Selling laughs! Buy ’em here!
Get a giggle sample!

It’s our big best seller,
Please don’t trample!

I sense a lot of tension.
Things get tragic. True and true.

Did I forget to mention?
Here’s what laughs can do for you –

They give a bounce to your step
And a bubbly soul.

Take in the “Ha Hu Ha” musical
And enjoy a great guffaw miracle!

If you’re laughing
You’re in luck.

They call it priceless
But I’ll take a buck.

Hurt,
Wrongs,
Ugly struggle,
I’ll take them all
And try to juggle
Hope and trouble,
Pop all bubbles!
Give me your worst!
Make it double!
You never know
What’ll grow
From rubble.

Give me more!

Who am I to ask for less?
You want the best?
I’ll take the rest.
At my behest
Give me the mess!
Welcome blessed,
Honored guest
To this our most
Distressing quest.

You save face,
Mine’s got to go!
A leap of faith?
I’ll take a fall from grace!
At least to keep
From running in place.
Just jump! Let’s leap!
Yes, of course the cost is steep!
Price isn’t all!
Prize the fall!
Stop counting sheep
And ride one off
And out of
Dreamless sleep!

I’ll meet you in
The
Noble
Unknown

D
E
E
P.

Drawn by Simon whose art can be found on his Instagram.

(Read Part I, Part II and Part III.)

Some falls are good and this was that,
Koral withstood some true combat
And now she stood a new stone cat.
But what was this? She hissed and spat!
Before her was a rough stone rat,
Who said, “You know not where you’re at.”

Then a purring growl from deeper down
Came ripping through the seething ground –
“Rat abandoned fire, he’s stone aligned.
Now we care for these burning mines.
Against the flaming fates we hold the line.” –
There stood an ancient iron lion.

Lion said, “Rat will help you get along,
Back to the top where you belong.
Keep your faith, you’re young and strong.
Ahead are many teaching wrongs.
Whatever comes, you must keep on.”
And with that, Lion was gone.

One more beast from my book Beasts Without Borders – a bestiary with the illustrations of John Prentiss Benson.

A rare hunter of the plant world, the claptrap is the mature adult form of the venus fly trap.  It can hear a fly buzzing at 300 miles but doesn’t pick up much else, which is fine because it isn’t interested in much else.  It has a very intense focus on flies and the rest of the world is just a fly incubator (though it does thank you for your service).

Beasts Without Borders is a book full of wild beasts wonderfully drawn by John Prentiss Benson and described by me.  I’ve posted a few of the beasts already so you can find the Infinipede, Kaf and Bebruz on this site or go over to Amazon for a preview of the book.  A Kindle version comes free with the purchase of a physical copy.  Enjoy!

Get the book on Amazon now.

This is a beast from an upcoming book – a bestiary with the illustrations of John Prentiss Benson.

Sections of the infinipede have been studied but a full anatomical chart has never been completed.  We just don’t have enough paper.  It once swam in three different oceans at the same time.  Scientists are able to study the same creature simultaneously all across the world.  All of this is to say that it’s really long.

(Read Part I and Part II.)

The draton came, flame burned black and
Stone cats turned back to sand,
Back to dust, a glassy land
Of rats and ash at hand,
So Koral fought her stay command.

She had to help, she had to act,
She ran on rats from back to back,
Flame turned her paws to stone, soot black.
She reached the draton and attacked,
Sparks flew off, an ember cracked,
A blaze blew out of that smokestack.

Fury made fire struck back like lightning.
The draton titan sent Koral flying
Down a rat hole where flame was still rising,
As she fell she felt her skin tightening,
Koral was stone before she stopped sliding.

This is a beast from an upcoming book – a bestiary with the illustrations of John Prentiss Benson.

A wonderfully playful sea beast, the kaf is another large animal that doesn’t fully appreciate how much bigger it is than most creatures.  It wrestles ghost ships and tsunamis for fun.  It is glad to help rescue a sinking boat but will just as often sink one unintentionally.  It’s a good thing it lives in the ocean because the world’s just not built to its size.

(Read Part I here.)

On this day two red suns rose,
One brought dawn, the other flows
Of molten minded flaming foes
Who tore up from their volcanoes,
Rats of fire ran in droves
Towards those guardians opposed.

The stone cats purred and waited
Aware they were absurdly fated
To always be the herd of hated
Hardened wardens there unaided
Against the fire as rats raided.

Koral watched this out of sight,
Stone was chipped, flame burned bright,
Stone need not win but must not lose the fight.
Then a draton (a giant rat that mastered flight)
Bloomed from lava to unite
All the world in heat and light.

This is a beast from an upcoming book – a bestiary with the illustrations of John Prentiss Benson.

The bebruz is known as the king of the beavers and it dreams big, working tirelessly to dam the oceans.  Its greatest success came a few thousand years ago when it succeeded in damming off the Great Lakes of North America from the Atlantic Ocean.  It recruits the smaller true beavers to its work.  However, as they are unaccustomed to the ocean’s strength and impetuousness, they rarely last long before being swept away to distant shores.