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The Macabre Modern cover image

The Macabre Modern

and Other Morbidities

by Kyla Lee Ward

156 pages
Trade Paperback

PRICE: $16.00 AUD

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A contemporary re-envisioning of the medieval “The Dance of Death” theme (fourteenth-century), written for the twenty-first century onward. Fantastic, imaginative poetry written and illustrated by award-winning poet, author, artist, playwright, performer Kyla Lee Ward. Her poem “Revenants of the Antipodes” (in this collection) won the AHWA Australian Shadows Award for poetry 2018. ... [Read more]

Book Catalogue

The Macabre Modern cover image)

The Macabre Modern

and Other Morbidities

Kyla Lee Ward

Item type: Collection
Format: Trade Paperback
Pages: 156
ISBN: 9780994390127

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The Macabre Modern - Illustrated Paperback - $16.00 (AUDAustralian Dollars (AUD))
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The Macabre Modern - Illustrated Hardcover - $30.00 (AUDAustralian Dollars (AUD))
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A contemporary re-envisioning of the medieval “The Dance of Death” theme (fourteenth-century), written for the twenty-first century onward. Fantastic, imaginative poetry written and illustrated by award-winning poet, author, artist, playwright, performer Kyla Lee Ward. Her poem “Revenants of the Antipodes” (in this collection) won the AHWA Australian Shadows Award for poetry 2018. It is Kyla’s second volume of fantastic poetry, prose, and non-fiction.

Contents

Poem contents and Essay by Kyla Lee Ward

Cover Art by Kyla Lee Ward

Internal Art by Kyla Lee Ward

Introduction by Dr Gillian Polack

Afterword by S T Joshi

Reviews

“With each new work she produces, Kyla Lee Ward—who, like William Blake and Clark Ashton Smith, has chosen to illustrate her own work—makes clear why she should be regarded as one of the preeminent exemplars of contemporary weird poetry.”

S. T. Joshi, multiple award-winning literary critic, author I Am Providence, editor Supernatural Literature of the World.


“Kyla Ward’s poetry is accessible, immediate, gripping. And she is bold enough to use traditional rhyme.”  

Peter Cannon, Senior Reviews Editor Publishers Weekly (New York).


“What a great collection, fantastically illustrated by the author. The last section of longer verse is steeped in myth and mythology, exquisitely rhymed.”  

Marge Simon, Science Fiction Poetry Association (SFPA) Grand Master.


“Have your absinthe glass and your favourite memento mori at hand as you savour this, Ward’s breathtaking new volume of vers fantastique.”  

Leigh Blackmore, author Spores from Sharnoth, editor Terror Australis.


“Kyla Lee Ward puts satisfying meat on the Gothic’s bones. Her well-honed metrical and narrative skills, enhanced by a deep sense of history, make this collection a must for aficionados of literary dark verse.” 

Ann K. Schwader, SFPA Grand Master, Rhysling winner, and HWA Bram Stoker finalist.


“Equally at home examining the imagery of Michael Jackson’s Thriller as she is contemplating mediæval depictions of the danse macabre, Ward accomplishes an alchemical marriage of the old and new to produce something which, like Death itself, transcends Time.”  

Adam Bolivar, author The Lay of Old Hex.


“In this new work, Kyla Ward brilliantly encapsulates the essence of existing Danse Macabre traditions, commenting on them and re-inventing them for the struggling world of the twenty-first century. It is a memento mori or even a Dante’s Inferno for the twenty-first century.” 

Robert Hood, multi-awarded horror writer, author Peripheral Visions: The Collected Ghost Stories 1986–2015.

 


Extract

Table of Contents

Introduction by Dr Gillian Polack

The Authority Speaks

Movers and Shakers

The Politician;

The C. E. O.

The Financier

Icons

The Old Royal

The Celebrity

The Athlete

Professionals

The Doctor

The Lawyer

The Architect

Follies

The Advertiser

The Life Coach

The Manager

Vocations

The Soldier

The Farmer

The Teacher

Creatives

The Musician

The Programmer

The Artist

The Small Jobs

The Office Worker

The Barista

The Taxi Driver

The Demimonde

The Burlesque Dancer

The Drug Dealer

The Activist

Life Stages

The Pensioner

The Adolescent

The Child

Concepts

The Death of the Author

The End of History

The Sixth Extinction

Return of the Authority

The Danse Macabre, an essay

Little Deaths

Boat of a Million Years

The Tomb Robber’s Complaint

Vanth—A Myth Derived

Libitina’s Garden—A Triptych

Buried in Jade

The Stone of Sacrifice

Dual Purpose

Revenants of the Antipodes

Mourning Rites

The Necromancer’s Question

Tattered Livery

Don’t Open the Box!

The Loquacious Cadaver—a fable

Lucubration—a composition that smells of the lamp

Afterword by S. T. Joshi

Nineteen Illustrations