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  The Poetry of Ambrose Bierce -...

  Ambrose Bierce

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  Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was born on 24th June 1842 at Horse Cave Creek in Meigs County, Ohio. His parents were poor but they introduced him to literature at an early age, instilling in him a deep appreciation of books, the written word and the elegance of language.  
   
  Growing up in Koscuisko County, Indiana poverty and religion were defining features of his childhood, and he would later describe his parents as “unwashed savages” and fanatically religious, showing him little affection but always quick to punish. He came to resent religion, and his introduction to literature appears to be their only positive effect. 
   
  At age 15 Bierce left home to become a printer’s devil, mixing ink and fetching type at The Northern Indian, a small Ohio paper. Falsely accused of theft he returned to his farm and spent time sending out work in the hopes of being published. 
   
  His Uncle Lucius advised he be sent to the Kentucky Military Institute. A year later he was commissioned as an Officer.  As the Civil War started Bierce enlisted in the 9th Indiana Infantry Regiment.  
   
  In April 1862 Bierce fought at the Battle of Shiloh, an experience which, though terrifying, became the source of several short stories. Two years later he sustained a serious head wound and was off duty for several months. He was discharged in early 1865.  
   
  A later expedition to inspect military outposts across the Great Plains took him all the way to San Francisco. He remained there to become involved with publishing and editing and to marry, Mary Ellen on Christmas Day 1871.  They had a child, Day, the following year.  
   
  In 1872 the family moved to England for 3 years where he wrote for Fun magazine. His son, Leigh, was born, and first book, ‘The Fiend’s Delight’, was published. 
  They returned to San Francisco and to work for a number of papers where he gained admiration for his crime reporting. In 1887 he began a column at the William Randolph Hearst’s San Francisco Examiner.  
   
  Bierce’s marriage fell apart when he discovered compromising letters to his wife from a secret admirer. The following year, 1889 his son Day committed suicide, depressed by romantic rejection. 
   
  In 1891 Bierce wrote and published the collection of 26 short stories which included ‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge’.  Success and further works including poetry followed.  
   
  Bierce with Hearst’s resources helped uncover a financial plot by a railroad to turn 130 million dollars of loans into a handout. Confronted by the railroad and asked to name his price Bierce answered “my price is $130 million dollars. If, when you are ready to pay, I happen to be out of town, you may hand it over to my friend, the Treasurer of the United States”.  
   
  He now began his first foray as a fabulist, publishing ‘Fantastic Fables’ in 1899.  But tragedy again struck two years later when his second son Leigh died of pneumonia relating to his alcoholism. 
   
  He continued to write short stories and poetry and also published ‘The Devil’s Dictionary’.  
   
  At the age of 71, in 1913 Bierce departed from Washington, D.C., for a tour of the battlefields where he had fought during the civil war. At the city of Chihuahua he wrote his last known communication, a letter to a friend. It’s closing words were “as to me, I leave here tomorrow for an unknown destination,” Ambrose Bierce then vanished without trace.   
   
  As a poet Bierce once again uses words to infuse his verse with both beauty and sharp wit as he writes on subjects that range from the off-beat and whimsical to incisive views on society, its revels and its torments. 
   
  1 - The Poetry of Ambrose Bierce - An Introduction 
  2 - An Alibi by Ambrose Bierce 
  3 - The Legatee by Ambrose Bierce 
  4 - Justice by Am

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  Spring Forward Mrs James! - A...

  JR. ROBERT C. BRABHAM, ALICE R....

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  The creator of Slinky, Dick James, was an engineer who took a mistake in his work place and saw the potential to make a mark on the world, and increase his fame and fortune. But he sacrificed and gave up his family and even his creation to chase after mere vapors of what he thought he wanted. He leaves Betty, his children, and the company in shambles with a load of debt. Betty, whose own background was lonely and left her desperate for love, rises to the occasion and pulls the family and the company out of the dark place they were left and they all find a better future. And, even notoriety. Betty even discovers love that is well beyond what she could imagine – in the people and family who surround her.

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  Our New Girl & Little Dolls: two...

