Stu Jenks' Fezziwig Press

The Late Stage Capitalism Series by Stu Jenks

 

Elton “Ellie” Swann, Spiral Red Oak, North Carolina” (c) 2022 Stu Jenks, 38 inches tall, $295 (Shipping included in the price.)

 

 

The Vision Statement for the Late Stage Capitalism Series by Stu Jenks.

 

"Late capitalism is a pyramid racket on a global scale...getting the suckers to believe it's all gonna go on forever.” -Thomas Pynchon, Bleeding Edge, 2013

Things are falling apart.

I can go through the litany of all the broken things, but you all know what I’m talking about: Greed and avarice are the new religion; The world is heating up, storms worsen, ice melting, CO2 increasing and it’s mostly the fault of old white men, who have money, power and who don’t give a shit about you or me or the future; Racism, sexism and classism had a few years of being on the wane, but now they’re back, shameless and in the forefront of our national and global politics (or perhaps it’s always been there); and the gap between the have and have-nots is greater than during The American Gilded Age, the rich get richer and the sick stay poor.

Botton line? I think it’s all coming apart, slowly, profoundly, fatally.

As an artist, I think it is my responsibility to show the hard things in the world as well as to make pretty things.

So…here is my new series of wall pieces. They started out whole, some as functioning walking sticks, some just as works of art. Now, I’ve cut them into pieces, to be hung like trophies on the wall, wildlife skulls of a dying world.

Each piece is named after a character from one of my four post-apocalyptic Step Zero novels. The world these people live in is only 50 years in the future, but I think it’s quite possible that our world too, could almost come to an end if all the oil goes away in a nuclear flash. And I also think it’s possible, that in that aftermath, we Americans would rebuilt our country, valuing the simple things: love, generosity, justice, humor, music, sobriety, feelings, consideration, and family. At least that is my prayer.

I pray also that I fulfilled the paradox of addressing a heavy subject here, and also making beautiful objects for you to enjoy.

It’s tricky, don’t you know. All of it.

Arthur "Artie" Saum, Desert Agave, Arizona (c) 2022 Stu Jenks, 59 inches tall, $200 (Shipping included in the price)

 

Balthazar "Balth" Stone, Mountain Laurel, North Carolina (c) 2022 Stu Jenks, 54 inches tall, $250 (Shipping included in the price.)

 

 

“Peter Saum, Jr., Desert Agave, Arizona” (c) 2020 Stu Jenks [Extended Family Series]

“Peter Saum, Jr., Desert Agave, Arizona” 57 inches tall, (c) 2020 Stu Jenks.

Price: $125, shipping included in the price. Simply contact me via my email address at [email protected] or Facebook message me, if you would like to purchase one of my pieces. Payments can be made with Paypal, Venmo or credit card with Square. All pieces are signed with its title, and can be hung from the wall. Love y'all, Stu.

 

Peter Saum, Jr. is a character from my Step Zero series. I really like the guy. Then again, I wrote him.

He's an angel. He's a ghost. He's an angel ghost. It's hard to explain. (That's an inside joke for those of you who have read the novels.)

 

#petersaumjr, #extendedfamilyseries, #stujenks,

 

My current art, book, and music resume...

Stu Jenks
Born: Richmond, Virginia, USA, 1954

Education:

1997, Photography Studies, Pima Community College, Tucson, Arizona.
1979, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Studio Art: Sculpture, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Selected Solo Exhibitions:

2016, “20 Years: 1996-2016,” Wee Gallery, Tucson, Arizona.
2015, “The Little Ones,” Wee Gallery, Tucson, Arizona.
2014, “The Ancients,” Wee Gallery, Tucson, Arizona.
2009, "At-One-With," Jewish Community Center, Tucson, Arizona.
2008, "Nine Prayers," Hotel Congress, Tucson, Arizona.
2007, "A Very Large God," Unity of Tucson, Tucson, Arizona.
2005, "If There's a Heaven...," Endicott West Art Foundation, Tucson, Arizona.
2004, "Mystery And Magic,” Metroform Limited Gallery, Tucson, Arizona.
2002, "Circles and Spirals," Tohono Chul Park, Tucson, Arizona.
2001, "Analog and Digital," Safehouse, Tucson, Arizona.
2001, "Circles and Spirals," The Image Gallery, The Screening Room, Tucson, Arizona.
1998, "Sacred Spaces," Hercules Florence Gallery, Pima Community College, Tucson, Arizona.

