Published
Bee | Tea | Full
I write be-
-cause I love see-
-ing the world as one
body of words we
write on the fly:
beautiful.
Books
Afterness: Literature from the New Transnational Asia
Edited by Rebekah Chan, Gregg Schroeder, Jenn Chan Lyman, Quenntis Ashby, Amanda Webster
Poetry and fiction, memoir and lyrical essay: Afterness showcases the perspectives of 65 writers whose lives are based in or touch upon Asia; all are graduates of the City University of Hong Kong Master of Fine Arts programme, started by author Xu Xi in 2010 and closed by the university after five years to the highly-publicized dismay of the international literary community. The anthology is a university-funded legacy project for the programme unveiled at the Hong Kong International Literary Festival.
More on Afterness can be found at www.facebook.com/AfternessAnthology.
Door-to-Door II: A collection of closet poems and prose
Edited by Quenntis Ashby, Karla Delgado, and Blaire Reeve
As Poetry Editor I ‘specifically’ asked for submissions of: Poetry using “rooftop language” (whatever that means to you) – any style/form is fine.
All submissions were published without specific attribution, creating a brief anonymity within each genre.
Door-to-Door: A collection of 31 (snapped shut) closet poems
Edited by Quenntis Ashby
Marilyn Chin inadvertently sparked off the idea for Door-to-door when she observed in passing, “Every writer’s got a few closet poems rattling around.” A ‘closet poet’ is a writer who hides poetry in the closet claiming, “I don’t write poetry,” when the truth is more likely, “I do write poems, but… shhh!”
I asked for submissions of: Anything about doors, closets, exits, entrances, traveling, The Doors, whatever you interpret door-to-door to mean.
Stories
The Hunchback and the Bearded Lady (excerpt)
They met and fell in love almost immediately. She didn’t see the hump on his back. He didn’t notice her hairy double chin.
She read his wrinkles of age as a clear indication of his experience and wisdom. He read her moles and pockmarked face as beautiful constellations.
They found the beauty in each other.
And married.
On their honeymoon, they entered the forest.
On horseback.
And never left.
They found the stairs in a clearing they chanced upon. Climbing each step upwards together, they discussed their dream life; a large family, a beautiful house, a canary singing in a cage, servants to make the living of their lives easier.
(end of excerpt)
Lady Silkworm Samurai: Cadenza for a Lady Caterpillar on a Leaf
(excerpt)
The leaf of truth trembled in fear, for the smooth Lady approached with clicking mandibles and a voracious appetite. Her sixteen legs marched onwards, and over onto the shaking leaf.
They stopped dead center. Six true legs raised up in salutation.
“Have mercy!”
“Fear not, truthful leaf, I come not to devour your delicious life just yet, I come to seek the truth.”
“Speak on, my Lady,” pulsed the veins decorating the green leaf.
“I seek true knowledge of my purpose in this place.” Ten prolegs remained suctioned in place as the leaf stopped to ponder this strange request.
Air gently hissed in and out of the Lady’s spiracles for a full day and a night. Truth could not be rushed.
(end of excerpt)
into the desert of breaking things without pause for concern
(excerpt)
a prayer and a message for the old and the new – to be repeated upon waking from whatever dreams or nightmares still haunt us taunt us rejecting our efforts to remember
with words worming warming – sorry, warning – with words worming a warning of halt! stop! desist! into your mind the mind our mind the collective mind of humanity stuck out here in this godforsaken place called home – sorry, warning – settlement, not home, settlement – stuck out here in this godforbidden settlement on the other side the dark side the side we never ever ever see; of the moon, yes, our crumbling cracked moon some 384,403 kilometers from oily mother earth – our former home spewing fumes and fumigations of smoky hell – furnace furniture on special for all the unlucky survivors living in terror and fear and the slow suffocating death of the oxygen the inability to breathe sulfurous smoke the inability to convert CO2 back to O2 the inability to tip the point back the other way
(end of excerpt)
Click into the desert of breaking things without pause for concern to read the full story for free on eightcuts (2010).
into the desert of breaking things without pause for concern
Quenntis – post-apocalyptic prayer and warning message for those haunted and taunted by their casual disregard of our beautiful, wee, blue planet, of its structures – physical, natural, political and economical – i.e a call to all of us. This is reminiscent of P.D.James’s ‘Children of Men’ (I loved that book and the movie) – it’s ‘Children of Men’ on the moon, if you like, and what might come next. Clever and entertaining.
The Lake of Swans
(excerpt)
Ah, to sleep with pointed feet aching for Pointe shoes once more, the feel of strong hands on the waist, as the sea of darkened faces whip by to the sound of Tchaikovsky, and applause. Thunder with the lighting of a hot spotlight follows her contortions around the stage to its inevitable climax and apotheosis.
That final bow on bended knee and blistered toes, bloody and numb and swollen tightly into shape.
