Daily Creativity Prompt – Crimson Skins

In honor of its 5th anniversary, Indie Blu(e) Publishing and Brave & Reckless are teaming up this November to sponsor a series of 30 daily creativity prompts, comprised of the titles of our 25 published books and four upcoming titles, along with a couple fun phrases to round it out. We think our book titles are pretty damn cool and we hope they spark your creativity. You are welcome to respond to as many that inspire you.

There is only one rule to the prompt challenge: the book title or phrase should serve as the title of your piece OR all the words in the title should be integrated into your piece somehow.   

Note: Some of IB books have fabulous subtitles. Want an extra challenge? Try integrating the subtitle into your response

It is our honor and pleasure to publish your prompt responses on Indie Blu(e) Publishing and Brave & Reckless . We welcome poetry, prose, flash fiction, creative nonfiction, essays, and high-res original art inspired by the prompts.

How to Submit

  • Email your submission to indieblucollective@gmail.com
  • Writing can be submitted in the body of the email or as a separate Word document or PDF
  • If you are submitting writing, please include a suggested image to accompany your work. Unsplash and Pixabay are two of our favorite sites for royalty-free images.
  • Your email should include your name EXACTLY as you want it to appear on Indie Blu(e) Publishing and Brave & Reckless, a short biography, and any links you want shared.

Indian poet Devika Mathur’s acute obsession with the use of confessional lyricism lends her writing a sumptuous sensibility. Finding fantasy a way to escape inner trauma, Mathur’s haunting, visual work speaks of imagined journeys and freedoms, through imagistic and richly textured poetry. Mathur’s work challenges the accepted notions of the female, and illustrates the intensity and eloquence of her life. Crimson Skins will make you want to inhabit Mathur’s hypnotic handling of words and sink into her flowered world of blood and joy, pain and ecstasy.

“Devika Mathur is loved and known for her celebration of the abstract and surreal; she plays with words like toys and bites into them like ripe fruit. Everything Mathur yields is original and unique. Even when her voice is so reminiscent of Sylvia Plath, she remains a woman and poet unto herself, through and through. Crimson Skins is a testament to Mathur’s talent; through poetry and prose her brilliance is depicted again and again.”

-Kristiana Reed, Flowers on the Wall

“Devika Mathur knows how to romance words. The poetries here are as insane and wild as they are raw and robust. Her metaphors and the imagery that she attaches to her pieces are unique and flow like music.”

-Moushmi Radhanpara.

To purchase Crimson Skins, click here.

Publication Date: August 21, 2020

ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1951724030

Devika Mathur is a bilingual poet who resides in India and is the author of Crimson Skins.  Her work has also been published in Madras Courier, Kitaab.org, Selcouth Station, Modern Literature, Indian Review, Whisper and the Roar, and Sudden Denouement Literary Collective, to name a few. She has written for more than 40 journals and loves to share similar thoughts through her initiative; Olive skins- a virtual platform for all surrealist writers. She was recently a part of the ‘Best of Mad Swirl’ anthology and has work included in the astounding anthology BymePoetica vol 2., as well as, All the Lonely People. She loves to express her thoughts through her WordPress blog, My Valiant Soul

Composition of a Woman – Lynn White

Among so many creatures,
and with so much choice
she chose me
named me
made me
myself.

Among so many creatures
birds and beasts,
reptiles and
flowers
in all their glory
I stand here
still 
me
a woman.

I stand here
proud to be chosen
to be among them
to be included
as part of their glory,
part of their voice.
Hear me

me
a woman
composed.


Image courtesy of Pixabay.

Lynn White lives in north Wales. Her poetry is influenced by issues of social justice and events, places and people she has known or imagined. She is especially interested in exploring the boundaries of dream, fantasy and reality. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net and a Rhysling Award. Find Lynn at: Poetry – Lynn White  and on Facebook

Daily Creativity Prompt – Pantheon

In honor of its 5th anniversary, Indie Blu(e) Publishing and Brave & Reckless are teaming up this November to sponsor a series of 30 daily creativity prompts, comprised of the titles of our 25 published books and four upcoming titles, along with a couple fun phrases to round it out. We think our book titles are pretty damn cool and we hope they spark your creativity. You are welcome to respond to as many that inspire you.

There is only one rule to the prompt challenge: the book title or phrase should serve as the title of your piece OR all the words in the title should be integrated into your piece somehow.   

Note: Some of IB books have fabulous subtitles. Want an extra challenge? Try integrating the subtitle into your response

It is our honor and pleasure to publish your prompt responses on Indie Blu(e) Publishing and Brave & Reckless . We welcome poetry, prose, flash fiction, creative nonfiction, essays, and high-res original art inspired by the prompts.

