So we have come to the 4th interview for our 5th anniversary. Today we bring you an update from Sam, who used to teach us the intricate world of forms here at the bar when I made my stumbling steps into poetry.
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What are you currently preoccupied with? (e.g. books currently reading, music, hobbies, etc.)
After my stint with DVerse, I started writing short stories, but eventually began collecting other authors’ works into anthologies, mainly in speculative fiction. I also have begun to produce independent film.
Any memorable events or milestones that you would like to share with us?
I’ve released 14 short story anthologies over the last two years, and every single one of them became the #1 Amazon bestselling anthology in their genres – science fiction, fantasy, or horror. I’m releasing the 15th title in my Future Chronicles series at the end of June this year. One of my own short stories was named a notable story in the Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2015.
A feature film I helped produce, The Fencer, was nominated in 2015 for a Golden Globe Award and was shortlisted for an Academy Award (Oscar).
Do you still write poetry? If yes, would you care to share a poem with us?
I still do write poetry, only it’s now usually in prose form. Here’s one that isn’t.
N. poeticus
Samuel Peralta
It started with your voice, your shimmering breath
spiraling downward through the water’s depth –
calling – so strange! – my name. I rose, undreamed,
and came to you. Across that space it seemed
the world unfolded of itself, a findern
flower, pheasant’s eye, the unfilled cistern
of your heart. Then I came upon you, lost,
pitiful – until you saw me there, ghost
of your ghost, shade of your shade, reflection
of your longing. You bent to me, passion
finding mirrored passion, the gloaming coal
of mouth, of lips, of whispered betrothal.
Tethered, as a fevered dowry, to this
our conjugated sin, we pledged our kiss.
To a new poet or writer, what lessons or insights would you like to share?
Write from the heart, but edit with your head – mercilessly.
Any new projects coming up?
As I said previously, my 15th anthology is coming out soon. I’m also working on a novel, as yet untitled, and am producing a new short film, called The Future. The best is yet to come!
—-
I think this shows that once you’ve started writing there is often no real end to it. You carry it with you all the time. I also wanted to take one of Sam’s old prompts to the bar, and why not take one that brought me into poetry: Twitter. For those of you who think that twitter is all about politicians making shortened statements that get’s retweeted, I have to tell you there is another world out there: poetry. The challenge of writing poems withing the limit of 140 characters (including spaces, line-spaces etc). Here is a link to Sam’s original prompt, and if you want help to do the character counts here is a link to a tool you can use if you don’t have twitter. Just as in the original prompt you can write multiple stanzas where each fit within 140 characters.
Anthology
I also wanted to take the opportunity to announce the dVerse anthology that we intend to create with the help of you.
The poems for the anthology will be created in the following way:
For each prompt in the bar, the bartender will select a few poems and the bartenders will jointly select one poem that goes into the anthology. Therefore every linkup is a voluntary submission to the collection. Of course we will ask for permission before including any linked-up poem, and you should never feel that the link-ups become competitions. We will not do any announcements, but communicate privately. We expect to continue this throughout the autumn, and hopefully we can make this into a wonderful collection for you all.
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
Hello and welcome… Bar is open
kanzensakura said:
🙂 Make mine a quadruple icy lemonade, please.
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
Quadruple coming up 🙂
Samuel Peralta said:
Thanks for the invitation, Björn! It’s so great to visit, it’s like Cheers, a place where everybody knows your name!
I’ll have a Brickworks Dry Cider please!
Grace said:
Sam!!!!!! Here you go!!!!
Congrats on many published work and projects.
Samuel Peralta said:
Grace! Lovely to see you here!
A toast to the continuing success of dVerse and its poets!
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
So great to have you here – Cider coming up. It’s a little late here I’m Sweden.. 🙂
Grace said:
Why are you awake, smiles. You should be sleeping & see you tomorrow 🙂
Samuel Peralta said:
We’re all still awake!
Grace said:
Sam has really blazed the world of writing, wow!
A challenge to use twitter poetry but I think it helps if I think of micro poetry. Thanks Bjorn for hosting.
And I am excited about our anthology project. Hope everyone will join it !!!
Happy Thursday and one more special feature tomorrow!!!
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
Really impressive… but we did had a little facebook chat on how to sneak a bit poetry into the general mind.. many of the books have Sam’s poetry in the foreword…
Samuel Peralta said:
I do, in fact, sneak in poetry in my Forewords, and stories. One of my stories, where I included a poem posted in dVerse – “The Time Traveler’s Sonnet” – was included in the short story ‘Hereafter’, which eventually was named a notable selection in Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy 2015.