Books:

2016, Victor Mothershead: U.S. Secret Service by Stu Jenks, Fezziwig Press
2015, Step Zero (The Special Edition) by Stu Jenks, Fezziwig Press.
2014, Balthazar and Zeeba: A Christmas Novella by Stu Jenks, Fezziwig Press.
2014, A Rolodex Of Haikus by Tunafish Smith (Edited by Stu Jenks), Fezziwig Press.
2014, Air & Gravity by Stu Jenks, Fezziwig Press.
2013, Pamela’s Baby Rocking Chair by Stu Jenks, Fezziwig Press.
2012, Step Zero by Stu Jenks, Fezziwig Press.
2012, The Fatal Figures (Or How I Got In Trouble With The Law In Art School),
by Stu Jenks, Fezziwig Press.
2011, The Transpersonal Papers: 1861-2010 by Stu Jenks, Fezziwig Press.
2011, Bozo In Love by Stu Jenks, Fezziwig Press.
2011, Dementia Blues by Stu Jenks, Fezziwig Press.
2009, Hoop Dancing: More Journeys Through Nocturnal Photography,
by Stu Jenks, Fezziwig Press.
2008, Flames Spirals: Journeys Through Nocturnal Photography by Stu Jenks, Fezziwig Press.

Music And Audiobooks:

2003: The Three Surrenders: Soundtracks for Photographs, Vol. One, Fezziwig Press.
2005: West Of The Fires: Soundtracks for Photographs, Vol. Two, Fezziwig Press.
2008: Gladstone Mothershead: Soundtracks for Photographs, Vol. Three, Fezziwig Press.
2010: Hoop Dancing (The Audiobook), Fezziwig Press.
2011: Deaths & Injuries, Fezziwig Press.
2013: Pamela’s Baby Rocking Chair (The Audiobook), Fezziwig Press.
2014: Balthazar & Zebba: A Christmas Novella (The Audiobook), Fezziwig Press.
2015: Angel Ghosts, Fezziwig Press.

Selected Group Exhibitions:

