Coffin Hop hops its last, for now
those kids
spent the night in the museum
new residents
Monday, October 31, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Science Fiction Poetry Association officers & volunteer duties
Compiled & written by David Lee Summers
SFPA Officer and Major Volunteer Positions
President – David Kopaska-Merkel
From the SFPA Constitution: The President will be the Executive Officer of this Association and will have authority to administer its affairs, to call and preside at meetings, to appoint an Editor of the Newsletter or serve in that capacity at the President's discretion. The President may appoint any assistants at any time and delegate any business to them, except as provided for in this Constitution. The President will also have full Editorial authority over the form, contents, and methods of production of the Newsletter.
In addition to the Constitutionally defined duties, the President is generally responsible for assuring that volunteers are in place to conduct the business of the organization and that such business is being conducted in a timely fashion.
Vice President – David Lee Summers
The Vice President is tasked with assisting the President with the execution of their duties as necessary. This includes assuring that volunteers are in place to conduct the organization's business and that such business is being conducted in a timely fashion. In 2012, the Vice President is serving as Rhysling Coordinator.
Secretary – Rich Gombert
From the SFPA Constitution: The Secretary will maintain all records of the Association, will take minutes at any official meetings of the Association, will preserve copies of all issues of the Association's publications and will perform other duties as delegated by the President, including the initiation of the election process and the counting of ballots in any proposal for voting presented to the membership, unless otherwise delegated by the President. Furthermore, the Secretary will preserve copies of all official correspondence relating to the business of the Association and the originals of all ballots from matters voted on by the membership for at least 3 years from the date of such documents and ballots. In the event of the resignation or removal of the President, the Secretary will assume the duties and authority of the President until a new President is elected/ratified in accordance with Article VI of the constitution.
Treasurer – Deborah Flores
From the SFPA Constitution: The Treasurer will maintain all bank accounts and financial records of the Association, will issue payment for material to be published in the Newsletter upon the direction of the Editor, will issue payment for other obligations of the Association at the direction of the President, and will report to the membership on the current financial status of the Association, via the Newsletter, at regular intervals to be established by the President. The treasurer in third in line of succession to the presidency after the secretary.
In addition to the Constitutionally defined duties, the Treasurer is responsible for maintaining the membership rolls.
Star*Line Editor – Marge Simon
Selects original material for Star*Line, the official newsletter of the Science Fiction Poetry Association. This includes, but is not limited to original poetry, reviews, and articles of interest to the membership. Assures that official business, such as calls for elections, are included in the newsletter. Maintains a record of contributor addresses and payments. Calculates and compiles payment records to present to the Treasurer. Assists with proofreading. Serve as liaison with authors when dealing with issues regarding payment or non-receipt of contributor copies. According to the SFPA Constitution, the Star*Line editor is next in line of succession to the presidency after the treasurer.
Star*Line Layout Associate – Robert Frazer
Assists the Star*Line editor by taking the material selected for publication in the newsletter and putting it into the format required by the current print vendor.
Star*Line Production Manager – Deborah P. Kolodji
Delivers the file produced by the Star*Line Layout Associate to the print vendor. Picks up the printed copies of the newsletter and then coordinates the mailing of the newsletter to the membership.
Star*Line Proofreaders
The Star*Line editor may, as needed, request volunteers to help proofread the electronic file produced by the Layout Associate for typographical errors.
Rhysling Chair – David Lunde
Places the call for Rhysling Award Nominations. Receives the nominations and assures their eligibility for the award. Contacts poets for permission to reprint poems in the annual Rhysling Anthology. Assures that the Rhysling Layout Associate receives all material for inclusion in the anthology. Collects and tallies votes for the Rhysling Award and announces the decision to the membership. The Rhysling Chair retains the original ballots for a period of at least 5 years after voting has taken place.
Rhysling Coordinator – David Lee Summers
This is the person with the overall responsibility of making sure the Rhysling Anthology is produced in a timely fashion and the membership has the opportunity to vote on the award. The coordinator is charged with making a list of assignments with deadlines and making sure all volunteers involved with the Rhysling Award and officers have that list. The coordinator is tasked with assuring that all volunteers are in place, including the Rhysling chair, a Layout Associate, a Cover Designer, Proofreaders, an Advertising coordinator to solicit Rhysling Congratulation ads for Star*Line, and a cooperating publisher. The Rhysling Coordinator serves as the point of contact between the officers and those responsible for producing the Rhysling Anthology, tallying votes, and organizing an award ceremony.
