Tuesday Poem: Oh Dirty River, by Helen Lehndorf

I'm the hub Tuesday Poem editor this week, and the poem I've chosen is "Oh Dirty River" by Helen Lehndorf. Check it out at the main Tuesday Poem blog, and don't forget to check out the poems in the sidebar as well!

Tuesday Poem: Sigh No More, by William Shakespeare, Performed by Maurissa Tancharoen and Jed Whedon

I'm looking forward to the Joss Whedon film of "Much Ado About Nothing" which has just been released in NZ and the UK, opens in Australia in July, and will form part of the upcoming NZ Film Festival and then (I hope) get a theatrical release here.

I loved the 1993 Kenneth Branagh/Emma Thompson version, but from what I've heard, Joss Whedon's version, with Amy Acker (pictured in the video) and Alexis Denisof as Beatrice and Benedick, makes sure to shine a light on the other characters who tend to get shoved aside by the Beatrice/Benedick story: and thereby darkens the narrative, because the story of Hero and Claudio is framed to address "slut-shaming" that's all too contemporary.

Here is Maurissa Tancharoen singing "Sign No More" from the new film, and Shakespeare's words below. It helps to know that 'nothing' was Elizabethan slang for 'vagina', which also puts Benedick's name in perspective.




The poem:

Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more.

    Men were deceivers ever,

One foot in sea, and one on shore,

    To one thing constant never.

Then sigh not so, but let them go,

    And be you blithe and bonny,

Converting all your sounds of woe

    Into hey nonny, nonny.

Sigh no more ditties, sing no more

    Of dumps so dull and heavy.

The fraud of men was ever so

    Since summer first was leafy.

Then sigh not so, but let them go,

    And be you blithe and bonny,

Converting all your sounds of woe

    Into hey, nonny, nonny.

Regeneration Anthology Now Available For Pre-Order

My story "Rescuing the Airmen" is one of those included in the new anthology Regeneration: New Zealand Speculative Fiction II, which will be launched in early July. Check out the marvellous cover by Emma Weakley - and get in quick by pre-ordering the anthology in print or ebook formats.

Regeneration is available to be pre-ordered as a paperback with free ebook ($24.95) or ebook only ($9.95) from the Random Static website: http://www.randomstatic.net/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=53

Here's the Facebook event for the launch in Wellington at 6pm on Friday 12 July.

More information from the Random Static website:

Regeneration

by Anna Caro & Juliet Buchanan (editors)

Some things are gone forever; but that is not the end. There are new lives to be lived, new discoveries to be made, changes to be fought for, enjoyed, or feared.

Experience worlds where existence continues beyond death and much-wanted babies become something else entirely. Where humanity endures in hostile environments, societies adapt to new challenges and inventions, and strange creatures live secretly among us. Travel from a curiously altered Second World War to other universes at the end of time, taking in diverse visions of New Zealand and worlds beyond along the way.

Regeneration, the second volume of New Zealand Speculative Fiction from Random Static, presents 22 original works of science fiction and fantasy by Kiwi authors. Stories of loss and renewal, of fantastic technology and mysterious transformations, of supernatural predators and survivors building new futures. Life always goes on, but seldom the way you'd expect...

Featuring stories by Matt Cowens, Tim Jones, Mary Brock Jones, O.J. Cade, Grace Bridges, I.K. Paterson-Harkness, Kylie Thorne, Debbie Cowens, J.C. Hart, Jennifer Compton, Simon Petrie, Anna Smith, Rebecca Harris, Elizabeth Gatens, Jonathan James Todd, A.J. Fitzwater, Fran Atkinson, Anna Caro, Dan Rabarts, Lee Murray, Grant Stone, and Toni Wi.

Title: Regeneration: New Zealand Speculative Fiction II
Author: Anna Caro & Juliet Buchanan (editors)
Publisher: Random Static
ISBN: 978-0-473-24188-9
Format: 129mm by 198mm Paperback / ebook
RRP: NZ$9.95 (ebook) / $24.95 (paperback)

Edit ALL The Poems: This Is The Last Day To Submit To "The Stars Like Sand"

From http://memegenerator.net/instance/38338315 and ultimately http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/06/this-is-why-ill-never-be-adult.html

This is it, folks - today (Tuesday 4 June) is the very last day for Australians (resident and expat) to submit to The Stars Like Sand: Australian Speculative Poetry, which I'm co-editing with P.S. Cottier. Get your poems in today - once you have read the full guidelines. Remember that we're looking for previously-published as well as original poems!