Thank you to my blog followers...and kidnap yourself today!

Read Miss Lionheart's preview on Amazon

Thanks to all of you, I really appreciate your support, which is why I'm letting you know that my latest book, due to be released in paperback in April, is available.

Read William Cook's review on Miss Lionheart's blog,
and see what all the fuss is about.
Or just kidnap yourself to mad scientist territory today...

or keep an eye out for the paperback launch in April 2016! :)

It seems so long ago when I was putting up the first Miss Lionheart ebook, it was very exciting, and now the compendium is here, I'm absolutely thrilled. I hope you have nearly as much fun rading it, as I did writing this whacky adventure. :)  But you know for those people who prefer a book to hold, the paperback is coming soon.

A.J. 
Author of Quest, Prophecy, Omens, Miss Lionheart and the Laboratory of Death, Wizard's Guide to Wellington, Attack of the Giant Bugs - a You Choose Science Adventure & The Frankie Files.

 

Find my stories and support my writing on ko-fi   And tell me which poems you'd like to see in my upcoming poetry book—2024

 

Into the Woods: Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost

Was watching the movie/musical Into the Woods tonight, and couldn't help but think of the famous lines of Robert Frost's famous poem, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. Mostly because of the famous lines:

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,

Unfortunately it seems as though the poem's still under copyright, fortunately it's still available on the internet, apparently officially, here at http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/171621

It's a remarkably famous poem, interestingly penned in a few moments after an all nighter on a work somewhat more recalcitrant. Life can be like that...with miles to go before any sleep!!!! :)

Have a great week people,

A.J. Ponder who is about to venture into the woods! Or more accurately, into a top secret land not heretofore seen...
 

There's a Star Man - Goodbye David Bowie

You have to hand it to Ziggy
he had those spiders,
what rock star doesn't?

But Major Tom
and his shirts,
there's nothing we could do

But dance,
dance the night away
whirled along
by the silver haired
silver tongued
fey
the one and only David Bowie  

You decided
what kind of magic spell to use
no one needed the crystal
the power was in you
to turn the world

If we can sparkle he may land tonight

So come on
let's dance,
dance the blues away

The moonlight a puddle of silver
reflecting
the angel
on the dance floor

A.J. Ponder

Goodbye David Bowie, ashes to funky, you were the lord of the dance floor, and greatly missed - although you work lives on....

Sad news, but an amazing life, and a legacy that will not be forgotten -
Ziggy Stardust,
A Space Oddity

and more songs are available on Bowies Official utube site https://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialDavidBowie/videos

A.J. 
Author of Quest, Prophecy, Omens, Miss Lionheart and the Laboratory of Death, Wizard's Guide to Wellington, Attack of the Giant Bugs - a You Choose Science Adventure, and The Frankie Files

Find my stories and support my writing on ko-fi   And tell me which poems you'd like to see in my upcoming poetry book—2024

 

 

Happy 2016 - time to break out the structured poems again?

The New Year is always time for resolutions, even when they're resolutions not to have any New Year resolutions.
 
I'm keen to keep up the blogging, but write fewer poems, while reintroducing a few more structured poems, especially poems around special events. 

Maybe I'll even manage a New Year sonnet, or even maybe a Christmas one. There's something about the constraints on old fashioned poetry that, as a poet, I think are worthwhile pursuing. In the meantime, This Year of Fire, is as good a New Year poem as any, it's a near-traditional sonnet, although it's very dark. I admit, I really wasn't sure about it at first, but it's grown on me. And I think that's always a good sign with poetry - since it's considered a good sign for music and other art forms!!!


Anyway, Happy New Year everybody, best wishes to everyone who follows this blog, and a sad final farewell to 2015, and of course the Tuesday Poem, which was the impetus to me blogging most Tuesdays, although I do hope to keep that up in 2016 and beyond.

cheers to you, my readers, and to the New Year, may it be a good one.

