20231105 - Halloween on Church St + Brampton Pumpkin Party - APRILandALLEN's Brampton Roadmap

Youtube https://youtu.be/GQLoEauIPu4

...

... Halloween on Church St + Brampton Pumpkin Party - APRILandALLEN's Brampton Roadmap

Read online https://www.patreon.com/posts/92323039

...

Hello reader,

This Halloween, April and I painted and carved pumpkins, spent the night in Toronto at the Church Street block party, and we went and smashed our Jack o' Lanterns at Brampton City Hall on the first of November. 

APRILandALLEN's Brampton Roadmap is an entry in APRILandALLEN’s Project Roadmap, our photo book and video log series where subscribed Patreon readers have access to archives with photos, captions and videos which will be collected in future APRILandALLEN’s books--visit our Patreon to submit to our public poetry prompt and view more free features.

Subscribe to our Patreon and view the gallery, or watch the YouTube slideshow; you can also find more photos on April's socials!

The song featured in the video is "Gargoyle" from Electric Armchair's latest album, "Last Halloween"; go listen to April's music on your platform of choice!

Thank you for reading,

Until next time!

Allen W. McLean

...

PS.

https://aprilandallen.square.site/blackfriday2023

Find the perfect holiday gifts during our Black Friday & Cyber Monday event! 

Starts Friday November 24th, ends Tuesday the 28th!

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...

Read more from HaikuPrajna: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2023/08/20230813-haikuprajna-holes-book-review.html

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Need more Bite-sized Insights to relieve your stress and suffering? 

Leave a comment, share or subscribe, it means the world to the authors and is the easiest way to support the work you read, as your comments will reach other readers!

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I write mindfulness meditation scifaiku and haiku poetry on my book reviews and on previews of my metaphysical stories, such as "Escape Perennial City". Read all of my reviews at goodreads.com/HaikuPrajna

Email

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Read BATTLE Colosseum, the latest chapter in the "FLUKE!" series, as a paperback novella or as an ebook! https://aprilandallen.square.site/product/book-BATTLE_Colosseum/4 

BATTLE Colosseum Trailer [ https://youtu.be/AeXOtGrVa0Y ]

Support with our Handmade Art Works, Book Merch, and Clay Quirks at https://aprilandallen.square.site/

Check out April's psychedelic music videos, art and poetry on all streaming platforms; Electric Armchair - Last Halloween (Full Album) [ https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/electricarmchair/last-halloween ]

Electric Armchair - The Forest Machine (Official Music Video) [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBv1egGSrJk ] 

APRILandALLEN’s Project Roadmap is our photo book and video log series where subscribed Patreon readers have access to archives with photos, captions and videos which will be collected in future APRILandALLEN’s books--learn about our Patreon at patreon.com/asquaredproductions to submit to our public poetry prompt and view more free features.

23 09 30 Project Roadmap https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2023/10/20230930-interconnected-form-project.html

Support by connecting online [ https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/follow-on-social-media.html ]

These poems will be collected in future editions of the HaikuPrajna Collection.

20231102 - Extended Halloween Horror - APRILandALLEN's Theatre

...

Witches want to play // with others’ hearts and bodies, // curses and love spells.

... Give a Spicy Trick, Get a Treat [Inktober 2023 Days 10-18] [Extended Halloween Horror - APRILandALLEN's Theatre] - HaikuPrajna

Read online https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2023/11/20231102-extended-halloween-horror.html

...

Hello reader,

Another Halloween has come and passed, but who says that means the horrors have to end? Along with November's Theatre calendar, and while the Christmas season begins to creep up on us, we will be updating the Patreon post with what we are watching this month as well.

APRILandALLEN's Theatre is an entry in APRILandALLEN’s Project Roadmap, our photo book and video log series where subscribed Patreon readers have access to archives with photos, captions and videos which will be collected in future APRILandALLEN’s books--learn about our Patreon at patreon.com/asquaredproductions to submit to our public poetry prompt and view more free features.

APRILandALLEN's Theatre - Nov 2023 Schedule

Also, April has a poetry prompt list to go with the Inktober 2023 drawing prompts! I will be participating by writing haiku based on her inks, using her drawing as a poetry prompt before reading her poem, and will share these haiku here and on the HaikuPrajna blog. Read April's poetry, check out her Inktober drawings and find the prompts to write your own poetry at instagram.com/electricarmchair

Our Inktober 2023 will continue through November’s National Novel Writing Month [NaNoWriMo 2023], and will culminate in a collection that we will release as a book; stay tuned, and check out the poems I shared in October on our Patreon for free!

.

.20231010.

His snout, searching dirt, //

finding one’s buried treasure, //

skeletons and ghosts.

... Wizaardvark, the Fortune Teller

.

.20231011.

He gives them sweet treats, //

his wheels lured to outstretched hands, //

the sinister trick.

... The Wandering Candyman

.

.20231012.

Witches want to play //

with others’ hearts and bodies, //

curses and love spells.

... Give a Spicy Trick, Get a Treat

.

.20231013.

Unable to see //

their baby’s mirror image, //

as it’s drawing blood.

... The Teething Vampire Rises

.

.20231014.

Tuckered-out the Help, //

the tireless wolf-cub scampers //

upright, on two feet.

