- Recommended Age Range: 12 and up
- Formats: E-Book, Paperback, Hardcover
- Approx. Length: 111,309 Words, 749 Pages
- Volume 1 of the Darkverse series.
- Interior: Black & White
- Dimensions: 8.5″ x 11″
- Trade Paperback ISBN: 9781644750360
- Hardcover Case Laminate ISBN: 9781644750377
A rich gathering of poetry with a dismal twilight atmosphere, a brooding nature, an eerie tone . . . Darkverse: The Shadow Hours encompasses such pieces written by Lori R. Lopez between 2009 and 2017, collected in three of her Poetic Reflections volumes along with humorous and serious verse. This ample compendium allows a more focused reading experience and mood — presenting poems that share speculative themes, flashes of horror, glimpses of madness.
Author of The Dark Mister Snark, The Strange Tail Of Oddzilla, Leery Lane, Monstrosities, An Ill Wind Blows, and The Fairy Fly among other tales, Lori has been called a storyteller, whether composing verse or prose.
The aim of her Darkverse series is to offer a chilling trek through unlit stretches where all manner of creeps and kooks may lurk; where graveyards and bogs and full-moons abound. The pages of The Shadow Hours illuminate those morbid uncanny perils and dreads that inhabit drab corners, the known and unknown terrors of the night. Vivid and distinct, her voice echoes our worst fears then delves beyond, exposing hitherto unimaginable frights.
Prepare to confront a motley array of ghouls and menaces that might just move under your bed!
Darkverse: The Shadow Hours is an Elgin Award Nominee and a 2018 Kindle Book Awards Poetry Finalist. This Illustrated Edition features a plenteous array of quirky art by the author.
Samples
“Snug within my sanctuaries, my havens of light,
the retreats where I feel most sheltered . . . Safe
inside a fortress of invisible armor and courage,
I vainly endeavor to outwait the storms of the dark.”
Tonight they slither forth and slink, or stomp and growl
And prowl the mead, the woods, the vales and coves . . .
~ from Once Upon A Monster Moon
But during
The New Moon’s dearth of light, on the eventide
Of a Solar Eclipse, these bottomdwellers shall awake
And parade with roars or sobs until the morning when
All accursed must retreat to their den of dismissal.
~ from Once Upon A Monster Moon
Deep in a vale where the Moon never shined
Lived a scurrilous sort whose stone heart was unkind
For he kept in his dungeon all manner of birds
In a darkness so dreary, there are no better words
~ from The Silence Of The Birds
Darkverse
Snug within my sanctuaries, my havens of light,
the retreats where I feel most sheltered . . . Safe
inside a fortress of invisible armor and courage,
I vainly endeavor to outwait the storms of the dark.
There is no vanquishing its deep desolate expanse,
which spreads in waves across the wilderness of
Cosmic Space. We may burn a candle, a torch
to hold it at bay — keep its borders at a distance.
Yet that is merely a temporary fix, for we know
it does not depart. Ever around us, never
diminished. Only light can provide the illusion
of security amidst the eternity that engulfs us.
A Darkverse lies behind each glim, present in
every hour, no matter what time the clock tolls,
what numerals it directs our eyes to believe, like
the nimble hands of a magician fabricating myths.
We accept the fable of day, of sun and warmth,
when the brightness is but starlight and we exist
in a perennial veil of cold stark night. We are
fools to think otherwise. Fools who dream.
Whether asleep or awake, our condition is a state
of perpetual fantasy, reverie, misapprehension.
A mirage; a figment of the realm that surrounds us
each moment of life or death like burial, a shroud.
Darkverse
Shadow Hours
grimmest
Midnight Assassins
Nocturnity
Lorna Moon
Haunted House
shadows
The Darkest Hours
Sundown’s Curse
Nobody There
That Step
The Human Beast
a reckoning
A Lost Cause
Memory Lane
Old Moments
Insight
Moon Song
The Experiment
Shiftings
Dark
Sounds
safe
the calm after the storm
Reverie
once upon a monster moon
one step too far
burying the hatchet
Torchlight
Mirror Image
The Glass Looking Back
The Beholder
Hell’s Corner
Chocolate-Covered Eyes
Eyeteeth
the cellar
tumult
That Which Scares Us
The Midnight Chorus
Frightfest
the writer’s demise
phantastic
digging up my beloved
Wraith
Leery Lane
Forty-Nine
Sarcophagus
Unscheduled Stops, Part I
Unscheduled Stops, Part II
faces on a train
The Taking
The Undertaking
Origami Snails
night howls
Keeping It Inside
a random thought
Headslugs
Brain Boil
inconceivable
The Devil Calls
they stalk the night
horror she wrote
A Clown Lament
Revive Me
The Monstrel
The Red Bus
Terror’s Hew
Gallery
Chrysalis
Black Widow
The Black Widow’s Lullabye
Spider’s Mother’s Song
The Grim Nursery Rhyme
Night Terrors
the silence of the birds
The Gracken
Grotesque
the wackadoo
the craze
Unhand Me!
