Friday Feature: @JamesMByers
It’s Friday. It’s a good Friday. And it’s actually Good Friday! Of course, every Friday we hungrily delve into a Proser's life in our Friday Feature. This week is no exception, yet is exceptional, as we are finding out all about a Proser that many of us know and love, but want to know more about. He actually answered our questions a while ago, but silly me (Paul), didn't post it for some reason! Please be upstanding for JamesMByers!
P: What is your given name and your Proser username?
J: Greetings Prose. I'm James Matthew Byers. You guys know me as @JamesMByers.
P: Where do you live?
J: I reside in Wellington, AL. What's special about that? Wellington, New Zealand happens to be where Peter Jackson filmed much of The Lord of the Rings films. I'd like to think of my home as a displaced component of the Shire. After all, our dog is named Arwen … My wife and two of my four children live with me in our above ground “Hobbit hole.”
P: What is your occupation?
J: By day, I'm a mild mannered middle school teacher. But when the sun sets, the mask appears. Then I am James Matthew Byers, writer, poet, and illustrator. Outside of my day job, I'm on the crew at Stitched Smile Publications, LLC as their resident illustrator.
P: What is your relationship with writing and how has it evolved?
J: Writing has been an essential element for most of my life. I've been crafting stories and illustrating them since, believe it or not, age three. In sixth grade I had the pleasure of being introduced to poetry via Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken.” It altered the course of my life forever. I began writing songs and poems. I wrote novellas. I illustrated everything. Through education and practice, I have evolved into a focused poet who utilizes rhyming mechanisms to primarily express what's in my soul. I've grown leaps and bounds with the use of meter. I wrote my first rhyming tale my senior year in high school. We had to construct a story similar to Chaucer’s style in “The Canterbury Tales.” I fell in love with combing story telling and rhyming. The rest, as they say, is history.
P: What value does reading add to both your personal and professional life?
J: Reading is why I'm here. I've been an avid reader my whole life. I taught middle school English and reading for ten years. Staying in books increases your vocabulary. It also teaches how plot devices are applied and how characters grow and change in their development. I've read nearly every DragonLance novel out there. Lewis and Tolkien are influences. There are so many! I'm an advocate for people to visit the classics, like “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” “Dracula,” “A Princess of Mars,” and so many other wonderful maps we all need to follow. I read to relax, and professionally, I read to stay relevant. As a writer, you must possess “withitness.”
P: Can you describe your current and future literary ventures?
J: Currently I'm working on several projects for Stitched Smile Publications. I've got a rhyming story called “The Secrets That We Keep” in their latest anthology. It's called Unleashed: Monsters Vs. Zombies. I've also got anther mini epic called “Killer Jelly Beans from Outer Space” in a collection of Easter themed horror tales called Collected Easter Horror Shorts. It's something that a wonderful fellow named Kevin J. Kennedy put together. And there will be sequels to my current release, Beowulf: The Midgard Epic. In May, my poem, “The Dinner Fly,” will be in Weirdbook Magazine issue #35. I'm also going to be in an upcoming issue of Grievous Angel. (http://www.urbanfantasist.com/grievous-angel) The poem is titled “Conundrum of the Irish Sea.” As far as posts here at Prose, the skies the limit. I'll be crafting some nifty story poems, entering challenges, and offering a few surprises.
P: What do you love about Prose?
J: Prose has risen to the top of my favorite social media outlets. This is where I've found my tribe. I enjoy encouraging other writers and poets. I enjoy sharing my work with a community who get it; get me. I'm plugging it like crazy on all my social media venues. I wake up excited every day to see new faces and old friends publish their works. You can't get that kind of excitement just any where. I'm still I awe that I've won three of the weekly challenges. What do I love about Prose? EVERYTHING!!!
P: Is there one book that you would recommend everybody should read before they die?
J: There are so many great books! The classics would be an easy go to, but I'm going to plug a literary hero of mine. J. Robert Kings “Hellmaw: The Incubus Tweets” is my sacrificial lamb. It's out now from The Ed Greenwood Group. (Onder Librum) It's hip, relevant, and quite humorous. This generation would get it, and for reading to be relatable conquers many battles in the most simplistic of fashions. The protagonist/antagonist, Frank Demonkowski keeps you in stitches. I'd like everyone to laugh hardly as they go gently into that good night …
P: Do you have an unsung hero who got you into reading and/or writing?
J: My senior English teacher, Marie Duncan, definitely played a critical role in who I am today. She's my friend on Facebook. Recently she celebrated her eightieth birthday. I'm so happy she's getting to see me break into this wonderful industry!
P: Describe yourself in three words!
J: Enthusiastic, poetic, unique
P: Is there one quote, from a writer or otherwise, that sums you up?
J: “To a young heart everything is fun.” – Charles Dickens
P: Favourite music to write and/or read to?
