Coffee and Contemplation: National Book Lover’s Day

Today is an exciting day for bibliophiles. National Book Lover’s Day is an unofficial holiday for those of us who love reading and collecting books. I didn’t realize for many years most of the books I owned were nonfiction. This wasn’t a conscious choice. Those were the only books I wanted to read at the time. I started reading more fiction and even gave myself a purpose to read more fiction. I gave myself a goal for the kind of fiction I wanted to read. I wanted to read the kind of fiction I wanted to write.

It began as a list of horror fiction with a supernatural focus. As I read and researched, I realized I wanted the supernatural more than the horror. There are many stories and novels that are supernatural but are not horrific. Likewise, there are many stories and novels that are horrific but have not supernatural elements. I began looking for both supernatural horror and magical realism in stories and novels. This has made for an interesting collection of books I’ve acquired. There are many stories that are not scary in the least but still involve supernatural creatures or beings. Some stories are even humorous in their absurdity.

I plan to share this list of books I’ve read on my journey one day. For now, tell me what you all are reading right now. What kind of books are you most interested in reading and collecting? I also want to leave you with a couple quotes that you may find interesting. One of them has some profanity, but I’m against censorship so consider yourself warned.

“It wasn’t until I started reading and found books, they wouldn’t let us read in school, that I discovered you could be insane and happy and have a good life without being like everybody else.”

John Waters

“We need to make books cool again. If you go home with somebody and they don’t have books, don’t fuck them.”

John Waters

Protest Poetry: Hashtag Censorship

In this digital age
There’s a new kind
Of censorship – 
It always starts
With words – 
The hashtag
A symbol of 
A searchable category
Some hashtags are blocked
Others have a disclaimer
Hashtags are only words – 
And they’re telling us
What words we can
Or cannot use – 
I’m using the banned words

From the poetry collection Cats, Coffee, Catharsis.

Flashback Friday Poetry: Escape to Reality

welcome people to my dream
perhaps now all of you will see
all the craziness inside of me
is caused by my own deformity
and i can’t escape the reverie
Damned in this Hell i might just be
i’m asking someone to set me free
freedom from my own insanity
’cause i am my own worst enemy
and i won’t live through this travesty
if my mind just keeps on pushing
this goddamned soul with the false belief
that he might actually be something
if he tries hard enough to make the scene
he’s lost all will unfortunately
so he’ll rot in Hell for eternity
but i don’t believe that’s my destiny
so i will make the stand if you please
my life won’t go to the pits of Hades
i’ll go and conquer the seven seas
so if you’ll excuse me i must leave
it’s time to live the reality

Early poetry from James. From the poetry collection Pariah Bound: The Lonesome Poetry.