Ellipsis' collection, Three is available today from their website and will, eventually, be available to purchase from Amazon. It features my story "Authorsoft tm". This is another ooooolllllldddd story - maybe 15 - 20 years old - written in a period when I was still looking for my own voice but had been enormously influenced by Baudelaire's prose poems. So I ended up writing a load of short-short stories (which I called prose-poems, like Baudelaire's, as at the time the flash form didn't really exist) which featured my usual vision and ideas albeit written in a tone of voice that was very heavily influenced - overly so, in fact - by Baudelaire.
I liked most of the ideas, however, even if at the time I recognised the writing style was derivative and not "honest." Thus, most of the "prose-poems" that were written in this period languished on floppy disks then memory sticks and then finally the cloud until recently. Some ("The Chaotic Butterfly," "A Fresh Perspective," "The Friend We Made"), now that I have my own authorial voice and I feel (somewhat!) more in control of the form (which now has a name - flash fiction!) have been totally re-written and subsequently published, while others, like "HumourChip tm" and "Authorsoft tm" just needed a bit of tweaking, editing and polishing.
So anyway, enjoy "Authorsoft tm" (and other excellent flash pieces) in Ellipsis' new collection Three, available from here.
Also, on a somewhat related point, here is the companion piece to "Authorsoft tm", "Poetsoft tm". Now bear in mind that I am not a poet when reading this although from a conceptual point of view I think that actually works better for this piece in terms of its subject matter. I do think this was actually published in some poetry pamphlet at some point almost 20 years ago, but it was such a small scale photocopied thing, I really can't remember its name.
PoetSoft tm
by
James Burr
"I really love you, and I think your body's
great!"
I type onto the
screen.
Artistic
inspiration
Direct from a
machine.
Alphabetical
index and simple colour display,
Place the
cursor on the poet
And Bingo!
We're away.
I've never
heard of this guy,
But let's look
at his style,
Put the cursor
over "cummings"
And access the
algorithmic file.
"i really
love you and i think your bodys great".
What? Is that all?
Don't tell me that that's it.
Oh no, I think
I've been ripped off.
Trust me to buy
this shit.
But hang
on. The sixth Lord Byron,
There's a name
I know.
The manual says
he's a romantic,
So let's give
him a go.
"O radiant love shining 'pon dusky flesh
Of beauty that
ne'er will fade."
Yes, yes, this
is what I want,
This is bound
to get me laid!
But I'm a
sensitive Millennial man,
so let's try
some Plath
(for a woman's point of view).
After all, even
if it's rubbish
I can always
make it new.
"In darkness blood milky-weeps from cracked and
swollen breasts..."
Ugh! I've seen enough!!
For what I want
this is just too poor.
I'll press
delete and cancel.
And try one
poet more.
So who the Hell
is this one?
His name rings
a bell;
I can't
remember what he wrote,
But apparently
they did quite well.
"O radiant love shining
shining
shine
on
the
breasts of the dull secretary,
shhh...."
Eh? What's it say?
I don't know
what it means.
But then
judging from the looks of her,
I'm sure neither will
she.
But now I think
I'm finished,
And that was a
lot of fun.
Because, like
the advert says,
"Art at the touch of a button",
But a
readership of one.