... In the Were-Puppy’s Castle

.

.20231015.

A deficiency, //

swinging their one severed limb, //

venom to the heart.

... Dagger of the Spider with Seven Legs

.

.20231016.

A flash of bright light //

and the rising of the dead, //

their return to Earth.

... Lisastein and the Angel

.

.20231017.

A full haunted house //

is no-match to these experts, //

dread to who infests.

... Demons vs. the Fear-It Spirits

.

.20231018.

A convention of //

shuffling robes and broomsticks, //

a blind-date meet-up.

... Which Witch is Which? 

.

What we're watching:

Nightmare Before Christmas

9 [2009]

Chicken Little

Atlantis the Lost Empire

Madagascar franchise 

...

Thank you for reading,

Until next time!

Allen W. McLean

...

Need more Bite-sized Insights to relieve your stress and suffering? 

Leave a comment, share or subscribe, it means the world to the authors and is the easiest way to support the work you read, as your comments will reach other readers!

All readers get an eBook every Monday, Wednesday and Friday--short stories rotate often. Follow via email at https://aprilandallen.square.site/social

I write mindfulness meditation scifaiku and haiku poetry on my book reviews and on previews of my metaphysical stories, such as "Escape Perennial City". Read all of my reviews at goodreads.com/HaikuPrajna

Email

Thanks to you, I am now a VERIFIED BOOK AUTHOR with over THREE-THOUSAND (3000!) readers who have joined us online!

Medium https://haikuprajna.medium.com/subscribe

LinkedIn (email) https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/haikuprajna-6917324809479610368/

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Twitter https://twitter.com/HaikuPrajna

Instagram & Threads https://www.instagram.com/haikuprajna

Blog https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com

Read BATTLE Colosseum, the latest chapter in the "FLUKE!" series, as a paperback novella or as an ebook! https://aprilandallen.square.site/product/book-BATTLE_Colosseum/4 

BATTLE Colosseum Trailer [ https://youtu.be/AeXOtGrVa0Y ]

Support with our Handmade Art Works, Book Merch, and Clay Quirks at https://aprilandallen.square.site/

Check out April's psychedelic music videos, art and poetry on all streaming platforms; Electric Armchair - Last Halloween (Full Album) [ https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/electricarmchair/last-halloween ]

Electric Armchair - The Forest Machine (Official Music Video) [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBv1egGSrJk ] 

APRILandALLEN’s Project Roadmap is our photo book and video log series where subscribed Patreon readers have access to archives with photos, captions and videos which will be collected in future APRILandALLEN’s books--learn about our Patreon at patreon.com/asquaredproductions to submit to our public poetry prompt and view more free features.

23 09 30 Project Roadmap https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2023/10/20230930-interconnected-form-project.html

Support by connecting online [ https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/follow-on-social-media.html ]

These poems will be collected in future editions of the HaikuPrajna Collection.

20230213 - Summond the Scarecrow [Official Reveal Announcement]

...

Passersby watching \\ the shadows dancing inside, \\ watching from within.

#HAIKUPRAJNA - Summond the Scarecrow

Read online [ https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2023/02/20230213-summond-scarecrow-official.html ]

...

Hello readers,

The next Terraform title, The Wisps Book IV, is Summond the Scarecrow. 

Summond the Scarecrow will release as a digital ebook on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited. 

In this story, the Overseer of the Forest plots the escape of those being consumed by a Giant jack o’ lantern from the Deeper Forest.

[Title page screenshot of Summond the Scarecrow]

[Intro to Summond the Scarecrow by Allen W. McLean]

[Blurb]

“ Summond the Scarecrow had consumed the Overseer of the Forest.

The Seer had brought the Giant jack o’ lantern head to a post-Halloween pumpkin parade.

They were forced to watch in the form of timeless spectating Shadows, while the daemon rolled through the annual Halloween event and caused people to go missing every year.

But, in part of their plan to free the patrons trapped in the pumpkin, the Seer had to tempt Summond into consuming more.

The Overseer issued the Terraform a dire warning; the Scarecrow would burn unless they released those who Summond had been consumed. "

I know this is a late Halloween story (April and I actually used the Inktober 2022 prompt list as inspiration for this story!), but I know its whimsical horror will capture and entertain any time of year and every October; Summond the Scarecrow will release February 28th 2023.

Thank you for reading.

Please share your thoughts in a comment.

Allen W. McLean 

...

Need more Bite-sized Insights to relieve your stress and suffering?

