazzle you along your journey.

Every journey begins with a single word.

And the word today?

Enjoy.

R.L. Arenz III Literary Editor

Contributors:

Lis Goryniuk

Harrison Varley

MMC Reviewers

Amirah Al Wassif

Vera Burnell

[macromicrocosm]

MacroMicroCosm "Superheroes" Volume 6 Issue 1

We’re bringing the energy to a place of calm with Volume Six of MacroMicroCosm. Are you ready? Locked and loaded, armed with inner composure? 

The Superhero issue is the perfect place to discover what's wrong... and seek the fix. Through the next four issues, we dive deep into the systemic problems in our world. Many of the writers I asked to give opinions told me it was too large a problem. 

We need heroes.A hero wielding a pen is a harsh animal. Twice given to instincts, open as a shield-less Spartan. A superhero does not attack without cause. It is the duty of  heroes to discover the sides of every argument, and with fairness and compassion, find the best path. To be a connective force in our diverse world.

While this issue’s title, was picked over a year ago, it fits the current global situation. What we need now, are mythic level heroes. Mythic people, who go through turmoil and come out not as jaded ‘realists’ cursing the names of the passionate young and stubborn elders. Eternal idealists, who pick up, dust off, and give utopia one more go.

There is always cause to push back and refine our bridge to a utopic world.

Is the best we have to offer division? We began this issue with a poster of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebrating multiple cultures, and creating equal opportunity for all cannot also wash out the myriad of patterns which inspire our world. We must create a global culture of equal opportunity, while maintaining universal human rights, and allowing for the celebration of many cultures.

We share the personal opinions of readers, who wrote into Plan Utopia. These opinions are the property of the original writers.

I know seeing disparate opinions can make some readers uncomfortable.

The first piece to rectification is awareness of outside perspectives. Once we hear these opinions, we can with compassion, discuss them. Open them up and reveal them for what they are. Educate some, encourage others, until we discover how best to shift the world we have to the world we want.

Beyond Plan Utopia, we have poetry by Almirah Al Wassif with How the Rooster Taught Us Love & Sapha Burnell’s Chaos Machines and the People Who Buy Them. R.L. Arenz III runs double-duty by hitting us in the jaw with Horsemen of the Apocalypse and Today I was a Superhero.

[macromicrocosm]

Novel Review: The Transaction by Guglielmo D'Izzia

Congratulations to first-time novelist Guglielmo D’Izzia for your novel The Transaction, published by Guernica Editions! Please give our podcast & video review a listen, like and subscribe.

And a special thanks to Guglielmo for punching us in the nose with your prose. It’s a well worthy read.

[macromicrocosm]

MacroMicroCosm "Haven" Volume 5 Issue 3

In which we say goodbye to Volume Five, with the search for safe spaces in the middle of a world on fire. 

2020? Go home. You're drunk.

Usually, these editorials practically write themselves. On the upend of nigh four months of self-quarantine (severe in my household's case due to my spouse's medical profession), we all seem compressed into a solitary yet shared experience. Alone fighting the COVID-19 Pandemic with naught but toilet paper & digital communications to redeem us. Extrovert that I am, the only voices I hear now are through the voice chats on our MacroMicroCosm Discord Server (which, you can join, btw, shameless plug). Where's my 'way in' to thoughts on Haven? The title of this issue, chosen over a year ago, in a meeting between myself and Teagan over a pot of tea and the beloved background noise of a  Japanese Anime binge session. None of us knew by the time this issue saw the lighted vapourwave grid of cyberspace (thanks William Gibson for 'cyberspace', by the way), that 'Haven' would mean 'place beyond the invisible menace plaguing the world'. 

Perhaps a 'haven', defined as 'a safe and beautiful place', used to mean a host of places, people. Sensations gained by trotting down to the bookstore and chatting up the crew at Tomes and Tales in my Canadian port of call. 

Even then, there was the inkling of a cyberspace haven. A collection, more of a gaggle of friends who banded together for the love of science fiction, play-acting online & the odd Water Tribe meme. Now, four months in by the time anyone really reads this, the haven of Van Deusen Botanical Gardens in Vancouver, or Tomes and Tales, or the Massage Therapy clinic I used to frequent before the mandatory closures is defined only by the cloud of interconnected digital witnesses.

MacroMicroCosm “Haven” features the fiction of Harrison Varley, poetry of Amirah Al Wassif, art by Vera Burnell, and reviews of the following works: Quill of the Dove by Ian Thomas Shaw, Amity by Nasreen Pejvack, The Freeze-Frame Revolution by Peter Watts, and Hellfire Shakes the Blues by Peter Jacob Streitz.

[macromicrocosm]

MacroMicroCosm's "Maya" Issue is Live!

Our new issue is out!

Break’s a bloody mess. Lieben’s coddling the elderly & the Count wants the Artist. What will Mademoiselle Zayn do in the latest part of New Boy: The Isle of Noises?!

Read the print reviews of the latest MacroMicroCom Podcast & YouTube Videos.

If you are a Macro (or above) Patron on Patreon, your copy is waiting for you on our Patreon!