2016, “Into the Night: Contemporary Art and the Nocturne Tradition,” Tucson Museum Of Art.
2016, “In Full Bloom,” Tohono Chul Park, Arizona.
2015, “Small Works,” Tohono Chul Park, Arizona.
2015, “Dia de los Muertos,” Tohono Chul Park, Arizona.
2015, “The Photographers,” Contreras Gallery, Tucson, Arizona.
2015, “The Sky Above,” Tohono Chul Park, Arizona.
2014, “The Trees: Myth, Symbol and Metaphor,” Tohono Chul Park, Tucson, Arizona.
2012, "Vicios y Virtudes" (Vices & Virtues), Raices Taller 222 Gallery, Tucson, Arizona.
2010, "Night Moves: After-Dark Images," Tohono Chul Park, Tucson, Arizona.
2009, "Print Pop," Lulubell Toy Bodega, Tucson, Arizona.
2009, "Curious Camera," ArtsEye/Photographic Works, Honorable Mention, Tucson, Arizona.
2008, "La Celebración y el Sufrimiento," Union Gallery, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.
2008, "The September Show," Point Of View Gallery, Raleigh, North Carolina.
2008, "Big Ideas, Small Frames," Dinnerware Artspace, Tucson, Arizona.
2008, "Darkness, Darkness," Three Columns Gallery, Harvard University,
Cambridge, Massachusetts.
2007, "Salon Des Refuses," Dinnerware Contemporary Arts, Tucson, Arizona.
2006, "Big Deal 13," SOMarts Gallery, San Francisco, California.
2006, "Transcending Boundaries," Point Of View Gallery, Raleigh, North Carolina.
2006, "Tough Lovelies: Agaves and Yuccas in Art," Tohono Chul Park, Tucson, Arizona.
2006, "The Art Of Photography,” Lyceum Theatre, San Diego, California.
2005, "Día de los Muertos: Contemporary Expressions," Tohono Chul Park, Tucson, Arizona.
2004, "Hotshoe Salon" Studio 455, Tucson, Arizona.
2004, "Wildfire!", Tohono Chul Park, Tucson, Arizona.
2003, "First Annual Winter Group Exhibition," Metroform Limited Gallery, Tucson, Arizona.
2003, "Small Works Invitational," Metroform Limited Gallery, Tucson, Arizona.
2003, "46th Annual International Awarded Exhibition," San Diego Art Institute, San Diego,
California.
2002, "Rocky Mountain Biennial," Museum of Contemporary Art, Fort Collins, Colorado.
2002, "Spite: Ten Years of The Toole Shed," Museum of Contemporary Art/Hazmat Gallery,
Tucson, Arizona.
2002-2004, "Saguaro: Popular Image and Cultural Icon," Arizona Commission of the Arts
Touring Exhibition (with Tohono Chul Park), Arizona.
2001, "Response," Tucson/Pima Arts Council, Tucson, Arizona.
2001, "In God We Trust," Zahorec Hughes Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio.
2001, "Michael Cajero, Stu Jenks, and Rudolph Nadler," Jewish Community Center's Fine Art
Gallery, Tucson, Arizona.
2000, "La Petite VIII," Alder Gallery, Coburg, Oregon.
2000, "44th Annual International Awarded Exhibition," San Diego Art Institute, California.
2000, "Visions VI," Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, Covington, Kentucky.
2000, "Nocturnes 2000," Pacific Media Arts, San Francisco, California,
Curator's Choice Award.
2000, "Tucson/Pima Arts Council Fellowship Exhibit," Tucson/Pima Arts Council, Tucson,
Arizona.
1999, "43rd Annual International Awarded Exhibition," San Diego Art Institute, San Diego,
California.
1999, "La Petite VII", Alder Gallery, Coburg, Oregon.
1999, "Visions V", Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, Covington, Kentucky; Jury's Award.
1999, "Arizona Biennial '99," Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona.
1999, "Photowork '99," Barrett Art Center, Poughkeepsie, New York.
1999, "Miniatures," The Galleria, Bisbee, Arizona.
1979, “Bachelor of Fine Arts Show”, Ackland Museum, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Installations:

2012, “Open Circle for Pamela,” Glow Festival of Lights, Oracle, Arizona.
2009, "Open Circle Plus Seven," Metanexus Conference, Tempe, Arizona.
2004, "Ancient Spirit, Modern Voice: The Mythic Journeys Art Exhibition," The Defoor Centre
Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia.
2002, "The Open Circle Cairn Project," Museum of Contemporary Art, Tucson, Arizona.

Grants & Fellowships:

2000, Tucson/Pima Arts Council, Visual Arts I Fellowship Awards (Honorable Mention).

Selected Lectures, Juries & Workshops:

2011, Juror, Third Annual Curious Camera Competition, ArtsEye, Tucson, Arizona.
2010, Co-Executive Director, "All Souls' Procession 4th Annual Photography Exhibition
Competition," All Souls' Procession, Tucson, Arizona.
2009, Juror, "Blue Nocturne," The Nocturnes, San Francisco, California.
2006, Presenter, "The Rhythm of Mythic Journeys '06," Mythic Imagination Institute, Atlanta,
Georgia.
2001, Juror, "A Little Night Music," TheNocturnes.com, Pacific Media Arts, San Francisco,
California.
1998, Guest Lecturer on Sepia and Selenium Toning, Photography Program, University of
Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.

Representatives:

Baker + Hesseldenz, Tucson, Arizona.
Fezziwig Press, Tucson, Arizona.

 

Image: "Callanish With A Plastic Brownie 127 Camera, Isles of Lewis and Harris, Scotland" (c) 2016 Stu Jenks.

Dear President Barack Obama, and First Lady Michelle Obama...

Below is a cover letter I sent to The White House with a handbound copy of my new book Victor Mothershead: U.S. Secret Service. Some of you will like this. Some of you will think I'm naive. Some of you will hate this letter. Do me a favor. Keep your negative internet opinions to yourself. I'm a sensitive soul who hurts easily, and when I get hurt, I get mad or sad. I'd prefer to just feel happy about sending a nice note to a President I voted for twice. If you want to talk politics with me in person or on the phone, great, but don't type shit to me, all right? All right. Enjoy the letter. Or not.

