GRAB

In the spirit of Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell , or the best of Neil Gaiman, GRAB is a lively collection of dark fantasy, horror, and folklore-inspired poetry that offers werewolf drama, eldritch entertainments for royalty, a guided tour of dangerous and fantastical labyrinths, spells for snow, far-seeing, and playing the cello, a Ukrainian love story, and unexpected haiku. Come dance on skulls, see the Erlking stopped in his tracks, and find out how a baby gets raised in a house of witches. This book is published by Red Ogre Review via a grant from the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association. Readers Say I can count with the bones in one of my hands the number of times I’ve been haunted by a collection of poetry, I mean actually visited and revisited by words strung together so well, tales crafted so exquisitely, they refuse to let me go. Kendra Preston Leonard’s new collection, GRAB , is one of those books. Each poem builds myth line by line, linking us to ancient truths, mapmaking to lead us forward into our future. There are bestiaries of natural wonders here complete with deer and whales and sea lions, and ossuaries full of ghosts come back to demand proper burials, all manners of smoke and scent to cast spells over us. More than all of that, though, Leonard gives us bones and harpies and prophetesses to guide us toward a richer understanding of this life, one filled with incredible depth of feeling and an almost holy respect for the passage of time. These poems, this poet, will stick to you like a shadow. And I could not be more grateful for them. Jack B. Bedell, Against the Woods’ Dark Trunks & Poet Laureate of Louisiana, 2017 - 2019 ----- This dark collection holds well to its macabre children and brides die, hearts break, ghosts lurk about, witches and sorcerers work magic, spells are given, and enchantment or insanity ensues. These words will hold you spellbound. d. ellis phelps, Purifying Wind About the Author Kendra Preston Leonard writes about music, movies, gorgons, werewolves, Shakespeare, feminism, nature, ghosts, disability, drama, race, paleontologists, and much more. Her first chapbook, Making Mythology , was published in 2020 by Louisiana Literature Press. Protectress – a sequel to the Medusa myth – was published by Unsolicited Press in 2022. Trained as a musicologist, she has written numerous scholarly books in addition to poetry, plays, lyrics, and libretti. About the Artist Sara Maino is an Italian audio-visual artist, educator, poet and performer, author, and film and theatre director. She studied at the University of Trento, Faculty of Philosophy. She is the author of the novel “Quaderno armeno. Hotel Praha, Yerevan,” published by Nous Editrice Catania (Italy 2023) about her journey to Armenia for research into liturgical chants. She is also the creator of documentary films produced by Autonomous Province of Trento (United States 2011), ethnomusicologist Renato Morelli (Sardinia 2014; Georgia 2017), and Lutva Association of Pescara (Bosnia-Herzegovina 2016). She is the winner of Lucca Video Contest with the short art film "cuoredilago" in 2011 and won the best photography award for the poetry-inspired film "Elegia marina" at RNAB Brasil Film Festival 2021.