That old limp back to the dressing room, holding flowers and smiling to cover the tears. A long shower to erase the makeup and ease the exhaustion caused by the last three hours of tiptoe torture.
The sudden interruption on the way home while nodding off at a red light. The stalkers she ignored before can no longer be ignored. They have planned everything according to her routine, a life revolving around the discipline of routine.
(end of excerpt)
Click The Lake of Swans to read the full story for free on eightcuts (2011).
The Lake of Swans
‘The Lake of Swans’ by Quenntis Ashby is, as you might guess, reminiscent of the story of Swan Lake. It’s also no surprise that the author is also a dancer. It is a terrible, brutal tale. The pain of the main character reflects a dancer’s painfully broken body. There is the idealisation of the ballerina character and her objectification. There is pain, fear, torture and death. The powerless woman is then the victim of a bungled rescue. Beauty is a curse and death is a release. There is no happy ending, but there is escape. This is a bleak reflection and reworking of a traditional tale. It is beautifully written and very disturbing.
Poetry
My Reviews
- “Identity is a Constant Negotiation and Struggle for a Self Worth Fighting for” (A Review of Jason Erik Lundberg’s A FICKLE AND RESTLESS WEAPON, Issue 46 of Cha. April 29, 2021)
- “A Profound Sense of Growth” (A Review of Phill Provance’s A PLAN IN CASE OF MORNING, Issue 46 of Cha. August 24, 2020)
My Poems
- “I Never Sang a Hymn for my Mother” (Voice & Verse: Estrangement. Issue 50, November 2019, p.88)
- “Trigger Happy” (Voice & Verse: Extradition. Issue 48, July 2019, p.32)
- “Armed Unrest in the City” (Voice & Verse: Loneliness in the City. Issue 47, May 2019, p.108)
- “Unmanned Triptych” (Voice & Verse: Intercourse and Intertextuality. Issue 45-46, March 2019, p.227)
- “He Made Himself at Home” (Thunkbook One, Joel McCaffery, 2013, p.98)
- “Explicit Numbers” (Thunkbook One, Joel McCaffery, 2013, p.100)
- “Poem for the Left Hand” (Afterness: Literature from the New Transnational Asia, p.24)
- “Bear Weds Rabbit: An Ukiyo-e Fable” (Afterness: Literature from the New Transnational Asia, p.34)
- “Two Facets of Five Facts” (Door-to-Door II, p.25)
- “Sudoku Variations” (Door-to-Door II, p.52)
- “The Lonely Door” (Door-to-Door, p.4)
- “At Dan Ryan’s” (Door-to-Door, p.18)
ThunkBook One: Thunk you’ve seen it all?
…Quenntis Ashby, a multifaceted performer-writer currently based in Greater Taichung… contributes two unnerving items…
Rainbow Time Magazine (Taiwan)
Link to Rainbow Time Magazine (Taiwan)
List of Stories
- A Christmas Nest For Pukpuk
- A Die Adventure
- A Letter to Snake
- Animals in Africa
- Baby’s Beach Day Medicine
- Bear and Rabbit Marry (an Ukiyo-e Fable)
- BFF
- Billy and the Silver Tornado
- Captain Plastic and the 3 Rs
- Dear Snake
- Do As I Say (a BQ22 story)
- Extreme Interviews Online: Madame Tardigrade
- Fearless Felix and his Supersonic Space Jump (Part 1)
- Fearless Felix and his Supersonic Space Jump (Part 2)
- Frisky’s Christmas Wish
- Ginga Ninjas Cut Out for Action
- Goodbye Nian
- Hansel and Gretel Move House
- How the Unicorns Lost Their Horns
- Insect Circus: Antik The Amazing Antlion Tamer
- Insect Circus: Ladybug Juggler
- Invisible Gifts
- Jargon the Firefighting Dragon
- Lizzy the Penguin
- Lucky Dip Derby
- Matt’s Bike
- Missing Ears
- Princess Hairy (Part 1)
- Princess Hairy (Part 2)
- Rainbow Time Radio
- Rainbow Time TV Show Hosts
- Snale the Snail
- Spelling Bee
- St. Patrick’s Day
- Star Racing Cars: The Little Yellow Driver
- Star Racing Cars: The Yellow Mini Race Car
- Star Racing Cars: Yellow, Red, and Blue Race for Real
- Statue Boy
- Taiwan Street Dancers
- Tap Dancing
- Ten Single Fingers
- Ten Toe Foes: Attack of the Toes
- The Belly Button Monster
- The Crossing
- The Fridge Monsters
- The Ghost of BQ22
- The Lie Detector
- The Nose Gnome
- The Story of Pygg
- The Temperature Table
- The Timeline Whistlers (9 parts)
- The Tortoise and the Hair
- The Two Nian Monsters
- Thumb Tales: Incy Wincy Thumb
- Thumb Tales: The Mighty Thumb in Hammer Time
- Time to Doodle
- Toe Foes and Single Fingers
- Word Hunters