20210907 - Comic Book Review - King in Black

Inherit darkness,\ despair is symbiotic,\ light the force of life.

#HAIKUPRAJNA - Review: King in Black

"Dylan, isn't your cat a symbiote?"

King in Black caps off the Venom saga by Donny Cates. I am a fan of all the things in this event; I like Cates's writing and have enjoyed seeing his stuff appear in other Marvel books; I enjoy Ryan Stegman's Spider-Man art; even got behind the nihilistic God of all Darkness and EVIL that was Knull and the concept of creator versus Venom-symbiotes (which I am think are all dragons now?); It was cool, in an issue Tony Stark technomancies a dragon and pilots a symbiote Celestial.

"Luckily... That's exactly why I invented Extremis."

But the tie-ins and prequels were much more fun to read, Black Cat's tie-in and even Absolute Carnage were both better examples of the whole symbiote craze of the past few years. Heroes job to Knull while Venom gives a depressive monologue to nobody about how it's all hopeless and that the heroes stand no chance while Knull sweeps them until they Captain Universe the problem away (wait, is this Spider… Geddon? It's a trope at this point.)

"The Enigma Force... Solved."

This story has a lot of heart, the elements are sound, and even the peripheral stories are good but these pieces fail to come together in the main books for King in Black.

These Goodreads poems will be collected in a future edition of the HaikuPrajna Collection. More can be found on my Book Reviews page: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/goodreads-book-reviews.html

Add me as a friend on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19557396.Allen_W_McLean

"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

We're on Goodreads, Reddit, Pinterest, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and more.

If you've read this, please share your thoughts!

20230131 - BATT-LE Colosseum [ Reveal Announcement ]

...

Queuing while solo, \\ waiting for the right motion, \\ capturing actions.

#HAIKUPRAJNA - BATT-LE Colosseum [Reveal Announcement]

https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2023/02/20230131-batt-le-colosseum-reveal.html

...

Hello readers, 

As revealed in the latest Project Roadmap [which can be read here https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2022/12/20221230-my-year-in-reviews-project.html ], "BATT-LE Colosseum" is the next story in the Fluke series, set after ULTRAVIOLET, although the two stories can be enjoyed without reading the other. [Check out ULTRAVIOLET here https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/ultraviolet.html ]

This story takes place within a virtual reality video game and follows the user playing as Nina, one of the avatars that players can choose to play as, while fighting others for the badges that computer controlled bosses drop in order to compete for the Champion position; I have been working on this story since April 2021 and am very excited to be sharing it at last; I was inspired by a wide variety of genres and mediums for this story, from games like the Halo franchise and the Half-life\Portal series to action comics like Spider-Man and sci-fi from authors such as Douglas Adams.

Here's the current blurb:

" Welcome, Nina, to BATT-LE Colosseum!

Here, using over one hundred unique armours such as Ian the Turtle, engage other players across the environments spread across the arena.

Use your telekinetic abilities in the game!

Secure badges and compete for the Champion position against old allies and new foes!

Score the highest today in BATT-LE Colosseum! Available only at your local MEGA Holo-Plex. "

Below, a logo mockup I designed, which I am still playing with, and a short excerpt from the story.

Logo mockup by Allen W. McLean

Intro to BATT-LE Colosseum by Allen W. McLean

BATT-LE Colosseum is looking at an early March 2023 release date and will be available to read through Kindle Unlimited; a physical paperback copy of the story may be released, and may be bundled with stories that are at the moment a digital, including stories from The Wisps Book.

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 - The Charlatan (Official Music Video) [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYROJsg98Xs ]

Electric Armchair - Amorphous I (FULL ALBUM) [ https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/electricarmchair/amorphous-i ]

"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.

20220429 - Review: House of M

...

Chaos magicians \ decimate reality \ piecing their psyche.

#HAIKUPRAJNA - Review: House of M

...

“YOU’VE DESTROYED EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE!! AND YOU USED MY NAME TO DO IT!!”