Samuel Peralta said:
It’s been a heady two years since I decided to re-focus on short stories… where I sold maybe a thousand copies of my poetry books, I’ve now sold around 75,000 copies of my short story anthologies… many more if you count copies given away for free 🙂
Grace said:
They are all in the sci-fi genre isn’t it Sam. The market for such books and stories seem insatiable.
Samuel Peralta said:
I think of it as speculative fiction rather than sci-fi. My own short stories are more magic realism – I think of Margaret Atwood or Kazuo Ishiguro as touchstones.
freyathewriter said:
Lovely to catch-up with you, Samuel – I do remember the encouragement you gave me when I first joined dVerse!
I love the anthology idea, Bjorn, what a fabulous idea! There is so much good work on here that collating even a fraction of it into a collection seems like a no-brainer.
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
Ha.. yes we will start next week… and let it run throughout the autumn…
Samuel Peralta said:
So much has changed – I just learned about Viv 😦 – but so much stays the same. The camaraderie here will always be a wonderful memory for me.
Grace said:
Yes, Viv has passed away. So glad you are able to visit us~
freyathewriter said:
Yes, it was a huge shock about Viv – trying to reconcile the fact that someone is only there in your memory – it’s horribly challenging. The camarderie is something I will treasure, even when I’m old and beyond creating (heaven forbid that happens…).
lillian said:
Ah — ready to imbibe a bit before heading out into this glorious afternoon. Then, as always, will do my reading tomorrow AM with…..of course, a steaming cup of coffee in hand.
Wow! That’s all I can say….this is the 4th interview and these dVerse “alumni” have really accomplished much in their lives! Love Sam’s hint here. Have taught effective business writing workshops for many years and have always told folks, the trick to writing is not “getting it down on the page” — the really important thing to do is edit! So, right there with you, Sam. And what better way to edit down to the nitty gritty than with a Twitter poem! 🙂
Was on the dark side yesterday and today, high kicked my way into happiness and mirth 🙂
SOOO glad Bjorn, that Sam brought you into the poetry world!
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
Ah… I think twitter brought me here… but yes the world of poetry on twitter is exciting… check out the hashtag #mpy for instance.
Samuel Peralta said:
So good to see you here, Lilian! I’ve never given up the poetry, I just don’t do as many linebreaks now! 🙂
lillian said:
So nice to meet you! 🙂
kanzensakura said:
The interview with Sam is most interesting. He left dVerse before I signed on so I never read or met him. I have a question about Twitter poetry. It is 140 or less characters. While looking sites with Twitter poetry, I saw many of them were quite long – multiple stanzas of 140 characters – basically, just another free verse poem. Isn’t the purpose for brevity? Why the long poems? Bjorn, can you help me understand this better?
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
I open up for more than one stanza. Each stanza being 140 characters.. So yes it’s quite open actually
kanzensakura said:
So if tweeting and a poem is eight stanzas, that is eight tweets? Sorry. My haiku brain just loves the brevity of the 140 characters and stumbles at yet another long poem. Individual ones are fine and make sense and delight.
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
Ha… it’s fine to just to come with a single tweet poem… no problem.
kanzensakura said:
Great! Thank you! And I can see why some people come up with several, separated from each other to keep from making so many linkys. But I am tired and hot today. Maybe one other.
Samuel Peralta said:
When I do strings of Twitter poems, I consider each poem to be a standalone, with a theme through the arrangement.
Here, for example, is “Twelve Stones on a Necklace”, with each 140-character standalone verse being a ‘stone’ in the ‘necklace’ of the full poem.
– http://semaphore1.blogspot.ca/2009/05/twelve-stones.html
kanzensakura said:
I read that. It still prompts my curiosity that to tweet, you would have to tweet each stanza. To me that defeats the purpose of the twitter poe, i freqently do related Haiku strings but they aren’t meant to be tweeted. But then I am just an amateur when it comes to new, unclassical forms. A long poem to me still says, long untweetable poem.
Samuel Peralta said:
Not really, because see, each of my verses stands alone, a poem on its own. It can exist without the other verses…. but together they make a more beautiful whole.
Victoria C. Slotto said:
Much to enjoy here, Bjorn–the interview with the most prolific Sam (I’m envious), the fun prompt that I enjoyed the first time around and, of course, the Anthology. There is so much talent here. What fun to be a part of it all. Thanks to both of you: Sam and Bjorn, and to Grace as well, who did the legwork on the interviews.