Banner : Tomothy and the Overseer of the Forest

Connect via email or social media [ https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/follow-on-social-media.html ]

Readers are gifted a Kindle eBook on Fridays and Mondays--short story selection rotates every few weeks, so follow via email or visit My Author Profile [ https://www.amazon.ca/Allen-W-McLean/e/B0867C5D24 ]

I write mindfulness meditation scifaiku and haiku poetry on my book reviews and on previews of my metaphysical stories, such as "Escape Perennial City". Learn more about my reviews here [ https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/book-review-summary-study-notes.html ]

Read the latest Project Roadmap [ https://medium.com/haikuprajna/20221230-my-year-in-reviews-project-roadmap-2022-12-6b6c671e575 ]

Thanks to you, over ONE-THOUSAND (1000!) readers have joined us on Medium! Need to stay in the Medium Partner Program? Please follow and turn on email notifications; I will follow you back! "Ado the Owl" and "Hector Blake" are available to read, right now, on Medium. [ https://haikuprajna.medium.com/subscribe ]

April's psychedelic music videos, art and poetry is available on all streaming platforms; Electric Armchair - Gotchu (Official Music Video with Lyrics) [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPXMxd-LCS0 ]

Electric Armchair - After Party (PRE-SAVE ALBUM [ https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/electricarmchair/after-party ]

"Falgara the Giant" is available on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited! Add to Goodreads and learn more [ https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/falgara-giant.html ] 

Support by buying a sticker [ https://haikuprajna.redbubble.com ]

Kindle ebooks can be read on any device at www.read.amazon.com

These poems will be collected in future editions of the HaikuPrajna Collection.

20221027 - Black Cat (2019) Comic Book Review Analysis and Summary

...

Felines stalk the night, \\ stealing immortal treasures, \\ thieving hearts of gold.

#HAIKUPRAJNA - Black Cat (2019)

...

Hello readers,

Black Cat's 2019 (and 2020) run by Jed MacKay was a surprise gem that I read this year. Felicia Hardy's not-so-heroic hijinks snuck in fantastic stories featuring other Marvel icons ranging from the Fantastic Four's Johnny and Sue Storm to Bats the lovable canine companion of Doctor Strange. 

The best part of this series for me was the light being cast upon those closest to Felicia, including lovers, her mother, her henchmen Borris and Bruno, and her mentor Black Fox (another classic Spidey character). Her interactions with others in the Marvel universe help to solidify her place in the world as its finest well-meaning cat burglar.

Though, the Spider-Man stuff was contained to the Annual and kept out of the spotlight, as the focus stayed on what drives Felicia to do what she is best at.

The series pits Felicia’s gang against the New York Thieves Guild. The main conflict revolved around Felicia's war with Odessa Drake, the heir of the Guild. See, the Thieves were immortal, and the Black Fox enlisted Felicia's help because he wanted to steal the Guild's greatest treasure.

The Black Cat thus pulled off a variety of odd jobs to aid her mentor's heist. Each arc of issues was about collecting these pieces from their current owners. The Black Cat was forced to cross paths with a number of cameos and crossovers (like Danny Rand and Batroc) while feeling natural and unforced.

This Black Cat series touched on how her wilful manipulation of chance affected magic and technology. Through Felicia's inducing ‘bad luck’ on anyone around her, the Black Cat circumvented every circumstance that stood between her and her prizes. Her demonstration in the casino of her ability to control this manipulation was great fun and acted as a perfect example of how she can tilt the odds in the direction she desired. The overarching story between both the 2019 and the 2020 runs leans further into this magic-meets-manifestation theme in a really satisfying way.

Wade Wilson as a merc looking to score a hit on Logan and Felicia was also great. A moment of characterization for Felicia that I liked was when Wolverine was talking about Krakoa after collecting his diaries, where Felicia had only cared about the physical value versus the sentimental. 

I also enjoyed the segments between the main narrative of each issue, like the scenes with Black Fox teaching deception through street trick-magic, and Felicia's mother warning her about his deceptive nature.

But, it is in improvisation when plans fail where Felicia does her best. Her ability to plan for both heists and for improv were great ways to highlight her ability to circumvent any situation.

Jed MacKay’s characterization of Felicia was fantastic, lighthearted and fun to read. His Black Cat run focused on Felicia as a character more than anything else. It was refreshing to read how loud and sure of herself she was in ways other characters falter because she knew she can get anything she worked for.

If anything, this Black Cat series is about fighting against all odds through sheer determinism and improvisation.

Issues 11 and 12 are outside of the trade paperbacks I had read, so watch out for them because they set up MacKay's later Iron Cat series; I also wholeheartedly recommend his second Black Cat volume and his Moon Knight run.

PS. Two posts in one day? What is this madness?! 

Happy National Black Cat Day! Here are some Halloween themed links for you;

. Black Cat (2020) : https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2022/04/20220408-review-black-cat-2020.html

. Frankenstein : https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2022/10/20221020-frankenstein-book-review.html

. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland : https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2022/10/20221007-alices-adventures-in.html

. The Legend of Sleepy Hallow : https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2022/02/20220202-review-legend-of-sleepy-hollow.html

. Howl's Moving Castle : https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2021/12/20211229-review-howls-moving-castle.html

. Spider-Man tag : https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/search/label/Spider-Man

Thank you for reading.

Allen W. McLean

...

Need more Bite-sized Insights to relieve your stress and suffering?

Banner: The Cannon by Allen W. McLean

Readers can follow HaikuPrajna and Electric Armchair via our emailing lists (on Medium, Patreon, LinkedIn and more) for mindfulness meditation scifaiku and haiku poetry based on book reviews and on previews of metaphysical stories such as "Escape Perennial City" (available on Kindle Unlimited); as a free gift, all readers get an Amazon Kindle ebook short story every week on Free Fridays--selection rotates every few weeks, so follow via email to collect them all! https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/follow-on-social-media.html 

Thanks to you, over 500 followers have joined us on Medium! If anyone reading this needs followers to stay in the Medium Partner Program, I am asking you to please follow me (and sign up for emails!) and I'll follow you back! My short story "Hector Blake" is available to read for FREE on Medium!

