Introduction
by ^imperfect

I have always believed that deviantART homes some of the most talented and exciting writers on the internet; people you should watch out for because I am certain you'll see some of these names on the shelves of your local bookstores, and in literary magazines, in the future.

The writers that are reviewed in this article will be well known to the literature community for their quality and talent, but I imagine they'll be unknown to the wider dA community, and it is you that this article is aimed at. This isn't a feature we expect you to read in one sitting, but rather, imagine it to be a magazine that you pick up when you have a spare ten minutes. Bookmark it and come back to it when you fancy reading some quality literature.

I am indebted to =DementdPrncess who designed and created our fantastic UW logo, and the "seniors" in the literature community who gave up their time to help me put together this feature. Please show them a bit of love, too.

Now, grab a cuppa, get comfy, and enter the wondrous world of dA lit.

=shotgunmessiah
featured by: ^imperfect

I wanted to tell you about =shotgunmessiah because he's generally regarded as a bloody good writer. The thing is, he has this nasty habit of storing all the poems of his that I love so much. So I asked my good pal `darkcrescendo to help me out, and he sent me these wise words:

Tim's poetry tends to waft a scent of mildew and dried bone through the nose and mind of the reader, seamlessly melding words and images until one can feel the substance of the poem.

With an impressive mastery of freeverse, metre, and form, Tim is an incredibly talented writer, well able to bring a myriad of poetic devices to bear upon the senses of the reader within a single poem, bringing them to his vision through the power of his words.

He is, however, 'delete-happy', and has disposed of many of the poems that first attracted me to his writing. The git won't put them back in his gallery either. It might be an idea to check out his works before they vanish... again.

=shotgunmessiah (not so) secretly thinks he's one of the best poets on dA I challenge you to pick a poem from his gallery and offer him some critique. He can take it! And just maybe he'll move some of his romantic stuff back on show.

Suggested reading:

Neverland Lost
Gallows Rondel
The Hunt

~StormyPetrol
featured by: `inziladun

There is an equilibrium, in ~StormyPetrol's work, of horror and an almost contradictory purity and tense wonder, even beauty. Even amongst alarming descriptions that time after time make the reader feel like he is jumping out of an airplane full of bats (that sting in the gut), there is a constant acknowledgment of something equally alarming but in a very different way; it's the alarm we feel milliseconds before elation, almost intuitively, upon making a new discovery or indeed creating something new for others to discover. I do not hesitate to compare ~StormyPetrol's language, landscapes and imagery to those of an idol of my own, Ted Hughes; the natural world in all its grizzly glory is reinvented here.

Read on:

The Blindwoman's Cats
Attrition
Winter Wolf
Spring Shower

=saintartaud
featured by: *demonlight

So, maybe you’re into dry farce-comedy. Maybe you’re into science-fiction. Maybe you like children’s fiction. Perhaps you like hints of the grotesque, smatterings of sexual ambiguity and more than a pinch of psychology. Certainly you enjoy good writing; otherwise you wouldn’t be here, so I won’t go on about =saintartaud's succinct, elegant handling of language, her intriguing subjects and her characteristic dark humour, because we can take that as red (read?). A multi-talented artist, =saintartaud works on short comics and images that echo and complement her strong, stark writing. She has been involved in several projects, has contributed to e-zines and has a hand in events closer to home, particularly in accumulating the Top Ten DA Prose Writers list – but don’t let that distract you. Instead I’d encourage you to sample the goods:

Charna
The Other World
Rose Marie Part 1

=vivus
featured by: *carissima82

=vivus has the unfortunate pleasure of being regarded as a "clever" poet. his writing is often considered off-putting, needlessly littered with obscure references, and his typographical structuring is frequently interpreted as gibberish. but if form is integral to meaning, then i cannot merely ask the reader to "look past that" in order to uncover something "more". the difficult and spiky layers that surround his surprisingly simple and eloquent messages are just as important as his poems' literal meanings. the structure of his poetry, jarring and difficult as it is, mirrors the antagonistic complexity of being human, of seeing shapes in smoke and hangmen among the living.

