Writing a good story is something authors pray to be able to do every time we set out to craft a work of fiction. A clear voice and a zesty Imagination typically make for a satisfying fictional read.

When I picked up Nikki Erlick’s contemporary novel titled THE MEASURE, of course, I was hopeful it would be a read well worth the time I would invest. But I had no idea that within the first few pages I’d have my mind turned upside down and inside out; the disturbing tumble unfolding quickly.

The scenario presented involves a date in time when all human beings, 22 yrs or older, across the planet, receive a small wood box on their door step. These boxes appear out of the blue and from who knows where. Inside each box is a single piece of string, which serves to inform each person how long they will live, almost exactly how much time they have left. I scrambled to wrap my brain around the provocative scenario.

I must confess that on that night, after reading the first 75 or so pages, trying to get to sleep proved almost impossible.  I tossed-and-turned in my bed. A sense of dread coursed through my body. What I had taken for granted in terms of being unknown had been thrown out the window by this author. I’m not quite sure why I had such a visceral reaction. I believe it was the combination of personal fear and the sheer intrigue I had, which was generated by Erlick’s inventive premise. Of course, I knew the book was pure fiction but I kept thinking to myself, what if this ever really happened?

Each of the eight lead characters in this novel is deliciously vivid and authentically layered. These individuals come together in a support group held at a school after hours which is located on the upper east side of Manhattan. The purpose of the group’s formation is to help “short stringers” come to terms with the fact that they won’t have the privilege of living a long life. Sean, a therapist and the group’s facilitator, hopes to provide a safe and supportive space for each person to explore and navigate the slippery slope of knowing the difficult truth.

What was so fascinating to me about this read is how each character finds their own unique and personal way of dealing with the harsh reality. My immediate thought: would it be freeing or completely traumatizing to suddenly learn how long you will live and that no matter what you do, there is nothing that will alter your prescribed and timed ending. Your time left is fixed! Period.

Although an extreme theme is presented in this book, there are a number of parallels made relevant to today’s America, brilliantly yet subtly highlighted by the author. At least a few philosophical questions jammed my brain immediately after turning the last page.

So, get ready for a scary and provocative journey that may take you outside your comfort zone. Don’t pass up this opportunity to consider the potential key take-away from this story. It may simply be “live for today.”

If this book is a “pick” for your book club like it was for mine, I predict that your discussion about these colorful characters and the spell-binding plot will be extra rich. And perhaps the depth of the usual sharing of perspectives may go even deeper than your group’s ever been before. The one question that may come up is this:

      If such a tiny wood box holding a single string which indicated the exact amount of time you have left to live, landed on your doorstep, would you open the box to find out or would you put the box away in the very back of your closet, and maybe never open it?

THE MEASURE by Nikki Erlick. I invite all readers, young and old, to enjoy the ride.

Linda S. Gunther is the author of six published suspense novels: Ten Steps from the Hotel Inglaterra, Endangered Witness, Lost in the Wake, Finding Sandy Stonemeyer, Dream Beach, and Death is a Great Disguiser. Most recently, her memoir titled A Bronx Girl (growing up in the Bronx in the 1960’s) was released in late 2023. Ms. Gunther’s short stories, poetry, book reviews and essays have been published in a variety of literary journals across the world. Website: www.lindasgunther.com

Most importantly, the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. PF-5876 dated November 15, 2019 defines the goals, principles and main directions of the state policy of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the field of interethnic relations

Firstly, the harmonization of interethnic relations – the formation of constructive and mutually respectful relations between representatives of nations and peoples is explained.

Secondly, the state policy in the field of interethnic relations – consists of the systematic activities of the state in the field of improving and regulating interethnic relations in society, aimed at ensuring the Constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens, their equality before the law, regardless of their gender, race, nationality, language, religion, social origin, beliefs, personal and social status.

