Showcasing our authors – Thomas Davis: a contemporary take on the epic

Another fine author with Bennison Books! Not many publishers today would take on an epic poem. Not many authors today could write one with such poetic and storytelling skill. Thomas Davis has also published with All Things That Matter Press and Four Windows Press. The Weirding Storm” moves effortlessly and clearly, exquisite prose-poetry swelling every line, verse, page and chapter. There is pure genius in creative composition that marries complexity with clarity, achieves poeticism without pretention, and engages the lover of story and language equally, all the while offering insight into human nature and the fragile possibilities of survival for the world and its inhabitants. “The Weirding Storm” is an important classic of our time, deserving much attention and acclaim. From my review on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3ZHtDcA.

Bennison Books

One of the most unusual and exciting projects taken on by Bennison Books was the publication of The Weirding Storm, A Dragon Epic by American author Thomas Davis.

It was a genuine honour to work with such a gifted and prolific writer and publisher on this contemporary revival of an ancient poetic tradition. As Thomas explains:

“Epic poetry has shaped thought and inspired men and women to feel the pulse of the universe for a long, long time. It mirrors our deepest selves.

“This age, in all its confusion, is a continuation of ages past, not a separation, and the epic still has a relevant story to tell. Perhaps more so than ever.”

Thomas Davis’s published work includes his historical novel, In the Unsettled Homeland of Dreams(All Things That Matter Press, 2019), which was awarded the prestigious 2019 Edna Ferber Fiction Book Award, and Sustaining the…

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Showcasing our authors – Chris Moran: breaking free into poetry

Bennison Books, a publisher of excellence, has been showcasing its fine authors. I was honored to be a part of the sublimely beautiful poetry collection “Dancing in the Rain” by my dear inspirational friend Christine Moran, both in creating the cover art and writing the introduction. Please follow the link to this post about Christine and the special gift of her poetry. All profits go to the MS Trust. And take a little more time to check out Bennison Books’ other unique publications and authors.

Bennison Books

Welcome to the first in our new series showcasing the diverse work of our amazing authors.Bennison Books is privileged to work with gifted writers across the globe who work in a variety of genres.

It’s an honour to start this series with UK poet Chris Moran. Chris recovered from alcoholism and the depths of despair only to be faced with a long-delayed diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.

Poetry freed her spirit. Moving, often humorous and suffused with hope, her work is courageously honest as she documents her life with a clear and unwavering eye.

The following poem, taken from her collection Dancing in the Rain, published by Bennison Books, explores a moment in her continuing journey towards acceptance.

Coming in from the Cold I have decided to let it in, MS that is. I have made it stand out there in all weathers, biting cold, hail, strong winds and…

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Farewell to thee! but not farewell

I know that ghosts have wandered on earth.
Be with me always—take any form—drive me mad!
~ from Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë

The care of my mom continues to take up much of my time and energy, so again I’ll share this post marking the anniversary of the death of Emily Bronte, Anne’s most beloved sister.

bardessdmdenton - author- artist

Reposting from last year, as with my mother having just come home from the hospital, I haven’t had time to put together a new post marking the death of Emily Jane Brontë.

December 19, 1848 was a tragic day at the Brontë Parsonage, Haworth, West Yorkshire, England, for Anne, Charlotte, and their father, Patrick, only a few months after brother Branwell met his inevitable end during which beloved sister Emily sickened beyond repair. One can only imagine the grief of losing two siblings and children so soon one after the other – not the first time this had happened for the Brontë family and not made easier by being just before Christmas, a time when the family usually found themselves come together from various endeavors that took them away from home.

I wrote about the closeness (“like twins … inseparable companions, and in the very closest sympathy, which never had any interruption” ~ Ellen Nussey) of Anne and…

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Guest Post: The Women in Berthe Morisot’s Life

Today I am hosting Paula Butterfield, whose new novel La Luministe, was just released by Regal House Publishing March 15th.

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

This is an exquisitely imagined and written novel about the artist Berthe Morisot, her determined but, also, instinctive approach to art, life and love. This novel is a beautiful, seductive, linguistic dance, subtly expressive like Morisot’s art. I highly recommend it!

 

The Women In Berthe Morisot’s Life by Paula Butterfield

Berthe Morisot’s mother played an important role in Berthe’s life, encouraging her daughter’s artistic pursuits (most of the time), and holding weekly Tuesday “evenings” to which she invited the artists that Berthe could not socialize with at the popular cafes. But Maman Morisot had no idea how to prepare her daughter to integrate a career as an artist with a traditional woman’s life.   In La Luministe, Berthe looks to two other important women in her life to offer paths for her to follow.

