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The Macabre Modern
and Other Morbidities
by Kyla Lee Ward
156 pages
Trade Paperback
PRICE: $16.00 AUD
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
and Other Morbidities
Kyla Lee Ward
Item type: Collection
Format: Trade Paperback
Pages: 156
ISBN: 9780994390127
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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