Been reading Brian Michael Bendis’s “New Avengers”, and the “House of M” event completed an arc that took readers through “Avengers: Disassembled” and “Secret War” to set up future storylines like “Secret Invasion” and “AvX”. (Perfect timing with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness!)

This limited series had the X-Men crossover with the Avengers to deal with the Maximoff family, and includes all the cinematic style that one expects from Bendis’s Avengers. The heroes wake up to find themselves living different lives. One moment, they were looking for the Scarlet Witch, and the next they had forgotten their old pasts. History had been rewritten. Wolverine was the only one who remembered, so he managed to meet his old allies along with Layla Miller, a mutant child who restored Emma Frost’s memories before restoring everyone else’s. 

I enjoyed the interactions between characters like Spider-man, Doc Strange, Wolverine and Luke Cage. Everyone was given an altered version of their lives to cope with. Though, core members of the New Avengers and the Marvel Universe were sidelined in the main story, including a reimagined Fantastic Four and a retired veteran Captain America. This, however, gave other plots more room to breathe. Some of these stories are visited in tie-ins with good twists, a highlight includes Peter Parker waking up and remembering a shadow life with Gwen and Uncle Ben that he was now forced to live with.

“... No more mutants.”

Wanda Maximoff's tragic story comes to a climax, forcing her to deal with the reality of her children being taken away from her, along with the guilt of abusing her powers. After losing the children she made using Mephisto’s magic, which led to her causing the deaths of the Vision among other Avengers, Charles Xaiver was failing to repair her shattered psyche. Wanda’s reality altering abilities made her mental breakdown all the more dangerous for those she cared about. Professor X and Magneto had found themselves at their wit’s ends. The portrayal of loss and the inability to move on past traumatic heartbreak were the best parts of this event; though, as these deaths are later reversed, the only guilt Wanda would carry would be over the shame of acting out, but these losses nonetheless carry the heroes of the Marvel Universe toward goals of overcoming trauma and abuse. The idea and world of HoM had potential to play around in, but it was over almost as fast as it began.

Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Allen W. McLean

...

These Goodreads poems will be collected in a future edition of the HaikuPrajna Collection. More can be found on Medium and Goodreads.

Need more Bite-sized Insights to relieve your stress and suffering? Get book previews and mindful meditation haiku \ scifaiku poetry from my metaphysical and magical realism stories (like the sci-fi superhero novel "Escape Perennial City", available on #KindleUnlimited!) sent to your inbox for free Alchemic Wisdom from @electricarmchair and @haikuprajna via the emailing list over here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/follow-on-social-media.html 

April's latest psychedelic music, videos, art and poetry available on all streaming platforms: Electric Armchair - Feast of Fools 

https://album.link/y/OLAK5uy_mwn2Kg_wXCjcg4TWf12bBrG0m_unVlZUM

"Fishing for Caribou" eBook, paperback and hardcover are available through Amazon Kindle apps and devices, and with Kindle Unlimited; previews and more: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/spear-thrower.html

Every week, you can collect an ebook on Free Fridays! Selection rotates every few weeks; collect them all! "Hector Blake" is also free to read online alongside book reviews and articles: 

https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2022/03/20220323-hector-blake-second-edition.html

If anyone reading this has a Medium account and needs followers to stay in the Medium Partner Program, I am asking you to please follow me and I'll follow you back! Thanks to you guys, I've reached 100 followers! #MediumWriter #Medium

20240103 - Infinity Begins (Project Roadmap Update 2023 Q4)

...

The end meets its start, \\ the snake consumes their own tail, \\ beginning again.

... Infinity Begins (Project Roadmap Update 2023 Q4) ... #HaikuPrajna

Read online https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2024/01/20240103-infinity-begins-project.html [Public Post]

...

Hello reader,

Happy 2024! Time for a relaxed New Years update.