Leave a comment with books you would like to see reviewed and I will add them to my Goodreads!!

Always open to reading book recommendations. Looking forward to adding new friends on Goodreads and sharing what we read with each other : www.goodreads.com/author/show/19557396.Allen_W_McLean

April's latest psychedelic music videos, art and poetry available on all streaming platforms.

Electric Armchair - Living Ghosts (FULL ALBUM) : distrokid.com/hyperfollow/electricarmchair/living-ghosts

"Tomothy and the Overseer of the Forest" is available as an eBook through Amazon Kindle apps and devices; read right now with Kindle Unlimited! www.haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/tomothy-and-overseer-of-forest.html

Kindle ebooks can be read on any device through one's web browser at www.read.amazon.com

These poems will be collected in future editions of the HaikuPrajna Collection.

20221020 - Frankenstein Book Review Summary and Analysis 2022 [Updated with more Halloween Reviews]

...

Hands around their neck, \\ witness the eternal light, \\ nature's creation.

HAIKUPRAJNA - Frankenstein Book Review 2022

...

Hello readers,

In the spirit of Halloween, and because it was Mary Shelley Day a few weeks back, I did a reread of her classic gothic horror novel Frankenstein. 

Victor Frankenstein’s story about his Creature is told through the many voices of its side cast; I found that the book felt alive with how deep and well used all the characters were. Frankenstein, at its heart, is a cautionary story about creating life from death as much as it is about creating death from life; it was fascinating reading about how good intentions can cause despair, and how dreadful things can be filled with hope. 

Frankenstein's monster sought to enact revenge against the titular family over the horrors that every human they knew--even the youngest of the Frankenstein family--had inflicted on them. The Creature was a result of Victor Frankenstein's hope of metaphysical pursuits in the field of natural philosophy, where his antiquated science studies fueled his sense of discovery, whereby Frankenstein learned how to turn the old and unreal into something real and new. 

Frankenstein is framed with stories within stories; the main account occurs in the form of letters between a captain and his sister, the former of whom had listened to Victor relate his and his creation’s tales of misfortune, where we readers get to glimpse into the points of view of other characters via letters and of the monster itself, who shedded light on how they basked in the intellect of other perfected beings like their creator. These related tales take place in French-speaking Switzerland and abroad, where every person is written to be expressional by having their emotions and reactions checked minutely in a style reminiscent of romantics. In Victor’s blunted case, he feared being chased by his Creature and foreshadowed his eventual demise through his own narrative voice.

Frankenstein is in the horror genre, as in being wracked with horrible emotional baggage and fear, where the monster’s threats end up being carried out to highlight the difference between fear and anxiety, horror and thriller. In sharp contrast with the desires of his companions, who wished to lift his spirits, the fear and hatred that Victor expressed through his exposition in “normal” moments had tainted the beauty of nature for himself with his own despair.

I enjoyed the captain’s want of a friend and his finding one in Victor via their shared sympathy toward the wretchedness that their singular focuses had wrought on them both. Appealing to another's sympathetic nature is a key theme here, where Victor's silent resolve could be viewed as being devoid of sympathy and as being the ultimate cause leading to the deaths that his Creature forced Victor into experiencing, the Creature wanting Victor to live and suffer the same trials as they had, rather than outright killing Frankenstein. 

Both Frankenstein and his Creature harbour personal inner hells following their high hopes being crushed, having lost what was wanted. However, it is my belief that neither the Creature nor Frankenstein should be sympathized with, as the monster justified framing others for their murderings and Victor felt justified in hiding from revealing his creation.

Victor was afraid of being outcast like his Creature, and they both faced the same guilt over the deaths, but both were concerned for their ego and their public image, doing good to be seen as good instead of just doing good things, such as owning up to mistakes, which led to their shared desperation to be seen as respectable (evidenced by Victor's disgust over his own Creature). 

The Monster's justifications had acted like a trap, by sounding agreeable while appealing to a desire for vengeance. Choosing to agree with the Monster's spell was shown to possess Victor with suffering, which was reinforced by his beautiful natural sceneries being perceived as tainted. 

To me, the most interesting aspect of Frankenstein is the Creature's own poetic comparisons with God's creations of Adam and Satan. The Creature desired an Eve and to return to their metaphorical Eden of forested nature away from humankind (the very same natural scenery that Victor grew to be unable to witness). The use of the name Prometheus was, in my opinion, for the monster learning from his creator (and from others like their creator), along with Frankenstein stealing life from God or nature and being eternally punished by and for his creation, acting as a parable for something bad enough to be worthy of being punished over. Through his master work, Victor knew he was playing God with creation. 

Frankenstein details how one’s unchecked creation affects others and how those effects affect oneself. Frankenstein's monster was a philosophical Daemon, a personified Other, overviewing and passing judgement on humanity while transcending from nature to the civilized as a beast who learned to be human. However, the Creature's eloquence and Victor's aspirations were corrupted, where the products still worked but had spelled wretchedness for their creator. 

Thank you for reading.

Allen W. McLean

PS. You can read my previous Frankenstein review here;

https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2020/12/20201214-frankenstein.html

PPS.

