for you page :)

I'm slightly above average at a handful of things

Not good enough for brilliance but 

Too good to ignore

In an era where skills must be monetized 

But the effort of monetizing work is a hidden burden 

Lurking behind a hill, blotting out a sunset

I'm coming to hate my art

I can string bright glowing glass and sparkling stones 

With iridescent shells to make a necklace 

It's not good enough

I can knit fluffy soothing yarn or soft chenille or 

Perky daring colorful novelty fibers into

Improbably cosy sweaters 

It's not good enough

I weave descriptions and worlds from dust 

And imagined shadows into aching glory

It's not good enough

I can sing trembling lines of poetry and melody

from silence and stillness into colour

It's not good enough

To survive under capitalism 

What happened to the starry future skies 

We used to dream up,

With mechanized wonders and lives of leisure 

And brilliant new attractions and follies

Everything is either popular, for rich people, or carefully faked

I hate my art because

I'm not famous on tiktok

Because at some point art has started to feel like

Palliative care for the soul 

And regardless of skill 

I'm too ugly to go viral 

***

A writer and professional freelance editor, Michelle Browne lives in Lethbridge, AB with her partners-in-crime and their cats. She is currently working on the next books in her series, other people's manuscripts, knitting, jewelry-making, and drinking as much tea as humanly possible.

Find her all over the internet: *Website * Mailing list * Magpie Editing * Amazon * Tumblr * Mastodon *Facebook * Medium * Twitter  * OG Blog* Instagram * Paypal.me * Ko-fi

 

i sent u my verse, pls respond

 laying out a tender organ

between unskillful fingers;

hands shaking as I offered up a blurry picture of

something intimate, naked, vaguely expressed—

I immediately wished I’d played it off as a joke

instead I feel the creeping slinking regret

the cold drops of sweaty fear in the hollow of my back

because I revealed something private

in public

 

have I made a terrible mistake

and i i i i i

cannot take it back because the internet is forever

 

i am not afraid of being naked in public

that’s a nightmare i’ve had many times over

but i am afraid of being naked on the internet

 

perhaps i wish i could re-coil these tender delicate organs

back into the cavern of my hideous yellow roiling belly,

beneath layers of flesh

hide them beneath the layers of obscenity

 

this is just to say that if u saw my poem

i cannot tell whether i want u to respond

or not to respond

 

but i know enough to be ashamed

Migraine static gender

 Migraines lead to strange dreams 

I slept and dreamed of strange monstrosities, hideous creatures

tangled in the arms of conventional beauties 

my gender is something like a magpie, something like an omen 

but though I have no tusks or claws 

I slouch, my belly hangs low, I am hirstute

Tangles of dark curling hair fall to my shoulders 

or float above my head

If you asked me to embrace a monster, 

my arms would be open wide 

if you called me a beauty 

I would hide my face in shame 

at the lie.

So, I Forgot to Mention - My Book is Out!

 This is a short one, because I just got back home from the book launch at Analog Books here in Lethbridge - a fantastic independent bookstore that everyone should check out. 

It was small, just myself and a few friends, but the bookstore was open a bit late tonight and I did a little reading for people! I also served up this delicious pineapple cake, in a vegan version (we used an egg substitute). 

Photo by Liza Fleischmann. My dumb ass forgot to take a picture.

But you're not just here for the (virtual) pineapple cake and apple cider - you're here for the book. 

As mentioned, The Meaning Wars Omnibus is finally out - not only in ebook form, but also as a paperback and a hardcover! 

It's exclusively on Amazon right now, for KDP and promotion reasons, but I may change that if people speak up. (Amazon really likes to lock authors down with exclusivity, sadly.) 

I'm so proud of how this turned out, and Kateryna Kyselova did a bang-up job on the cover! Christy Foster was of tremendous help on the formatting. You couldn't go wrong by hiring either of them. 

I have a few blog articles on the backburner, but my biggest priority right now is actually my NaNoWriMo project - Monsters and Fools. That's right - it's taken ten years, but I'm planning to release the long, long-awaited sequel to The Underlighters in spring! 

Look, it took a long time to figure out the plot...but I finally got it done. Stay tuned to this space for more updates on what I'm doing - when I get time for 'em, that is. This has been one crazy year so far...

***

Michelle Browne is a sci fi/fantasy writer and editor. She lives in Lethbridge, AB with her partners-in-crime and their cats. Her days revolve around freelance editing, knitting, jewelry, and learning too much. She is currently working on other people’s manuscripts, the next books in her series, and drinking as much tea as humanly possible.

Find her all over the internet: * OG Blog * Mailing list * Magpie Editing * Amazon * * Tumblr * Facebook * Medium * Twitter * Instagram * Paypal.me * Ko-fi

The End of an Era

Releasing soon, it's the final book in the Meaning Wars series - A Jade's Trick! 

I've been hard at work on this, and I'm so excited to be this close to the finish line. 

"Outgunned. Outmanned. Outnumbered.

But out of luck? Not yet...

Crystal has left her abusive husband, and Sarah and her crew have successfully rescued rebel leader Patience Ngouabi. As Patience and Sarah connect, they begin to see a life beyond their struggles in the rebellion. Now this queer found-family crew just has to fight the tyrannical Human Conglomerate into submission. But fighting an interstellar empire is going to take more than big guns. They need funding and allies. Could a renegade - but unionized - group of pirates be their unlikely saviours? A sinister, shadowy political figure back on Ganymede may also be willing to help - and that means going right back to danger's heart.

Fans of Ruthanna Emrys' A Half Built Garden and Becky Chambers' Wayfarers series will enjoy this emotional, high-risk finale to the Meaning Wars series."

Preorder here!

It'll be out soon, but help me get those preorder numbers up by grabbing your copy now! Around the same time, I'll also be releasing an omnibus collecting all five books, which will be available in hardcover (a first!) as well as paperback. 

I hope you'll all enjoy seeing the destinies of these characters play out as much as I've enjoyed writing them. Coming to the end of a book series is always bittersweet, but I'm so proud of these characters and how far they've gone. 

***

Michelle Browne is a sci fi/fantasy writer and editor. She lives in Lethbridge, AB with her partners-in-crime and their cats. Her days revolve around freelance editing, knitting, jewelry, and learning too much. She is currently working on other people’s manuscripts, the next books in her series, and drinking as much tea as humanly possible.

Find her all over the internet: * OG Blog * Mailing list * Magpie Editing * Amazon * Medium * Twitter * Instagram * Facebook * Tumblr * Paypal.me * Ko-fi