Her sister, Edma, was Berthe’s earliest influence. Only one year older than Berthe, Edma seemed to effortlessly stay clean, follow the rules, and—quite literally—color inside the lines. When the two sisters had studied drawing and painting long enough to begin copying at the Louvre, it was Edma who was thought to be the better artist because she copied so precisely, while Berthe left out details if she felt they were unimportant.

The sisters were on parallel paths to success. They both had work accepted at the Salon, the influential annual art exhibition put on by the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Then Edma turned thirty. The vow the sisters had made as girls, to pursue lives as artists, didn’t protect Edma from societal pressure to marry. What was worse, in Berthe’s view, was that Edma married a naval officer whose career required the couple to move from one location to another, each far from Paris. The sisters promised that they would visit often, and that they would keep painting. But running a household and taking care of a growing family precluded time for paintings, and Edma eventually gave up art altogether.

Edma’s path struck fear into Berthe’s heart. She couldn’t imagine living without her artistic outlet. But at the same time, she longed for a happy family like the one Edma created. There was much to envy about her sister’s new life. Berthe painted idyllic scenes of Edma and her little daughter playing hide-and-seek or chasing butterflies.

 

The other woman close to Berthe was the Duchess of Colonna, whom Berthe met when her family spent a summer amongst other artists in the Barbizon Forest. She idolized the Duchess, a sculptor who, as the young widow of an aristocrat, had status and money that afforded her the freedom to live as an artist. She even signed her work as “Marcello”, hoping that a man’s name would protect her identity. The Duchess won prizes at the Salon and commissions from titled patrons.

But even her beauty and unmarried status could not protect the Duchess. She had many admirers—from the artist Eugene Delacroix to Emperor Louis Napoleon—too many, society determined. As she reached middle age, her independence was no longer deemed acceptable.

Berthe, too, was financially comfortable and a beauty; how could she avoid the judgment that the Duchess endured?

Berthe faced a choice: to live as a single woman, and eventually an old maid, free to devote her entire life to her art. Or to enjoy a family of her own, and the approval of the Parisian haute-bourgeoise. When Edma married, Berthe complained to Edouard Manet that she had lost her companion and competitor. He challenged Berthe to tell him about one woman who had combined work and family, but she couldn’t think of any. In the end, Berthe Morisot became that woman. She had to create her own role, one as radical as her painting.

The Impressionists were concerned with depicting modern life. Combining work and love, art and family—THAT was Berthe’s modern life.

 

Author Paula Butterfield taught courses about women artists for twenty years before turning to writing about them. La Luministe, her debut novel, earned the Best Historical Fiction Chanticleer Award. Paula lives with her husband and daughter in Portland and on the Oregon coast.

http://www.paula-butterfield.com

@pbutterwriter

https://www.pinterest.com/luministe

https://www.instagram.com/paulabutterfield2018

Thank you, Paula, for such an interesting post

and eloquent, gentle, inspiring novel!

Anne Brontë: A Fine and Subtle Spirit

Thank you to pk_adams.com for allowing me to guest on her blog to “talk” about my journey to and through the writing of Without the Veil Between, Anne Brontë: A Fine and Subtle Spirit.

P.K. Adams

Guest blog by DM Denton

In the mid-1990s, while organizing bookshelves, I happened upon my miniature copy of Agnes Grey, Anne Brontë’s debut novel. Flipping through it I stopped at Chapter 24, The Sands, set in Scarborough on the north-east Yorkshire coast. I was reminded of my visit there in March 1974, which took me up to the town’s medieval castle and into the yard of St. Mary’s church where Anne was buried. I was intrigued to find her interred apart from her family, away from Haworth village and the beautifully brutish moors of West Yorkshire that she and her sisters were associated with.

Even when all I had to go on was a hunch, I recognized Anne as something of a rebel—not in defiance but for discovery. My curiosity is always piqued more by the neglected than the celebrated, so I wanted to explore the connection I felt with…

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New Release! Miami Morning

Fellow All Things That Matter Press author Mary Clark’s contemporary literary fiction Miami Morning has just been released! It is currently available in paperback on amazon and will very soon be on Kindle and Nook. I had the privilege of reading this excellent novel pre-publication. Here’s a sample of my review and a link to it in its entirety.
5 Stars: A Beautifully Written Journey of Growth and Faith
As I read deeper into Mary Clark’s new novel, Leila: Miami Morning, I began to have the sense of following a pilgrimage, a journey of growth and faith. Out of the “levels to her life” as a teacher, community activist and friend, Leila emerges smart, cultured, amiable, supportive, and sometimes self-depreciating, a forty-something woman who engages her senses as she perceives her surroundings like an artist and doesn’t shy away from challenges. She has a need for place and purpose, whether she is in Miami teaching Social Studies, helping to beautify and maintain a playground, and making sure a bright student losing his hearing doesn’t fall by the wayside; or on a year’s sabbatical in South Africa as part of a team setting up clinics in small villages and working to diminish the marginalization of the disabled.
Read entire review …