Happy Halloween!

Here is a list of spooky reads that I have reviewed:

. Black Cat (2019) : https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2022/10/20221027-black-cat-2019-comic-book.html

. Frankenstein : https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2022/10/20221020-frankenstein-book-review.html

. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland : https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2022/10/20221007-alices-adventures-in.html

. The Legend of Sleepy Hallow : https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2022/02/20220202-review-legend-of-sleepy-hollow.html

. Howl's Moving Castle : https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2021/12/20211229-review-howls-moving-castle.html

The Wendigo : https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2021/03/20210319-review-wendigo.html 

Bloodborne comics : https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2022/06/20220614-bloodborne-comic-book-summary.html

Coraline : https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2021/12/20211201-review-coraline.html

Beowulf : https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2020/12/20201220-beowulf.html

The Island of Doctor Moreau : https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2020/12/20201222-island-of-doctor-moreau.html

Check out some stories that I have written for and around Inktober and Halloween:

Sprout : https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2021/10/20211031-happy-halloween-nanowrimo.html

Ado the Owl : https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2022/10/20221027-ado-owl-official-tell-story.html 

Fishing for Caribou : https://read.amazon.ca/kp/embed?asin=B09MDR2JGP 

Also, ULTRAVIOLET is available to read on Kindle : https://read.amazon.ca/kp/embed?asin=B0BKYQV5C4

An official announcement will be revealed soon.

Have a safe and happy Halloween!

...

Need more Bite-sized Insights to relieve your stress and suffering?

Banner: The Cannon by Allen W. McLean

Readers can follow HaikuPrajna and Electric Armchair via our emailing lists (on Medium, Patreon, LinkedIn and more) for mindfulness meditation scifaiku and haiku poetry based on book reviews and on previews of metaphysical stories such as "Escape Perennial City" (available on Kindle Unlimited); as a free gift, all readers get an Amazon Kindle ebook short story every week on Free Fridays--selection rotates every few weeks, so follow via email to collect them all! https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/follow-on-social-media.html 

Thanks to you, over 500 followers have joined us on Medium! If anyone reading this needs followers to stay in the Medium Partner Program, I am asking you to please follow me (and sign up for emails!) and I'll follow you back! My short story "Hector Blake" is available to read for FREE on Medium!

Leave a comment with books you would like to see reviewed and I will add them to my Goodreads!!

Always open to reading book recommendations. Looking forward to adding new friends on Goodreads, to share what we read with each other: www.goodreads.com/author/show/19557396.Allen_W_McLean

Have been looking for other free kindle books to read, ones that are only free for a day or so, so if you have an ebook on Kindle feel free to share them and I'll download!

April's latest psychedelic music videos, art and poetry is available on all streaming platforms.

Electric Armchair - Living Ghosts (FULL ALBUM): distrokid.com/hyperfollow/electricarmchair/living-ghosts

"Tomothy and the Overseer of the Forest" is available as an eBook through Amazon Kindle apps and devices; read right now with Kindle Unlimited! www.haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/tomothy-and-overseer-of-forest.html

Kindle ebooks can be read on any device through one's web browser at www.read.amazon.com

These poems will be collected in future editions of the HaikuPrajna Collection.

20221007 - Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Book Review Analysis 2022

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Croquet flamingos, \\ "But what did the Dormouse say?" \\ Biting his teacup.

HAIKUPRAJNA - Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Book Review 2022

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Hello readers,

Had sat down for a reread of 'Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland' by Lewis Carroll on Mad Hatter Day (10/06). In my opinion, Wonderland is best experienced with the same child-like point of view as Alice has while meeting its inhabitants.

She is accompanied throughout the entire book by its cast of animals and the many followers of the Queen of Hearts. Each exhibited manners of varying degrees of politeness, depending on how mad they were, and, rest assured, they are all madder than children in some manner or another. Yet, the madness lies in the wisdom that Alice distills, such as how little girls are a kind of serpent.

'Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland' is an example of nonsense literature, where it balances many literary elements to evoke imagery, with speeches that create silly and enjoyable visuals via homophones, like ‘not’ and ‘knot’ or ‘tale’ and ‘tail’.

While the setting is set in the fantasy genre, I really enjoyed the few elements of magical realism that were included, which helped ground Alice’s adventures and portray them in a relatable manner. Wonderland was described, by the Cheshire Cat, as a place for people who have gone mad. Instead of focusing on dry politics, the cast satires language itself with the political topics being used as content only, highlighting the narrative perspective of a child.

Poetry featured within the tale are largely based upon others, further absorbing the satire in literary nonsense.

Alice fell into Wonderland by chasing the White Rabbit, by chasing something irreal that caught her curiosity. Today, the idiom “down the rabbit hole” is synonymous with fixation and hyperfocus. When the story was written, however, the idiom had yet to exist, while the other metaphors within the book are portrayed in a literal way for Alice and the Wonderland creatures to experience.

The metaphors that do stay metaphorical are instead parodied in both speech and execution, solidifying the playful imagery techniques.

Despite this, some key lessons are shown, such as how promising to give everyone prizes had caused everyone to look to Alice for what they now expected.

