My dear friends, members and guests:

All of my poems which have been posted on this site for as long as I have been associated with it, since even before the creation of this forum, are now available in a nice, thick, satisfying book, the title of which is

Transcendental Sonnets and Other Observations ...for Silke

The book costs $19.83 (***the price was cut to $16.08 on 9/10!***), and is 514 pages in length, 6 by 9 inches, perfect bound, with a soft cover. It is available from Lulu Press, Inc., www.lulu.com, at this link:

http://books.lulu.com/content/53385


When you order a copy, it will be printed to order. Shipping is by FedEx, or any number of less-expensive options; I thinkit's $2.46 for USPS, and all orders over $25.00 ship free. The book is also available through Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Borders and the like, at a suggested retail price there of $26.24, subject to discount. the ISBN number is 1-4116-0634-5.

I promise you that you will like my book! I have made the price absolutely as low as practicable. There are 632 of my Transcendental Sonnets, and a few hundred other poems in other forms, some quite humorous, some quite serious, all quite loving and romantic.

I will use any and all money from the sale of this book toward making a happy life with Silke, who is my muse, and to whom the book is dedicated; she also did the beautiful cover illustration. The cover is pictured below, in my signature. You can click on it for a larger view, or, better still, just go to this link and read all about both my book and me as well:

http://books.lulu.com/sclance

I hope you won't be cross with me for announcing the offering of the book here on the poetry board. I also hope you will order a copy!

Thanks very much! I am truly grateful to you, and I am in unbreakable solidarity with all of you, always.

+Steven
Poet in Residence

AD ASTRA PER ASPERA

AMOR VINCIT OMNIA

Wonderful Steven!


Congratulations!
( I am so proud of you,my Love)

I love you

Silke

oh wow, that's really neat. Congratulations. I had a hard time finding your book. To save ppl the trouble, go to http://books.lulu.com/content/53385

WOW, Congrats on your book! I am glad you finally got it published. Now i will order my copy, I cant wait to read it!

Love,
Dara

Steven, that's fantastic! Congrats!!!
Of course, being presently jobless, I'll have to save up, but you can be sure that I'll buy this book if it goes toward your and Silke's future happiness!

~Best Wishes~
Megan

MausiMutti, Dara and Megan, thank you all, with all my heart.

And dear Guest, thank you so very much for your kind words as well, and especially for that link which you provided, which makes it easy to find the book. I'm surprisingly stupid, actually, and this is the first time I've published a book, so I need all the help and good will I can get; thanks so much.

I will post the link again here, which you posted above:

http://books.lulu.com/content/53385

All my love to all! We are in unbreakable solidarity, always!

AD ASTRA PER ASPERA

Congratulations... I'm glad you finally have something in print. I guess it's only available in America? +sigh+

Take care.

Kashimaya.

Dear Kashimaya, you're quite right I've had a hell of a time with publishers, especially in this newly Nazified Amerika; but this book of mine is available everywhere, the whole round world around, and I pray that you will give me a chance and buy a copy of this book of mine.

It is so difficult if not impossible for a socialist to have something to sell! I am not a greedy grubber, but I do have a book of 446 pages, born and created only out of love, and this physical object is now offered for sale. I hope you can buy it!

I did a lot of searching about publishers, after my own commercial publisher for my choral motets of many years went mad on me and rejected me most angrily; the best I could come up with out of it all, after all, was Lulu Press. They do a good job for me, really, and for free.

So I hope you will order my book; it might be a bit rough, my first book as it is, but I know that you will understand, that you will realize, will make my poems real.

(And, Kimmie, I am so, so, so happy that you have come back to us here! Please stay with us, and never leave us again; we will respect and honor you aright: DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT.

Welcome home, Kashimaya, welcome home.)

good luck with the book steven.

Dear Akhtar, dear friend, thank you with all my heart; please know that we are always in unbreakable solidarity, you and me!

I send you all my love and wishes for peace.

Congratulations Steve.

Thanks so much Shawn, my dear friend; you are the one who made it possible, by your website in general and by sending me the whole great batch of my poems ready to send to a publisher in particular. I literally could never have done it without you, and I mean to give you credit and thanks. I am truly grateful. Solidarity forever!