Mary Clark, Writer

Miami Morning, contemporary literary fiction, by Mary Clark, All Things That Matter Press

Forty-something Leila Payson loves her job as a high school social sciences teacher, and adventures with a diverse group of friends. But when she discovers one of her students is going deaf, she propels herself onto a learning curve of her own. And while she juggles work, family, and her friends’ adventures, an attractive man keeps appearing at her favorite places. 

There’s magic in Miami, and Leila Payson is reveling in it. Come along for the ride as she meets her challenges with thoughtfulness, courage, a dash of philosophy, and a splash of humor, too. 

Available in paperback now! Kindle and Nook coming soon!

 

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Out Now: Dancing in the Rain

I invite you to savor the beautiful poetry and spirit of Christine Moran and make a contribution to the MS Trust (dedicated to making life better for people living with multiple sclerosis by providing free information to everyone affected by MS and by supporting the health professionals who work with multiple sclerosis).

It was my pleasure and honor to participate in this exquisite collection of poems by doing the artwork for the cover and writing the introduction.

Dancing in the Rain was published to perfection by Bennison Books and is available in paperback from Amazon.com and Amazon UK. The author’s profits will go to the Multiple Sclerosis Trust.

Bennison Books

Chris Moran found poetry and poetry found her. She recovered from alcoholism only to be faced with a long-delayed diagnosis of multiple sclerosis, experiences documented in her first volume of poetry with honesty, humility and humour.

She doesn’t deny the sadnesses in life, and acknowledges with a clear eye the despair that can sometimes take us unawares, but she is always pulled towards joy, and gently takes the reader with her. 

She is also a bold experimenter, and here we find a sonnet about bees, a villanelle about approaching spring (the poet’s favourite time of  year), and haiku about her unborn grandchildren:

Tiny seed planted
germination soon in place
fruit of the autumn.

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Publication – Dancing in the Rain

I am so grateful to Christine Moran for inviting me to take part in her journey to the upcoming publication of her poetry anthology, Dancing in the Rain. Watch this space for its release – all profits from sales will go to The Multiple Sclerosis Trust.

journeyintopoetry

This post is to let you all know that my  book Dancing in the Rain, published by Bennison Books will be available shortly. The image which I am sharing here today will appear on the cover and has been created by my dear friend Diane Denton, artist, poet and author of a truly lovely historical novel. ‘A House Near Luccoli‘. She has also written a sequel called ‘To a Strange Somewhere Fled’ which will be published soon by All Things That Matter Press. I can highly recommend the first one and am very excited about the sequel. Thank you so much Diane!

I would like to thank all of you who have followed my poetry journey so far, from its very unsure beginnings in 2011. Every single one of you who has taken the time to visit my blog and comment has had an input in this book, because…

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Book Review: A House Near Luccoli

Thank you, Laurel, for this lovely, honest review:

Laurel's Reflections

A House Near Luccoli: A Novel of Musical Intimacy & Intrigue in 17th Century Genoa by DM Denton (All Things That Matter Press, 2012)

I have a deep appreciation for things that appeal to my sense of beauty.  While I enjoy many novels for a multitude of varying reasons, from their excellent characterisation to their capacity to make me see the world in new ways, teach me new things or simply engage my rapt attention, there are only a few that have captured me with their lyricism and beauty. The historic novel ‘A House Near Luccoli’ by DM Denton flows with a rhythm and melody that took me some time to adjust to – her sophisticated style took a little time to attune to, and I initially found myself re-reading paragraphs to ensure I was completely clear on what was happening. However, once I let go of my structured…

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A Pleasing terror

I want to pass on the word about this new publication, which is already on my kindle! You can only expect the best from Bennison Books, which specializes in quality ebooks editions of:
Contemporary Classics – Selected works by contemporary writers
Non-Fiction – Useful and interesting works of non-fiction
People’s Classics – Handpicked golden oldies by favourite and forgotten authors
Bennison Books’ motto is ‘Every good book is a blessing.’ And, so, you will be very blessed if you check out “Ghost Writings” and more by this first-class publisher.