The Grimalkin
druid
Remnant
A Hard Rain
Deadman Tales
graveyard of ghouls
day of the dead
The Box Of Chocolates
belated valentine
Immortal Kiss
a twisted fate
Amaranth
The Woman In The Moon
fog
Dreamcatcher
The Dark
Nightbeast
With The Moon’s Embrace
Through The Woods
tree verse
peace and quiet
Knowing Stares
Lost
Dead and unburied
Drab Specter
Unnamed
Occupant
Occupant Part Two
Halloween Haiku
Apogee
Unhealed Wounds
broken dolls
Troll Doll
carousel
Nightlife
The Gubbagule
a zombie in the closet
Unburying The Dead
A Monstrous Situation
the green-eyed monster
Eulogy
Callous Alice
Black Cat
trickle
The Bed Bugs
Who’s Afraid Of The Big, The Bad?
More Trick Than Treat
House Of Chocolate
The Queen Of Hats
Death’s Cream
The Problem
The Glowers
the root of all fear
The Agony, The Anguish
Warnings
A Sympathy Note
Coastal
California Dreams
The Mud Slid
Someone
Clan Destiny
out of sorts
envious
Cross-Stitches
Squishy Parts
a ruined heart
demons
quantum
the voice
gothic
the artist
american gothic
disturbed
Route Thirteen
D-Day
Comatose Joe
Horror Haiku
dubious certainties
the bleeding heart
the massacre
The Boggart
The Wretch
Choosing Sides
Horror Haiku Too
Headless
The Late Tour
The Gondolier
The Shudders
More Horror Haiku
The Horror
Morbidus
Banshee
This Thing I Fear
More Horror Haiku Too
stone cold
Persons Unknown
Offen Times
Bag Of Meat
Drive-Thru
Down A Dark Road To Death
backseat driver
madmen and monsters
Fear Itself
The Ancient Mariner’s Ballad
Coast Of Gold
blood on the moon
A Good Thing
blue moon
in the midst of moss
undead
Meeting A Horror Author
the brightness of dull
horror story
happy endings
No Fairytale Ending
the deep dark woods
urban gothic
ghost toast
Crime Scene Footage
Bio-Hazard
The Sadness
The Bookworm’s Unliteral Literary Sonnet
to dream of nothing
dreamtides
valentine
The Hopeless Romantic
The Ballad Of Grim Garrett
Clubfoot
The Macabre
birds of night
ravens and crows
The Corn God
Bonefield
old ghost
apocalypse
one day it rained
drops
Such Things Befall
Cryptozoan
ode to monsters
Shrunken Heads
screaming pumpkins
The Negative Side
Dark Christmas
Good Will
America-Dot-Com
Breakfast
circus spirit
The Flea Circus
Humbugs
insidiousness
HATE
Past Due
homicidal
urban sprawl
Death’s Viper
Chocolate
something in the light
Rapt Appraisal
Monster Cafe
Retirement
The Bizarrity
The Runover
fearing the worst
Cold Feet
Possible Dust Clouds
harpies and shrews
The Last Nerve
UNHALLOWED
Split Seconds
Videos
Honors & Praise
Nominated for an Elgin Award in Full-Length Books 2018
“Dare you taste this collection, you’ll come back for more. Buy it and keep it handy.”
“A dash of irony, a heaping cup of wit and a pinch of glee are in the mix of Lopez’ diverse recipes for verses, combined with delightful titles such as “Leery Lane”, “Head Slugs”, “Bed Bugs”, “Hell’s Corner” and “Callous Alice”. Dare you taste this collection, you’ll come back for more. Buy it and keep it handy.
“Out of the deepest sleep arisen/crawling from earthen tomb/the corpse in his Sunday Suit/had trekked through a mistful gloom.” -- from “The Box of Chocolates””
Marge Simon, Stoker Award winner, Grand Master Poet of the SFPA
♥
“Darkverse is a collection of beautifully lyrical and narrative poems reminiscent of songs written in longhand, sung in soft whispers, in gentle tongues. I have a great fondness for "DarkVerse", "Shadow Hours", "grimmest", "the calm after the storm", and "one step too far". A joyful, wonderful read!”
Christina Sng, Stoker Award & Elgin Award winner
♥
“The Shadow Hours is the kind of collection that makes readers pause - look up - think - smile - feel - before going in for another. That's awesomeness!
Since its title is Darkverse, #1, there is the hope of more to come. To that, I am looking forward.
I continue to be a fan of Lori R. Lopez. I've not read anything by her I did not enjoy. To call her a poet is insufficient. An artist of great talents ... that gets much closer.”
Tamara Fey Turner
Goodreads Review
♥
“It may be called currently “weird” poetry, but the multi-talented poet Lori R. Lopez displays with such aplomb and skill just how a quality worthy creation of poetry can transcend today over-done tropes of such verse offered up for the general populace while keeping just enough of them with a striking subject matter use that makes it her own and consistent voice that still touches others in a way that connects anew every time one reads the material!”
Frederick J. Mayer, Poet & Editor
♥
“I am a member of the HWA and [I] was sent this to read and review for the new awards. I read it. And recommend it. Why? Cause I enjoyed it. Great work. You have to give credit to artists in their genres.”
Kevin Breaux
Goodreads Review
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A part of Poetic Reflections Project by Lori R. Lopez
