#rl arenz iii

[saphaburnell]

The Magdalene Feast Reading Series: December 2021

Inspired by the life and myths surrounding Mary Magdalene, cyberpunk author & poet Sapha Burnell hosts a monthly reading series via YouTube & Twitch on the last weekend of every month dedicated to the feminine and the strange.

This December, we’re featuring Łukasz Drobnik and his English-language debut novel Vostok, Sapha Burnell with NEON Lieben & another author for an hour of readings, discussion & celebration of the strange!

About Łukasz Drobnik

Łukasz Drobnik is a genre-bending Polish writer. His favourite pastime is taking the literary and blending it with the speculative. As a huge flash fiction fan, he loves the succinct but doesn’t shy away from longer forms. He’s the author of a collection of interlinked stories /Nocturine/ (Fathom Books). His prose has been featured, among others, in HAD, Fractured Lit, Atticus Review, Pithead Chapel, Lighthouse, Foglifter, and X‑R‑A‑Y Literary Magazine. One of his stories made the Wigleaf Top 50 Very Short Fictions longlist. He lives in Kraków, a city of pigeons, smog, and the best zapiekankas on earth.

About Sapha Burnell

“Sapha is like a young Wolfgang Pauli, in every laboratory he went, there was a little explosion.” David Roomy

Sapha Burnell teethed on images of the Berlin Wall falling down. The product of Vancouver’s multiculturalism, Sapha steeped in divergent cultures, religious experiences and gender roles, until battling with traditional opinions became a daily war. On hiatus from the written word, she volunteered in West Africa, and returned to Canada with an international perspective.

Sapha’s 2014 debut poetry collection Usurper Kings was viewed by Huffington Post author & poet Kevin Hogan as “a work of jaw-droppingly beautiful discovery”, the magic realism novella Son of Abel (first of the Judge of Mystics Saga) was published in 2017 to inspect the rich mythological tapestry of our world. And what happens when a Leprechaun gets lost in Vancouver without a Bus Pass. Serving on the National Council of The Writers Union of Canada for three years, Sapha’s term concluded May 2019.

The first novel in her cyberpunk series Neon Lieben hit August 2021, and has been called “a hauntingly beautiful work”.

RL Arenz III, author of Aegis defines Sapha’s style with his signature aplomb. “What she manages to do is tiptoe you on that line of emotional, gut wrenching scenes which can bring you to the brink of hysteria. And with a sentence from a character she offers that breath of humour that pulls you back from the brink. Then dropkicks you over the ledge when you thought you were safe. An insane, diabolical, kick-ass rollercoaster.”

Sapha lives in BC with their spouse and speaks on gender roles, cyberpunk, martial arts, comparative mythology & religion, when the #hallowesfam isn’t chatting it up on discord or twitch.

[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.

[macromicrocosm]

Praise for NEON Lieben from RL Arenz III

She will rip your heart out, but then give you chest compressions and chocolates.

What she manages to do is tiptoe you on that line of emotional, gut wrenching scenes that can bring you to the brink of hysteria. And with a sentence from a character she offers that breath of humour that pulls you back from the brink.

Then dropkicks you over the ledge when you thought you were safe. An insane, diabolical, kick-ass rollercoaster.

RL Arenz III…

… is the author of Aegis, a superheroic adventure. Some heroes shatter. Few rebuild. Watch Kyle “Aegis” Ross rebuild his fractured shield, before the evil in the shadows takes hold of each broken piece in Aegis.

[saphaburnell]

Praise for NEON Lieben from RL Arenz III

She will rip your heart out, but then give you chest compressions and chocolates.

What she manages to do is tiptoe you on that line of emotional, gut wrenching scenes that can bring you to the brink of hysteria. And with a sentence from a character she offers that breath of humour that pulls you back from the brink.

Then dropkicks you over the ledge when you thought you were safe. An insane, diabolical, kick-ass rollercoaster.

RL Arenz III…

… is the author of Aegis, a superheroic adventure. Some heroes shatter. Few rebuild. Watch Kyle “Aegis” Ross rebuild his fractured shield in Aegis.