Rhysling Layout Associate
Assists the Rhysling Chair by taking the material selected for publication in the Annual Rhysling Anthology and putting it into the format required by the current print vendor.
Rhysling Cover Designer
Identifies cover art suitable to the Rhysling Anthology that meets the requirements of the Officers, Rhysling Chair, and Coordinator. Lays out the cover in a format that is required by the cooperating publisher.
Rhysling Proofreaders
The Rhysling Coordinator may, as needed, request volunteers to help proofread the electronic file produced by the Layout Associate for typographical errors.
Rhysling Publisher – Hadrosaur Productions (David Lee Summers, contact)
The cooperating publisher assures that the electronic files created by the Rhysling Layout Associate and Rhysling Cover Designer meets the requirements of the print vendor. The Publisher is responsible for delivering the files to the print vendor and receiving the final printed copies of the book. Oversees the mailing of the anthology to the membership and contributing authors. The Cooperating Publisher may make the anthology available for sale, providing royalties to SFPA, as negotiated between the Cooperating Publisher and the Officers.
Dwarf Stars Editor/Chair – Joshua Gage
Places the call for Dwarf Star Award Nominations. Receives the nominations and assures their eligibility for the award, then selects those nominated poems that will appear in the anthology. Contacts poets for permission to reprint poems in the annual Dwarf Stars Anthology. Solicits cover art. Compiles anthology, including cover, cover copy, table of contents, anthology contents. Assures that the Dwarf Stars Layout Associate receives all material for inclusion in the anthology in a clear and formatted file. Collects and tallies votes for the Dwarf Stars Award and announces the decision to the membership. The Dwarf Stars Chair retains the original ballots for a period of at least 5 years after voting has taken place.
Advertising Manager
Advertising Manager actively solicits ads for Star*Line and the SFPA website. Works with the Rhysling Coordinator to solicit ads from magazines where Rhyling-nominated works appeared, congratulating Rhysling nominees. Work with the officers to determine advertising rates. Works with the Star*Line editor to determine guidelines for magazine advertising.
PR Representative
PR Representative sends announcements of SFPA publications and activities to appropriate venues, and places ads for SFPA if funds are available, in suitable publications or on suitable sites. Helps members obtain fliers for conventions and poetry events.
Webmaster – F.J. Bergmann
Updates website and forum software as needed. Ensures that web hosting and e-mail addresses are functional, and that paid advertising is up-to-date. Posts announcements, news, and updates for publications and awards, including information about Star*Line, the Rhysling and Dwarf Stars Anthology and Awards. Works with the Halloween Web Page Coordinator to assure that the annual Halloween page is posted and updated. Maintains Eye to the Telescope, SFPA's online journal.
Database Administrator – vacant
(Note: Scott Virtes is listed as the administrator, but hasn't actually done any work related to this for four years, and says his passwords don't work on the current site. Richard Gombert notes that he has a complete Star*Line database as a LibreOffice Spreadsheet) The Database Administrator is charged with building and maintaining an online database of the contents from Star*Line, and the award anthologies. Also, keeps records related to the online contests.
Archivist – Richard Gombert
Collects SFPA produced newsletters, publications, and official documents and maintains an archive of that material that may be accessed by the membership or officers on request.
SFWA Liaison
Responsible for coordinating with Nebula Awards Showcase Editor about the Rhysling/Dwarf Stars awards.
Forum Administrator – Karen A. Romanko
The Administrator is assigned the highest level of control over the SFPA On-Line Forum. The Administrator controls all facets of board operation, including setting permissions, banning users, creating user groups or moderators, etc., dependent upon the board founder and what permissions he or she has given the other administrators. The administrator may also have full moderator capabilities in all forums, depending on the settings put forth by the board founder.
Forum Moderators
Moderators are individuals (or groups of individuals) who look after the forums from day to day. They have the authority to edit or delete posts and lock, unlock, move, delete and split topics in the forum they moderate. Generally, moderators are present to prevent users from going off-topic or posting abusive or offensive material.