Thirdly, interethnic tolerance is a social norm of civil society, manifested in a spirit of compromise towards the views, religions, customs, traditions and culture of representatives of other nations and peoples that do not contradict universal human values.

Of course, the “Day of Friendship of Peoples” serves to further develop interethnic relations and friendly ties with foreign countries in New Uzbekistan, to demonstrate that exemplary socio-economic, cultural-educational and legal conditions have been created for the effective implementation of the state policy of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the field of preserving and developing the language, culture, traditions and customs of representatives of various nations and peoples living in our republic. In order to achieve these great and noble goals, July 30 is widely celebrated in Uzbekistan every year as the “Day of Friendship of Peoples”. May this holiday be blessed for our tolerant people living in our homeland, where human dignity is honored.

Aminova Dilbar, a first-year student at the Urgench branch of the Tashkent Medical Academy.

Mom 

Running along the paths of life

My mother is worried about her livelihood. 

Praise all that I have done,

My mother did not escape the torment of fate. 

Izma ran after me, 

My mother carried me without letting go. 

If I fall, pick me up, caress me, 

My mother who looked lovingly into my eyes. 

Even if he doesn’t wear it himself, he puts it on me,

My mother is frozen in the bitter cold. 

My child fed me that I ate,

My mother didn’t tell me even though she was hungry.  

Caressing my face 

My mother never tired of stroking my head. 

Sacrifice your life for me 

I don’t know how old you are. 

“Tiresias Disrobes”
by Mark Blickley
“A prayer for the wild at heart kept in cages.”
~ Tennessee Williams

One day in ancient Greece, Tiresias was walking down a path when he was interrupted by two snakes copulating on the road, blocking his way. Tiresias got so angry that he took his staff and killed one of the snakes. It turned out to be the female s/erpent. What Tiresias didn’t know was that these snakes were guarding Hera’s sacred tree with golden apples in the Garden of the Hesperides. Hera’s rage, upon learning of the death of her beloved female guardian snake, was to turn Tiresias into a woman.

For ten years Tiresias lived as a woman. And not just as any woman, but the town whore. One day the female Tiresias was walking down a path and once again came upon two snakes copulating. She killed one and this time it turned out the slain serpent was male, so Hera changed him back to a male. These gender transformations made Tiresias the only man in the history of the world to have been both a man and a woman.

Years later, Zeus and Hera were having a terrible fight on Mount Olympus about who enjoys sex more, the man or the woman. Hera had caught her insatiable husband once again cheating on her. Zeus roared females enjoy sex more than men. Hera called him a liar and claimed females accommodate the male out of duty, not pleasure.

Zeus called her a liar. Hera screamed back that her husband was a Trickster and a vicious rapist. Their battle over which gender derives the greatest satisfaction from carnal knowledge went on for days. A frustrated Hera finally decided to summon Tiresias to Mount Olympus to settle their heated dispute. Tiresias’ unique experience of indulging in sexual intercourse as both a man and a woman could supply the definitive answer.

Poor Tiresias was summoned to the foot of their thrones where Hera ordered him to respond to the question of whom achieves more satisfaction from sexual intercourse—the man or the
woman. Tiresias drew a breath, fearful of the consequences of any opinion he would admit. But he decided to tell the truth and answered, “It is nine parts female, one part male.”

An enraged Hera did not allow Tiresias to explain which nine parts favored women and what
single part favored men because she immediately blinded him for exposing her feminine truth to Zeus, thus losing their argument.

One god cannot undo the spell of another god, not even the King of the Gods, Zeus. Yet taking pity on Tiresias, Zeus decided to give the poor man the gift of inner version, the prophetic insights of a seer, to compensate for his wife physically blinding Tiresias due to his honesty.