  Nancy Harris

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  A startling psychological drama about the darker side of modern parenthood.
  Behind the shiny door of Hazel Robinson's immaculate London home, things aren't as good as they look. Her plastic surgeon husband, Richard, has embarked on his latest charitable mission to Haiti, leaving the heavily pregnant Hazel to cope with a failing business and a problem son. When a professional nanny arrives unannounced on her doorstep, Hazel finds her home under the shadow of a seemingly perfect stranger, and one who has an agenda of her own. 
  Nancy Harris's play Our New Girl was first performed at the Bush Theatre, London, in 2012.

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  Called to Create - Dramatized...

  Adam Blanford, Tobias Hunter,...

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  Have you ever felt called to create something? Have you felt that nudge that becomes a desire? Then that desire becomes ambition, and then you’re almost compelled to complete what you started? 
  From the beginning of time, God has called His children to share the Good News. One group of individuals He especially loves to call is artists. Looking at the sweeping majesty of a fiery sunset, or the delicate perfection of a single flower, I know that God is an artist. He uses beauty to share His love, and He calls artists to create beauty through their many mediums to spread His Word. 
  Called to Create is a collection of audio dramas about artists throughout history who heeded God's call to use their talents to connect His children, share His love, and glorify His name.  
  When God calls, the artist listens. 
  Featuring stories based on the following artists: Genesius of Rome, James Tissot, Gabrielle Bossis, Sarah Fuller Flower Adams, Dorothea Sayers, and Tony Fontane. 
  Performed by a Full Cast: 
  Emma Faye,  
  Adam Skousen,  
  Ana Clements,  
  Richard Crossman,  
  A.J. Shuck,  
  Lillian Rachel,  
  Mike Lenz,  
  Lance Danton,  
  PJ Freebourn,  
  Lisa Negrón,  
  Judith Bareham,  
  Ian Lahlum,  
  Cutler Hollist,  
  Julie Hinton,  
  Ali Gifford,  
  Charlotte Chiew,  
  Riley Bishop,  
  Tucker Bishop,  
  Dane McLean,  
  Rocky McLean,  
  and Emma JoAnn

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  Songs for the Land-Bound

  Violeta Garcia-Mendoza

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  Violeta Garcia-Mendoza’s luminous debut seeks out ways of coping in a complicated age. Exploring the constraints and anxieties of midlife in the midst of climate breakdown, of motherhood in a period of personal and planetary vulnerability, these poems speak to the persistence of nature, creativity, and love: necessary sources of hope and beauty, the ties that bind us to this shared and sacred place. Here is a lyrical and resonant new songbook for survival, a flight across the uneasy darkness, a shining course through the “wreckage strung with violets.”

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  Red Corner - a poetic collection

  Dawn Web

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  Through spoken word and musical compositions, Red Corner underpins the interconnectedness of key themes: identity, sexual health, neurodiversity, queer and political issues, sexism, racism, illness, suicide, perseverance, and navigating intergenerational trauma. Be transported by Dawn's raw and vulnerable tone: a visceral and transformative experience. Accompanied by musician and songwriter Salwa. 
  “The early chapters are spare, confessional, and often emotionally messy...strange, uncanny, and disorienting. In the first half of the collection, Web typically favours economical, lyric poetry reminiscent of Phyllis Webb’s Naked Poems, but often plays with the rhythmic and declarative registers of slam poetry, sections of dialogue that call to mind screenwriting, and prose poems. This formal elasticity builds towards the sixth chapter, Vortex, a personal essay that chronicles the poet’s journey through mental illness, sexual assault, and sexual identity. The voice in this chapter and the following—Backwards, a socially-minded section reminiscent of Karen Solie’s politically charged poetry—is confident, even strident; the path to that self-assurance has been traced in the earlier chapters, which reveal Web’s ambivalence, in terms of diagnosis, embodiment, illness, and treatment. In the final chapters, Web returns to an intimate and confessional voice that opens towards a greater sense of connectivity, community, and acceptance. RED CORNER is more than a collection—it’s a carefully mapped journey that acknowledges the difficult and essential nature of self-acceptance... Web’s first book is a great read—it’s complex, thoughtful, and engaging. The breadth and the depth of the writing in RED CORNER promises that it won’t be the last from this ambitious, brave, and introspective young writer.” 
  —Becca Babcock, Author with Nimbus Publishing, Actor/Filmmaker, Writing Instructor and Assistant Dean of FASS at Dalhousie University

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