That is awesome.... Congrats is in order! The best of luck to you.

Thanks so much, ayanasphere14; I love your name, by the way.

Apropos of nothing, I am listening to Flogging Molly at like maximum volume right now, and I absolutely LOVE it! Does anybody else hereabouts like Flogging Molly?

I know, I'm random...

AD ASTRA PER ASPERA

That's great steven.
I'm just a tad skint at the moment, but as soon as i have the money i'll buy it, i'll look forward to it!!:D

Thanks so much, Angela! I wish the book cost less, but that's the cheapest I could price it with the publisher. The trouble is that it has so many pages, 446 of 'em, and it costs to produce it.

I do hope you like it. I got an ISBN number this morning, which makes it possible for the book to be sold through Amazon and in the big bookselling chains, such as Barnes and Noble and Borders (where my daughter Maria works). As soon as I approve a proof copy, the book will be available through all those outlets. It's a little cheaper to get it directly from Lulu, but there are advantages either way. It's available from Lulu right now, also as a download for only $6.25. The print price from Lulu is $20.22; the suggested retail price, subject to discount, in the bookstores will be $27.00.

By the way, Angela, should you ever decide to publish a book, this really is the way to go. It's worth looking into. This is one of the advantages of our twenty-first century digital age, this on-demand publishing. It's a great innovation.

Unbreakable solidarity, and Scotland Forever!

I'm not back though +SCL... I'm just watching to make sure all is well...

May I have the ISBN please?

~Kashimaya

Hi Kashimaya, the ISBN is 1-4116-0634-5. I hope you will order a copy, and I hope you will enjoy it.

I am truly grateful to you for your continuing interest in and support of my work.

Unbreakable solidarity, always.

AD ASTRA PER ASPERA

Glad to hear you have a book out! I dont really say much here or get to visit as often as I would like but I always make sure to read your poetry whenever I have a chance. As soon as I get a job this summer I will be purchasing two copies of your book. One for me and I think I'm going to donate a copy to my college library so others can share in the gift you have. It's also going to be a high priority gift for my poetry loving friends! Now I'm motivated to work this summer...uh oh...

Ben! That's absolutely beautiful!

I just can't tell you how much that means to me. I have been sitting around feeling like an idiot, wondering if people are just sick to death of sonnets, and if anybody will buy this book of mine... I know, I'm a mess... But I seem to spend most of my life depressed. The high point of my day is actually at midnight, when I visit with Silke. From midnight to midnight, it's a hell of a roller-coaster ride, mostly free-fall. But Tuesday, Passover, will be a special day for us, when she takes my name. I should just think about that and try to be happy. But she is so sick... I worry, and I won't be able to visit with her for several days after Tuesday, when she is in a cancer clinic getting really intensive therapy. I dealt with this in my sonnet, At Passover.

I am delighted that people actually read my work like this! Thank you so much, Ben. When I saw the topic reply in my email, I actually prayed that it wouldn't be an insult, a flame. I guess I never get over the few flame-attacks we've had hereabouts (they didn't really amount to anything, and the flamers have since apologized and are still with us as members; they had issues, I guess, and I am very forgiving). I am always afraid someone will hurt my feelings. Once we had some guy write a mock Transcendental Sonnet; I believe he called it something like "Incidental Non-Rhyming Poem #(something or other)," and signed himself The Red Roach (like The Black Baron, I suppose). A bit of drama, long forgotten (except by me). And then there is another situation which I dare not mention because to speak its name would summon it from The Pit, God forbid.

Ah well... Maybe people don't hate me (with the possible exception of that guy I just mentioned, who is probably buzzing like a busy bee along about now!), maybe they will actually buy my book, maybe everything will be OK somehow. At least here on the site, at least with my work; the geopolitical situation pretty much looks like the end of civilization as we know it. And here I don't know a word of Arabic... And I'm part Jewish, God help me... In that sense, I'm probably screwed, but at least I'll die having published a big thick book of my poems. And Silke says she's proud of me, so that's enough for me. As I said in another sonnet, "Let the bastards come."

