The Macabre Modern and Other Morbidities

Award-winning poet Kyla Lee Ward invites you to whistle past the graveyard and get on your dancing shoes! Inspired by the fourteenth century “Danse Macabre” (the Dance of Death), The Macabre Modern transcends time and updates for contemporary readers the allegorical, medieval concept of the universality of death. Defy death with the doctor. Mourn with the soldier. Indulge in the rich, weird traditions of Ancient Egypt and the Victorians, as you trip over the unspeakable at your own front door. Chuckle at the grotesque and the fallible but remember—the last laugh will be on you! With a sharp wit, compelling satire, and fervent, feverish imagination, Ward generates fiendishly compelling vignettes of the human drama, and offers a profound reflection on life. “Have your absinthe glass and your favourite memento mori at hand as you savour this, Ward’s breathtaking new volume of vers fantastique.” Leigh Blackmore, editor Terror Australis. “What a great collection, fantastically illustrated by the author.” Marge Simon, Science Fiction Poetry Association (SFPA) Grand Master. “Kyla Ward’s poetry is accessible, immediate, gripping. And she is bold enough to use traditional rhyme.” Peter Cannon, Senior Reviews Editor Publishers Weekly (New York). “Kyla Lee Ward puts satisfying meat on the Gothic’s bones. A must for aficionados of literary dark verse.” Ann K. Schwader, SFPA Grand Master, Rhysling winner, and HWA Bram Stoker finalist. “With each new work she produces, Kyla Lee Ward makes clear why she should be regarded as one of the preeminent exemplars of contemporary weird poetry.” S. T. Joshi, multiple award-winning literary critic, author I Am Providence, and editor Supernatural Literature of the World.