#1 Horror Bestseller and multiple Bram Stoker finalist Michaelbrent Collings brings you a "chilling collection of eight tales... as scary as they are satisfying" (Publisher's Weekly).A family that wins tablet computers at a deal to good to be believed...A man who is sent across the universe, only to discover the most dangerous world in existence...A hitman who realizes that his greatest contract is going to be himself...A man whose chi...

This volume collects over 150 haiku, roughly arranged by seasons and degrees to which they represent traditional forms. It does not restrict itself to the conventional 5-7-5 syllabic form (although many do follow that guideline) but instead concentrates on communicating image, emotion, and imagination. It is intended as both a sampling and an impetus for readers to try out their own poetic skills.

More than just a collection of verses, this book is something of an informal commentary on the history of English literature, something of a conversation with a few of the finest poets in the language. These original poems are written "in the manner of…," using forms and structures pioneered by great writers (and occasionally artists) of the past to create something contemporary and modern.

Everyone knows about limericks--five short lines packed with twists and turns, comic rhymes, frequent tongue-twisters, and a rollicking meter that just won't quit. In this book you will find nearly seventy limericks ranging from limericks about limericks, to limericks that explore oddly distorted views of history, to limericks that play with the frequent conundrums presented by English spelling.

Modern taste runs to short poems—and these verses are precisely that. Over fifty verses, ranging from a six-line reduction of Christopher Marlowe's "Dr. Faustus" to a one-word, slant-rhyme, leonine line in iambic dimeter. Most start with another poem—either a single line or the entire work—then respond to it, confute it, subvert it, pun on it, or otherwise simply have fun with it. Enjoy!

Everyone has different ideas about wizards, but are they really all that different? Some subscribe to monthly clubs, some are brighter than they seem, some live for praise and acclaim, and others just want to protect those they love. Twenty-four stories of wizardly derring-do are found here, and all show wizards in different lights.Jonathan Langford is the wizard of Life, the Universe, & Everything and The Leading Edge. Parliament of Wizards is filled with daring and interesting ta...

The darkness is always there, lurking in the corners, skulking behind the shelves, waiting under the stairs, sleeping between the stars. But there is always hope, a light to show the way!Michael R. Collings delves into modern and historical horror in his essays; explores the edges of sanity and reality in his fiction; and visits far shores, distant planets, and the hapless programmer next door in his poetic musings.Join the three-time Bram Stoker nominee and World Horror Co...

No artist creates his works in a vacuum. Beyond the conscious influence of books read, artwork seen, minds probed (through conversation or exchange of letters), writers are in no small part products of everything that surrounds them--people, places, things, events. MILTON'S CENTURY is designed to place one particular genius--John Milton, arguably the finest poet the English nation (perhaps even Western civilization) has produced--in the context of his time. And what a remarkable time it wa...

Shadow Valley is an isolated farming community known to few, but in one of its ramshackle farmhouses dwells a power that threatens death and destruction to any who walk within its walls. Now, Lila Ellis arrives to make the final arrangements for a project that will flood Shadow Valley for a reservoir--and the house is not happy. When she enters the old place, she alone must face its terrors--beginning with a pile of seventy boxes of chocolate, one piece missing from each, that have been de...

On a Dark and Narrow Way...The darkness is always there, lurking in the corners, skulking behind the shelves, waiting under the stairs, sleeping between the stars. But there is always hope, a light to show the way! Michael R. Collings delves into modern and historical horror in his essays; explores the edges of sanity and reality in his fiction; and visits far shores, distant planets, and the hapless programmer next door in his poetic musings.Join the three...

Polished over 20 years of use at the university level, this book combines Professor Collings's lucid instruction with practical exercises to introduce beginners to poetry, and to encourage more practiced poets to expand their horizons. Twenty poetic exercises that will strengthen and hone your craft!

These twenty-one poems, written with a younger audience in mind, recall special moments of childhood--moments of discovery, of excitement, of joy, of learning. All are designed to appeal to the child in the reader...regardless of age.