Dear President Barack Obama, and First Lady Michelle Obama and First Daughters Sasha and Malia Obama,

Enclosed is the fourth book in my Step Zero series in which I write about The United States in the years 2079-2080. In this and in previous books, I created a fictional character named Sasha Obama Fulbright. I’m simply honoring the good work you and Michelle have done for our country, by making that character, a tough, sweet, elder, female President who has helped America also return from very tough times. I’m not crazy nor dangerous or anything. I’m just a writer and an artist with a good imagination. Hope you like the book.

Thanks again for the thank-you note and the lovely photo of you all and the girls, that you sent a few years back when you received the first book. (By the way, Mr. President, you make a brief appearance in the first book, Step Zero, as a loving ghost. Just saying.) The photo and note are framed in my house and are one of my most priced possessions.

Maybe in 2017 you might be able to read this book, after you leave office, but it’s not a big thing if you don’t. What is a big thing is the true and loyal service you have given to our country. I too believe, like you, that change is incremental, that justice and progress often happen slowly. But you have done much, Mister President, to kick the can of American Goodness down the road. Thank you for that.

I’ll miss you a lot, Barack, come January. I think Hillary will be a fine President, but frankly, she can’t tell a joke as well as you. She just doesn’t have your timing.

Much love and thanks again for all you have done.

Sincerely,

 

Stu Jenks
P.O.Box 161
Tucson, Arizona 85702
[email protected]

 

All photos by Stu Jenks (c) 2016. Top photo is a kaleidoscope image taken in front of The White House. Bottom photo was taken off my TV of the President crying after another mass shooting, in which children were killed. Again.

Book design of Victor Mothershead: U.S. Secret Service by Gail Cross of Desert Isle Designs in Mesa, Arizona.

New low $0.99, $1.99 & $2.99 prices on all e-books and audiobooks from Stu Jenks' Fezziwig Press

All my e-books are available on Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Bookbaby.com and many other digital providers. (Links below go only to my Amazon Kindle pages.)

Audiobooks at the new low prices are only available on CDbaby at this time. (Links below go only to my CDbaby pages. Hopefully iTunes and Amazon will soon update their prices.)

 

E-Books at Amazon.com:

Flame Spirals: Journeys Through Nocturnal Photography: $0.99

Dementia Blues: $2.99

The Transpersonal Papers (1861-2010): $1.99

Pamela’s Baby Rocking Chair: The Deaths of Pamela and Mary Jenks: $2.99

Step Zero: A Sober Love Story in 2076: $1.99

Air & Gravity: Book Two In The Step Zero Series: $2.99

Balthazar & Zeeba: A Christmas Novella: $1.99

A Rolodex Of Haikus by Tunafish Smith, found by Stu Jenks: $0.99

Victor Mothershead: U.S. Secret Service: $2.99

 

Audiobooks at CDBaby.com:

 

Hoop Dancing: More Journeys Through Nocturnal Photography: $2.99

Pamela’s Baby Rocking Chair: The Deaths of Pamela and Mary Jenks: $2.99

Balthazar & Zeeba: A Christmas Novella: $2.99

 

Thanks for reading and listening to my books and buying my stuff. It puts gasoline in my tank, a roof over my head and a smile on my face.

 

   

"...a great adventure story that takes place in a very plausible future."

Below is a very kind review by David Moyer of my first novel "Step Zero." Book four of this series, "Victor Mothershead: U.S. Secret Service" will be coming out in early July of 2016. "Step Zero" is now available at a new low price of $1.99 on the Amazon Kindle and Apple iBooks. Book two, "Air & Gravity" is now $2.99. Book three, "Balthazar & Zeeba" is also $1.99.

Start at the beginning is what I say.

 

"I wasn't sure at first if a book heavily influenced by and full of references to the 12 step program would be to my liking, but to my surprise, it added to, rather than detracting from the story. Stu Jenks has written a great adventure story that takes place in a very plausible future, and he has made it very intimate by bringing you all of the characters in the first person. I felt that I knew and empathized with his characters, even those I didn't like. I highly recommend this book and look forward to reading the sequel." - David Moyer.

"My Name is Peter Saum."