APRILandALLEN’s site has been updated with the Samsara Edition of Escape Perennial City, with April’s latest album “Last Halloween” and her new colouring book, with our 12 Clays of Christmas (which will each get their own product pages), and with a video showing off our Niagara Falls trip on our 11th Anniversary; we thank you for reading and sending us art in the mail during our holiday events in 2023!

This year, instead of pledging a Goodreads goal, I want to instead measure how much I read and strive for the goal of reading as much as I can, with the hope of being more mindful of my achievements rather than what I might have accomplished; to that end I read 20 books in 2023, which can be viewed on my Goodreads profile! Right now, I am reading the final book of Plotinus's Enneads, Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Star Wars novels with Anakin or Vader (on Revenge of the Sith now) and the Space Odyssey series, along with Spider-man comics and the Bleach manga, having thrifted a handful of volumes.

Continue below for the HaikuPrajna Project Roadmap!

https://aprilandallen.square.site/haikuprajna

....

Thank you for reading,

Until next time!

Allen W. McLean

...

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

...

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 one of Allen's eBooks every Monday, Wednesday and Friday - short stories rotate often. 

Listen to April's music and 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

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

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

Patreon https://www.patreon.com/asquaredproductions

Books2Read https://books2read.com/AllenWMclean 

Amazon https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0867C5D24

Follow.it https://follow.it/haikuprajna

Social media 

Electric Armchair https://linktr.ee/electricarmchair

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@electricarmchair/

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

Tumblr https://electricarmchair.tumblr.com/

HaikuPrajna https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com

Youtube https://www.youtube.com/@haikuprajna

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

Twitter https://twitter.com/HaikuPrajna

Get your Samsara Edition of Escape Perennial City for the metaphysical sci-fi readers of your life in eBook or paperback at https://aprilandallen.square.site/product/book-Escape-Perennial-City-Samsara/7 

Escape Perennial City - Samsara Edition - YouTube https://youtu.be/Jf93oSMyQDw

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 - Show Me A Sign (Single) [ https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/electricarmchair/show-me-a-sign-demo-version ] 

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.

 

20230228 - Inside the Jack o' Lantern [Summond the Scarecrow Official Release]

...

The scarecrow, looming, // consumes every Hallowed Eve; // dead leaves, rustling. 

HAIKUPRAJNA - Inside the Jack o’ Lantern

Read online [ https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2023/02/20230228-inside-jack-o-lantern-summond.html ]

...

Hello readers,.

The latest and greatest Terraform story from The Wisps Book, Summond the Scarecrow is now available to read!

Download your copy now or start reading with Kindle Unlimited!

Amazon [ https://www.amazon.com/Summond-Scarecrow-Wisps-Book-IV-ebook/dp/B0BWWHW25N/ ]

Save on Goodreads [ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/123158961-summond-the-scarecrow ]

Merch [ https://haikuprajna.redbubble.com ] 

Trailer [ https://youtu.be/ExmNwcsetoY ]

Banner

Summond the Scarecrow is about the titular Giant consuming the patrons of the Sorauren Farm’s pumpkin parade, and was inspired by the 2022 Inktober prompt list along by a trip with April [who co-wrote this story!] to a number of parks across Toronto; April likened Summond the Scarecrow to E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web, and I have taken inspiration for the Overseer from superhero characters like Marvel’s Spider-man and Doctor Strange.

Cover designed by Allen W. McLean 

Intro to Summond the Scarecrow 

[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. “

Thank you for reading.

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 visit My Author Profile and follow via email [ 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 - Mister Valentine (Official Animated Music Video) (With Lyrics) [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrJcLSsCSsQ ]

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.

20240403 - The Giant's Shadow - HaikuPrajna Project Roadmap Update - 2024 Jan Feb Mar

...

Darkness and snowfall, \\ transcends to walks in the park, \\ better together. 

... The Giant's Shadow - HaikuPrajna

Read online https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2024/04/20240403-giants-shadow-haikuprajna.html

...

