Niteblade News

I’ve got another review, and it’s for another great poetry chapbook. This one comes in a numbered limited edition as well, and I am such a book geek that I find that a big selling point. Of course, what matters most is the content, so let’s get to that.

I should start off by stating my bias. I’ve been a fan of Greg’s poetry ever since I first saw “Hall of Shadows” and “The Pumpkin Man” in my slush pile over a year ago. Greg has a fantastic sense of humor, a dark side and a wonderful talent for balancing the two. That has never been as obvious to me as when I read Bits and Pieces.

Bits and Pieces is a chapbook of Greg’s new and selected poetry. It’s published by Spec House of Poetry and is, in my opinion, a must-have collection. Between the eighteen poems collected within Greg manages to cover a vast amount of the dark poetry spectrum. Some poems made me laugh, some caused a groan and a few gave me shivers. One or two pieces managed to evoke all three reactions at once.

Each poem tells a story and a great many of them lingered in my mind long after I’d shut the book and walked away. They lack pretension and will appeal to those who love poetry as well as to those who are usually frightened by it (the form, not the content). Greg’s style is one that reaches out to the uninitiated and slowly draws them into his world.

One of my favorite pieces was an unnamed three line poem that begins, “Danny, Danny” which haunted my thoughts for hours after I read it. It niggled at my brain and whispered about the possible implications of the last line; none of them good. Another favorite was “The Monster in my Closet” which takes a common childhood fear, turns it on its head and dresses it in drag. It made me laugh out loud when I read it. I may even have snorted.

In short, I highly recommend Greg Schwartz Bits and Pieces to all readers of Niteblade because if you like what you read on our pages you will adore it. Honest.

I’ve given the news blog a new look. I’d been meaning to do this for quite some time because images weren’t showing up the way I wanted to, but I never got around to it until now. Please bear with me while I iron out all the bumps.

Lost Innocence is now available on Amazon. How sweet is that? At the very least it made me go *squee*! The only thing that dampened my enthusiasm even a little bit was that, at some point I must have filled out a form wrong because it says I’m the author, not the editor. *sigh* The good news is I’ve submitted the revision for that and I’ll totally be on the lookout to make sure that doesn’t happen again when I do the next anthology.

In the meantime, if you’ve read and enjoyed Lost Innocence, please go to Amazon.com or even LuLu and rate and/or review it. It will only take a moment and will mean a lot to me and everyone whose work is included.