J: I'm into so many facets of music. If I'm reading or writing, I primarily stick with soundtrack scores. Conan the Barbarian is a fave. I also love The Last of the Mohicans. Anything John Williams will do. When I illustrate, I alternate between classical, symphonic metal, and Garbage. I've created many entries into the art world while thumping along to “Version 2.0.”
P: You climb out of a time machine into a dystopian future with no books. What do you tell them?
J:
Once upon a time we had to write our stories down.
Now you have no books that I have noticed in your town.
What's a book? I'm glad you asked- I'll fill you in right here.
Paper bound containing words, they filled the mind with cheer.
Some expressed a broken heart, and some expressed its joy.
Some related grown adults, and some a girl or boy.
Some expressed adventure and some told a tragic tale.
Some invoked emotion and some helped us to prevail.
Some taught lessons granted and some talked about the past.
Books were lovely in design; I'm sad they didn't last.
My idea birthing new- you have to make this right.
Grab some paper and a pen, and watch me shed some light.
Do you all tell stories? Yes, I thought you surely did.
Even if they come from someone who is just a kid-
Write them down and share their worth- bring back the written word!
This is what I leave with you; I hope I'm being heard.
I must go back to my home, but spread these newfound strengths.
Reading will evolve your kind and take you to great lengths.
Put it all together and have others take a look.
Now you know what you have missed; I've given back the book …
P: Is there anything else you’d like us to know about you?
J: In 2010 I graduate from Jacksonville State University with my Master's in Secondary English/ Language Arts Education. My bachelor’s degree is in liberal arts with a concentration in English/Lit. Having a solid background in poetry has molded me into a more prolific and precise writer. Before attending JSU, I took art courses from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, or better known as U. A. B. I've written several poetry compilations and have been published through JSU as well. I do have an unpublished novel that doesn't rhyme. I'm saving it. I just love telling tales that use verse to explore the situation at hand. I reworked “Beowulf” into rhyming iambic tetrameter. I mentioned the title earlier- Beowulf: The Midgard Epic. It stays true to the original in every way. The only difference is it rhymes. It also contains “The Wanderer” as an epilogue. I've always felt that classic tale was none other than Wiglaf, the young hero who aided Beowulf against the dragon. I did the cover and interior illustrations. I'm signed with a wonderful indie press called Stitched Smile Publications, LLC. I believe I mentioned I'm their resident illustrator earlier. They have many talented authors on board. In fact, several of them are here at Prose! If you're a fan of horror and dark fantasy, they've got what you need. I'm including the link to their website below. I'm a poet first, but I'm also a story teller and an artist. I want to share, motivate, and inspire the literary community abroad. I want to make rhyming hip again. I've always wanted to be a combination of Dr. Seuss and J. R. R. Tolkien. More than anything, I want to encourage everyone out there to follow their dreams. If you believe you can, you will. Thanks for having me, Prose!
Here are a few ways to find me:
http://jamesmatthewbyers.wordpress.com
https://m.facebook.com/Mattbyers40/
www.Twitter.com/MattByers40
https://theprose.com/JamesMByers
https://www.wattpad.com/user/JamesMatthewByers
http://www.stitchedsmilepublications.com/
Well thank you very much, James. It may have been a while coming, but it was worth it.
You know what to do now – follow, like, comment, love and do all those things that make us as a community unique.
As ever, if you want to feature, or you want someone to feature, get in touch on info@theprose.com
Disability 101
WARNING TO ALL WHO MAY BECOME DISABLED IN THE FUTURE:
1.When you become disabled, you loose people you thought were friends.
2.If you use a wheelchair, nobody speaks to you directly anymore, they speak to the person pushing you.
3.If you aren't blind but you need a medical mobility service dog to help you walk and other things, people even your friends won't understand and many will expect you to leave your WORKING DOG at home when you visit.
4.If you have a service dog for
Epilepsy, he picks up on your seizures and helps stabilize you,
many times people won't let your dog do his job by making him get out of the way! (Pisses me off)
5.Again, the world of disabilities with service dogs and those in wheelchairs are quite different because wheelchairs aren't asked if they bite, which is stupid because a service dog is highly trained and is not allowed to be a service dog if they show any kind of aggression.
6.A person in a wheelchair can get a ride to town with someone because their chair can fit in a trunk or truck or van,
But no one wants dog hair in their vehicle. So I can have dog hair on my clothes and that's ok, but my service dog is a Great Dane he doesn't shed much and he gets 2 baths a month, more than that and his skin will dry out too much.
So when you become disabled eventually, make sure you are very rich so that you can afford the service dog or wheelchair you'll need, then have enough money to pay a full time driver so you don't become a shut in.
Good luck!
A Strangers Voice
If you listen to an unknown voice hard enough, it begins to sound familiar.