Eye to the Telescope Managing Editor
Responsible for lining up guest editors for the webzine.
Membership Welcome Packets – vacant
Receives updates of new memberships from the treasurer. Assembles a small package of material including a welcome letter to be mailed to new members upon joining. Collects such materials with the aid of the Secretary.
Membership Directory Coordinator/Layout – F.J. Bergmann
Collects and updates optional information contained in the SFPA directory that is mailed out periodically to the membership. The optional information includes address, phone number and email.
Online Contest Committee Chair
Works with the officers to develop on-line contests that may be used to promote science fiction poetry and the SFPA. Such contests will be advertised through the SFPA website and the SFPA Social Media Outlets.
Halloween Web Page coordinator – Liz Bennefield
Sends out the call each year for material, including but not limited to audio files of poets reading Halloween-appropriate material, for the SFPA website. Selects material for posting on the site and works with the webmaster to assure that all files are received in a format suitable for posting.
Social Media Chair(s) – Karen A. Romanko (Facebook) and David Vandervort (?) (Twitter)
Posts organization news that may be relevant to the membership and interested non-members to Social Media accounts. As of 2011, those Social Media accounts are hosted on Facebook and Twitter, but this position is allowed to change, depending on what outlets are most relevant at a given time.
Regional Coordinators – vacant
Help set up local speculative poetry events
Convention Coordinator – vacant
Coordinate events at major conventions such as World Fantasy, World Horror, World Science Fiction Convention. Could be a coordinator for each of these.
SFPA Officer and Major Volunteer Positions
President – David Kopaska-Merkel
From the SFPA Constitution: The President will be the Executive Officer of this Association and will have authority to administer its affairs, to call and preside at meetings, to appoint an Editor of the Newsletter or serve in that capacity at the President's discretion. The President may appoint any assistants at any time and delegate any business to them, except as provided for in this Constitution. The President will also have full Editorial authority over the form, contents, and methods of production of the Newsletter.
In addition to the Constitutionally defined duties, the President is generally responsible for assuring that volunteers are in place to conduct the business of the organization and that such business is being conducted in a timely fashion.
Vice President – David Lee Summers
The Vice President is tasked with assisting the President with the execution of their duties as necessary. This includes assuring that volunteers are in place to conduct the organization's business and that such business is being conducted in a timely fashion. In 2012, the Vice President is serving as Rhysling Coordinator.
Secretary – Rich Gombert
From the SFPA Constitution: The Secretary will maintain all records of the Association, will take minutes at any official meetings of the Association, will preserve copies of all issues of the Association's publications and will perform other duties as delegated by the President, including the initiation of the election process and the counting of ballots in any proposal for voting presented to the membership, unless otherwise delegated by the President. Furthermore, the Secretary will preserve copies of all official correspondence relating to the business of the Association and the originals of all ballots from matters voted on by the membership for at least 3 years from the date of such documents and ballots. In the event of the resignation or removal of the President, the Secretary will assume the duties and authority of the President until a new President is elected/ratified in accordance with Article VI of the constitution.
Treasurer – Deborah Flores
From the SFPA Constitution: The Treasurer will maintain all bank accounts and financial records of the Association, will issue payment for material to be published in the Newsletter upon the direction of the Editor, will issue payment for other obligations of the Association at the direction of the President, and will report to the membership on the current financial status of the Association, via the Newsletter, at regular intervals to be established by the President. The treasurer in third in line of succession to the presidency after the secretary.
In addition to the Constitutionally defined duties, the Treasurer is responsible for maintaining the membership rolls.
Star*Line Editor – Marge Simon
Selects original material for Star*Line, the official newsletter of the Science Fiction Poetry Association. This includes, but is not limited to original poetry, reviews, and articles of interest to the membership. Assures that official business, such as calls for elections, are included in the newsletter. Maintains a record of contributor addresses and payments. Calculates and compiles payment records to present to the Treasurer. Assists with proofreading. Serve as liaison with authors when dealing with issues regarding payment or non-receipt of contributor copies. According to the SFPA Constitution, the Star*Line editor is next in line of succession to the presidency after the treasurer.