In any case, Ben, what I mean to say is thank you with all my heart. "A word in season, how pleasant it is"--and your word came in season indeed, right on the cusp of despair (I have GOT to stop watching the frigging evening news!), and it is most pleasant.

Please consider me your friend, and feel free to ask me if I can be of service to you in any way. I'm so sorry the book costs as much as it does; it's because it has so many poems in it and is so thick. At least you are getting a lot for your money!

I am in unbreakable solidarity with you, always.

AD ASTRA PER ASPERA

I'm glad my post meant so much to you! It's a hard time for artists, musicians, poets, and dreamers.

People often look at someone's work and try and see it from their own perspective (as some is meant to be viewed), but I think that unless otherwise specified or implied as something left open to interpretation, a piece of art needs to viewed mostly from the point of the person who wrote, painted, played, etc... it or possibly somewhere in between. The more you know about that person the greater that piece of art becomes. The greatest of musicians, poets, and artists, although often doing their art for others to pay the bills, do it for themselves, which gives it greater meaning and artistic value. This is why I enjoy your poetry so much. I know that you are not just doing this for recognition, but rather to express your feelings and for the sheer joy of it.

Sorry if that made little sense, I'm having a hard time describing this. Viewing art this way has given me a much greater appreciation for everything. While you or other's may disagree about this, I think that's why people like you and many many others often go unappreciated, ignored or just plain insulted by people who have a one sided view of things, their side.

By having your work published you have given a gift to the world that will be appreciated by many many people. You have now made a difference and left your mark on the world. Do not worry about the cost of your book. That is one thing you really dont need to worry about at all. The price is well worth the content. If you ever need anything, and I do mean anything, just leave a message. I have dealt with cancer many times in my young life unfortunately. So I at least have a small idea of what you may be going through. Congrats about Tuesday!





"Life is always worth living as long as you mean something to somebody."

Thanks so much, Ben; you really have succeeded in cheering me up tonight. I quite agree with what you said about art. A lifetime ago, I worked night and day on choral music, and it was different then; I suppose I DID seek recognition, and eventually got it, but this is completely different, this poetry of mine, these Transcendental Sonnets in their hundreds.

I write my sonnets, and all my poems, because I feel like I have to; they just happen to me. Frankly I'm surprised that anybody cares about them! I do have an audience of one:

My transcendental butterfly
My Silke shining in the sky

The other poems were for other people, other things as well, but the Transcendental Sonnets started when I promised Silke I would write her a hundred sonnets for her birthday, which is January 14th. I had a hundred sooner than I thought I would, so I promised her I'd write her a thousand, and that's what I'm doing.

Silke is so sweet about these sonnets of mine. She loves them, and I love composing them for her; it makes us both happy. I think this is the way I keep a journal. I think this is my therapy.

One thing which utterly delights me is that I can see progress in the sonnets. The longer and harder I work at them, the more polished and more skillful they become. So I mean to keep at it until I am really good at it. I think this is something I can really get good at, something my children can be proud of me about, something by which Silke can remember me.

Thanks again for being so kind to me.

Unbreakable solidarity, always.

AD ASTRA PER ASPERA

+Goofball,

I knew you would see it through. I feel as though I have watched this unfold from the early beginnings. You are truly an inspiration. Because of you I have had work published in numerous places, especially ezines and other sites. I can type in my name and find numerous publishings now and I sincerely believe that I owe that to you my poetic friend. You helped me with the publishing of my web page on this very site. You helped me at "the other place". You helped me learn how to get my work out there and get noticed. Without your help my work would still be in a drawer. I still have aspirations to be published in a book (or chapbook will do) and I will see that to fruition because you have been my mentor, my guide and my friend. Thank you for your selfless devotion to your writing and your friends. Now you have accomplished something incredible in the face of adversity. You have acheived and created something that noone can ever take away from you. ...Something that will last the span of time, long after your gone (and frankly recorded in the Library of Congress- How cool is that?). Congratulations. I will be purchasing a copy. You'll have to sign it for me.

Your poetic friend,

Kevin "Stud Rooster" Reese

Yo Stud Rooster!

