Tag: Nocturne

Note Friday, November 22 and 29 (Black Friday), on Your Calendars

The new cover for Nocturne as of November 15, 2019.

On Friday, November 22, and the following Friday, November 29 (Black Friday) I will have four of my works free on Amazon Kindle: Click; A Tale of Hell and Other Works of Horror; The Scent and Other Stories; and Nocturne: Poems of Love, Distance, and the Night, a callous and disinterested lover.

I am doing this primary as an experiment in marketing and publicity. Yesterday, I offered the same four books as free and I got more takers than usual.

If you noticed, I have new covers for three except The Scent and Other Stories. I hope to have a new cover for it by Friday the 22nd, however. This is another marketing tactic. Because I love black and white photography and often find it captivating and powerful, I have used it for most of my covers, trying to express something I see in each book.  But I see that most, more experienced authors use full color, flashy covers to grab the buyer’s attention. So I decided to give that a shot and see if sales pick up.  I tried to make each cover grab the attention of a passing buyer by making it not only in full color, but also expressing something powerful and exciting about the experience I hope to get across in my book.  I would like readers, not to judge my books by their covers, but maybe get a taste of

The new cover for Click as of November 15, 2019.
The new cover for Click as of November 15, 2019.

my books from their covers.

Anyway, I have included the three new covers in this article. If you would like to find out more about each, please go to my Amazon author’s blog. You can sign up for updates there or go to philslattery.wordpress.com and follow me there.

Oh, by the way, if you’re wondering where I got the covers, I downloaded some royalty-free public domain images from Pixabay (and maybe Pexels) and manipulated them in Pixlr. Each one took a few hours to make.

Hasta luego.

I am sitting here right now (Saturday night, 8:47 pm CST, at home in Arkansas Post, listening to Carlos Nakai. It sort of makes me homesick for New Mexico. Beautiful, slow, peaceful, Native American flute music that sounds like it’s coming across a mesa or from some Anasazi ruins. If you ever need to seriously relax I recommend listening to Carlos.

The new cover for A Tale of Hell and Other Works of Horror as of November 15, 2019.
The new cover for A Tale of Hell and Other Works of Horror as of November 15, 2019.

Note Friday, November 22 and 29 (Black Friday), on Your Calendars

The new cover for Nocturne as of November 15, 2019.

On Friday, November 22, and the following Friday, November 29 (Black Friday) I will have four of my works free on Amazon Kindle: Click; A Tale of Hell and Other Works of Horror; The Scent and Other Stories; and Nocturne: Poems of Love, Distance, and the Night, a callous and disinterested lover.

I am doing this primary as an experiment in marketing and publicity. Yesterday, I offered the same four books as free and I got more takers than usual.

If you noticed, I have new covers for three except The Scent and Other Stories. I hope to have a new cover for it by Friday the 22nd, however. This is another marketing tactic. Because I love black and white photography and often find it captivating and powerful, I have used it for most of my covers, trying to express something I see in each book.  But I see that most, more experienced authors use full color, flashy covers to grab the buyer’s attention. So I decided to give that a shot and see if sales pick up.  I tried to make each cover grab the attention of a passing buyer by making it not only in full color, but also expressing something powerful and exciting about the experience I hope to get across in my book.  I would like readers, not to judge my books by their covers, but maybe get a taste of

The new cover for Click as of November 15, 2019.
The new cover for Click as of November 15, 2019.

my books from their covers.

Anyway, I have included the three new covers in this article. If you would like to find out more about each, please go to my Amazon author’s blog. You can sign up for updates there or go to philslattery.wordpress.com and follow me there.

Oh, by the way, if you’re wondering where I got the covers, I downloaded some royalty-free public domain images from Pixabay (and maybe Pexels) and manipulated them in Pixlr. Each one took a few hours to make.

Hasta luego.

I am sitting here right now (Saturday night, 8:47 pm CST, at home in Arkansas Post, listening to Carlos Nakai. It sort of makes me homesick for New Mexico. Beautiful, slow, peaceful, Native American flute music that sounds like it’s coming across a mesa or from some Anasazi ruins. If you ever need to seriously relax I recommend listening to Carlos.