All the while, Alice asked questions in order to understand the nonsensical world that she found herself to be in. Alice continued to experiment and to try eating or drinking new things despite their effects. Despite shrinking and growing, she held onto the wisdom that she managed to root out from the others’ madness. Most of what Alice encounters appears as nonsense, at first. However, whenever she discovered or assigned an effect to something, the cause and the effect became consistent or otherwise recallable. 

Upon returning home from Wonderland, we readers are told that adults look to childhood for inspiration in the manner of Alice’s adventure. One’s childhood is described as “a far-off land”, as Alice stumbling through Wonderland.

The most striking aspect of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is her whimsy and ambivalence toward the effects of things by her focusing on its causes, which allowed Alice to create meaning from nonsense. Alice manifested this nonsense by rejecting the inherent lessons or morals of the stories of Wonderland in favour of her own interpretations. The Queen using fear to manipulate her subjects, the same edible causing two different effects and Alice dispelling an entire court by believing them to be nothing but a pack of cards all highlights how choosing the effects of a cause based on one’s (versus another’s) wilful intent alone is able to overcome any situation.

Thank you for reading.

Allen W. McLean

PS. You can read my two other (shorter, two years old now!) "Alice" themed reviews below;

https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2020/12/20201217-alices-adventures-in-wonderland.html

https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2020/12/20201219-through-looking-glass.html

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Need more Bite-sized Insights to relieve your stress and suffering?

Banner: The Cannon by Allen W. McLean

Readers can follow HaikuPrajna and Electric Armchair via our emailing lists (on Medium, Patreon, LinkedIn and more) for mindfulness meditation scifaiku and haiku poetry based on book reviews and on previews of metaphysical stories such as "Escape Perennial City" (available on Kindle Unlimited); as a free gift, all readers get an Amazon Kindle ebook short story every week on Free Fridays--selection rotates every few weeks, so follow via email to collect them all! https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/follow-on-social-media.html 

Thanks to you, over 500 followers have joined us on Medium! If anyone reading this needs followers to stay in the Medium Partner Program, I am asking you to please follow me (and sign up for emails!) and I'll follow you back! My short story "Hector Blake" is available to read for FREE on Medium!

Leave a comment with books you would like to see reviewed and I will add them to my Goodreads!!

Always open to reading book recommendations. Looking forward to adding new friends on Goodreads, to share what we read with each other: www.goodreads.com/author/show/19557396.Allen_W_McLean

Have been looking for other free kindle books to read, ones that are only free for a day or so, so if you have an ebook on Kindle feel free to share them and I'll download!

April's latest psychedelic music videos, art and poetry is available on all streaming platforms.

Electric Armchair - Living Ghosts (FULL ALBUM): distrokid.com/hyperfollow/electricarmchair/living-ghosts

"Tomothy and the Overseer of the Forest" is available as an eBook through Amazon Kindle apps and devices; read right now with Kindle Unlimited! www.haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/tomothy-and-overseer-of-forest.html

Kindle ebooks can be read on any device through one's web browser at www.read.amazon.com

These poems will be collected in future editions of the HaikuPrajna Collection.

20221005 - The Superior Spider-Man (2013) Comic Book Review

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The die is cast, trapped, \\ caught in superior webs \\ woven by eight limbs. 

HAIKUPRAJNA - The Superior Spider-Man (2013) Comic Book Review

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Hello readers,

I could talk about Superior Spider-Man all day; Dan Slott understood Peter Parker and was able to define him well.

Otto Octavius, having taken control of his nemesis, set out to do everything that Peter avoided so to prove that Otto's way was Superior, from going overboard against bullies to chumming it up with Mayor J. Jonah Jameson over their mutual distaste for Spidey. The bullying cycle casting Otto being rude to his henchmen and rogues in the same sympathetic light as Peter, with Spider-Man being Otto’s insurmountable antagonist, was an interesting development. Otto was desperate to hide behind the mask. Despite seeing his classic Doc Ock persona as his true self, unlike someone other than Peter like Miles or Miguel who saw Spider-Man as their identity, Otto proved that he, too, could be Spider-Man. 

Peter’s few appearances were gold, Ghost Peter was a vestige of his love for MJ and his family which all came together to force Otto to do good.

Further conflicts Otto faced pitted him against the likes of antihero Cardiac, and the original Hobgoblin who was selling villain identities as franchises (Crime Master's among others, even his own to Phil Urich, the nephew of Daily Bugle's Ben Urich) which tied in nicely with the Goblin storyline.

Enjoyed seeing Miguel O'Hara remembering Peter among the other 2099 crossovers, which include the transition to Alchemax from Horizon Labs through Liz Allan, Normie Osborn and the Spider-Man 2099 Stone family. Peter's identity and Otto's victory over him was also played around with during plots featuring Agent Venom Flash Thompson, Wraith Yuri Wantanabe, Green Goblin Norman Osborn and Carlie Cooper, some of whom realizing they are unable to account for Spider-Man’s identity following Spider-Island.

It was funny when Otto tried to explain to MJ and the Avengers that Peter was taken over by Venom, where they asked each other if anyone bought the ruse.