Permission granted to at all times and in all places address me as +Goofball (but you already know that). Big Kevo, I would recommend that you try Lulu like I did for publishing a book. Just go to the website and check it out; I think it would work out well for you. I am so grateful to you for your friendship! Listen, tell you what: never mind the fruitcake, just buy a book or two, OK? AND, if you wouldn't mind too much, could I ask you one more small favor? If you go to this link:

http://books.lulu.com/content/53385

there is a place there where you can vote. Since you know what poems are in the book, could you vote and rate the content? I would really, really appreciate it. As of this moment, I think I'm the only one who has actually ordered, so any orders would be most welcome! I know others will later, but it would be most encouraging...

Hey, you know what I did today, Stud Rooster? I bought Silke a ring! She took my name today, and now she's Dr. Silke Lance. So I bought her a ring, a really, really nice one. I am so excited about giving it to her. It's seventy years old, is gold with a large deep purple faceted Alexandrite stone in a setting of hearts in delicate tracery. It's perfect. I bought it because it is purple. That's why the title on the cover of my book is purple too; it's our favorite color. Also, it's small enough for her finger. I'm getting it sized down too, so it will be perfect.

Thank you so much, my dear friend Kevin, for everything. You are a wonderful poet, truly. Please always feel free to ask me anything at all, and I will do it for you if at all possible.

You and I are in unbreakable solidarity, always!

Semper Fi,

+Goofball
Son of Wallace Dean Lance, USMC, WWII, Korea

+Goofball,

I can't figure out how to rate it. How do I get in there? Can you email me and tell me how or to whom you submitted?

Kevo

Hmmm... Underneath where it says "Add to Cart," there should be a place to rate it, but I'm pretty stupid about things like this... I don't know... You could try this link:

http://www.lulu.com/sclance

There should be a picture of Silke as a mermaid there (she drew it; I love it! It's in the book, too) alongside a bio of your ol' pal +Goofball; maybe it's there, I dunno (be sure to scroll all the way down the page). Perhaps it's different for me when I go there because I joined and am logged in.

I recommend you join Lulu. It doesn't cost anything. And then read all that useful stuff they have there and see if you would like to give it a go. Lulu is esentially a technology company, the heart of the operation being the Lulu Publishing Tool. You upload content in an acceptable file, such as a Word document, and the publishing tool converts it into a PDF file, and then into a book. Copies are printed on demand as they are ordered. Publishing is free; the only things you pay for are the services, the important one being getting an ISBN number and distribution through Ingram to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Borders and the like. That used to be $100, but it just went up Monday to $150; still a good deal. Check it out!

Shawn helped me, and I have to give him a lot of credit.

I hope maybe this info will help. I would love it if we could sign each other's books. I would like to come to Texas to visit you sometime. Silke has a friend in Galveston. My father lives in San Antonio, for that matter.

Solidarity forever, my dear fellow poet, and

Semper Fi.

We would love to see you. We are about 4 hours NE of San Antonio. I will try your link and I will do some poking around to see if is something for me. It sounds very exciting. Hey, how's it feel to be catalogued in the Library of Congress. That's quite a feat in itself! Way to go!

Kevo

Thanks, Kevo!

My father once said of me, "I am impressed, but not surprised."

I carry that with me like a gold watch.

Yes, I think you might like Lulu. I am so happy to hear that your work is getting published; it certainly deserves to be. That wonderful epic poem about the Civil War, "The Gift," would be perfect for historical publications, especially any dealing with military history. I hope you will keep me posted with the news of your successes, and I wish many of them and the very best for you. You are very gifted, with a cinematic, wide-screen sweep of descriptive ability which is very impressive and very rare. Please do carve out time somehow, somewhere for your writing; I know you are busy, but give it a little time every day somehow. You're that good at it, and it's worth it.

Remember these words I grew up by (I think they are Herman Melville; if anybody knows different, please feel free to correct me):

"No sadder words of tongue or pen
Are there than these: 'what might have been.'"

And this one I KNOW is Melville:

"Great God I ask thee for no meaner pelf
Than that I might not disappoint myself."