The new cover for A Tale of Hell and Other Works of Horror as of November 15, 2019.
The new cover for A Tale of Hell and Other Works of Horror as of November 15, 2019.

Note Friday, November 22 and 29 (Black Friday), on Your Calendars

The new cover for Nocturne as of November 15, 2019.

On Friday, November 22, and the following Friday, November 29 (Black Friday) I will have four of my works free on Amazon Kindle: Click; A Tale of Hell and Other Works of Horror; The Scent and Other Stories; and Nocturne: Poems of Love, Distance, and the Night, a callous and disinterested lover.

I am doing this primary as an experiment in marketing and publicity. Yesterday, I offered the same four books as free and I got more takers than usual.

If you noticed, I have new covers for three except The Scent and Other Stories. I hope to have a new cover for it by Friday the 22nd, however. This is another marketing tactic. Because I love black and white photography and often find it captivating and powerful, I have used it for most of my covers, trying to express something I see in each book.  But I see that most, more experienced authors use full color, flashy covers to grab the buyer’s attention. So I decided to give that a shot and see if sales pick up.  I tried to make each cover grab the attention of a passing buyer by making it not only in full color, but also expressing something powerful and exciting about the experience I hope to get across in my book.  I would like readers, not to judge my books by their covers, but maybe get a taste of

The new cover for Click as of November 15, 2019.
The new cover for Click as of November 15, 2019.

my books from their covers.

Anyway, I have included the three new covers in this article. If you would like to find out more about each, please go to my Amazon author’s blog. You can sign up for updates there or go to philslattery.wordpress.com and follow me there.

Oh, by the way, if you’re wondering where I got the covers, I downloaded some royalty-free public domain images from Pixabay (and maybe Pexels) and manipulated them in Pixlr. Each one took a few hours to make.

Hasta luego.

I am sitting here right now (Saturday night, 8:47 pm CST, at home in Arkansas Post, listening to Carlos Nakai. It sort of makes me homesick for New Mexico. Beautiful, slow, peaceful, Native American flute music that sounds like it’s coming across a mesa or from some Anasazi ruins. If you ever need to seriously relax I recommend listening to Carlos.

The new cover for A Tale of Hell and Other Works of Horror as of November 15, 2019.
The new cover for A Tale of Hell and Other Works of Horror as of November 15, 2019.

Note Friday, November 22 and 29 (Black Friday), on Your Calendars

The new cover for Nocturne as of November 15, 2019.

On Friday, November 22, and the following Friday, November 29 (Black Friday) I will have four of my works free on Amazon Kindle: Click; A Tale of Hell and Other Works of Horror; The Scent and Other Stories; and Nocturne: Poems of Love, Distance, and the Night, a callous and disinterested lover.

I am doing this primary as an experiment in marketing and publicity. Yesterday, I offered the same four books as free and I got more takers than usual.

If you noticed, I have new covers for three except The Scent and Other Stories. I hope to have a new cover for it by Friday the 22nd, however. This is another marketing tactic. Because I love black and white photography and often find it captivating and powerful, I have used it for most of my covers, trying to express something I see in each book.  But I see that most, more experienced authors use full color, flashy covers to grab the buyer’s attention. So I decided to give that a shot and see if sales pick up.  I tried to make each cover grab the attention of a passing buyer by making it not only in full color, but also expressing something powerful and exciting about the experience I hope to get across in my book.  I would like readers, not to judge my books by their covers, but maybe get a taste of

The new cover for Click as of November 15, 2019.
The new cover for Click as of November 15, 2019.

my books from their covers.

Anyway, I have included the three new covers in this article. If you would like to find out more about each, please go to my Amazon author’s blog. You can sign up for updates there or go to philslattery.wordpress.com and follow me there.

Oh, by the way, if you’re wondering where I got the covers, I downloaded some royalty-free public domain images from Pixabay (and maybe Pexels) and manipulated them in Pixlr. Each one took a few hours to make.

Hasta luego.

I am sitting here right now (Saturday night, 8:47 pm CST, at home in Arkansas Post, listening to Carlos Nakai. It sort of makes me homesick for New Mexico. Beautiful, slow, peaceful, Native American flute music that sounds like it’s coming across a mesa or from some Anasazi ruins. If you ever need to seriously relax I recommend listening to Carlos.