This is how Tiresias became the blind seer who foretold Oedipus that he would kill his father and copulate with his mother.
I’ve spent years wondering which nine parts of human sexuality Tiresias claims favor women
and what was the only part that favored men because I’ve wanted to write a one-man (sic) play about Tiresias that finally exposes his responses to his ten-point comparison of which gender receives the greatest pleasure. Here’s my list:

Nine Parts to the Women:
#1. Women have orgasms not men. Men have ejaculations. Women can achieve an orgasmic altered state whereas men most often just feel a profound sense of relief. The patriarchy calls ejaculations orgasms because they never want women to consider themselves superior in any way, so they pretend the sexual experience is equal for both genders.
#2. Men most often strain to finish with a grunt of relief, whereas women shriek in ecstasy.
#3. Women are sexually superior to men because they have the courage to join the dual
nature of pain with pleasure.
#4. A woman can tell if a man is sexually aroused by looking at his erection. A woman’s
response isn’t obvious, so she can make the male work harder to prove his manhood by feigning a lack of desire so he puts more effort into pleasing her. His testosterone will poison his ego if he thinks he’s not as desirable or can’t please. Viewing his erection is a visual power she can withhold from him.

As opposed to male performance anxiety, a woman can enjoy sexual pleasure when she turns her brain off and is calm, which shows that a woman also has a brain she can control below her waist.
#6. Women can have multiple orgasms so she can accept many more sexual partners in a day while men are busy recovering from their ejaculations. Thus, if one male partner doesn’t satisfy her, she can immediately move on to another lover.
#7. The clitoris alone has over 8,000 nerve endings to enhance pleasure. The penis has less than half that number of nerve endings.
#8 “When you scratch the inside of your ear using your finger, which one feels better? The finger or the ear?”
#9 While men’s sex organs serve more than one function, a woman’s clitoris has no other
purpose but to give her pleasure during sex.

One Part to Men:
A male having sex with a female does not have to suffer the fear of pregnancy or childbirth.

Mark Blickley grew up within walking distance of New York’s Bronx Zoo. He is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild and PEN American Center. His latest book is the flash fiction collection, ‘Hunger Pains’ (Buttonhook Press).

Wind Night Love Leaves (The Four Books)

* A Self Interview Craft Essay on Books and Future Work Plan 

Brian Michael Barbeito

January, 2025

I sit at my window and the words fly past me like birds —with God’s help I catch some.

-Jean Rhys

Wide Sargasso Sea

literary map book abbreviation legend:

Wind: Still Some Crazy Summer Wind Coming Through

Night: When I Hear the Night

Love: The Book of Love and Mourning

Leaves: Exile in Autumn, The Karma of the Leaves 

How I feel about it currently is that there should be four books at the least. One, Wind, is already in existence. It is published by Dark Winter Press who did an excellent job and it came out in July 2024. It is a book of prose poems and photography and has three official reviews, plus a positive reception overall. The book’s introduction, a fantastic summary of the work, is by Cristina Deptula and the volume is dedicated to Tara. I am happy with the content and what I call the physicality of the book (how it feels and looks as an actual thing), its overall existential aesthetic.  

Dark Winter Press has agreed to publish the next book, called When I Hear the Night. Night is scheduled to be released in January of 2026. The manuscript is complete and the press has it. I am waiting for an introduction by a Vancouver based editor that wrote a highly perceptive and insightful review for Wind. But, yes, other than that said review, the manuscript is complete. Night, as with the four books I am talking about here, will all have similar formats. This includes cover art and back art by me, my prose poems and photography of course, a dedication page and quote page, and an introduction by someone competent and obviously sympathetic to the work. 

The third instalment in these four books, The Book of Love and Mourning, has the writing part of the manuscript done. These books are prose poem books, each writing approximately two thirds of a page. Sometimes shorter, sometimes longer. I will still have to pick the photos to go with the writings. I have sometimes been asked about the functions of these art forms, meaning which I practice primarily or if I give equal time and importance to both of them. Actually, I am primarily a poet/writer. In heart, in time spent at craft, in what I think about. In identity. I would like to mention here that each book is titled in accordance and inspiration from one of the writings within the text. For instance, there is a piece to be found in each manuscript that I drew the title of the entire work from. I like this, how it helps bring each entire book together thematically. Hopefully, Dark Winter Press will continue to work with me on this third book and the fourth one also. It would be nice to have a sense of uniformity and publishing stability for all of these projects. 