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
Oh yes this was fun.. so much to enjoy in that interview… and being so prolific and getting results that means a lot I think…
Samuel Peralta said:
Victoria! How wonderful to see you again (albeit virtually). So amazing that this place and the friendships I made stand the test of time 🙂
Victoria C. Slotto said:
I’m proud of you, Sam, dVerse alumnus, for all you have accomplished.
kanzensakura said:
I like that bit of advice from Sam – write from your heart, edit mercilessly from your head. Perfect. I know my poems would be better if I cut down by half, except the haiku of course 🙂 Lately mine seem to fun on and on and on
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
I would love to be better in editing… maybe it’s patience I need.
kanzensakura said:
I agree. Writing Japanese forms makes me lazy because of the nature of brevity and getting to the essence of them. I’ve become rather wordy lately and not fond of it.
Samuel Peralta said:
It’s a process I take to heart even in short stories. One author submitted a 15,000-word story to me and told me she and her editor could not cut it down further. I edited it to 10,000 words – while still keeping her voice and every important detail – and she was amazed. She sent it to her editor and told him “This is how it’s done.”
Laura Bloomsbury said:
Reminds me of the précis exercises we had to do – as with pruning roses never quite able to detect the disposable! Also admire anyone who can keep the momentum of stories beyond the seed of an idea and sell so well too! I like that ‘speculative fiction’ label and ‘meeting’ you here
MarinaSofia said:
I am amazed and excited just how busy, creative and productive all the dVerse alumni that you’ve featured this week have been! (Hopefully that applies to all of us, past and present, by some process of osmosis). Well done, Sam.
And I love the anthology idea – although I have the feeling I will not be able to respond to any of the prompts until late August/early September. But it will be an additional nudge to participate, I should think, for most of us…
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
The intention is to collect for the anthology all the way until we break for Christmas…
MarinaSofia said:
Gives me something to work towards, then! But I just look forward to things quieting down in September and me being able to visit more often.
kanzensakura said:
I for one look forward to seeing you back with us!
MarinaSofia said:
You’re so kind, and always such a great encouragement (or should that be encourager?)
kanzensakura said:
smiles…both work.
Samuel Peralta said:
Marina, glad to meet you 🙂 Good to see the place hopping tonight!
piano warm said:
That poem is very sexy, Mr. Peralta.
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
Oh I most definitely agree on that.
piano warm said:
This is my favorite section:
“Then I came upon you, lost,
pitiful – until you saw me there, ghost
of your ghost”
But I also like these:
“It started with your voice”
“calling – so strange! – my name”
“You bent to me”
“as a fevered dowry, to this
our conjugated sin”
They almost create a “found poem.”
Samuel Peralta said:
To paraphrase a line from ‘Dead Poets’ Society’ – what is the purpose of poetry if not to woo?
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
For the challenge… if you want to make it really fun… Try to make a poem in exactly 140 characters…
Samuel Peralta said:
I did that somewhere too! Twitter poems with exactly 140 characters – if I find the example I’ll post them.
kim881 said:
Wow! I’ve just read the interview – Sam is certainly a prolific writer and I love his poem. I have only just looked at the challenge, with a sharp intake of breath, and have sharpened my pencil. See you back at the bar in a while!
Samuel Peralta said:
Hi Kim! The 15 anthologies aren’t all my stories, lol. I have maybe 1 story out of every 20. I’m essentially the series editor and publisher.
kim881 said:
I loved your poem, Sam. I was also interested that you are a film maker too. Many years ago I was in the film industry, latterly teaching Media Studies and English at a high school. What kind of films do you make?
Sanaa Rizvi (@rizvi_sanaa) said:
Hey everyone,
Hope you’re having an amazing day so far, sharing my poem ‘Sentiments’ hope you all like it. Thanks for hosting Bjorn and lovely to meet you Sam 🙂
Lots of love,
Sanaa
Samuel Peralta said:
Good to meet you too, Sanaa!
Rosemary Nissen-Wade said:
Thank you Bjorn. What a joy and delight to see Sam here again. I knew he must be coming up somewhere in this 5 days! We first met when Collin Kelley created an anthology of poets on twitter – somehow had not previously come across each other there, nor on MySpace, though I too was active at both, but post-anthology have stayed connected.
And then, when I finally discovered dVerse, I loved his form prompts here. I credit Sam with removing my fear of attempting sonnets! A beautiful writer, he is one of my favourite poets. I own all the Semaphore poetry collection and – fantasy being my second-favourite genre after poetry – a number of the Future Chronicles. (Just re-reading the Feyland collection at the moment.) Didn’t know about the film-making. How enterprising and multi-talented you are, dear Sam!
I haven’t written a 140-character poem in a while (these days I tweet links to my blog posts instead, @SnakyPoet). It will be fun to do that, and I’l be back later to link here and read others.