The new cover for A Tale of Hell and Other Works of Horror as of November 15, 2019.
The new cover for A Tale of Hell and Other Works of Horror as of November 15, 2019.

Note Friday, November 22 and 29 (Black Friday), on Your Calendars

The new cover for Nocturne as of November 15, 2019.

On Friday, November 22, and the following Friday, November 29 (Black Friday) I will have four of my works free on Amazon Kindle: Click; A Tale of Hell and Other Works of Horror; The Scent and Other Stories; and Nocturne: Poems of Love, Distance, and the Night, a callous and disinterested lover.

I am doing this primary as an experiment in marketing and publicity. Yesterday, I offered the same four books as free and I got more takers than usual.

If you noticed, I have new covers for three except The Scent and Other Stories. I hope to have a new cover for it by Friday the 22nd, however. This is another marketing tactic. Because I love black and white photography and often find it captivating and powerful, I have used it for most of my covers, trying to express something I see in each book.  But I see that most, more experienced authors use full color, flashy covers to grab the buyer’s attention. So I decided to give that a shot and see if sales pick up.  I tried to make each cover grab the attention of a passing buyer by making it not only in full color, but also expressing something powerful and exciting about the experience I hope to get across in my book.  I would like readers, not to judge my books by their covers, but maybe get a taste of

The new cover for Click as of November 15, 2019.
The new cover for Click as of November 15, 2019.

my books from their covers.

Anyway, I have included the three new covers in this article. If you would like to find out more about each, please go to my Amazon author’s blog. You can sign up for updates there or go to philslattery.wordpress.com and follow me there.

Oh, by the way, if you’re wondering where I got the covers, I downloaded some royalty-free public domain images from Pixabay (and maybe Pexels) and manipulated them in Pixlr. Each one took a few hours to make.

Hasta luego.

I am sitting here right now (Saturday night, 8:47 pm CST, at home in Arkansas Post, listening to Carlos Nakai. It sort of makes me homesick for New Mexico. Beautiful, slow, peaceful, Native American flute music that sounds like it’s coming across a mesa or from some Anasazi ruins. If you ever need to seriously relax I recommend listening to Carlos.

The new cover for A Tale of Hell and Other Works of Horror as of November 15, 2019.
The new cover for A Tale of Hell and Other Works of Horror as of November 15, 2019.

My Poetry Collection “Nocturne” is Free October 27 in Commemoration of Dylan Thomas’s Birthday

Today, I am giving away copies of the e-version of my only poetry collection Nocturne: Poems of Love, Distance, and the Night, a callous and disinterested lover to commemorate the birthday of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas.

Nocturne is a collection of my poetry written from the mid-80’s to mid-90s, a turbulent, fluid time in my life in many ways, but especially romantically. I have taken many of the poems written during those years and compiled them into a dark narrative capturing the emotional turmoil of a narrator who descends from romantic love for a woman into a lonely world of alcohol and night clubs, where his only love is the night that envelopes him psychologically, emotionally, and physically.  It is about 110 print pages in length and lavishly illustrated with photos I found in the public domain (no, those are not photos of me or my former paramours).

You can find it and my other works at my Amazon author’s page:  Amazon.com/author/philslattery.

I have tried to make this a wonderful experience for the reader, exploring the bliss of love to the depths of despair and then to resignation to one’s fate in an existential crisis.

Don’t forget to leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads!

While there, you might want to check out my other work on relationships: The Scent and Other Stories.  In this collection of short stories, I explore the dark, sometimes violent, sometimes twisted, sometimes touching side of love, the side kept not only from public view, but sometimes from our mates. Set in the modern era, these stories range from regretting losing a lover to forbidden interracial love in the hills of 1970’s Kentucky to a mother’s deathbed confession in present-day New Mexico to debating pursuing a hateful man’s wife to the callous manipulation of a lover in Texas.

Check back frequently for updates.

