Nine Nights Awake - Softcover

Rimell, Bruce

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1447871804 ISBN 13: 9781447871804

Publisher: Lulu Press Inc, 2023

Synopsis

A nameless young man finds himself wandering half-naked through the frozen wintry Bristol night, when he falls - or is he pushed...? - into the river and is washed out to sea. Arriving lost and exhausted upon a strange island enmisted, he comes to a fortress which holds a lithe, enchanted-but-broken, eternal youth in chains, who tries to kill him. It is only through sharing stories of his life that he is able to avert the youth's wrath at being disturbed, easing his traumatised heart by offering him something no other visitor to this dark place has ever given him: presence, and care. This unearthly mythical narrative becomes the poetic frame story by which Bruce, the nameless wanderer, unfolds his life story in fractured, allegorical and dreamlike ways. We move from migraines and his lived experience as a gay/queer person with ADHD, into visionary experiences that changed the course of his life, the ecstasies of true love, and expressions of his personal philosophies and spiritualities, as well as a curious catalogue of artworks he has created over the years as an artist. As this most unusual of autobiographies unfolds, we move deeper into Bruce's queer/neurodiverse, homoerotic/hyperactive inner world, gliding from one theme to another in a genre-baffling, lilting symphony of images, ultimately uncovering his one true mirror soul with all its fragilities, strengths and wonders. He must try to save his own life as well as the youth's, so they can escape this otherworldly prison together. At once melodious and magic, joyous and tragic, 'Nine Nights Awake' is not for the faint of heart: simultaneously riddlingly absurd, sexually graphic and brutally honest, its mythical wildness might well be the oddest and most eccentric memoir you are ever likely to read!

About this title

About the Author

Bruce Rimell is a British artist, poet musician, and independent researcher. Previous poetic works include 'Ta Sba Balamil Ta Ch'ulel', an illustrated poetic travelogue through the Maya cultural landscapes of Southern Mexico, 'The Fernal Songs', a body of queer, psychedelic and mythical song cycles, and 'Reveries, Dreams, Refractions', a poetic retrospective. His novella 'Hangman Starman', a visionary tale of idiosyncratic self-transformation from darkness to light is also available from early 2023. 'Nine Nights Awake' is his most ambitious poetic work yet: a wild, queer, epic autobiographical work. Forthcoming publications include 'Beeley Far The North', a poetic travelogue from travels in Northern Ireland, and 'Shapes of Shiny Brow', a surreal, semi-autobiographical tribute to the sixth century Welsh poet Taliesin. You can discover his art, and more about his poetry at the website www.biroz.net

Edition details

• Publisher: Lulu Press Inc
• Publication date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1447871804
• ISBN 13: 9781447871804
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 588