Monday, September 28, 2015

Suggested Words…

I've got nothing this week.
No pretty dark words for you to feel or dissect or misinterpret.
So, please take some time and read the creative words of others...
 

Behind the Mantle (The ramblings of a geek, gamer, ersatz human, sometimes author, and otherwise confused soul.)

http://behindthemantle.blogspot.com/

 
Cinematic Catharsis (Reflections on film from a pseudo-intellectual perspective.)

http://cinematiccatharsis.blogspot.com/
 
Happy Reading!
Freak Out,
JLH
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Monday, September 21, 2015

Imaginary Image

Pretend with me
For a moment or two
That we could be
Something spectacular
Side by side 
Together
In a reality
Of our own choosing
Never minding
The futility in such
Fanciful dreams
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Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Apologetically Inclined (or "Ugh, he's blogging about his book...again.")

It's a gut reaction.

A new reader informs me that he or she is going to read Dark Excursions, and my instant instinct is to apologize.

"I am truly sorry for any literary suffering my awful, crappy book may cause you."

No, I've never been quite so direct, but I have, somewhat jokingly, apologized for any mental illness my book may inflict upon a new reader.

I would love to say I don't know why I feel the need to apologize, but I know.  I have trouble believing anyone can possibly enjoy the words I've spewed.  

Even after positive reviews on Amazon and some very kind words from intelligent people on various social media sites, I fall prey to the epitome of stinkin' thinkin'.  

The irony is that I completely love every single emotionally damaged character in Dark Excursions, and was brave, or crazy, enough to send them off into the digital and print literary world. There is a pleasurable thrill involved, simultaneous to my gut reaction, whenever someone has picked up my book, reading life into Dinkel, Cheryl, Crop, Anapola, Xylem, Ivan, and so many others.

I suppose I'll never completely lose the gut reaction to apologize, but I need to learn to ignore it.    Push it aside, and give a sincere two-thumbs up and say, without hesitation...

"Happy reading!"

Easier said than done, but I can make the effort.

Freak Out,
JLH

P.S.  A post about my book wouldn't be complete without a link of some sort for the curiously inclined...
 
 
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Monday, September 7, 2015

Here




    "It is not fair," opinioned the new one in unapologetic discord.
    "Who ever deemed it otherwise?" the old one attempted to placate the restlessness, with minimal success.
    "I just arrived here!  How can I be leaving already?"
    "A reasonable query from one so fresh," the old one mused.  "It is simply your time."
    The ambiguous answer is either ignored or rejected by the new one, "But you have been here for an expansive time, and here you remain."
    "Yes, waiting, and when my time is at hand, I will leave here."
    "When?  When will you leave here?"
    "I do not know."
    "Will we know each other after you leave?"
    "Perhaps, but we may not know it."
    Silence, and then the discorded opinion repeated with an addition, "It is not fair and there seems little point in it all."
    The old one considered much before divulging hard-earned experience, "Knowledge is the point.  To acquire and to comprehend."
    "How can this be if we lose all knowledge when we leave?" posed the new one, unwillingly facing the inevitable.  "Even now it is slipping from me, all I know."
    "You are still fresh and do not yet understand.  Some time ago I was the same," the old one sympathized.
    "Then assist me!  Help me to understand!"
    The new one's desperate fear permeated the old one, forcing sedate truth, "I cannot help you understand, for I do not fully understand.  All I can give you is what you may have already lost, as your time is near."
    "Please, anything!"
    "Knowledge acquired will join with the retained in the end."
    As soon as it is relearned it is lost once again.  The last remaining vestiges of knowledge are vacated, as pressure enveloped the new one in suffocating darkness.
    Suddenly, jarringly, a blurry white incandescent light filled the new one's field of vision.  Indescribable sensations bombarded the new one's being; an awakening to the vast unknown.
    A moment of silence, of adjustment, passed and then the new one cried.  Cried, unaware of the knowledge that was lost and would one day be reclaimed and expanded.

_______________
Story: 2010/2015, John L. Harmon
Title Photo: 2015, John L. Harmon 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thank you for reading.
Freak Out, 
JLH

P.S.  The preceding was a short story, that I did a bit of 2015 fiddling with, found in the notebook from my past…

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Monday, August 31, 2015

heart mind a go-go

It's a lie.
When he claims and swears and declares his heart is dead.  Decimated.  Dust on the breeze of his allegedly evaporating soul.
He knows it's a lie.
Not some mistake or misunderstanding.  It continues to beat.  Pulsating hard, longing to match rhythm with another damaged heart.
That is not a lie.
His heart has been damaged.  Tread on with thoughtless words and contradictory actions, but he is not innocent.  He never fully gave himself to another.
He wishes this was a lie.
Always holding a piece of his heart-soul back.  Buried deep within him.  Unable.  Unwilling to completely trust his own emotions or those of another.
This is why he lies.
He doesn't see the point.  He knows he has nothing to offer another.  Nothing to contribute to a joint endeavor.  Better to be alone.  No damage done to anyone when it is realized he is the pathetic loser he has always known himself to be.  Professional nothing.  Slipped through the cracks long ago, making him meaningless in the now.  Staring empty out the window of tomorrow, patiently waiting for life to be done with him.  Waiting for the void to reclaim its lost one, who should never have been allowed to escape in the first place.
This is his truth.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FREAK OUT,
JLH
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Monday, August 24, 2015

Atrociously Sporadic (or you write you want a resolution...)

Near the end of 2005, I realized how atrociously sporadic my reading habits had become.  I would read a book or two, but then months would pass before I read another.  Not sure why this was, but I hated it.  I love reading, so I made my first ever New Year's resolution.  I would read one book a month in 2006, no more, no less.  

My thought was that I needed structure to resuscitate my reading habits.  If I overdid it, I would burn out or make excuses.  Oh, I read two books this month, so I'll skip next month.  That would've eventually destroyed my progress, sending me back to sporadic reading and the guilt over it.

 Thankfully, I held fast to my resolution, and now, I read continuously. Rarely a day goes by between books, unless I need to emotionally decompress or seriously contemplate what I just read.  Yes, I read only one book at a time, and I often take my time with each one.  I find I enjoy and retain more of the book this way.  Plus, I feel the author has my undivided attention as he or she weaves me into the fabric of the story.

Now, in the year 2015, I find my writing to be atrociously sporadic.  I haven't blogged much lately, which I hate.  So, I'm making a non-New Year's resolution.  I will publish at least one blogpost a week from now on. Fiction.  Non-fiction.  So-called poetry things.  Inane ramblings. Whatever. The posts don't have to be long, just so long as I see each one through.

So, hold onto your unmentionables because this might be a bumpy ride!  
Thank you for your time and patience.

FREAK OUT,
JLH

P.S.  I know this writing resolution isn't as structured as my reading resolution, but I believe it will personally help me in the long run, or it won't.  Only time and my determination can say for certain.  
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Wednesday, July 15, 2015

And now for a commercial break… (or DARK EXCURSIONS: The Trailer)

DARK EXCURSIONS is a twisted tale of emotionally damaged people caught in a quagmire of secrets and lies that test the tenuous bonds of family, friendship, and love. 
 
 

 
 Available from Createspace and Amazon:












                                                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To read sample chapters and excerpts, or for further info on DARK EXCURSIONS, please click away...

first set
second set

third set

fourth set

complete set


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Freak Out,

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