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Timothy Hicks Biography

My name is Timothy Hicks, and I've been writing for 5 years now, since I was 13. My main hobbies include writing, playing my piano, origami and bicycling.

I'm a bit OCD about some things and some would refer to me as a nervous pacer. I like to do outdoor activities, but at the same enjoy my alone time where I can sit and write. I'm a very avid reader and enjoy several different genres: horror, science-fiction, fantasy, and mysteries such as Sherlock Holmes.

I've had several different jobs including shakerboarder, pizza-make and cotton candy maker-and-distributor.

I like to think of myself as someone that can fit into almost any crowd and I always try to stay on the bright side of things. I swear very little and hardly ever get mad at people. I believe spreading smiles is a much better practice than sharing negativity...

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At the Mountains of Madness - Concluded

Blog Posted by Timothy Hicks: 5/24/2016 3:45:00 PM

What is madness?

Is it love? Is it poetry? The state of society? Risking your life for a thrill? Insomnia? Mythological mania? Or just the old fashioned mental asylum kind.

What is poetry?

Is it rhyme? Is it narrative? Is it abstract like a van Goh painting, or lucid like a mountain lake?

Well according to you, my friends, it all of that and more. I would like to thank you all for participating in my very strange contest prompt. For me it was rather maddening to judge this contest. By the time I finally I got it down to 21 poems, I read them over and over again, trying to get the number smaller ... but after several re-reads, I just couldn't do it.

Truly, this was the toughest contest yet for me to judge.

I bet you're all wondering where in the world I came up with the phrase, "At the Mountains of Madness". Well to tell you the truth it wasn't my idea, but actually a short story title by an obscure author in the 30s, H. P. Lovecraft. He was an odd fellow, who popularized the genre, Weird Fiction, and is actually the inspiration for a lot of modern horror authors, like Stephen King, for instance.

In the particular story it was about a research crew heading to Antarctica. They ended up discovering a long lost civilization beyond their comprehension and needless to say ... descened into madness.

What stuck with me so much about the title was that it was simultaneously literal AND figuritive. They were literally climbing icy mountains on their journey, while also getting closer and closer to completely losing their minds ... I thought it would make for an interesting challenge, and I wasn't disappointed. The amount of directions you guys took this blew me away ... tip-toing between the straightforward and the very abstract.

Only two entries actually caught onto my reference to the story: At the Edge of the Precipice and Eldritch Quest.

Thanks everyone, yet again, for participating! I appreciate your patience with me :)

-Tim

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Karam
Misra

Date: 5/25/2016 12:52:00 AM

And some of the best and most creative horror stories came from the Pan Antholgies. - A must read. (Sun, are you listening?) Thank you for posting the cover of the collection. ~karam~

Karam
Misra

Date: 5/25/2016 12:46:00 AM

I have read most of Lovecraft's weirdness and was impressed by his style and liberal use of archaic words like eldritch, miasma, arcane, phantasmagoria, chimaera, and the like. Your title at once brought up his eponymous short story. At first I thought of writing on a journey through the brain of a Shoggoth, traversing the folds and wrinkles, crossing axions and ganglia and synapses and stuff, but then I thought about being a member of the Miskatonic team, who survives, is found, and stuggles with his deranged mind. And so the narrative. Perhaps Danniken and "Ancient Aliens" could be the next theme. ~karam~

Timothy Hicks
Date: 5/25/2016 1:17:00 AM

He did use a lot of archaic language, with some passages that were actually quite poetic. I think the wordiness could also have something to do with the era he wrote it ... A lot of older literature, I've noticed, tend to drag things out (that or our attention spans have diminished in this modern age ... Lol)

Timothy Hicks
Date: 5/25/2016 1:14:00 AM

A true fan, I see. I've read most of his work, as well, in a collection once. Some stories that stood out to me were The Quest of Iranon, The White Ship, The Color Out of Space, The Outsider, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath ... A lot of memorable ones for sure.

Karam
Misra

Date: 5/25/2016 12:44:00 AM

Firstly, thank you for putting up such a wonderful theme for your contest. And thank you for considering my poem worthy of placement. I was thrilled by the fertile imagination of the winning poems and their novel takes on the theme. Congrats to all of them. .

Timothy Hicks
Date: 5/25/2016 1:06:00 AM

Yes, there was quite of a lot of imagination going on, I must say. Your entry stood out to me as not only being Lovecraftian but one of the few that attempted a narrative.

Sandra
Haight

Date: 5/24/2016 7:21:00 PM

This was a great contest, Timothy. I enjoyed participating and finding a way to address the theme, and I am pleased to get an HM and just be on your list. I read so many fine poems, and I can see how difficult judging was for you. And, congratulations to all your winners! Sandra

Timothy Hicks
Date: 5/25/2016 1:04:00 AM

Loved to read about your experience at Pike's Peak ... Happy you shared it with me :)

Constance
La France

Date: 5/24/2016 7:13:00 PM

Tim, thanks for a great contest and for my honorable mention, I am indeed honored, and congratulations to all your winners, Contance

Constance La France
Date: 5/25/2016 2:46:00 PM

and sometimes I am like a crazy person, looking for the right words to convey my thoughts, I write something, then NO NO that's not it... thus the madness . . .

Constance La France
Date: 5/25/2016 2:44:00 PM

Tim, judging is very hard... in my poem I wanted to convey what we poets go through to write our poems, for me it is re-write and re-write thus the mountains of paper, reference books and dictionarys pile up around me and I hang there at the end of the poem, like hanging on a cliff, waiting for the perfect ending, I find it and leap off... lol, or something like that...

Timothy Hicks
Date: 5/25/2016 1:01:00 AM

Thanks Constance! These contests are a love-hate situation sometimes .. Love to read awesome poetry, but can be difficult when it comes down to judging.

Andrea
Dietrich

Date: 5/24/2016 6:24:00 PM

It's so interesting to be inspired like you were with that contest theme. Thanks, Tim. I appreciated the inspiration. I remember Lovecraft's name from years ago when I was reading lots of short stories particularly Ray Bradbury, who is brilliant. SciFi is very creative!!!

Timothy Hicks
Date: 5/25/2016 12:59:00 AM

He's definitely a unique author, that's for sure! Not sure if I would call it sci-fi or not ... Sort of a category all it's own.

Timothy Hicks
Date: 5/25/2016 12:55:00 AM

Thanks for stopping Lewis, and for your poem on paragliding. That's what I love about these contests ... So much variety.