(Early uncorrected proof pages from my novel, Step Zero: The Special Illustrated Edition. You can buy the final hardbound book at the above link and it's also available as an un-illustrated e-book, wherever those are sold.(c) 2016 Stu Jenks.

Expect more excerpts of my fiction as well as my non-fiction throughout 2016. And of course, pretty pics too.

Also, the final book of the Step Zero series is completed. GGATI: God, Goddess, All There Is has been to my editorial readers and editors, changes have been made, and it'll soon be in my line editor's and proofreader's hands. Then it on to my book designer Gail and my book printer and distributor Ingram Lightning Source. (May or may not be an e-book this time. We're still talking about that.) But the good news is the long story arch is done, with some new twists and turns in this last book. GGATI will be published in late 2016.

But until then, here's a little something from Peter Saum about the state of the world in 2076.

 

 

Peter Saum, Jr.
Friday, Valentine’s Day, 2076: 11:11 p.m.
Near Artie and Georgia’s House
Armory Park Neighborhood
Tucson, Arizona

My name is Peter Saum. I’m an angel. Or a ghost. An angel ghost. It’s hard to explain.

Anyway, I’m dead. Died on the day after Christmas, 2030. I was 76.

Now being an angel ghost has its limitations. I can’t really do anything more than observe and send some of the Love of the Ancestors to my descendants. And of course, I can always shine the Light of God Goddess All There Is on anyone I please. We angel ghosts are kind of like magnifying glasses when it comes to the Light of GGATI. But mostly we just watch and send love to people.
We don’t have to stay angels. We can, at any time, be born again as humans. We choose to be angels and we choose to be humans. We mostly stay angels to help out our family and friends. They taught us in Angel School that the Love and Light we shine on people has a very powerful effect, though it’s hard for us to see at times.

There are two other choices as well. We can travel the universes and visit other peoples or we can simply go to The Great Big Sea. I’ve done my share of traveling but I’ve rarely considered The GBS, even though billions have gone there before me.

I’ve stayed an angel ghost for these 45 years because I was a shitty dad to my son, Trey, and I think if I’m good to my grandson Artie I’ll eventually find forgiveness for what I did and didn’t do with Trey.

I look over at Artie and his girlfriend Georgia’s house. All the lights are out. A lone calico cat with a crooked tail stares at me from the porch of the house.

I just checked on Artie and Georgia a few minutes ago. They were asleep, feet entwined, bodies spooning. Artie on the outside, Georgia on the inside of the spoon. My guess is they had sex before I arrived. I don’t watch that, of course, but I know that they have wonderful, powerful sex from what they tell their friends. A lot of people have great sex now. One of the good changes in the world in 2076.

I didn’t stay long tonight. Just a brief look. They were so damned cute.

Artie’s thinking about something. Something big. I don’t know exactly what, but I have this feeling that something’s going to happen. I’m going to spend a little more time with my grandson in the coming days and weeks. He might need an extra bit of Love and Light.

I can’t read thoughts. No angel ghost can. God Goddess All There Is can. Listening is what He She It does. Does a good job of it, too.

I can’t predict the future or travel to the past, but I can be anywhere I want in the present.

The calico jumps off Artie’s front porch and runs up to me.

“Meeeoow!” she yells.

“Hey, Cat,” I say.

I’m invisible to everyone except cats. Cats love and hate us angel ghosts. They’re cats. I forget what Georgia’s cat’s name is. I just call her ‘Cat.’ She always gives me that Robert Di Niro, Taxi Driver, “You talkin’ to me?” look.

“What?” I say to Cat.

“Meow,” she says.

“Yeah, Meow,” I say.

 

I miss my Trey tonight.

Everything changed on January 6th, 2060, Epiphany in the Christian calendar.

The United States and the European Union had been occupying most of the Middle East since 2054. They called it “The Oil Wars” but very little fighting had occurred in five years. Sure, the Saudi Royal Family’s mass assassinations started the whole thing, but after that it was just a couple hundred thousand troops from the West, stationed around oil reserves, insuring the continued flow of crude to Europe and to the U.S.A.