My Poetry Collection “Nocturne” is Free October 20 in Commemoration of Arthur Rimbaud’s Birthday

Today, I am giving away copies of the e-version of my only poetry collection Nocturne: Poems of Love, Distance, and the Night, a callous and disinterested lover in commemoration of the birthday of the French poet Arthur Rimbaud, author of A Season in Hell (Une Saison en Enfer)

Nocturne is a collection of my poetry written from the mid-80’s to mid-90s, a turbulent, fluid time in my life in many ways, but especially romantically. I have taken many of the poems written during those years and compiled them into a dark narrative capturing the emotional turmoil of a narrator who descends from romantic love for a woman into a lonely world of alcohol and night clubs, where his only love is the night that envelopes him psychologically, emotionally, and physically.  It is about 110 print pages in length and lavishly illustrated with photos I found in the public domain (no, those are not photos of me or my former paramours).

You can find it and my other works at my Amazon author’s page:  Amazon.com/author/philslattery.

I have tried to make this a wonderful experience for the reader, exploring the bliss of love to the depths of despair and then to resignation to one’s fate in an existential crisis.

Don’t forget to leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads!

Arthur Rimbaud
age 17

While there, you might want to check out my other work on relationships: The Scent and Other Stories.  In this collection of short stories, I explore the dark, sometimes violent, sometimes twisted, sometimes touching side of love, the side kept not only from public view, but sometimes from our mates. Set in the modern era, these stories range from regretting losing a lover to forbidden interracial love in the hills of 1970’s Kentucky to a mother’s deathbed confession in present-day New Mexico to debating pursuing a hateful man’s wife to the callous manipulation of a lover in Texas.

Check back frequently for updates.

Interview on KSJE Radio 90.9 FM Farmington, NM, Public Radio

On September 18, 2019, I was interviewed by Traci Hales-Vass on her program, Write On Four Corners, on KSJE radio about my poetry collection Nocturne: Poems of Love, Distance, and the Night, a callous and disinterested lover. Follow this link to listen to the program.

Update: October 10, 2019 “Shadows and Stars” and “Nocturne…”

Taking a break from writing at Angel’s Peak Scenic Area, south of Bloomfield, NM, in 2018.

Because I got almost no sleep on Tuesday night, I was dragging all day and managed to get a few words written or deleted for Shadows and Stars. 

I did manage to read through Nocturne… and to at least think about where I should place the newly discovered poems and how the two poems might change the entire collection’s feel.

There is another poem that I would like to include, but it contains one very vulgar word. I may just delete that line. The poem is still powerful, but maybe not as powerful with that line removed, which may be seen as the climax of the poem.  Still, none of the other works in the collection contain an obscenity. I don’t want the collection to be known for this one obscenity, which might brand me as the pornographic poet. This one obscenity might also prevent people from buying the book, if they hear it’s in there. I am trying to make this work very poignant and sensitive, but this one word might offend and/or repel a lot of people.  Using it in a collection like this jars the reader and wakes him/her up, which is good and adds a touch of irony to the poem’s and the collections’ composition. I probably won’t include it.

I have another I would love to include, but its graphic depiction of the narrator being seduced might also be seen as pornography, though it contains no obscenities. Alas, I will have to leave this one out, though I like the idea of the moment of shock that it brings to a sensitive narrative.  I like to shock people on occasion, but using shock must be done with discretion or people become numb to it and it loses its effect over time.

Hopefully, I will make some progress tonight. Congestion is making it a little tricky to focus.

I don’t recall exactly, but I am at around 85,000 words for Shadows and Stars with my goal to be around 80,000-100,000.  I think it will take another 10,000-15,000 words to wrap this up nicely. I will go over 100,000, if that is what it takes to tell the story.

I enjoy editing and toying with words to get my message across exactly as I picture it in my mind.  Checking details to eliminate plot holes or inconsistencies is also a weird sort of fun. I can get lost in editing and time passes before I know it. It was in either “The Telltale Heart” or “The Black Cat” that Poe talks about the passing of so many hours “of the time that flies”. I love that expression.

Hasta luego.

 

Update: October 9, 2019, Second Edition Planning for Nocturne

Working late at night in an IHOP in Midland, Texas, May 2019 (photo by Francene Kilgore-Slattery)

I worked on my novel Shadows and Stars for some time this evening and added around  2,000 words. I brought some things together and worked on eliminating inconsistencies. Then while I was watching a re-run of an episodes of Breaking Bad’s third season and simultaneously, my lower back seized up causing great pain. I took some Ibuprofen and waited for it to calm down so that I could sleep. I did several stretches and various things to decrease the pain. The pain did start to decrease after a while, but I don’t know if the stimulus was my stretches or the ibuprofen.