The best part was Otto realizing he was unable to bleed Peter and Spider-Man together like Otto and Doc Ock, understanding, while dating Anna Maria, why Peter kept his lives separate, as Otto had never before been on the other side of the equation of love-interest-in-danger. Otto was superior, but that allowed Norman Osborn to take advantage of a Spider-Man who was too reliant on this superiority (as in the gadgets instead of relying on his philosophy). The contrast between Otto’s materialism, his needing the invaluable equipment, versus Peter’s being able to go with nothing at all, including building himself up from only a few memories, was refreshing and a good reminder of what makes his comics special. What took Otto months to prepare was undone by Osborn, and took Peter less than a day to suffer and prove how he was the superior Spider-Man.

Residual effects of this run include Otto’s achievements being known as Peter's, symbolized by the rise and fall of Parker Industries.

I had read Superior Spider-Man as it was being released, and I remember the online backlash from leaked photos of the Dying Wish prelude, which featured a fantastic twist that made me reread the issue. The Ben Urich annual by Christos Gage was phenomenal. The Age of Ultron tie-in was cool, too.

The part with Peter's Horizon co-workers dealing with the chronotons, fabric of time, which acted like film strips burning away into the page’s bleed had taken some getting used to, but I appreciate the artstyle. The ending also did feel rushed, and Peter versus Norman was short, but there are future Superior stories to fill the void while the Osborn plot continued through the Amazing Spider-Man’s relaunch.

In the end, this series was about how Peter was the Superior Spider-Man compared to Otto. Everything that defined Spider-Man was met with the antithesis and described as Superior. Ghost Peter was the idea of Spider-Man, which Otto embodied, but which took back control because Otto was failing to live up to it. Otto having to recall Peter’s memories to succeed where he was failing was what brought Peter back. I thought Otto failing to remember anything outside of the skimmed portions of Peter’s highlights was an awesome flex for longtime readers from the writer, where even these seeds were shown to be enough for the idea to grow into the full and authentic hero.

Thank you for reading.

Allen W. McLean

PS. Check out more Spider-Man reviews:

https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/search/label/Spider-Man

...

Need more Bite-sized Insights to relieve your stress and suffering?

Banner: The Cannon by Allen W. McLean

Readers can follow HaikuPrajna and Electric Armchair via our emailing lists (on Medium, Patreon, LinkedIn and more) for mindfulness meditation scifaiku and haiku poetry based on book reviews and on previews of metaphysical stories such as "Escape Perennial City" (available on Kindle Unlimited); as a free gift, all readers get an Amazon Kindle ebook short story every week on Free Fridays--selection rotates every few weeks, so follow via email to collect them all! https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/follow-on-social-media.html 

Thanks to you, over 500 followers have joined us on Medium! If anyone reading this needs followers to stay in the Medium Partner Program, I am asking you to please follow me (and sign up for emails!) and I'll follow you back!

Leave a comment with books you would like to see reviewed and I will add them to my Goodreads!!

Always open to reading book recommendations. Looking forward to adding new friends on Goodreads, to share what we read with each other: www.goodreads.com/author/show/19557396.Allen_W_McLean

Have been looking for other free kindle books to read, ones that are only free for a day or so, so if you have an ebook on Kindle feel free to share them and I'll download!

April's latest psychedelic music videos, art and poetry is available on all streaming platforms.

Electric Armchair - Living Ghosts (FULL ALBUM): distrokid.com/hyperfollow/electricarmchair/living-ghosts

"Tomothy and the Overseer of the Forest" is available as an eBook through Amazon Kindle apps and devices; read right now with Kindle Unlimited! www.haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/tomothy-and-overseer-of-forest.html

Kindle ebooks can be read on any device through one's web browser at www.read.amazon.com

These poems will be collected in future editions of the HaikuPrajna Collection.

20211031 - Happy Halloween & NaNoWriMo + Inktober Day 20: Sprout

Pumpkin picking patch,\ outside the supermarket,\ growing through concrete.

#HAIKUPRAJNA - Inktober Day 20 Sprout

Happy Halloween!

Skipping ahead a number of days because April and I planned a cute flash fiction short story, which I wanted to post today. Much longer than the others will be; 1000 words, where the rest will be definitively within the flash fiction category.

Enjoy! I based this short in part on April and my October Halloween celebrations.

Hope you have a spooky night, and thank you for reading!

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"Sprouting" - Allen W. McLean

The three Bean children, their parents inside grocery shopping, ogled at the MEGA Supermarket's display of pumpkins.

"If you guys think these orange ones are cool," said their Uncle Trick, a life-long friend of Joe's, who had accompanied their typical weekend trips, "Wait 'til you feast your eyes on the ones in the baskets, over here."

He guided the three through a walkway and around a bend, between two rows of the metal shelves, toward the wooden bins hanging from a display standing in a corner area created by the large orange gourds. In single file, from oldest to shortest, the blue, green and salmon-pink coats followed the maroon-brown faux-leather past dozens of the large and abstractly round pumpkins that were stacked to Trick's eye-level on two levels of grated shelves, lining both sides of the aisle. 

Trick wanted nothing more than to make good memories with the suburban family. He stepped behind, watching the children stand on the toes of their boots and sneakers, to stick their toqued heads into the tiered baskets in the corner at another turn.

"Whoa!" Helvetica, the youngest, said into a bin, "This one is green!"