Star*Line Layout Associate – Robert Frazer
Assists the Star*Line editor by taking the material selected for publication in the newsletter and putting it into the format required by the current print vendor.
Star*Line Production Manager – Deborah P. Kolodji
Delivers the file produced by the Star*Line Layout Associate to the print vendor. Picks up the printed copies of the newsletter and then coordinates the mailing of the newsletter to the membership.
Star*Line Proofreaders
The Star*Line editor may, as needed, request volunteers to help proofread the electronic file produced by the Layout Associate for typographical errors.
Rhysling Chair – David Lunde
Places the call for Rhysling Award Nominations. Receives the nominations and assures their eligibility for the award. Contacts poets for permission to reprint poems in the annual Rhysling Anthology. Assures that the Rhysling Layout Associate receives all material for inclusion in the anthology. Collects and tallies votes for the Rhysling Award and announces the decision to the membership. The Rhysling Chair retains the original ballots for a period of at least 5 years after voting has taken place.
Rhysling Coordinator – David Lee Summers
This is the person with the overall responsibility of making sure the Rhysling Anthology is produced in a timely fashion and the membership has the opportunity to vote on the award. The coordinator is charged with making a list of assignments with deadlines and making sure all volunteers involved with the Rhysling Award and officers have that list. The coordinator is tasked with assuring that all volunteers are in place, including the Rhysling chair, a Layout Associate, a Cover Designer, Proofreaders, an Advertising coordinator to solicit Rhysling Congratulation ads for Star*Line, and a cooperating publisher. The Rhysling Coordinator serves as the point of contact between the officers and those responsible for producing the Rhysling Anthology, tallying votes, and organizing an award ceremony.
Rhysling Layout Associate
Assists the Rhysling Chair by taking the material selected for publication in the Annual Rhysling Anthology and putting it into the format required by the current print vendor.
Rhysling Cover Designer
Identifies cover art suitable to the Rhysling Anthology that meets the requirements of the Officers, Rhysling Chair, and Coordinator. Lays out the cover in a format that is required by the cooperating publisher.
Rhysling Proofreaders
The Rhysling Coordinator may, as needed, request volunteers to help proofread the electronic file produced by the Layout Associate for typographical errors.
Rhysling Publisher – Hadrosaur Productions (David Lee Summers, contact)
The cooperating publisher assures that the electronic files created by the Rhysling Layout Associate and Rhysling Cover Designer meets the requirements of the print vendor. The Publisher is responsible for delivering the files to the print vendor and receiving the final printed copies of the book. Oversees the mailing of the anthology to the membership and contributing authors. The Cooperating Publisher may make the anthology available for sale, providing royalties to SFPA, as negotiated between the Cooperating Publisher and the Officers.
Dwarf Stars Editor/Chair – Joshua Gage
Places the call for Dwarf Star Award Nominations. Receives the nominations and assures their eligibility for the award, then selects those nominated poems that will appear in the anthology. Contacts poets for permission to reprint poems in the annual Dwarf Stars Anthology. Solicits cover art. Compiles anthology, including cover, cover copy, table of contents, anthology contents. Assures that the Dwarf Stars Layout Associate receives all material for inclusion in the anthology in a clear and formatted file. Collects and tallies votes for the Dwarf Stars Award and announces the decision to the membership. The Dwarf Stars Chair retains the original ballots for a period of at least 5 years after voting has taken place.
Advertising Manager
Advertising Manager actively solicits ads for Star*Line and the SFPA website. Works with the Rhysling Coordinator to solicit ads from magazines where Rhyling-nominated works appeared, congratulating Rhysling nominees. Work with the officers to determine advertising rates. Works with the Star*Line editor to determine guidelines for magazine advertising.
PR Representative
PR Representative sends announcements of SFPA publications and activities to appropriate venues, and places ads for SFPA if funds are available, in suitable publications or on suitable sites. Helps members obtain fliers for conventions and poetry events.
Webmaster – F.J. Bergmann
Updates website and forum software as needed. Ensures that web hosting and e-mail addresses are functional, and that paid advertising is up-to-date. Posts announcements, news, and updates for publications and awards, including information about Star*Line, the Rhysling and Dwarf Stars Anthology and Awards. Works with the Halloween Web Page Coordinator to assure that the annual Halloween page is posted and updated. Maintains Eye to the Telescope, SFPA's online journal.
