the masque of amontillado - poetry and short fiction

A new collection inspired byEdgar Allan Poe

and others Horror, fantasy, science fiction, weird fiction,

satire….

Now available on Smashwords, Apple iBookstore, Nook, and Amazon Kindle, for 99 cents

The Masque of Amontillado

…All the dead Montresors stacked out there, great-uncles, great-great-aunts,Generations back and back, calling to meIn a susurrus of skulls,Soon you will be like us,Faceless like us,Come whisper with us…

A FEW LINES FROM…

The CitadelWhere was I?

For what?

Oh, in one of the Badlands.

It’s not as bad as some,

believe me!

You were being punished

there.

That is privileged

information, kept in the

Inner Archive.

Shed

On a quiet street where

Maples lean over velvety

Chemical-doused lawns,

And windows stare blank as

blocks of ice

There stands a stout metal shed

With a stout lock on its door….

Mask Behind the Face:A Play in One Act

I am the snow that scalds

your face.

I am the unforgiving sea.

My paths are webs you cannot

trace,

But late or soon, you’ll come

to me.

Ophelia…Water replaced breath.But later, with the chorus of ghosts, she watchedFrom a play outside a play,Wanting to shout “I’m still here” as they fought over her body….

Gynoid….two minutes later

StelleTech Artificers held a press

conference

The spokesbot expressed shock at the

behavior of Seleste #14

Extended non-legally-binding

sympathy to the victims’ families….

Thine Alabaster Cities Gleam, Undimmed by Human Tears

If you’re short on alabaster, plaster can make a fine substitute…..

The Censor

Is sleek and silver with cold

crystal eyes

As deep as vanishing points….

His voice purrs from metal

depths….

Crossword Poems

Fish Weave Deserts

Dimly obliquely tracing

Winding through cities

Picture credits

• Slide 1: Juan Gris, Harlequin with a Guitar (detail, with colors inverted), 1917 [public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AJuan_Gris_-_Harlequin_with_a_Guitar.jpg

• Slide 2: Harry Clarke [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ACaskofAmontillado-Clarke.jpg

• Slide 3: Francisco Coello [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3APamplona_1845.jpg

• Slide 4: "Traditional Metal Shed" by TheFearow - Own work. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons -http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Traditional_Metal_Shed.JPG#mediaviewer/File:Traditional_Metal_Shed.JPG

• Slide 5: By Wolfgang Sauber (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ARMW_-_Paradehelm_3.jpg

• Slide 6: Odilon Redon [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AOdilon_Redon_-_Ophelia.JPG

• Slide 7: By Till Krech from Berlin, Germany (angry dummy Uploaded by perumalism) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AAngry_dummy_(151532527).jpg

• Slide 8: "Brooklyn Museum - Chicago World's Fair - Thomas Moran - overall" by Thomas Moran -Online Collection of Brooklyn Museum; Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 31.194_cropped_SL1.jpg. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons -http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brooklyn_Museum_-_Chicago_World%27s_Fair_-_Thomas_Moran_-_overall.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Brooklyn_Museum_-_Chicago_World%27s_Fair_-_Thomas_Moran_-_overall.jpg

• Slide 9: By Patafisik & Elena Tartaglione (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AAutoma_Manzetti_1840_dettaglio.JPG

• Slide 10: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CrosswordUK.svg

• Images modified by Timothy J. Tilbe