In any case, while I was waiting for my back pain to ease up and I started ego-surfing the Internet. I found three poems I had published in Apollo’s Lyre (now defunct), two of which are fairly intense romantically speaking. I decided they rated inclusion in Nocturne, so I decided to publish a second edition of Nocturne. I then looked for some other poems that I hadn’t in there, but probably should have. I found a few of those. I then looked at my photo file and went online to check out a couple of public domain photos. They had what I wanted, so I determined to come out with the second edition of Nocturne. There’s not much to add, so it should come out in a month or two. These poems and accompanying photos will definitely ratchet up the collections intensity overall.

Stay tuned for more updates.

“Nocturne: Poems of Love, Distance, and the Night…” is Available on Amazon Kindle

Nocturne: Poems of Love, Distance, and the Night, a callous and disinterested lover is a collection of my poetry written from the mid-80’s to mid-90s, a turbulent, fluid time in my life in many ways, but especially romantically. I have taken many of the poems written during those years and compiled them into a dark narrative capturing the emotional turmoil of a narrator who descends from romantic love for a woman into a lonely world of alcohol and night clubs, where his only love is the night that envelopes him psychologically, emotionally, and physically.  It is about 110 print pages in length and lavishly illustrated with photos I found in the public domain (no, those are not photos of me or of my former paramours).

You can read samples of it and my other works at my Amazon author’s page:  Amazon.com/author/philslattery.

I have tried to make this a wonderful experience for the reader, exploring the bliss of love to the depths of despair and then to resignation to one’s fate in an existential crisis.

Don’t forget to leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads or other social media!

While there, you might want to check out my other work on relationships: The Scent and Other Stories.  In this collection of short stories, I explore the dark, sometimes violent, sometimes twisted, sometimes touching side of love, the side kept not only from public view, but sometimes from our mates. Set in the modern era, these stories range from regretting losing a lover to forbidden interracial love in the hills of 1970’s Kentucky to a mother’s deathbed confession in present-day New Mexico to debating pursuing a hateful man’s wife to the callous manipulation of a lover in Texas.

Two reviews have warm praise for Nocturne…:

J. Muckley calls it “Beautiful, Sad, Authentic and Vulnerable Look at Love and Loss” and gives it five stars, saying:

Nocturne: Poems of Love, Distance, and the Night, a callous and disinterested lover by Phil Slattery is a deep and raw “picture” of experiencing love and lovers of varying type, capturing the moments of ecstasy and pain in a most beautiful way.

Slattery speaks with one voice as his words and pictures depict the full range of human love and loss that both tempts the soul to engage and urges the heart to resist. His opening quote by Augustine of Hippo captures this work perfectly: “I was not yet in love, yet I loved to love…I sought what I might love, in love with loving.”  –Augustine of Hippo

The poems are mostly untitled and written in free verse form. The reader meanders through the past relationships as they ebb and flow through varying stages. The introduction poem tells of the types of poem you will soon encounter:
nights of love
full of life and laughter
as empty as an empty
bottle

The poem closes:
Bring me to that ultimate pleasure
in your all-consuming eyes.
Let us become one
and share the horrors of this
world

All in all, Nocturne, is a beautiful but sad read that speaks to the reality of love and holds nothing back. It engages the mind and the heart longing for lasting, meaningful love that always seems just outside of its reach.

P.S. Winn calls it “Great Poems with Pictures”, gives it four stars, and says:

I like this author’s poems which have a great feel to them. The book is about love but a lot more is included inside the pages. I like the photos the author included to enhance the poetry. A few of the poems held descriptive words about nature and I enjoyed the way the picture author paints in the readers mind is also displayed in the photographs that correspond with the words.

Check back frequently for updates.

