Great news, followers and new and constant readers! My poetry collection, Bright Skies, Long Shadows, is finally available on Kindle Unlimited, meaning if you have a subscription, you can read my newest book for free!
It was almost exactly this time last year that I originally released the collection, and it was a wonderful moment for me. It was a deeply personal, raw, bitter-sweet project to work on, and my first book to be self-published. (Hence the growing pains in terms of marketing, original Kindle Unlimited enrolment snafus, etc.) I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the book’s birthday by giving it new life and getting it into the hands of more readers new and old.
The poems (and bonus story within) are an exploration of fatherhood, marital life (before, during and after), life, death, relationships, alienations, the manic highs and bottomless lows as experienced by and viewed from the lens of someone living with bipolar disorder (I.e yours truly). They are deeply candid, honest, savage writings, and I’ve been told by some readers that they were just as heartbreaking to read as I’ve reported they were to write.
But it’s not all doom, gloom, and despair. It’s just real, with no bullshit, a symbol of accepting life on life’s terms, even when you may not want to. Life’s ugly and messy, and the sooner one makes peace with that, the happier or more content one can potentially be. Never was this more apparently to me than when I was creating this book.
Born largely over a two year period, during a time of chaos and turbulent, life-altering events (such as my separation from my wife, all while COVID was going on), Bright Skies, Long Shadows became a totem of hope for me, amidst a burgeoning sense of failure, shame, guilt, anger, heartache and madness. No matter how bad things looked or seemed from the outside, however, the moments of reflection and assessment experienced while writing and later reflecting on the poems as I edited them, I was reminded of all the reasons to stay, to endure through the slings and arrows life was throwing at me.
Writing those poems saved me. And it’s my hope that by sharing the poems in the book, they can – if not save someone – serve as a gentle, artful reminder of the beauty and hope even in those darkest of places. This goes especially for those who might have some other adversary or complications in their lives – passengers beyond their full control affecting every decision, weighing added guilt and shame on their minds and souls, like mental illness or trauma. That was bipolar for me – but writing and compiling this book made me see the wild beauty of myself and love and accept myself in totality, crazy and all.
Now’s a great time to check out the book and help me celebrate its birthday 🥳 I would love for you all to experience it. You can get the book at the link below, and download it for free if you’re a Kindle Unlimited subscriber.
And readers new and old – don’t forget, reviews on Amazon and Goodreads are the breakfast of champions! Only takes a minute or two but makes a huge difference to a writer’s life!
Marcus Turner 
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