On January 6th at 6:16 p.m. Riyadh time, 10:16 a.m, Tucson time, a nuclear device was detonated in the Ghawar oil fields on the Arabian Peninsula. Two minutes later another bomb ignited in the Ahwaz fields in Iran. Five minutes after that, a bomb in Kirkuk, Iraq. Then bomb four in Zakum, United Arab Emirates, bomb five in Fahud, Omar, bomb six in Dukhan, Qatar. And the last bomb, bomb number seven, in Burgan oil complex in Kuwait.

All seven bombs detonated within a period of fifteen minutes.

In those few minutes most of the world’s oil reserves were irradiated, and much of the Arab world became a plane of glass.

The seven bombs—called the Seven Sisters by the European Muslim extremists who took credit for the bombings—were not large nuclear devices. They were old Soviet Union bombs that had been found a few years before in an underground bunker in Uzbekistan. All seven were the size of foot lockers.

The blast radii of the bombs were relatively small. It was the radiation that killed the oil. And the people.

An estimated 50,000 people died the first day. Millions in the coming weeks. Billions after that.

All of America and much of the world stayed close to their TVs for days after the Epiphany Bombings, hungry for news of just how bad it was. Most Americans didn’t go to work for a week.

The price of crude oil jumped from USD $200 per barrel to USD $500 a barrel in a day and never looked back. Price at the pump went from $12.00 a gallon on January 5th, 2060, the day before the Epiphany Bombings, to over $5,000 for a gallon of gasoline in the summer of 2060.

The New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ closed for three days, reopened, and lost 50% of their value in the next five days. They never recovered.

The price of food skyrocketed. Most food in America was produced with the help of tractors and other machinery and shipped by trucks. By the time the U.S. Congress voted in price controls it was already too late.

By Christmas of 2060 the world economy had been completely leveled.

The television news kept us in touch with the world outside Tucson. After the first six months many people just stopped watching TV altogether, while others never left the house, perpetually glued to the tube.

Attendance at churches grew. Drinking and drug use increased. Robberies and thefts escalated. Many died from malnutrition, both in the U.S. and worldwide. More died of suicide, murder, and drug and alcohol overdoses.

By the summer of 2061 everyone was hungry. An estimated three billion people had died worldwide. Many didn’t think it could get worse.

Then it did.

On the night of August 15th, 2061, the U.S. power grid failed.

All analog electric clocks in America read 8:20 for the next forty-one days and nights. Digital clocks went blank, along with everything else.

The lights came back on in Tucson at 11:17 a.m., September 26th, 2061.

Many didn’t even notice the power was back on.

Most of the country died in those forty-one days and nights. Americans didn’t do well without lights, TV or power.

The population of the United States went from 440 million at the start of 2060 to under 55 million by the end of 2061, roughly the same as it was in 1880. World population dropped to under a billion.

We angel ghosts saw it all, everything that happened during the 41 Nights. We don’t like to talk about it. No one does, human or angel ghost.

I’m just grateful that Artie, Georgia, Martha, and Char survived.

Trey didn’t. Trey died on the first day.

Artie was seven years old when his daddy died. He was living with his mother Martha here in Tucson when the world changed.

I haven’t seen Trey over here on my side of things at all. Maybe he went right back to being a human after he died, or maybe he’s a drop in The Great Big Sea. I don’t know. I would love to talk with him or see who he is today. I would love to feel some forgiveness. I know it’s supposed to come from within and all that, and I know God Goddess All There Is loves me no matter what, but I still feel so much shame and guilt.

Though I’m an angel ghost, it doesn’t mean I don’t feel shitty from time to time. A lot of the time.

I feel pretty crappy right now.

I know my son’s dying wasn’t my fault, but what I did or didn’t do before his death and before mine is my responsibility. It is my fault.

I wish I could tell him how sorry I am. I wish I could make it right between us, but I can’t. He’s dead. Traveling or reborn or swimming. Maybe I can partially make it right by being here for my grandson, Artie, and for his family, for his loved ones, for his friends. It’s all I can think to do.

I could really use a good cry. I cried easily while I lived. Not now. Angel ghosts can’t cry. Not much anyway. When we cry it’s always a surprise.

Guess I’ll have to go back to being human in order to get the gift of tears on a regular basis.

I look down at my feet and Cat’s still there, rubbing up against my ghost leg.

“Hey, Cat,” I say.

“Meow,” she says.

