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Prepare to leave behind the couldn't-wouldn't-shouldn'ts
of your everyday life. In poems that range effortlessly
across time and genre, Mike Allen demonstrates a talent
for walking the knife's edge. He can be cruel as space,
sad as a bone, and as spare as a vampire's kiss. If you're
a fan of the poetry of the fantastic, here is a new voice
to celebrate.
— James Patrick Kelly, Hugo Award winner
The best genre poetry collection I've seen in many a moon. Whether introducing Baron Munchausen to flying- saucer aliens, attending the deathbed of Edgar Allan Poe, or sojourning through the crumbling gears of a cosmological clock, Allen's voice is rich and assured. This collection is not only worth the read, but worth reading again.
— Bruce Boston, SF Poetry Association Grand Master
These poems reach beyond the narrow, inward-focusing subject matter of so much contemporary poetry to address the hopes and fears of our modern society.
— Jane Lindskold, author of Legends Walking
Awash in nifty ideas, arresting images, and diabolical whimsy.
— Lawrence Watt-Evans, Hugo Award winner
Mike Allen's Defacing the Moon, a chapbook of poetry from DNA Publications, comes with endorsements from James Patrick Kelly, Bruce Boston, Jane Lindskold, and Lawrence Watt-Evans, and these enthusiastic blurbsters speak truthfully about Allen's zesty poetry. Wide ranging, but with an emphasis on biological themes and concrete poems, Allen exhibits a fine hand with a memorable phrase and a mordant yet humor-tinged viewpoint on life. My favorite poem might very well be "Disaster at the BrainBankTM ATM," which posits a life-changing machine gone bad.
— Paul Di Filippo, Asimov's Science Fiction,
The material in Defacing the Moon covers the first seven years of his [Mike Allen's] publication history; hence, the writing can on occasion be over-wrought as early poetry (and especially SF poetry) can be. Defacing the Moon and "Planeta do Favela" are lushly written without giving into the grotesque sentimentality that some employ in the interest of sounding "poetic" (although he does give into this impulse when writing about the Romantic writers). All of the experimental poems are interesting but some actually work quite well in their design: "Momentum" and "Phase Shift." Often in the genre, individual SF poems tend to suffer from banality, but when they rub together, they create a spark of artistic inspiration. One must take these poems as a whole—and as a whole, I've never seen so many sparks fly.
— Trent Walters, s1ngularity.net
Contents
Defacing the Moon
Munchausen vs. the Aliens
Disaster at the BrainBankTM ATM
Watching the Pot
Universal Night-Life
Sojourn on Barsoom
Third Shift at the Plasteel Spider Factory
The Ungrateful Son
Host
Three Meditations
Momentum
Phase Shift
Gears
Starpunk
Planet from the Black Lagoon
Planeto do Favela
On the Brink of Hyperspace
Incident at Infinity's Border (with Charles M. Saplak)
Cyberspace Singularity
Moment
Shelley, at the End
Poe's Last Kiss
Epilogue: The Roses
Prophecy: a fragment
Shadows' Solstice
An Evening Stroll
At the End
— James Patrick Kelly, Hugo Award winner
The best genre poetry collection I've seen in many a moon. Whether introducing Baron Munchausen to flying- saucer aliens, attending the deathbed of Edgar Allan Poe, or sojourning through the crumbling gears of a cosmological clock, Allen's voice is rich and assured. This collection is not only worth the read, but worth reading again.
— Bruce Boston, SF Poetry Association Grand Master
These poems reach beyond the narrow, inward-focusing subject matter of so much contemporary poetry to address the hopes and fears of our modern society.
— Jane Lindskold, author of Legends Walking
Awash in nifty ideas, arresting images, and diabolical whimsy.
— Lawrence Watt-Evans, Hugo Award winner
Mike Allen's Defacing the Moon, a chapbook of poetry from DNA Publications, comes with endorsements from James Patrick Kelly, Bruce Boston, Jane Lindskold, and Lawrence Watt-Evans, and these enthusiastic blurbsters speak truthfully about Allen's zesty poetry. Wide ranging, but with an emphasis on biological themes and concrete poems, Allen exhibits a fine hand with a memorable phrase and a mordant yet humor-tinged viewpoint on life. My favorite poem might very well be "Disaster at the BrainBankTM ATM," which posits a life-changing machine gone bad.
— Paul Di Filippo, Asimov's Science Fiction,
The material in Defacing the Moon covers the first seven years of his [Mike Allen's] publication history; hence, the writing can on occasion be over-wrought as early poetry (and especially SF poetry) can be. Defacing the Moon and "Planeta do Favela" are lushly written without giving into the grotesque sentimentality that some employ in the interest of sounding "poetic" (although he does give into this impulse when writing about the Romantic writers). All of the experimental poems are interesting but some actually work quite well in their design: "Momentum" and "Phase Shift." Often in the genre, individual SF poems tend to suffer from banality, but when they rub together, they create a spark of artistic inspiration. One must take these poems as a whole—and as a whole, I've never seen so many sparks fly.
— Trent Walters, s1ngularity.net
Contents
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