Database Administrator – vacant
(Note: Scott Virtes is listed as the administrator, but hasn't actually done any work related to this for four years, and says his passwords don't work on the current site. Richard Gombert notes that he has a complete Star*Line database as a LibreOffice Spreadsheet) The Database Administrator is charged with building and maintaining an online database of the contents from Star*Line, and the award anthologies. Also, keeps records related to the online contests.
Archivist – Richard Gombert
Collects SFPA produced newsletters, publications, and official documents and maintains an archive of that material that may be accessed by the membership or officers on request.
SFWA Liaison
Responsible for coordinating with Nebula Awards Showcase Editor about the Rhysling/Dwarf Stars awards.
Forum Administrator – Karen A. Romanko
The Administrator is assigned the highest level of control over the SFPA On-Line Forum. The Administrator controls all facets of board operation, including setting permissions, banning users, creating user groups or moderators, etc., dependent upon the board founder and what permissions he or she has given the other administrators. The administrator may also have full moderator capabilities in all forums, depending on the settings put forth by the board founder.
Forum Moderators
Moderators are individuals (or groups of individuals) who look after the forums from day to day. They have the authority to edit or delete posts and lock, unlock, move, delete and split topics in the forum they moderate. Generally, moderators are present to prevent users from going off-topic or posting abusive or offensive material.
Eye to the Telescope Managing Editor
Responsible for lining up guest editors for the webzine.
Membership Welcome Packets – vacant
Receives updates of new memberships from the treasurer. Assembles a small package of material including a welcome letter to be mailed to new members upon joining. Collects such materials with the aid of the Secretary.
Membership Directory Coordinator/Layout – F.J. Bergmann
Collects and updates optional information contained in the SFPA directory that is mailed out periodically to the membership. The optional information includes address, phone number and email.
Online Contest Committee Chair
Works with the officers to develop on-line contests that may be used to promote science fiction poetry and the SFPA. Such contests will be advertised through the SFPA website and the SFPA Social Media Outlets.
Halloween Web Page coordinator – Liz Bennefield
Sends out the call each year for material, including but not limited to audio files of poets reading Halloween-appropriate material, for the SFPA website. Selects material for posting on the site and works with the webmaster to assure that all files are received in a format suitable for posting.
Social Media Chair(s) – Karen A. Romanko (Facebook) and David Vandervort (?) (Twitter)
Posts organization news that may be relevant to the membership and interested non-members to Social Media accounts. As of 2011, those Social Media accounts are hosted on Facebook and Twitter, but this position is allowed to change, depending on what outlets are most relevant at a given time.
Regional Coordinators – vacant
Help set up local speculative poetry events
Convention Coordinator – vacant
Coordinate events at major conventions such as World Fantasy, World Horror, World Science Fiction Convention. Could be a coordinator for each of these.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
My poem at Strange Horizons
It went live a couple of weeks ago, but I forgot to tell you.
http://www.strangehorizons.com/2011/20111017/merkel-p.shtml
http://www.strangehorizons.com/2011/20111017/merkel-p.shtml
old poem slightly revised for coffin hop
Strange Gods
These Gods pass right through you –
we see only their human shadows.
The stranger of mysterious arrivals,
he may be one.
Each night invisible fingers
open windows within us,
doing their work as we sleep (lightly and not well).
We try to run,
but any star would do to reach this place,
any street corner, any day,
a void can open within any of us.
Their open mouths follow as we pass.
These Gods pass right through you –
we see only their human shadows.
The stranger of mysterious arrivals,
he may be one.
Each night invisible fingers
open windows within us,
doing their work as we sleep (lightly and not well).
We try to run,
but any star would do to reach this place,
any street corner, any day,
a void can open within any of us.
Their open mouths follow as we pass.
Friday, October 28, 2011
One of my favorites of my own poems
Wild Horses
Agamemnon--
You look quite lifelike now
saffron in the odor of your disinterment.
Were you alone, or did your fellows
wonder at your demise?