I hear the front door of Artie’s house creak open. Out walks my grandson, ukelele in hand. He has a hard time sleeping. He sits on the three steps that lead to the front sidewalk. He tunes his uke and begins to sing. I know this song. A song of war from when I was alive.

“Well I recall his parting words,” he sings softly. “Must I accept his fate or take myself far from this place? I thought I heard a black bell toll. A little bird did sing. Man has no choice when he wants everything.”

“We'll rise above the scarlet tide,” he sings, “that trickles down through the mountain, and separates the widow from the bride.”
A glow begins where my heart used to beat. Where God Goddess All There Is comes through me. I don’t need to send Love and Light. It just happens.

“Man goes beyond his own decision,” Artie sings. “Gets caught up in the mechanism of swindlers who act like kings, and brokers who break everything. The dark of night was swiftly fading, close to the dawn of day. Why would I want him just to lose him again?”

I sing the chorus with Artie this time, harmonizing with his lovely voice. He doesn’t hear me but I hear him.

“We'll rise above the scarlet tide,” we both sing, “that trickles down through the mountain, and separates the widow from the bride. We’ll rise above the scarlet tide, that trickles down through the mountain, and separates the widow from the bride.”

Cat rubs my leg again.

“Meow,” I say to her.

She doesn’t meow. Just rubs my leg again.

 

 

 

"Right Mitten In Snow Fog"

"Right Mitten In Snow Fog, Monument Valley, Arizona/Utah Border" (c) 2016 Stu Jenks.

Fezziwig Press News: The first draft of the final book of the Step Zero series, God Goddess All There Is, was completed last night. Editing, proofing, production to come. We are pushing for a July 2016 release date.

I have some ideas for a new music album. Nothing recorded yet. Just playing and thinking. Mostly playing.

And a piece of mine has been selected in next month's Tohono Chul In Full Bloom show and I'm greatly honored to have been invited to be part of the Tucson Museum of Art's Into The Night show. In Full Bloom opens on February 19th, Into The Night opens on February 26th.

The image above was taken on a rare dawn when the basin of Monument Valley was completed shrouded in fog. Rare for me at least. Probably not rare to the Navajos who live there. And it was that purple that morning.

And as always, all images on this blog are for sale, either as fine art prints or as files for image rights. Just contact me at [email protected] for prices.

That's all for now. Thanks everyone for your continuing support.

Stay warm and give love. Stu.

 

Balthazar And Zeeba is for sale now. A great read for the holidays.

Balthazar and Zeeba: A Christmas Novella is now for sale in all three formats; hardbound book, e-book and audiobook. It's an all-ages book. No sex or profanity. Most kids and parents will be fine with it. It's a Christmas book, don't you know. The story is set in the Step Zero world, but it is a stand-alone book, namely you need not have read any of the other Step Zero books to enjoy this one. A book you can enjoy year round as well as during Yuletide.

If you want to order the book-book, you can go to the Fezziwig Press store and order it that way, If you are in the Tucson area, you can always come by my studio and buy the book directly from me there. And copies are available for sale at Tucson Touch Therapies at Pima and Country Club.

Balthazar and Zeeba is available as an ebook, and as a three-hour audiobook too. The e-book is available at the Apple iBooks store, at the Barnes and Noble Nook store, and at the Amazon Kindle store. The audiobook is available at Amazon, on iTunes, and at CDBaby.You can listen to samples of the audiobooks on these sites before you buy. (Prices vary. CDBaby is the cheapest, Amazon and Apple the most expensive.) I had a blast recording the audiobook. It's not often I get to mimic an Eastern North Carolina accent.

So push those buttons, type those words and we'll get Balthazar and Zeeba: A Christmas Novella the hardbound book to you in a couple of days. And you can buy the e-book and the audiobook immediately online where ever those products are sold. And thanks again for supporting Fezziwig Press.

Love, light, and luck,

Stu.

P.S. Special hidden offer at the bottom of the post for 2015: Contact Fezziwig Press directly at [email protected] and we will send you a free epub and pdf of Baltazar and Zeeba via email. And thanks for reading y'all.

To buy "Balthazar & Zeeba", "A Rolodex of Haikus" and other books directly from me, click on the big blue button below.

Stu Jenks' Fezziwig Press