[macromicrocosm]

MacroMicroCosm "Maya" Vol. 5 Iss. 2

MacroMicroCosm lives!

We’re back with a new format and the same love of weird and wonderful fiction.

Crack open our “Maya” issue to read the latest book reviews, catch the next instalment of New Boy, by Sapha Burnell and see art by Tessa Concorde.

Like the Reviews? Watch them on YouTube.

[macromicrocosm]

New Boy: Android Tails Chase Elderly Men (A fragment)

A fragment of New Boy, Part II. Read the entire chapter on MacroMicroCosm "Dimensions"

by Sapha Burnell

The milk-yellow light faded to dusk like coffee poured in a glass of cream. Neon city lights flickered one by one, tempered by the glow of the biodome. The network of structural supports in the cloud-based city hummed to a kaleidoscopic twilight. 

“No such thing as a black and starry night no more. Not up here.” an Old Man said, clinging to his canvas grocery bag, cringing at his limp. Did it make him an easier target, that limp? Was it the beginning of the endless begetting  death did part? It reminded him of his niggling heart and the exercise he should have gotten in his forties. His fifties. Seventies were too late. A pack of youths sporting LED clothing laughed as they crowded behind him. Their ring leader chuckled over his fallen grades and the skirts that fluttered on his bedroom floor. 

The old man grumbled and soldiered on, as none soldiered anymore. The glorious android mother Lieben stole war from the masses. Took and bottled it beside the endangered species of flora and fauna she kept in vats on space stations surrounding the moon. He felt like the last Templar in an age of Huguenots and Protestants roaming toward less oppressive lands. Maybe he was a selfish bastard. It didn’t seem right that the youths passing him by would never grow up like he did: with a gun in his hand and the screams of his fellows rushing his ears. A sleek android walked behind him. The tendrils of optic cables and wires curled on the android’s head like cornrows spilling down its neck and shoulders. The NEON kept its hands folded before its data-port navel in respect to the human condition or despite it.  

“Why is it? Why ain’t we allowed our starry nights?” 

“The Atmospheric City of Abha is a haven for people of all creeds, colours, religions and time zones. The freedom to choose hours of productivity has led to an increase in advancement. Would you like me to disrupt the illumination flow when we arrive at our destination - home?” Patterns of coined conversation were enough sometimes, the man thought, to stop believing the damned android was a person. Glorified computer. Nurse-slut to the modern age. Made a real splash at the Legion, when he showed up crouch-backed and hating the word ‘sciatica’ to drink over old stories and pass the time since retirement. At least it was easier to push a NEON in a closet and leave it there for a while, couldn’t do that with any annoying human. Someone might shove his ass in a prayer circle or healing den. 

Healing den. His father was on a rotisserie spit in his grave. Had to be. Not enough remained of the good old days, where humans  bickered with nuclear armaments and bad gender dynamics. Was it equality when it was a mandate? Did it matter if he’d lived a hundred years to die with a machine for a companion? The old man pulled the grocery bag into his other hand, worked sore red-printed muscles. He clenched and unclenched his fist. 

“Least I’m alive.” 

“Would you like me to disrupt the illumination flow when we arrive at our destination - home?”

“Yes! Disrupt the illumination. God. It’s called turning off the lights you bitch.” 

“Would you like me to respond when you call me ‘Bitch’?”

“Yes. Respond with, ‘I’m sorry your Highness.’” 

“Response programmed. You have thirteen thousand, six hundred thirty six more programmable functions available to program into my memory banks. Would you like to upgrade?”

“Bitch.”

“I’m sorry your Highness.”

“Heh heh heeeeh.” The man walked on and I caught in the throng of voices. Their constant chatter billowed into my telepathic mind from where I crouch on the north wall of a parking garage. A host of scooters and micro cars rested in the lot. None of them parked with any desire for straightening up and flying right. I hopped down and followed him for another five minutes before a familiar sensation coated the back of my neck. 

[macromicrocosm]

Mini Review: Throwing the Diamond Hitch by Emily Ursuliak

Rating: 4/5

My review of Throwing the Diamond Hitch by Emily Ursuliak comes with a disclaimer. As a consummate metropolitan princess, I know nothing about cowboys, ponies, or rural life on the range. Thus, it was harder for me to immediately connect with the girls’ predicaments and frustrations over finding someone to teach them the diamond hitch, which predominates a significant part of the work. I love stories about the adventures of women, who go against the grain. Throwing the Diamond Hitch is a poetry collection-come-memoir on one topic: Two young women in 1951 travelling from Victoria, British Columbia to Red Deer, Alberta and back first by car, then horseback. Anne and Phyl are gutsy young cowgirls, as gritty as a dirt road. Ursuliak’s use of white space and line spacing creates a sense of journeying on the page...

Read the review & more on...

[macromicrocosm]

MacroMicroCosm on Discord

Discourse & Workshops in a Server of our Own

We are proud to have a Discord server for discussion, arts development and support for our Patreon community! It’s free to join, and full of a wealth of creative professionals, philosophers, and people who get their energy from scientific, rational & creative discussion.