West Ambrose
2023 AWARD
NOVEL
SHORT STORIES
POEMS
- INFERNAS
- “And My Maker As My Bride.” (VERUM LITERARY PRESS)
- “Scylla.” (COFFIN BELL)
- “To Pomegranate Seeds.” (LITMORA)
- “St. Sebastian Goes To Confession.” (MOUTHFEEL)
- “The Devil.” (MOTH EATEN)
ELIGIBILITY
Forthcoming Publications
- “Rich Boy.” Cosmic Daffodil Journal: The Seven Deadly Sins. February 1, 2024.
- “93% Cocoa.” Emerge Literary Journal. January 2024.
- “Savior/Brat.” Midsummer Magazine. 2024.
- “The Property Known as E. Bell.” The Afterpast Review. 2024
- Unworship. Chapbook through Naked Cat Lit. 2023.
- “Bobbing For…” Troublemaker Firestarter Volume 5: Terror. 2023
INFERNAS
Dante Alighieri, amateur grifter and recent college graduate, has no plans for the Summer after his senior year, except to finally have sometime off and relax. After several months in New York City, he strikes up a deal with Virgilio “Virgil” Eco Olivares, carefree and semi-well known writer on a visa always almost expiring : a two-week trip to Italy together to find their old bodies to beat those reincarnation blues.
A journey that was meant to be about reconnecting with past lives and recovering what was lost in ancient times suddenly turns to peril. With danger at every corner and turbulent emotions running high, relaxation is quickly thrown out the window. In this satirical work of verse-novel, the trip of a lifetime leads to daunting revelations about Italian-American culture and the Western canon’s perspective of literature, fraught with raising important questions about cultural collectivism and the complicated intersection between race, sexuality, disability, age, and gender identity under Capitalism. While in transit, the important personal questions revolving around both Dante and Virgil’s present lives still persist– a truth that neither is ready to confront:
What does it mean to love someone too late? What does it mean to be you when you don’t live in your own body anymore?
- Contact Oscar at westofcanon@gmail.com for the password to the online copy, no questions asked.
- Print copies are available for sale.
- Read the first few cantos.
AWARDS AND ACCLAIM
- SFPA Poetry Contest: Honorable Mention: “Which I Tell You Speculative Fiction is the Trans Body.”
Past Publications
- “To The Ekphora.” Acropolis Journal, Issue Eight. 2023.
- “And My Maker As My Bride.” Verum Literary Press. November 12 2023
- “Dropping the Handkerchief,”“To The New Chandelier,““…And Timing Makes The Tragedy,”“Dorm Scene Before The Last Act.” Periwinkle Pelican Lit. 2023
- “If Thy Tabor Stands, Scylla.” Coffin Bell Volume 6 Issue 4. October 31, 2023.
- “To Pomegranate Seeds.”Litmora Issue II: SPOOK! October 31, 2023
- “How To Go To A Class On Disability.” ARC Poetry 102. 2023
- “American Gothic Runs On”, “Hamlet + Horatio.” Paranormal with Poets Choice. October 2023
- “Trans!Hamlet”, “0phelia”, “Act III/I”, “To Horatio”, “One Cesario r”, “‘Cesario’ As The Wrong Answer.” Paper Teeth Issue II: A Shakespearean Romp. October 10, 2023.
- “St. Sebastian Goes To Confession.” Mouthfeel. September 26 2023
- “The Scholar’s Prayer.” The Expressionist Literary Magazine. September 23 2023.
- “Siren Song.” Mythological Minison Volume III. August 2023
- “-Ire.” Passionfruit Review 1.2. 2023
- “Greek Tastes,” “Three Rain-Soaked Etudes in Complete, Uninspiring Sunshine.”– Twenty Bellows Literary Journal. August 2023
- “Sebastian,” “Castaway,” “#D4F1F4,” “CELL-EBB-RATION,” “Excerpt: An Essay On The Imagination of Water.” Kelp Journal #9. July 2023
- “Last Wednesday’s Dream.” Tap Into Poetry Magazine #4. June 2023
- “The Devil.” Moth Eaten Magazine. April 2023
- “marigolds/lumbars.” Qwerty Literary Journal, Issue 46. Winter 2023
- “Holy Roller.” Waccamaw Literary Journal. November 2022.
- “Anatomy of a Prince.” Stoneboat Literary Journal. November 2022
- “30CT.” Up The Staircase Quarterly. February 2022.