My Poetry Collection “Nocturne” is Free Today on Amazon Kindle

Nocturne is a collection of my poetry written from the mid-80’s to mid-90s, a turbulent, fluid time in my life in many ways, but especially romantically. I have taken many of the poems written during those years and compiled them into a dark narrative capturing the emotional turmoil of a narrator who descends from romantic love for a woman into a lonely world of alcohol and night clubs, where his only love is the night that envelopes him psychologically, emotionally, and physically.  It is about 110 print pages in length and lavishly illustrated with photos I found in the public domain (no, those are not photos of me or my former paramours).

You can find it and my other works at my Amazon author’s page:  Amazon.com/author/philslattery.

I have tried to make this a wonderful experience for the reader, exploring the bliss of love to the depths of despair and then to resignation to one’s fate in an existential crisis.

Comments received on Amazon include:

J. Muckley gave Nocturne five stars and gave this poignant review:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, Sad, Authentic and Vulnerable Look at Love and Loss

January 22, 2019

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
Nocturne: Poems of Love, Distance, and the Night, a callous and disinterested lover by Phil Slattery is a deep and raw “picture” of experiencing love and lovers of varying type, capturing the moments of ecstasy and pain in a most beautiful way.

Slattery speaks with one voice as his words and pictures depict the full range of human love and loss that both tempts the soul to engage and urges the heart to resist. His opening quote by Augustine of Hippo captures this work perfectly: “I was not yet in love, yet I loved to love…I sought what I might love, in love with loving.”  –Augustine of Hippo

The poems are mostly untitled and written in free verse form. The reader meanders through the past relationships as they ebb and flow through varying stages. The introduction poem tells of the types of poem you will soon encounter:
nights of love
full of life and laughter
as empty as an empty
bottle

The poem closes:
Bring me to that ultimate pleasure
in your all-consuming eyes.
Let us become one
and share the horrors of this
world

All in all, Nocturne, is a beautiful but sad read that speaks to the reality of love and holds nothing back. It engages the mind and the heart longing for lasting, meaningful love that always seems just outside of its reach

Edward Z gave Nocturne four stars and commented:

4.0 out of 5 stars“winning is for others isolation is for the damned”

August 21, 2019

Format: Kindle Edition

Don’t forget to leave your own review on Amazon or Goodreads!

While there, you might want to check out my other work on relationships: The Scent and Other Stories.  In this collection of short stories, I explore the dark, sometimes violent, sometimes twisted, sometimes touching side of love, the side kept not only from public view, but sometimes from our mates. Set in the modern era, these stories range from regretting losing a lover to forbidden interracial love in the hills of 1970’s Kentucky to a mother’s deathbed confession in present-day New Mexico to debating pursuing a hateful man’s wife to the callous manipulation of a lover in Texas.

Check back frequently for updates.

Nocturne… is available on Amazon.fr

July 29, 2019

My poetry collection Nocturne: Poems of Love, Distance, and the Night, a callous and disinterested lover is available in several Amazon markets worldwide including Amazon.fr (France). Here is a synopsis of the books details from Amazon.fr for September 30, 2019 (unfortunately, the book is still in English, unless someone wants to translate it into French-my French isn’t that good):

Détails sur le produit

Podcast: My Interview on KSJE radio (90.9FM) with Traci Hales-Vass on Nocturne… and more

For those of you who have not heard it, here is a link to my interview with Traci Hales-Vass for Farmington (NM) public radio KSJE 90.9 FM, which aired on September 18, 2019. The topic was my poetry collection Nocturne: Poems of Love, Distance, and the Night, a callous and disinterested lover.  Many heartfelt thanks to Traci for having me on her show.

The interview is also on YouTube.

You can find another review by Aakanksha Jain here. Many heartfelt thanks to Aakanksha as well.

Also Aakanksha did a written interview with me as well, which came out in July and which you can find here.

My Position in the Amazon Poetry Section is Climbing (for today at least)

Selfie with Lotus in background near Arkansas Post, September 4, 2019

I just now checked my stats for sales of Nocturne…, and although I managed to only give away a few books recently, that was enough to bring the stats up to:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,512 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)

I have heard some debate as to how accurate Amazon stats are, so it is possible that I have more sales than what is recorded here.

Also, for some unknown reason, I had more views from the UK than the US (13 vs, 12), which is unusual. Usually, I will have a dozen or so views from the US and maybe half a dozen at most from the UK. What most people viewed today was my promotion of Nocturne…

Interesting.