Hello reader,

Thanks for reading the first HaikuPrajna Project Roadmap Update of 2024; hope you had a good Easter weekend and enjoyed some April Fools Day jokes.

We have updated the APRILandALLEN website with new mini-zines, lyric books and stickers, along with April’s illustrated poetry book, Fright Folk! (Visit Electric Armchair for more info)

...

. Current Reads:

. Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith - Matthew Stover

. 2061: Odyssey Three - Arthur C. Clarke

. Thus Spoke Zarathustra - Friedrich Nietzche

. Enneads - Plotinus

I am still reading the Star Wars novels and the Space Odyssey series while taking notes from Thus Spoke Zarathustra and Plotinus’s Enneads; am also keeping up on Spider-man comics, loving what Hickman is doing with Ultimate so far, and I was also going through my favorite parts of the Dragon Ball manga to relive and honor Akira Toriyama’s legacy.

. Finished Books:

. Attack of the Clones - R. A. Salvatore . 2024 01 10

. The Clone Wars - Karen Traviss . 2024 02 18

. Stuart Little - E.B. White . 2024 03 28

HaikuPrajna book reviews coming soon (trademark pending).

...

HaikuPrajna Project Roadmap

Upcoming Releases by Allen W. McLean: 

. Together in Forever

. Collected editions of both The Wisps Book and the new The Deeper Forest series will be released as two sub-series to Together in Forever

. Together in Forever: Part IV-V

... The sleeping hero, \\ their eyes blind to injustice \\ with misplaced mercy. ... (Simmer Down - HaikuPrajna (Together in Forever: Part V)

. As part of “SM-SARA: Poetry and Other Stories”, the short story “Artemis” will receive an independent release coupled with an all-new entry in Together in Forever.

Recent Releases by Allen W. McLean:

. 2024 04 Project Roadmap 2024 Jan Feb Mar

Mini-zine print-out which features the latest from APRLandALLEN’s ABCs.

. 2024 02 Together in Forever - The Deeper Forest: The Giant's Shadow 

(Darkness and snowfall, \\ transcends to walks in the park, \\ better together. ... The Giant's Shadow - HaikuPrajna)

For Valentine’s Day, April and I made mini-zines for each other; I started a new series and she illustrated her song, Love Boat.

In one of the Deeper Forest’s trees, the Overseer and Sol were chased through a snowed-in city by a Shadow while its Giant fled from the team, due to their partnership violating the trial’s solo nature. 

This action-packed short-story was inspired by the sci-fi and anime that we watch and read together.

...

In addition to the new APRILandALLEN Roadmap video on YouTube, and all the other changes we have been making to the website, this is just some of the stuff April and I have been up to in the past three months, and we are as excited as always to keep showing off our new projects and connecting with readers and creators alike.

Thank you for reading,

Until next time!

Allen W. McLean

...

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

...

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 one of Allen's eBooks every Monday, Wednesday and Friday-- short stories rotate often. 

Listen to April's music and 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

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

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

Patreon https://www.patreon.com/asquaredproductions

Books2Read https://books2read.com/AllenWMclean 

Amazon https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0867C5D24

Follow.it https://follow.it/haikuprajna

Social media 

Electric Armchair https://linktr.ee/electricarmchair

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@electricarmchair/

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

Tumblr https://electricarmchair.tumblr.com/

HaikuPrajna https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com

Youtube https://www.youtube.com/@haikuprajna

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

Twitter https://twitter.com/HaikuPrajna

Get your Samsara Edition of Escape Perennial City for the metaphysical sci-fi readers of your life in eBook or paperback at https://aprilandallen.square.site/product/book-Escape-Perennial-City-Samsara/7 

Escape Perennial City - Samsara Edition - YouTube https://youtu.be/Jf93oSMyQDw

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 - In The Snowfall (Single) [ https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/electricarmchair/in-the-snowfall ] 

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.

24 01 03 Project Roadmap https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2024/01/20240103-infinity-begins-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.