MEGA MART Superstores had annual pumpkin picking patches outside their stores every October. Large gardens and farms were located along the conurban outskirts, where the closest were a day's ride away by hovercraft. MEGA Corp, well aware of this self-imposed fact, endeavored to provide a suitable replacement for those confining themselves to its city.

The Superstore was on the open south-east end of an unremarkable highway strip-mall which occupied three of the four sides of its connected parking lot. The concrete storefront, with the large red "MART" sign on its second storey, extended out from the entrance to accommodate a roofed curbside pickup area that ran the length of the storefront, which was where the polo-wearing employees had displayed MEGA's impressive number of pumpkins. Kids and their adults came from the neighbouring suburban blocks and headed home with their arms and their minds full of pumpkin. Gutted and carved, the lights and shadows of Jack-o'-lanterns would dance on porches and on doorsteps just in time for Halloween night.

Trick had decided at once, upon seeing the outdoor display as Ruby landed the hover-van, to take the kids pumpkin picking instead of distracting them inside.

Peter, the eldest, had taken credit for this idea for themselves. "I'm so glad we decided to stay outside this time!" 

He exclaimed with the others' gasps and expressions like "Look!" and "Wow!" while looking in the bins at its puny variegated gourds.

They were surrounded by classical pumpkins stacked at different heights on the shelves on either side of them, creating orange-lined walkways, away from the curbside, that turned around corners and into pockets of space along the store's front windows, which looked into the self-service check-outs and the pantry aisles behind them, and which reflected the warm autumn colours back onto the display. Giant cardboard bulk bins full of rejected purple-pink speckled pumpkins were hiding, out of sight, in the furthest reaches. Bundles of purple-red corn cobs and mesh bags of tiny ornamental gourds were piled into the display-stand baskets like the one that the children were rummaging through. 

The different options appeared, to Trick, to be too hindering of a distraction for their curiosity.

Trick said, "You can either pick a big pumpkin and help each other carve it, or you can pick one of the smaller pumpkins on the shelves or in the bins, each."  

Their decision was unanimous, and a relief to Trick's wallet; the kids picked from the smallest ornamental ones because, they said, they were cooler than the speckled rejects. Seven-year-old Kirby turned around with an ugly looking pepper-shaped thing striped with lime-yellow over bumpy patches of a darker forest green.

"Look, Tricky," he said, smiling with his tongue through his missing two top teeth, holding the odd runt of a gourd up toward the taller adult's face, "this one reminds me of you."

"Trick! Trick!" Helvetica's red rain boots clapped hard against the cold concrete as she hopped beside her older brother while holding a yellow and green pumpkin which contrasted her salmon coloured winter jacket. "I've never seen ones so small like these before."

She was lost in the variegation, turning the pinwheel-like colours around in her red mittens; Trick was pleased that the children were interested in all the different options.

"And have you picked anything, Peter?"

He joined his younger siblings with a squat little orange pumpkin the size of his two hands.

"Classic!" Trick clasped his hands. "All right, let's go, before your parents pay for everything. I think I see your mom and dad at the check-outs, now."

At the picnic table in the backyard at home, after the groceries were put away, Ruby sat with her kids in a corduroy overall dress over a black sweater to help them paint their gourds, while Joe, wearing a green and white plaid jacket with jeans, gathered craft supplies for them and Trick. 

He and Helvetica cut construction paper capes for her yellow "Squasha the Vampire", while Joe and Kirby stuck painted bolts into "Gordy the Franken-zombie", and Ruby helped Peter paint clown makeup on "Pumpkin-Pat". Ruby painted fangs on Squasha, Helvetica gave Pumpkin-Pat a removable red nose and a paper knife, and Kirby and Peter covered Gordy in specks of red blood and the impressions of purple bruises.

Outside in the middle of the suburban conurbs, the Bean family, like many others, was making memories and growing through the concrete forests of modern life.

Trick, Peter, Kirby and Helvetica put Squasha, Gordy and Pumpkin-Pat on display by their front door. Soft Christmas string lights were wrapped in the porch's pillars and brightened the red and orange leaves scattered by the maple tree that branched toward the gutters from the edge of their lawn.

The sun had set on the conurban forest hills by then, so Trick said goodnight to the Beans and their children. Before riding off in his hovercar, he promised to accompany them Trick-or-treating the next night.

... 

These Inktober poems and drawings will be collected along with pieces of flash fiction (which will be posted for NaNoWriMo 2021) and a novel-length story as a future edition of the HaikuPrajna Collection about a character that April named Bucket, and his siblings Train and Ruby. You can read all of them here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/search/label/Inktober%202021

Are you participating in Inktober or NaNoWriMo this year? Write a haiku and either tag or send to HaikuPrajna or Electric Armchair to share your work with us! 

Source: Https://Instagram.com/ElectricArmchair

"Escape Perennial City" eBook, paperback and hardcover are now available through Amazon and on Kindle apps and devices, read with Kindle Unlimited: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B099C5LJ6W

More bite-sized insights into this metaphysical superhero novel can be found in the link at the top of the page, including excerpts straight from the book: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/escape-perennial-city.html

Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Allen W. McLean

For more bite-sized insights from HaikuPrajna and Electric Armchair, including free reading promotions on books, please subscribe by email or follow on social media: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/follow-on-social-media.html

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