Metal music made,
broken axle crost the dotted line,
rumors of an incident
circulating, fulminating,
impromptu
toxic waste dump on the busy I:
red light district/spaghetti snarl
After the rains came strange new
growths, born of the water's burden:
Paisley river horses foaming at the banks
called the hustlers home.
So many more of them have died--
I color the windows
in green leaves and rosethorns/chilled apricot brandy/
sunset over the ruined palace/
nightlife in another time zone/
goodbye.
END
Agamemnon--
You look quite lifelike now
saffron in the odor of your disinterment.
Were you alone, or did your fellows
wonder at your demise?
Metal music made,
broken axle crost the dotted line,
rumors of an incident
circulating, fulminating,
impromptu
toxic waste dump on the busy I:
red light district/spaghetti snarl
After the rains came strange new
growths, born of the water's burden:
Paisley river horses foaming at the banks
called the hustlers home.
So many more of them have died--
I color the windows
in green leaves and rosethorns/chilled apricot brandy/
sunset over the ruined palace/
nightlife in another time zone/
goodbye.
END
my entry in isfdb
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?David_C._Kopaska-Merkel
Rather incomplete. Suppose I should give them some of the missing info.
Rather incomplete. Suppose I should give them some of the missing info.
SFPA Halloween reading page
Summarized by David Lee Summers
The Science Fiction Poetry Association has once more hosted a virtual Halloween poetry reading on their website.
http://www.sfpoetry.com/halloween.html
The page features recordings of 15 members of the SFPA reading their own Halloween-themed, spooky poetry:
"Pumping Up the Local Economy" by David Kopaska-Merkel
"Wicked Karnival: A Tribute to Tod Browning Jr." by Stephen M. Wilson
"A House with No Windows" by F.J. Bergmann
"The Head" by G.O. Clark
"Sentient Shadows Rise" by David Glen Larson
"A Night at Hotel Sedgewick" by irving
"Not Alone" by Ann K. Schwader
"The Cosmic Web" by David Lee Summers
"All Creatures Great and Small" by Elissa Malcohn
"Death in a Harlequin Suit" by Karen A. Romanko
"Vision Stalker" by Elizabeth W. Bennefeld
"Vicious Trees" by Mary A. Turzillo
"Waking Beauty" by Lyn C.A. Gardner
"Secrets" by Deborah P. Kolodji
"Renovation" by Kath Abela Wilson
Photos and photo art are by Liz Bennefeld Geoffrey Landis, and Kath Abela Wilson. All recordings and graphics are copyrighted by their respective authors and used by permission.
The Science Fiction Poetry Association has once more hosted a virtual Halloween poetry reading on their website.
http://www.sfpoetry.com/halloween.html
The page features recordings of 15 members of the SFPA reading their own Halloween-themed, spooky poetry:
"Pumping Up the Local Economy" by David Kopaska-Merkel
"Wicked Karnival: A Tribute to Tod Browning Jr." by Stephen M. Wilson
"A House with No Windows" by F.J. Bergmann
"The Head" by G.O. Clark
"Sentient Shadows Rise" by David Glen Larson
"A Night at Hotel Sedgewick" by irving
"Not Alone" by Ann K. Schwader
"The Cosmic Web" by David Lee Summers
"All Creatures Great and Small" by Elissa Malcohn
"Death in a Harlequin Suit" by Karen A. Romanko
"Vision Stalker" by Elizabeth W. Bennefeld
"Vicious Trees" by Mary A. Turzillo
"Waking Beauty" by Lyn C.A. Gardner
"Secrets" by Deborah P. Kolodji
"Renovation" by Kath Abela Wilson
Photos and photo art are by Liz Bennefeld Geoffrey Landis, and Kath Abela Wilson. All recordings and graphics are copyrighted by their respective authors and used by permission.
okay that one really was horror and not fantasy
The unicorns
crop the grass so short
cricket's haircut
crop the grass so short
cricket's haircut
coffin hop pome
So I'm sure you noticed the button about the coffin hop. This is an attempt to promote horror-related webpages in this week of Halloween. I am participating, even though this is not really a horror webpage. Some of what I write I suppose would qualify. I think it's a good project even though what I like is really dark fantasy rather than horror sensu stricto. Be that as it may, here is my latest contribution.
What's with that stupid van anyway?