Most people don't think about Melville's poetry these days, only his novels, and of those only Moby Dick and Billy Budd. But his poetry is powerful; you would like it. In fact, I am reminded of you when I read him.

I wish you all the luck in the world, Stud Rooster.

To paraphrase Nike, just cock-a-doodle-do it.

(Can you believe the forum software wouldn't let me type "Moby Dick"?!)

+Goofball,

I purchased your book. It should arrive at my doorstep in a couple of weeks. I also rated it and reviewed it. Check it out and let me know what you think. Hope all is well with you and Silke. Semper Fi!

Kevo

Kevin, my faithful friend, thank you with all my heart. I thank you for your service to our country, and for your wonderful friendship to me. It just so happens that you are the very first person to order my book, other than me! Everyone means to, yet has not yet done so. But you have. Once again the Marines are first! Thank you for being the faithful and honorable Marine which you are.

I would encourage you to publish a book through Lulu as well. I promise I will buy it, too.

Semper Fi

Kevin! I just read your review of my book!

How on earth can I thank you?

I must say, you really are a true friend. Please just know that I will never forget what you have done for me this night, this Holy Saturday, this Vigil of Easter.

I will never forget.

You have my unbreakable solidarity, always.

Now you must get a book together and publish it with Lulu, and I will buy it.

SEMPER FIDELIS

I scratch and strive and struggle that my book
Be perfect and be worth a second look
I had a publisher who went insane
And two years' work was lost and down the drain

So now I seek to get it right somehow
By harnessing technology for my
Publishing dreams as resources allow
I mean to get it right before I die

But oh how exhausting it has become
To reach this milestone at so late an hour
To send my sonnets out and bring them home
Between the covers cloaked in pomp and power
The only aspect of it which goes right
My poetry as I keep watch tonight

+Steven Curtis Lance

Copyright MMIV Silke LLC

+Goofball,

I have finished reading your book. Most of the work I had read through the site but there are so many that most were like reading for the first time. It is a substantial and inspiring accomplishment. I did rate and review your book again. I really enjoy the book. I will read it many, many times over and cherish it. Thanks for publishing your work.

Your poetic friend,

Kevin

Oh Kevin, thank you so much! You are such a great friend. Believe me, I truly appreciate your kindness and your loyalty. When you say Semper Fi, you really mean it!

I hired an editor, Kevin, a young woman named Stephanee Killen, recommended to me by Lulu, to help me to get the book just perfect. Now it will be coming out in a new edition this coming week--the actual day will be Wednesday when she delivers it to Lulu--and it will really be nice: a complete table of contents, the numbered sonnets in order from #1 to #600 and something (a hundred more than before), and then the other poems organized separately after that. And I have a beautiful new cover, with Silke on front and back, as a mermaid (the illustration, which Silke did herself, can be seen below)!

I'm really excited about it. I hope you like it. It pays to have help with formatting and the table of contents and things like that. As soon as the new edition is ready, I will withdraw the current edition and replace it with the new one. Bigger and better!

Thanks again, Kevin, for everything.

Semper Fi!

I am very proud of your accomplishment and excited for you. I hope it takes off. I hope you sell enough to get married. I haven't put together a manuscript, yet. I do, because of your mentoring, continue to submit and thanks to you have been published in numerous places. You can even type in my name in google now and a bunch of stuff comes up. It's pretty cool. Wouldn't have done it without you, my friend.

Big K

Kevin, that's fantastic!

Well, you have succeeded in completely cheering me up now, all the way. I look within myself and cannot find an iota of depression remaining. You should be a shrink!

Thanks so much. You get a book together, and hire an editor (pay Lulu the $199.00 editing fee, and then you might need a hundred or so beyond that, depending on your manuscript; it cost me an extra $225.00 and was well, well worth it), and get a book out, and I will be thrilled to have it here to read, and to think that my friend really is a major poet, and I am one of the lucky ones who has been certain all along of this. I have believed in you from the first moment I read you; it's just so obvious. Don't let anyone ever discourage you; there is a lot of jealousy among creators, and if someone is snotty to you it'll be just like our mothers always told us: they're just jealous.