in our desire to cut to the meat we often forget the importance of skin, fluid, and bone.

suggested reading:

Winter
VALLEYandpeak
On reappraisal--
Tetraktys requiem

=brinx-
featured by: *WhoKilledKirov

There is something intensely intimate about =brinx-‘s work. He invites us into his world- we play games on foggy English roads, laze on the bed breathing summer air, and listen to the nighttime hum of arm-in-arm couples and dreams left to slip behind pillows. As readers, we are introduced to soft-spoken characters, moving in modest, elegant orbits through life. There are unexpected moments of the truly sublime, balanced equally with moments of discomfort and heartbreak. Leonard Cohen wrote: "Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash." In learning not only what this poet sees in his world, but also how he sees it, one can fully appreciate every word, every turn of phrase, every smudge of ash.

recommended reading:

Spanish Orchard
Neocalm
Little Louie
Home-sick

=iamafraid
featured by: `sanguru

Originality is the spice of all thing. =iamafraid brings creativity to her pages, dabbling in both poetry and prose and doing great at both. Images flourish, blossoming sweet pictures that strike a chord so beautiful. Her little pieces of prose capture the sweetness of the heart, and her poetry flowers wonderfully upon the page. If you want a little piece of life, look no further than this great artist. My favorite pieces include:

email .one.
this yellow skeleton . . .
untitled 01.19.06
Adam

*boundlessgravity
featured by: =zebrazebrazebra

Not a day goes past without me wondering just what it was in the water where *boundlessgravity was born, because I've never seen so many virtues and talents all assembled in the same place before and surely genetics alone couldn't have pulled it off. Aside from being the incredible poet I first came to know him as, he is also a jawdroppingly skilled visual artist, a gifted singer-songwriter, a slyly talented prosemonkey (who ever thought we could do both?) and home to more personal philosophies and ideas than you could shake a stick at. To read him is just that - to read the soul of him, pure and joyous, humble and unfettered. It says a lot for his skill that I started out writing this summary in a joking vein and ended up such a dubiously spiritual one. Ah, forget it. Go and read!

Some Introductions:

Compliment
Ode to Apples
Notes toward the Fourth
Hootenanny Potters
Eight Kisses

*barnabus
featured by: `fleet21

I watch a great many writers on deviantART and am privy to viewing a great many styles of work, but none are quite so consistently funny, thought provoking and well written as those deviations created by *barnabus.

This is a deviant with a sense of humour so wicked it belongs on an old comedian who's seen and done it all, but can still spin fresh new jokes. One of *barnabus' specialities is his original takes on common ideas and themes - such as pirates, wizards, and existing famous poems.

22 Word Fiction is perhaps my favourite piece of Barnabus' holding 5 entirely self contained stories each measuring in at 22 words.

The Roads, Just Take One is a fantastic take on the famous Robert Frost poem 'The Road Not Taken' altering it in Barnabus' own distinctively humourous voice.

More Reading:

Fate
INTARNET
Bloody Heroes

*jahg:
featured by: *SparrowSong

This week, I'm hosting a guest spot.

*jahg write-up, by *Aladdin-Sane

The first thing that may strike you about *jahg’s poetry is the sense of thoughtfulness that pervades the phrasing. Poems such as ‘Summer’s Girl’ and ‘Watch Me, Always’ are touching and delicate in an uncommon way; it’s clear that he rarely settles for the wholly conventional and his poems often encourage the reader to spend some time considering each aspect. However, this is not to say his poetry is inaccessible; rather, poems such as ‘Awake Under the Blankets’ or ‘8th April, 1973’ touch upon experiences common to us all, and yet in possessing an innocence and lack of decided judgement are pleasing in a way unique to *jahg himself.

Highlights include:

Summer’s Girl
Watch Me, Always
Awake Under the Blankets
8th April, 1973
Empathic Nodding

Unknown Writers - Issue One