Space Force ... and beyond!

My contributor copy of Space Force has arrived.

At the time of writing, B-Cubed are still the only publishers who will publish my poetry.  I like to think this shows discernment on their part.  

I normally write traditional ballads that both rhyme and scan.  These days, that seems to be a cardinal sin in a genre dominated by what I tend to call badly-punctuated prose. By this I mean that the only way you can recognise it as poetry is because it's in a poetry book.

There's no point getting annoyed about this, however.  The people in charge aren't going to change their minds, and all one can do is wait for the fashion to move on. 

I knew things were really bad one year that a TV gardening programme ran a poetry competition and all the first four poems were "free verse."

Anyhow, The Space Force Hymn is a little skit on the US Marine Hymn, "From the Halls of Montezuma" which is written in the good old style.

Hot off the Press

I always love to receive a hard copy of an anthology that contains one of my stories. Here's Endgame from B-Cubed, the final episode of the Alternative Truths Trilogy.

This collection contains my story 'I, Apparatchik', the title of which, as you may guess, is a play on Asimov's 'I, Robot'.  It would be nice to see it do a fraction as well.

The story concerns members of a certain intelligence agency who are responsible for creating and maintaining robots to stand in for the president in various tricky situations. I hope you like it.

This is my third story in a B-Cubed publication. The previous two were 'Conspiracy of Silence' in 'More Alternative Truths'  and 'Devine Justice' in Alternative Theologies.

On the subject of the last of these, Bob Brown tells me that all copies of the anthology (and nothing else) were recently stolen from a convention in the USA. Apparently, the theft proved the old adage that all publicity is good publicity: sales promptly doubled.

Alternative Theologies

My story 'Devine Justice'  is included in the latest of the B-Cubed anthologies Alternative Theologies.

I'm delighted to share the table of contents with these notable authors and I do hope people will enjoy reading the book.

We hear quite a bit about alternative comedy, alternative history and so on these days. I've not previously come across a publisher willing to take the spirit of adventure into this sensitive but vital area.

Religion cannot be excluded from the remit of free speech. Even what we believe to be true must be examined and tested. It is impossible to prove that truth is false, yet it is so easy for an unexamined truth to degenerate into a dead letter and meaningless recitation.

This is why genuine religious philosophers always welcome rational challenges. Those who permit no discussion serve neither their own interests nor the interests of the truth.

Anyway, my story examines what happens when a defence attorney who is a master of sophistry and rhetoric faces his sternest test: his own trial on charges of breaking the laws of God. I'm very fond of this tale and I hope you'll all like it.