God bless you in your success.

Semper Fi.

I am delighted to announce that the Expanded Edition of my book is now available for order, as of today. It is really nice, having been beautifully formatted by Stephanee Killen, a talented young editor whose services I highly recommend.

This edition contains a hundred more sonnets than the last, and includes a complete table of contents, which runs to about twenty-five pages! I am really proud of it; it represents a dream come true for me, a goal achieved.

I hope you will check it out, at the first link below. I finally got it right this time! I hope you enjoy it.

Thank you all so much for your interest in and support of my work. If anyone has any questions about publishing books, please feel free to ask me.

AD ASTRA PER ASPERA

I gotta order that book....Is the current version available on Amazon now?
(Steven,I am a fan of your poetry.)

T

Hey, I just got your book today, and have been busily reading! I just wanted to stop by and say "Great job, Steven!!" The Silke Mermaid has so much more meaning for me now, and, hey, now I get to tell everyone I know an author!! Yay! Anyway, hugs of congratulations!

Oh, Megan! I'm honestly, sincerely, absolutely thrilled that you ordered my book, and that you like it!

You are yourself a wonderful poet, so that really makes my day.

Thank you, with all my heart!

If you have someplace around there where you think they would be interested in my doing a reading, I might just fire up my '65 Chrysler and head for Corpus Christi.

I send you my love, my respect, and my unbreakable solidarity.

Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.

*~PRICE CUT!~*

I have decided that, at $19.83, my book was too expensive. Many of my most faithful readers are students and young people who have trouble affording that price.

Therefore, I have reduced the price as much as possible, down to $16.08.

This involved cutting my royalty from four dollars to one, and it's well worth that sacrifice if more people will be able to read my book.

This change applies only to those books ordered through Lulu; I am not able to change pricing through the major book-distribution chains, which prices are set and not subject to change. Those prices are however subject to discount.

So, now the book costs almost four bucks less! And the shipping is very cheap too, especially if you use the parcel post, and should your order total $25.00 or more, the shipping is free at Lulu.

I hope this helps. I have given several copies to student friends of mine because they couldn't afford to buy it, and have mailed copies to others both through Lulu and on my own. I'm not doing this to make money, I'm doing this to try to make the world better and more beautiful, and, above all, to make my Silke smile.

I hope you will visit Lulu and order my book. And sign up as a creator yourself! You can make books, too. And, after you sign up, would you give me a vote and a review? Some cruel flamer went in there, joined, and without even reading my book gave it the lowest possible rating, after it had received twenty-one of the highest possible and five good reviews; this one malevolent action reduced the book's overall rating by one "thumbs-up," from three to two. Ouch! That wasn't very nice! But I hear this happens from time to time. It's a form of flaming, like we have suffered hereabouts on occasion.

But things are going well here these days; we are becoming a true community of poets, an artists' collective notable for empathy, kindness, and solidarity. This really makes my heart glad.

I hope you will be encouraged to order my book now. It's quite a bit more affordable.

All my love to all our members and friends, our beautiful community.

May we continue to build the very best community of poets on the entire Internet, and may our solidarity be evermore unbreakable.

Peace, respect, and love always,

+Steven

Poet in Residence

Mind-Brain.com

Dont forget to mention my books too!
http://people.lulu.com/users/index.php?fHomepage=80118

That's right!

Silke has FIVE, actually!

Silke, I would love it if you would start a thread announcing your books, and pin it to the top of the board here.

I am so proud of you. You inspired my book, and you have written wonderful books yourself. And soon, we will do one together. I won't have to hire an editor this time, and the result will be better than ever, because my editor will be my own Dr. Lance, my own wife.

I love you, my fellow author!

AMOR VINCIT OMNIA

http://books.lulu.com/content/72480

That's one link which I can remember offhand, Silke; you can add the rest in a reply or, better still, start a thread about 'em. They are all so beautiful too, since you did the covers. You did the cover of mine, as well!

(Here, I am sending you a *Sweet Kiss*)

AMOR VINCIT OMNIA

Thanks Steven,my Love;you are wonderful.