You hear the silent e's and sighs and whispers of each little word.
And, that voice again to you whispers,
It whispers of some life lost long ago,
And old paintings hanging near the window,
Of a cathedral, with old iron pipes for bones,
And bats within which they make their homes.
The darkness inside swirls between the pews,
Like fog swirls between trees in the cool, dewy, morning.
And that voice again calls to you,
From farther away yet,
But still, it calls and stirs in you,
Recognition.
The remembrance of bells,
And your mothers calls.
Now, you see it for what it is,
A voice you once knew,
Long, long, ago.
A voice who, revived in those moments stirred the memory of your soul.
That voice,
That sound that you thought you knew,
Was not familiar after all.
Only like one of your family before the fall.
Don Trump
Inside the White House.
Donald Trump:
How dare they reject my genius healthcare plan. I don't know what their problems is. I think it's rigged. There's obviously some sort of wiretapping going on.
Steve Bannon:
I know. Ridiculous, right?
Donald Trump:
I'm gonna tweet how wrong they are.
Steve Bannon:
Don't do that... and you just did that.
Donald Trump:
Maybe everyone in the world is right. I'm a joke.
Steve Bannon:
You? A joke? Never! Donny boy, you've got to pull yourself together.
Gosh it disturbs me to see you, Don Trump
Hanging so low by the ropes
You're such a brilliant man, Don Trump
So don't you listen to those dopes
There's no man that'll make America great again
You're featured on the cover of Time
Everyone wants to drop and go down on you
And now I break out into rhyme
Nooooooooo oooooone's
Wise like Don Trump
No one's got thighs like Don Trump
No one's hands are as big as Don Trump's
For there's no man in the whole country
Perfectly orange on each spot
You can always ask Mike, Paul, & Vlady
And they'll tell you whose back they've got
Chorus:
Nooooooooo oooooone's
Got riches like Don Trump
No one bitches like Don Trump
No one's worth billions like Don Trump
Donald Trump:
As a business man, yes, I'm intimidating
Chorus:
Wow, what a prez, that Don Trump
Go build that wall
Each bit by bit
Steve Bannon:
Don Trump is the best,
Everyone else can eat shit
Chorus:
Nooooooooo oooooone
Argues like Don Trump
No one starts fights like Don Trump
In a farting match, no one stinks like Don Trump
For there's no one in town that sprays
Donald Trump:
So much spray so I'm tan as a fool
Mike Pence:
He lied to the blacks and the gays
Donald Trump:
That's true, and also my hair looks very cool
Chorus:
No one hits like Don Trump
Or spits racism like Don Trump
Betsy DeVos:
On Twitter, Nobody out tweets like Don Trump
Donald Trump:
I am indeed very literated. #thatisaword #reallysmart
Chorus:
That's another win for Don Trump
Donald Trump:
When I was on The Apprentice, I became more famous
Owning at least 50 new cars
And now that I'm president, I have lots of dough
So now I can buy Madagascar
Chorus:
Why?
Donald Trump:
Doesn't matter. Keep singing.
Chorus:
Nooooooooo oooooone
Falsely accuses like Don Trump
No one harasses women like Don Trump
Steve Bannon:
Then goes to the camera calling fake news like Don Trump.
Donald Trump:
I've got dollar signs in all of my paintings.
Neo Nazis:
Salute him again!
KKK:
He's the man among men
Rednecks:
He won the voting floor.
Westboro Baptist Church:
He's the hero we prayed for.
Chorus:
He's the enemy of the press
Don't you know? Can't you guess?
Ask his fans that we've paid off
He's the one guy in town
Whose got America bent down
Steve Bannon:
And his name is D-O-N... I just occurred to me that I honestly don't know how to spell his full name because I'm more for spending money on weapons and defense rather than our educational system. But you know who I'm talking about, right?
Don Truuuuuuuuuuump
Prose Challenge of the Week #62
Good Morning, Prosers,
We hope this challenge announcement finds you well and writing!
It’s week sixty-two of the Prose Challenge of the Week.
For the last week, you guys have been writing about a rejection, and man, did you deliver. Before we check out who the deserving winner and recipient of $100 is, let’s take a look at this week’s prompt:
Challenge of the Week #62: Tell us the story of Lucifer, where Lucifer is a female. The most masterfully written piece, as voted and determined by the Prose team, will be crowned winner and receive $100. Quality beats quantity, always, but numbers make things easier for our judges, so share, share, share with friends, family, and connections. #ProseChallenge #getlit #itslit
Now, back to the winner of week sixty-one.
We have read all of your entries, and have come to a decision. The winner of the regret challenge is @Milesnowhere with his piece, Blood in, Blood out.
Congratulations! You have just won $100. We’ll be in touch with you shortly.
In the meantime, you have one week to get your write on!
Until next time, Prosers,
Prose.