A.J. 
Author of Quest, Prophecy, Omens, Miss Lionheart and the Laboratory of Death, Wizard's Guide to Wellington, Attack of the Giant Bugs - a You Choose Science Adventure, and The Frankie Files

Find my stories and support my writing on ko-fi   And tell me which poems you'd like to see in my upcoming poetry book—2024

 

 

 

 

 

Travelling the Verse Portal

The end of the Tuesday Poem, is making me think about how I want to continue with this blog. And the way I wish to travel through verse... So maybe as a beginning of an end, I can take you on a journey through space and time, not just speculative fiction, but the long road of being human

Here are links to some of my favourites...I hope you enjoy

Cul-de-Sac by A.J. Ponder

Eulogy to battles lost by A.J. Ponder

Firefly by A.J. Ponder

For Whom the Bell Tolls/No Man is an Island by John Donne

O Captain! My Captain! by Walt Whitman

The Road goes Ever On, walking song  by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Road Not Taken - Poem by Robert Frost
 

The Piano Twins by A.J. Ponder

The Trouble with Time Machines by A.J. Ponder

Travelling by A.J. Ponder

This Year of Fire by A.J. Ponder 

The Weary Traveller by Mary Wroth

 
Winds and Time by Keith Westwater

 My love of poetry is undiminished, but I will be making some serious decisions about the when are still undecided. But nothing is decided yet - and I do rather like post over Christmas...after all, Christmases are often signposts of our journey through time...

Christmas with Miss Lionheart and the Laboratory of Death

Happy Christmas, time to kidnap yourself into mad scientists territory...
 Yes, the perfect gift for anyone with an e reader, and the need to take over the world with mad-science is now available as an ebook - just buy a copy and contact me, or my publisher phantomfeatherpress(at)gmail(dot)com and you could be in to win one of five paperback copies - yet to be officially released in April 2016


"Rabid rodents, a fun read!" Lee Murray
Miss Lionheart and the Laboratory of Death from award-winning writer A J Ponder is the first part of a science fiction adventure intended for middle grade readers.
The story opens with the heroine, Miss Lilly Lionheart, snatched off the street by Mr Big, the CEO of GKS Laboratories and the least important crime lord in the World Wide Web of Evil. Bundled into his underground bunker, Lilly is being forced to genetically engineer a dreadbeast for Big’s Spring Catalogue of Evil. She has no choice in the matter, not if she plans to live to see New Year. But even if her science skills were up to creating an arachnid-reptilian hybrid in the short weeks before Christmas, her social skills are not, which makes managing her rag-tag scientific team somewhat problematic. As if that isn’t enough, someone seems to be watching her, someone other than Big’s ruthless security thugs and their ubiquitous cameras…
A former scientist myself, and slightly nerdy, I wish this book had been written when I was younger. Just as Lewis and Tolkien opened our imaginations for fantasy, Ponder’s is the kind of tale to prompt an interest in science in its young readers. Just how long would a squirrel-snake hybrid need to gestate anyway...

Happy Christmas everybody and don't forget to say goodbye to the Tuesday Poem blog, with the final poem, What I didn't know then

A.J. 
Author of Quest, Prophecy, Omens, Miss Lionheart and the Laboratory of Death, Wizard's Guide to Wellington, Attack of the Giant Bugs - a You Choose Science Adventure, and The Frankie Files. 

Find my stories and support my writing on ko-fi   And tell me which poems you'd like to see in my upcoming poetry book—2024

 

O Captain! My Captain! by Walt Whitman

O Captain my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up -- for you the flag is flung for you the bugle trills,
For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths for you the shores a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head!
It is some dream that on the deck,
You've fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
Exult O shores, and ring, O bells!
But I, with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

Strangely enough, this is a quote I associate with Firefly above all else - even though (according to my impeccable source) it was never actually in the show. Unless you count references to "Captain Tightpants" Even so, it has become a meme for Firely fans possibly because Mal was the doomed captain of a successful ship.

And now, for those of us who have followed the Tuesday Poem, with the end of an era is almost upon us,the Tuesday Poem blog I would like to thank the two people who captained the ship, Mary McCallum, and more recently Helen Lowe. Both of whom are accomplished poets and writers well worth the read.

I would love to wish everybody a great week, stay strong, and maybe enjoy some more poetry at the Tuesday blog, or check out my Firefly poem Eulogy to battles lost.