Thanks, Bjorn for the character counting tool. Very handy! And the new dVerse anthology is a great idea!
Samuel Peralta said:
Oh Rosemary! How I’ve missed our poetry banter! So amazed that you’ve followed me into fantasy as well 🙂
In terms of film-making, I really help in the funding side. I leave the creativity to the screenwriter and director – but I only support films and filmmakers whose vision I believe in. It’s another way for me to encourage creativity, similar to the way dVerse encourages creativity.
Rosemary Nissen-Wade said:
I meant fantasy is my second fave genre to read. 🙂 Funnily enough I don’t much enjoy writing fiction; I prefer essays and articles. But yes, do love to read the speculative, and much enjoy your anthologies.
Bodhirose said:
Sam, I’m blown away by all that you have accomplished! Truly, you have done exceptionally well with all of your endeavors and I wish you much more success to come. So nice to have you visit today. I always enjoyed the forms that you introduced us to…many good memories of your presence here.
Gayle ~
Samuel Peralta said:
It’s been an amazing last two years, Gayle, not much room to breathe, but a rollercoaster full of joy!
Bodhirose said:
I’m truly happy for you and so grateful to have had your tutelage for a time at dVerse.
Imelda said:
Ah, Samuel’s poems always sing. I am glad to read and participate in some of his prompts. I learned a lot of form poetry from him, some form being more challenging (at least for me) than the others.
Imelda said:
And wow! Another anthology for DVerse! I look forward to what the talented community comes up with. 🙂
Grace said:
Do join us Imelda and we hope all the regulars would become part of the anthology.
Samuel Peralta said:
Thanks so much Imelda!
piano warm said:
Geez, brother. This is delicious:
“A Saint-Saëns concerto, La Muse et le Poète.
Over the mother-of-pearl inlay on the cello,
your fingers decipher the sphinx’ second riddle.”
Samuel Peralta said:
Thanks piano_warm…. that’s one of my favorite verses in “Twelve Stones on a Necklace” 🙂
Samuel Peralta said:
Most people know the Sphinx’ first riddle… but not many know its second 😉
piano warm said:
What a shame. It’s far more beautiful than the first.
Truedessa said:
Hi Sam, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you at the pub. Congratulations on all your accomplishments.
Samuel Peralta said:
Thanks so much, so good to find my way back here again!
Sherry Blue Sky said:
Wow, Sam! You are on fire! So productive. Way to go. I am thrilled to hear about the dVerse anthology and think you have found a really good way to choose poems. When Poets United did it, we had submissions and it was a chore. I love the sound of this…..looking forward to the anthology. Will you tell us when the links for possible submissions begins, so we know and can offer our best stuff. Smiles.
Samuel Peralta said:
Good to see you here Sherry! It’s wonderful to see a lot of familiar names!
Grace said:
Hi Sherry,
The poems for our anthology will be based on our prompts and OpenLinks starting next week until the end of the year. We hope to build it week by week, month by month as we go along. We hope more people can participate this way and we will be communicating our selections privately.
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
Indeed… so the linkup should not be seen as a competition… and any participation is voluntary… that mean if you don’t want to participate in the anthology you are free to say no…
Samuel Peralta said:
What an amazing day!
If any of you wanted to read one of my short stories, here is a link to “Hereafter”, reprinted in Lightspeed Magazine so you can read for free.
“Hereafter” was named a notable story in Best American Science Fiction 2015 and is my most-reprinted story to date. I managed to sneak my poem ‘The Time Traveller’s Sonnet’ into the story.
http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/hereafter/
I’d be glad to hear what you think. 🙂
Thanks again everyone for the warm welcome, and I hope to drop by again soon!
Grace said:
Thanks for the link Sam.
I have read that story, and I really like how you included a sonnet 🙂 I wanted to say , more please 🙂
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
Oh this one I have read – love the thought of time traveling
brian miller said:
Sam,
I am glad you are pursuing your dreams and being so creatively productive. I get your email updates and I am always impressed with all that you have put your hands to.
I hope you continue to follow that beat.
b
Samuel Peralta said:
Brian, good to see you! Love, peace and happiness to you and yours!
purplepeninportland said:
You sound happy and full of energy, Sam. I loved reading about you, and your choice of poem was wonderful. Good Luck in future!
Samuel Peralta said:
Thanks very much, and all the best to you too!
Dr. Crystal Howe said:
There’s a Limerick in mine… Greetings from a fellow songwriter, Sam! I wasn’t around when you were tending bar, so glad to read your interview and join in the prompt!
Samuel Peralta said:
Glad to meet you Crystal!