Happy journeys—and perhaps a homecoming for a wanderer—to Melanie Stormm’s Last Poet of Wyrld’s End, the sixth shuttle to emerge from starship Candlemark’s Reckless imprint. An intricate, funny yet elegiac adventure brimming with invention and poetic flourishes, it’s an SFnal take on Li Bai—or an elevated variation of Jackie Chan’s Drunken Master with a soupçon of Moby Dick. Here are excerpts of some informed opinions about Last Poet:
What a treasure! In this delightful tale of SFnal whimsy, Zhou Liu Yang wanders in search of his lost marble through the weird, threat-spiked Wyrld’s End. // His thoughts about poetry are exquisite, his wistfulness appealing, his world dangerous… —Sherwood Smith, creator of the Sartorias-deles universe and Wren’s world, Nebula award finalist
It’s inordinately refreshing in this age of concatenated disasters to find a book this good-natured. // A most unusual book, filled with humor and light. Stormm is an author who understands perfectly how to Have Fun with Words. —F. J. Bergmann, editor of Star*Line, winner of multiple speculative poetry (Elgin, Rhysling, Rannu) awards
… Liu Yang the Poet is funnier and wiser than most characters have the right to be, and his quest is at times part Tolkien’s The Hobbit, part Coehlo’s The Alchemist and even a little bit Neil Gaiman, but, ultimately, is wholly imbued with Stormm’s surefire and sly, engaging voice, reminding us that great adventures in search of the magical are ultimately about finding that which is much closer to home, and the heart. —Christopher Locke, author of 25 Trumbulls Road and Ordinary Gods
In the delightful novella Last Poet at Wyrld’s End, Melanie Stormm takes readers on a day-long journey in the company of the befuddled poet Liu Yang. // At once comical, lyrical, and melancholy, the story builds to a satisfying conclusion while leaving me hopeful that there will be other stories set in this intriguing landscape. —Jennifer Crow, author of The First Bite of the Apple, Elgin and Rhysling awards nominee
Last Poet of Wyrld’s End // is a fascinating amalgam of science fiction and fantasy, set in a future time and a distant planet where science and magic meld. Most interesting is the poet’s mind and heart of Liu Yang, the scintillating poetic perspective and language in which he swims and survives. Get this book: compelling and beautiful. —Vince Gotera, editor of the North American Review, winner of multiple poetry awards, Pushcart nominee
And to whet appetites for poetical and picaresque adventures, here’s a salient synopsis:
The harbor city of Wyrld’s End, adopted home to the denizens of a human arkship, is rife with deadly conspiracies, pleasure sages, enigmatic sentient indigenous aliens, and the occasional wave of undead. Like any great city, it is also home to the ragged, rugged species of The Common Poet. Zhou Liu Yang is such a poet, with one addition: he possesses a mysterious object with technological abilities which verge on the magical. Trouble is, thanks to a hole in his pocket, he’s lost it…and the wrong sort of people would like to find it. Also, there’s the existential question of lunch, to say nothing of the questions posed by the singing tentacled giants of the deep.
Melanie Stormm is a semi-sentient being living and breathing in New Hampshire, who generally tries not to make a complete mess of things. A known and respected musician in some spheres, unknown and ignored in others, she is also poet, writer of short-fiction and comics to the same varying degree of success. Her short story “A Mohawk Place for Souls” was a finalist for the Hamlin Garland Award for Short Fiction in 2018 and published by Beloit Fiction Journal that same year.
The oneiric, evocative cover is by Rhiannon McCullough who’s equally at home in traditional and contemporary fantasy illustration.
Last Poet of Wyrld’s End is available on Amazon and on our website, where a purchase brings along the full digital bundle (PDF, Epub and Mobi). All C&G ebooks are DRM-free.
Come sail on new worlds with us—but keep an eye on your marbles!