Exile in Autumn, The Karma of the Leaves, or ‘Leaves,’ would be the fourth installment in the prose poem photography books. If things continue as they are, with me writing and photographing each and every day, there will be more than enough poems and pictures to make up this book. I would ideally still have the involvement with the publisher, Dark Winter Press, and continue the format. As with the third book, Love, I would have to find someone who would be interested in writing an introduction. My thoughts about introductions are that they are a fine thing, grounding the reader in a sense of what they are about to embark upon. 

I would describe the overall writing as a celebration of nature and also a portrait of the unique spiritual journey. Unique simply because not all embark on it, and also because of those who do, each spiritual path has its own nuances, characters, its own stories. I would describe the photography as lauding the look of unique angles and light, mostly of phenomenon like pastoral vistas and also close things like flower petals. 

In conclusion, I am about two-thirds through the work of the prose poems and photos that will compile four books. This is a good place to be at as a poet and photographer. I am happy with the format and content of what has already arrived, what is waiting, and what is and will be in the works. Wind, Night, Love, and Leaves. In this brief writing I will include the four front covers. 

——-

Video: One Man’s Deep Words

First of all, an announcement from contributor Chimezie Ihekuna, who is seeking an investor/executive producer for the project, One Man’s Deep Words. It is set in the US.

Produced By Vincent Turner, Developed By Robert Sacchi, 115 pages. Phase: Pre-production/Development, Budget Estimation: $23,000-314,000. Pitch deck and budget list available, please email synchchaos@gmail.com if interested.

Charles Griffin, a philosophy professor, is challenged by Adam, one of his students, over his unruly behaviour while lecturing. Though Charles is unhappy lecturing by the books, Adam’s challenge becomes the inspiration behind his nascent philosophy.

Title: Reflective Thinking (Volume 1)

Tracks: 5 (Excluding the Intro, Album title and About The Creator)

Creator: Mr Ben

Album Title and About The Creator

Intro

Track 1: The Current State Of Being

Track 2: Keep Your Head Up

Track 3: Discouragement: A Part Of Success

Track 4: Independence or In Dependence?

Track 5: Death And Life 

(My questions)

Outro

Description of  the Reflective Thinking “album”

This is a conception that delves into the afterthought of what people would not take to consideration. It  “mirrors”  people’s notions but aims at asserting the need to look into the other side of their known thought. It is a call to meditation: looking deeper into what their thoughts reflect.

The Intro part simply explains what results in  actions of anyone (the creator, in particular): the thought process

The Outro segment deals with the creator’s conceived quote, which happens to be his best: “Determination without conception is like reaching a destination without intention”

The Current State Of Being simply explains what the new normal is, resulting from the fact that the world of today is wrong that what’s left isn’t right and what should be right isn’t left

Keep Your Head Up talks about the need for young people to prioritize their health, in the quest of acquiring wealth.

Discouragement: A Part of Success , according to the creator’s Reflective Thinking, puts to recognition: Discouragement is  the inevitable tool few people who become successful use  to attain such feat and maintain or advance it.

Independent or In Dependence? is one situation the creator asserts to address. He maintains that  we, as a people and society, are IN DEPENDENT (NOT INDEPENDENT) of one thing or the other, such as food, government to ascertain the standard and cost of living, politics, education, business, media and so on to validate existence and sovereignty

Death and Life (My Questions): The creator seeks to delve into the “mysteries”, in the form of questioning, of what connects both contradictions, in terms of using various parameters which are rarely depicted by mainstream concerns.

“Mr. Ben is currently seeking acquisition and or licensing of the album.”

See attached the audio files, available for listening and perusal.

snow –
the chirp of a robin
so muffled