Just when it seems that I am running out of friends to support, I stumble upon some new bloggers whose work I admire. Such is the case with this Friday’s featured “friend.”
While I don’t know her personally—and, thus, “friend” might be a bit bold of a claim—I’ve come to enjoy Joyce Jacobo‘s charming literature blog, The Literary Serenity Archives.
While scribbling away on some blog posts last week, I had a pleasant surprise: a new poetry submission care of Son of Sonnet! It’s a work about the undeniable passion shared between men and women.
Regular readers know that I am an unalloyed fan of Son’s poetry, and I encourage each of my readers to consider a subscription to his Locals page. It’s the best way to support his work directly, and I know that appreciates every subscriber. Son is also very responsive to feedback and comments, so it makes for a lively community.
I’ve really been beating this drum lately—we need to support creators on our side of this great culture war. The Left creates crap culture, but they support it and produce a lot of it; what they lack in quality they make up for with financial support and total media saturation.
But I digress. Your generous subscriptions to my SubscribeStar page have made it possible to patronize Son’s work. As a community of artists, readers, and pundits, we should work together as much as possible to cultivate and support one another’s talents. I can’t pay Son much—yet—but I’m able to offer him something for his talents because of your generosity.
For a sample of Son’s work on this blog, check out The Gemini Sonnets; you can read all six here: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, and #6.
You can also read Son of Sonnet’s poetry on his Telegram channel, on Gab, on Minds, and, of course, on Locals.
The cavalcade of friendship continues this Sunday with three more posts. Apparently, I’ve given musician, actor, and international playboy Frederick Ingram a lot of screen time in Supporting Friends Friday, but all of this weekend’s friends have enjoyed two or more Friday shout-outs:
Happy Sunday!
—TPP
Other Lazy Sunday Installments:
I’ve been beating the drum in support of Mariella Hunt‘s fantasy, Regency-era novella The Sea Rose lately. That’s because it’s a good story, and one that my readers—especially those ladies interested in historical romance and fantasy—would surely enjoy.
It’s also because Mariella really cranks out the goods. Not only is The Sea Rose still unfolding; she’s already written a companion work, Mermaid: A Novel. It’s the story of Meredith Bannister, who comes off as an oppressive nag in the early chapters of The Sea Rose, before readers see her in a more sympathetic light.
It’s Good Friday in the Western Church, so I thought I’d spotlight the friends that need our support the most: our local churches.
Your local churches will obviously be quite different than mine, but I would encourage every Christian reader to give to your local church this weekend. If you are not tithing to a church already, start doing so! Only 5% of churchgoers tithe, but American Christians earn $5.2 trillion annually. Imagine the transformative impact if every Christian gave ten percent. That could feed, clothe, and shelter a lot of people. It would also be an incredible witness to Christians’ commitment to their faith.
My good buddy and regular poetry contributor Son of Sonnet launched his new Locals page at https://sonofsonnet.locals.com/ about a month ago, on 14 March 2022.
Locals is a bit like SubscribeStar, but it’s more robust in terms of features, and the focus is on building up a sense of community between subscribers and the content creator. SubscribeStar allows comments, for example, but Locals has built-in incentives to encourage more engagement, such as certain users gaining additional posting privileges and the like.
Son is going full-in with Locals, hoping to build up a community of supporters who appreciate good poetry and the culture-renewing possibilities it offers (you can read all about his mission on his “About” page; appropriately, it’s presented in the form of a poem!).
In addition to poetry, Son has been posting some reviews of some anime series, both written and audible. He possesses a wonderful voice—and that’s coming from me, with my rich, buttery radio voice. He’s even posted some ASMR (complete with a crackling fire and poetry). Son features some Shakespearean sonnets as read by Miranda McGee, who also possesses the perfect voice for reciting poetry.
Readers my recall an edition of Supporting Friends Friday dedicated to Mariella Hunt, an Idaho-based author who also dabbles in cute water colors of birds.
Before she started painting birds, Mariella was a writer—a prolific one, at that. I discovered her first through her paintings, through Andrea the Ilustrator’s blog, but have come to appreciate and enjoy her writing as well.
Mariella is a talented non-fiction writer, but her real passion is fiction. She tells me that she is hoping to make a living as a freelance writer, and is currently publishing her novella The Sea Rose via Amazon’s Kindle Vella service.
Kindle Vella allows authors to release stories serially, in short little doses or chapters, much the way much of Charles Dickens’s work was published.
I’ve read the first chapter of The Sea Rose, and it’s good—really good. I am eagerly awaiting the second chapter (which should be available by the time you read this post!).
My good buddy and regular poetry contributor Son of Sonnet launched his new Locals page last week at https://sonofsonnet.locals.com/. It’s $10 a month for all sorts of goodies—poems, poetry readings, etc. And the price per month drops as more users sign up.
As one of the chosen subscribers, I recommended a topic for a poem: my hilarious little release Péchés d’âge moyen, a short collection of twelve original piano miniatures. Son—as always—delivered the goods.
To be clear, this wasn’t an easy assignment: he had to write a poem based on twelve very short piano pieces that were largely written (initially) as part of an inside joke on the Internet. He consulted me on a few elements of the poem, including the cover art, an original painting of mine called “Apple Picking.”
With that, I give you—reprinted with permission from the poet—“The Sins of Middle Age” (originally published at https://sonofsonnet.locals.com/ on Wednesday, 16 March 2022):
My good buddy and regular poetry contributor Son of Sonnet has some exciting news: this Monday, 14 March 2022, he is launching his new Locals page at https://sonofsonnet.locals.com/.
Locals is a bit like SubscribeStar, but it’s more robust in terms of features, and the focus is on building up a sense of community between subscribers and the content creator. SubscribeStar allows comments, for example, but Locals has built-in incentives to encourage more engagement, such as certain users gaining additional posting privileges and the like.
Son is going full-in with Locals, hoping to build up a community of supporters who appreciate good poetry and the culture-renewing possibilities it offers (you can read all about his mission on his “About” page; appropriately, it’s presented in the form of a poem!).
Son is setting his sights high, as he should: he’s kicking off his foray into Locals with a special promotion he’s dubbed Race to 1000K.
Son of Sonnet offered up a little Mardi Gras gift: this poem, “Reflection.”
It’s a bit of free verse, which is a bit unusual for Son, but I like it. He and I both (I think) are of the mind that structure enhances poetry, rather than limits it, so it’s fun seeing him experiment free verse. Even so, he has exactly ten syllables per line—that’s the Son I know!
Also, The Gemini Sonnets are complete; I recommend you read them if you haven’t already: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, and #6.
Every artist as dedicated to his craft as Son deserves both recognition and support. I would encourage you to consider a subscription to Son of Sonnet’s SubscribeStar page as a way to encourage the growth and development of an eloquent voice on our side of this long culture war. Conservatives often complain about not holding any ground culturally; now is the time to support the culture that is being created.
You can read Son of Sonnet’s poetry on his Telegram channel, on Gab, and on Minds.
The Portly Politico 