How to Submit

  • Email your submission to indieblucollective@gmail.com
  • Writing can be submitted in the body of the email or as a separate Word document or PDF
  • If you are submitting writing, please include a suggested image to accompany your work. Unsplash and Pixabay are two of our favorite sites for royalty-free images.
  • Your email should include your name EXACTLY as you want it to appear on Indie Blu(e) Publishing and Brave & Reckless, a short biography, and any links you want shared.

Eric Syrdal’s Pantheon is the novel told in free-verse that you never knew you needed. Epic in scope, but always deeply rooted in its humanity, it defies genres and expectations.

“Pantheon is a thrilling philosophical journey exploring the depth and meaning for one passing through a metaphorical world of inner demons and dragons, goddesses of the soul, of warrior and poet. A journey that crosses boundaries of time, space, and perception. I am captured by the intimate revelations of this intuitive and sympathetic protagonist battling the dark ages of his subconscious moving instinctively forward into innerscape, relying upon and exalting the virtue goddesses that guide and deliver him from barbarity and trial by ordeal both physical and spiritually as he transports from one state of being to another, from one point of time to another.”

-Holly Rene Hunter

“Syrdal, a self-proclaimed romantic and sci-fi and fantasy enthusiast, does not disappoint: He deftly weaves a tale of adventure, his protagonists crossing paths with virtuous Goddesses, who coax them toward their destinies.

As I read the first section, I worried that Pantheon was a little too heavy on the usual themes of fantasy and fairy tale: Warhorses champing at the bit, armored fighters, swords at the ready, the proverbial dragon looming over the embattled heroic Poet. Despite this, I continued on and was glad I did, for Syrdal quickly demonstrates that his story stands apart from, and above, the typical. With Courage and the Queen of Hearts at his side, and Hope, Grace, Mercy, Karma, and Fate in the shadows, the Poet must make a pivotal decision. His choice at that critical moment is masterfully mirrored in the subsequent sections of the book, and I marveled time and again at the way Syrdal coherently connected his multiple story lines, the seams necessarily apparent but still flawless.

Pantheon finishes as epically as it began. All along, the Queen of Hearts and her sisters have artfully molded their heroes’ journeys, bringing them back to central truths about life and love. Should you read this book (and you should!), I trust that the imagery of that final section will be long lasting in your mind, along with a sense of awe at Syrdal’s beautifully written verse and sense of literary craftsmanship.”

-Mariah Voutilainen, (re)imagining the mundane

“There is nothing unoriginal about this novel, it’s just a gripping, incredible tour de force and explosive, emotive, classic that I believe will continue to take the indie market by storm. To try to describe it would take far too long, think Neil Gaiman on ecstasy and set on fire by starlight and you may be close.

If it is your desire to read something astoundingly original, from a writer who is not only a truly breathtaking author, deft with supernatural words and ideas, but a dreamer of worlds, who will blow any preconceived notions you have away and leave you shell-shocked by the sheer power of his mind, then I cannot recommend Eric Syrdal and his novel Pantheon more highly. ‘I built this beach / and the stars / and the moon… I turn back the wheels of heaven / and make time stop and rewind / over and over … Because I don’t know how to tell him / A machine had a wish.’”

-Candice Louisa Daquin, author of Pinch the Lock

To Purchase Pantheon, click here. 

Publication Date: April 23, 2020

ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1732800083

Eric Syrdal is a poet and author of the novel Pantheon. He’s an avid gamer and Sci-Fi enthusiast. He enjoys reading science fiction and fantasy literature and spends a great deal of his writing time focused in those genres. He is a romantic at heart. His work usually contains elements of the supernatural and fantastic along with potent female voices and archetypes.

Softly Glowing Exit Signs – Georgiann Carlson

EXIT signs are everywhere
day and night
they softly glow
giving all of us a way out
showing us doors
to other places
some run toward them
others hesitate
reevaluate
change their minds
still others
tuck the locations away
for another time
or exit by accident
but no one has to stay here
life is just a game
anyone can cash in their chips
and walk away

I’m an artist, a writer, a vegetarian, an animal rights activist, and quite a few other things as well. I love books, cats, philosophy, good conversation, Chicago and the arts. So my blog is full of bits and pieces but it’s the bits and pieces that make life interesting to me. You can read more of my writing at Rethinking Life

Pixabay

Softly Glowing Exit Signs – Patricia Harris

Perhaps I counted on
Knowing my way through,
So I ignored the
Softly glowing exit signs.

I saw myself as
Invincible.
Those signs were
The way that the universe
Was telling me
The end was nigh.

Patricia Harris is a dreamer, crafter, gamer, and digital artist who loves creativity in life. A half-mad poet, her writing is found all over social media and various other websites. She is a devoted mom who can be found doing a variety of art when she isn’t penning poetry and writing words. She is owner of the indie publishing company Fae Corps publishing. Her collection of writings includes two memoirs, a book on writing, several children’s books, and poetry. For more from Patricia, check her out Facebook or Pattimouse .

Her books are all listed on Books2Read.