Books (Prose & Poetry)by Nicolas D. Sampson
THE NEAPOLITAN ATAVISM AND THE ARCH-TECTONIC GOD
A piece of creative nonfiction that focuses on the city of Naples and the surrounding area to showcase humankind's glorious yet atavistic nature. What compels us to build cities on the foothills of volcanoes? Why do we disregard the looming threat? Are we aware that our belief systems reflect life's brutal, recycling nature? All that, and more, is addressed in this challenging psychogeography piece.
Published in Panorama: The Journal of Travel, Place, and Nature (Issue 9: Borders)
ΟΜΟΡΦΗ Η ΥΦΗΛΙΟΣ (Beautiful, Our World In The Sun)
A poetry collection of loosely interconnected poems that shed light on the subjects of death, grief, rage, the loss of one's purpose, and the merit in picking oneself up and pushing through the obstacles for a fresh start. It involves a journey from the pit of despair to the dawn’s fresh light.
Published by Armos Books (2022)
TOO EARLY FOR BIRDSONG
A poetic journey through Central London, where the nameless narrator experiences the brightness and shadows of the buzzing neighborhoods with nostalgic curiosity.
Published in Panorama: The Journal of Travel, Place, and Nature (Issue 8: Space)
DAWN'S BLOSSOM
Translated from the original Greek, from the poetry collection Όμορφη η Υφήλιος, Dawn's Blossom is a short but poignant poem that has been nominated for the 2024 Best of the Net competition.
Published in Panorama: The Journal of Travel, Place, and Nature (Issue 7: Dawn)
EVER WEST: A Journey Into the Sunset
An immersive piece on what it means to travel across the USA, from east to west. The road, it seems, is forever, the journey synonymous with consciousness. The border yields. We cross over, into the wild, looking ahead, our souls contented, going round not in circles but in knowledge and wisdom.
Published in Panorama: The Journal of Travel, Place, and Nature (Issue 7: Dawn)
SPIN DOCTOR
Spin Doctor specializes in social and cultural issues, as well as politics, economics, history and religion. He started out as a journalist and gained notoriety by writing a treatise on the merits and pitfalls of spiral economics.
Published in Impspired
A DEATH THAT KEEPS KILLING
Heitor, a wealthy man's account manager, is in New York on business from the UK, but the immigration officer at John F. Kennedy International Airport gives him a hard time. Heitor is a veteran traveler, but he's having a hard day and finds it difficult to control himself.
Published in the Hong Kong Review (Vol III, No. 2)
SO WILL THE SCRIBES
A meditation on how legendary cities like Venice and London operate in terms of beauty, disease, and the need to remain relevant in an ever-changing world.
Published in The Hong Kong Review (online edition)
SELF-PARTNERED
Xavier is convinced that marriage and parenthood are institutions that turn people into self-righteous jerks, and that humanity is doomed to repeat its mistakes across generations. His wife, Sandra, is offended by the notion, and so is everyone in town. They confront Xavier, which convinces him that he was right all along.
Published in The Hong Kong Review (Vol II, No. 4)
OFF SCRIPT
Xavier, an author in a small town in upstate New York, lets everyone know what he thinks of their scripted way of life, and has to come to terms with the consequences.
Published in The Hong Kong Review (Vol II, No. 2)
TIMBERWOLF
Eddie is shot dead on the street. The narrator, an old friend from college, attends the funeral, remembering Eddie's standout nature.
Published in American Writers Review 2020 by San Fedele Press
CONNECTION DEGREE THREE
Art is about connections, not differences. Connection Degree Three forges links between unrelated pieces of art – anything from books, film and music – to cast them in a new and exciting light.
Published in Impspired
BARREN
The author addresses the topic of barrenness through the use of sci-fi allegory, which involves the meaning of life, if any, and which examines the brittle complexities of survival on a collapsing Earth and a hostile Mars.
Published in LIT Magazine
BROKEN STATE
Athens, Greece. Day One of what became known as the Age of Wrath...
Published in Nabu Review (Issue 5) by The Paragon Press
APPEARANCES
A limping old tiger faces the mockery of a fierce leopard and an insolent jackal, whose snide remarks add insult to injury, highlighting the extent of the tiger's decline.
Published in Tales of Reverie by The Paragon Press
BLESSED ARE THE WRITERS and other pieces
A collection of mindful, spirited, thought-provoking writing.
Published in Impspired
THE ROAD
The road is plagued by conflict and death. The traveler seeks sweet respite, release, perhaps even meaning. The world is round, the journey long, going in circles.
Published in the poetry collection: The Song Of A Sparrow
I REMEMBER NOW
Memory provides meaning to one's life. But as the years go by and one grows old, memory breaks down.
Published in the short story collection: Memories Of Yesterday
THE WAR OF OUR EVERYDAY LIVES
The greatest wars are fought not on the battlefields, but inside us. The greatest injuries are the ones we inflict on ourselves.
Published in the poetry collection: The Song Of A Sparrow
HOJA AND HIS SHADOW
Orhan Pamuk's novella The White Castle is an introspective yarn about an existential cat-and-mouse game between two stubborn doppelgangers fighting for recognition in 17th-century Ottoman Empire. This essay deconstructs Pamuk's identity-driven novella.
Published in Panorama: Lost
(Quarterly Issue)
UNRESOLVED ISSUES
Paul Aster seeks out psychiatric help, but it turns out his psychiatrist is dealing with some problems of his own.
Published in The Scofield: Issue 2.2
FLAMES AND SHADOWS
Nominated for a 2018 Pushcart Prize for short fiction, Flames And Shadows is the story of a sixteen-year-old metalhead and would-be poet on Christmas holidays in an Alpine village.
Published in Panorama: Seen
(Quarterly Issue)