Michael Simms: My Recent and Forthcoming Books

Dear Vox Populi readers,

Thank you so much for your time and attention to the twice-daily VP posts. It’s a pleasure to bring poetry, fiction, essays, art, and videos to you. VP doesn’t usually include advertisements, but I hope you’ll indulge me for a few moments while I let you know about my recent and forthcoming books. You may purchase them through online retailers or through your local bricks and mortar bookstore.

Bicycles of the Gods: A Divine Comedy (novel)

Madville, $15.96 paper, $9.99 E-book, $0.00 Audiobook

Released Fall, 2022. Available now.

275 pages

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In Bicycles of the Gods, the main character, Jesse, presents an earthly incarnation of Jesus Christ come to earth in the body of a 12-year-old boy in the company of Xavi, who is the earthly incarnation of Shiva, Destroyer of Worlds, also a 12-year-old boy. The pair stand on a hilltop above the city of Los Angeles contemplating how best to destroy it as a precursor to destroying the entire world to rid it of humanity so it can refresh and rebuild. Xavi is ready to get on with the task The Big Guy, God, has assigned them, but Jesse has a problem. He isn’t sure that everyone deserves to be destroyed.

“A playful, provocative, and imaginative discursus, Bicycles of the Gods is an affront to racism, sexism, classism, ageism, and heterosexism as it posits a Divine who will not be captured and used by white supremacists for their own purposes.” — Rev. Dr. Moni McIntyre

“Bicycles of the Gods achieves a roaring finale—no more spoilers will be given here—in which the borders of Earth and the afterlife come down, brave and inevitable sacrifices are made, and much that has been hidden is revealed. Readers, buckle yourselves in for a wild ride.” – Angele Ellis, Cultural Daily

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Nightjar (poems)

Ragged Sky Press, $16.99

Released: Spring, 2021

105 pages

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“These poems […] recall the darkly vatic voice of Brecht’s late lyrics.” Rachel Hadas

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American Ash (poems)

Ragged Sky Press, $16.99

Released: Fall, 2020

85 pages

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“These poems leap, lament, pierce, transcend, delve, witness, praise, and testify to the curative power of poetry.” – Chard DeNiord

“Simply one of the best books I’ve ever read.” – Alexandra Umlas, Cultural Daily

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The Green Mage (Volume One in The Talon Trilogy)

YA Fiction

Forthcoming: March 31, 2023

313 pages

Pre-order from Amazon

Norbert Oldfoot is a simple mage who makes his living traveling the Bekla River Road, selling trade goods, performing healing magic, and singing traditional songs of heroes. He becomes friends with Kerttu, a coppersmith who has developed a new alloy which is perfect for manufacturing swords. When Kerttu is kidnapped by the evil Wizard Ludek, Kerttu’s teenage daughter Tessia, a skilled hunter, recruits three friends, including Norbert, and sets out on a quest to find a legendary dragon who lives in the mountains. With the help of the dragon, Tessia plans to save her father. Little do they know that in order to save Kerttu, they will first have to save the kingdom.

“Whether Michael Simms is writing a personal essay about growing up with autism or poems about our dying planet, a bar fight, or the mystery of a hummingbird’s radiance, he is a master storyteller whose narratives hold memorable moments full of fresh and telling details that unlock the heart.” — Peter Makuck

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Copyright 2022 Michael Simms