In the Shadows is a result of prolonged turmoil over a much larger manuscript that was cursed by a stealth magus with ill intent masquerading as a friendly critic. The larger manuscript — The Book of Uncertain — A Hyperbiographical Users Manual, Volume One — was four years in the writing. After it was cursed, it hibernated in a drawer for over a year before being dragged into the light and dismantled for parts. Several other versions of the material were composed and rejected. Finally a new volume — Uncertain Remains — materialized consisting of some reworked parts of The Book of Uncertain, now bearing wholly new meaning, and new work written in the interim, tho it still suffered from the restriction imposed by the original curse. Then a Magic Queen found me, and looking at both books, unbound them from their curse, freeing the waters and declaring both volumes, significantly different but bearing eery similarities, suitable for the world, where they now await publication. In the Shadows is yet a third volume consisting of work derived from both and bearing its own abbreviated significance.
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Michael Boughn has spent much of his adult life straddling borders, leading to a lack of determinable national identity. He has published numerous books of poetry in both Canada and the US. Cosmographia—A Post-Lucretian Faux Micro-Epic (Book Thug, 2011) was short-listed for the Governor General’s Award for Poetry, leading one Canadian commentator in the Globe and Mail to describe him as “an obscure, veteran poet with a history of being overlooked by the mainstream.” Le plus ça change . . . Both a Book of Uncertain and Uncertain Remains are forthcoming in 2022 from Spuyten Duyvil (New York) and BlazeVox (Buffalo). A collection of essays — Measure’s Measures — Literary Assays — is also due out from Station Hill Press (Barrytown, NY) this spring. From 2014 to 2018 he audited the online turmoil called Dispatches from the Poetry Wars with co-conspirator, Kent Johnson.
