ICE
Come join us in ICE
You needn’t play nice!
Take out your frustrations
On folks from other nations!
Forget past rebuffs
We’ll give you handcuffs!
Don’t even think twice
Come join us in ICE!
Come join us in ICE
Make them pay the price!
We know that you’re bitter
You said so on twitter
Before it went X —
You might finally have sex!
Is that enough to entice?
Come join us in ICE!
Stephen Brooke ©2025
were I more ambitious I could expand this into a song though I don't normally do topical
Moon and Sun
Born of Sun, Born of Moon,
prophesied by ancient rune;
gold and silver, day and night,
journey now into the light —
Moon and Sun and day begun.
Child of Sun, Child of Moon,
grown tall in the light of noon,
will you choose to name your name,
rising up to make your claim?
Moon and Sun and races won.
Blood of Sun, Blood of Moon,
each tomorrow fades too soon;
promise made and promise broken,
shadowed truths remain unspoken —
Moon and Sun and life be done.
Stephen Brooke ©2025
Written with an eye to plugging it into a fantasy novel, though it needn't be.
Surf
The solid world fades before the fluid
reality each wave holds in its heart;
Escape with us, they whisper. Leave your truths
upon the sand, to wash away as all
such castles will. Yet I shall build anew.
Build until I once again grow weary.
Stephen Brooke ©2025
this is what surfing means to me and why I have no interest in contests and wave pools and such
Programmatic
It’s certainly uncertain
and probably problematic;
undoubtedly quite doubtful,
statistically meaningless static.
Possibly just impossible,
but the doggedly dogmatic
must insist insistently
progress be programmatic.
Stephen Brooke ©2025
playing with words again
A while back I decided to go the Cory Doctorow route with all my books, i.e. make them available as free ebook downloads. These are all at the Arachis Press site (arachispress.com) alongside the print editions — which, of course, I hope some of you will purchase.
But I lose nothing by giving away the ebooks, most of which are offered in both EPUB and PDF format (or at least one of the two). It may be noted I do not, unlike Doctorow, make these available under a Creative Commons license. They remain thoroughly under copyright.
It matters more to me that they are read than that I make some modest revenue from them. Nor do I particularly wish to pass on part of any profit to Amazon or some other corporation. All my completed short stories, whether or not previously published, may also be read for free at my story archive, https://storiesofstephenbrooke.blogspot.com/
Rambling
This old rambling house
rambles on at odd hours,
conversing with the rain
and wind and ghosts of those
who lived here before me.
It whispers nonsense, I know,
murmured memories
I can not share; yet
I listen, try to pick
out a word, a meaning.
And one of these days
I too shall ramble on,
being none the wiser,
understanding nothing,
my house fading to silence.
Stephen Brooke ©2025
Incidentally, the inspiration for this piece came from a Frank Herbert short story titled 'Old Rambling House.' Mostly just the title.
The novel ‘The Eyes of the Wind’ tells of how the Jewels of the Elements were reunited after centuries of separation, but not how each came to be where it was found. It is to be noted each found its way to a location suited to its nature: the Sky Stone in the mountains, the Fire Stone near a volcano, the Earth Stone in the court of a king, and the Sea Stone in the possession of pirates. How each got there has not been explained.
My current novelette-in-progress remedies that for the Sea Stone. It is the tale of how Tes — later renowned as Qala the Pirate Queen — found it and fought for it, carrying it back to Pirate King of the time. As to where it was before, none can say. Unless, to be sure, I write a story about it.
The novelette is titled ‘Storm Stone.’ I should have it fully polished shortly and may post it somewhere. Or save it for a collection or both! I may write more tales of Tes but there are also many other projects requesting my time.
As for the Fire and Sky Stones, we have not explored their whereabouts through those missing centuries. The Earth Stone, however, had long been held by the rulers of Sharsh as an emblem of their dynasty. But I can’t say how they got hold of it originally.