We have to get his food
somewhere
Cub Scout den mother
just seemed an obvious way
to keep him satisfied
would have worked too
except for you meddling kids
that's why I wanted to introduce you
to my son
you'll see
he saddled me with
one too many mouths to feed
What's with that stupid van anyway?
We have to get his food
somewhere
Cub Scout den mother
just seemed an obvious way
to keep him satisfied
would have worked too
except for you meddling kids
that's why I wanted to introduce you
to my son
you'll see
he saddled me with
one too many mouths to feed
Strange Horizons logo competition
http://strangehorizons.com/2011/20111024/logo-e.shtml
Earn more than $200 and have your logo on the masthead of one of the most important science fiction e-zines out there.
Earn more than $200 and have your logo on the masthead of one of the most important science fiction e-zines out there.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Halloween poetry reading
Science Fiction Poetry Ass'n Halloween poetry reading live http://www.sfpoetry.com/halloween.html
hop hop hop hop I am going to the coffin
chills when judgement day
interrupts an ice age
the dead punch through
interrupts an ice age
the dead punch through
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Horror poem for Coffin Hop
This time last year
The smoke from the cooking fires of the mutant yuccas a gray haze at my back,
I moved westward, following the pull of the nodules in my skull.
Crossing the dry bed of the Mississippi I encountered
the products of another strange catalysis;
Phosphorescent cacti riding the hard west wind,
a thorny legacy of the mutagen wars.
It was somewhere east of the Rockies,
in the New Desert:
amidst black sand and white heat,
where little that's organic moves,
that I met the source of my summoning.
Your fissured lips writhe voiceless epithets from
A hapless juniper,
Transformed by metaviral infection into your gargantuan reincarnated face.
How well I remember the ruination of its fleshy progenitor;
ravaged by the phage that has recreated it,
here in the blackened desert.
Once you nibbled ripe olives from my lips,
Your smooth body glistening with reflected moonlight.
Now you subsist mainly on aeronautical cacti, luring them in like
some fishy angler,
and inhaling them, spines and all,
the unconsumed residue forming a formidable nasal palisade.
Somehow, motionless, you beckon to me,
your tormented eyes bidding me approach.
It would be so easy;
I know I'd follow the cacti up your permineralized proboscis,
and for a while I'd ease your endless pain.
But I am not ready for what you offer.
I cannot yield what you demand,
become a fading vision in
your xylemic brain.
Then, too, I am afraid
the tumors in my skull might still your chimeric heart
...or is death now your desire?
Tell me, if you can,
Do you remember viral dreams, experienced before you
colonized this coniferous corpus?
Are there others, farther west, that bear the imprint of your
body and your thoughts?
How much is you and how much the phage,
terrifying and uncommunicative?
Why don't you speak?
END
First published in Xenophilia 4, 1992.
The smoke from the cooking fires of the mutant yuccas a gray haze at my back,
I moved westward, following the pull of the nodules in my skull.
Crossing the dry bed of the Mississippi I encountered
the products of another strange catalysis;
Phosphorescent cacti riding the hard west wind,
a thorny legacy of the mutagen wars.
It was somewhere east of the Rockies,
in the New Desert:
amidst black sand and white heat,
where little that's organic moves,
that I met the source of my summoning.
Your fissured lips writhe voiceless epithets from
A hapless juniper,
Transformed by metaviral infection into your gargantuan reincarnated face.
How well I remember the ruination of its fleshy progenitor;
ravaged by the phage that has recreated it,
here in the blackened desert.
Once you nibbled ripe olives from my lips,
Your smooth body glistening with reflected moonlight.
Now you subsist mainly on aeronautical cacti, luring them in like
some fishy angler,
and inhaling them, spines and all,
the unconsumed residue forming a formidable nasal palisade.
Somehow, motionless, you beckon to me,
your tormented eyes bidding me approach.
It would be so easy;
I know I'd follow the cacti up your permineralized proboscis,
and for a while I'd ease your endless pain.
But I am not ready for what you offer.
I cannot yield what you demand,
become a fading vision in
your xylemic brain.
Then, too, I am afraid
the tumors in my skull might still your chimeric heart
...or is death now your desire?
Tell me, if you can,
Do you remember viral dreams, experienced before you
colonized this coniferous corpus?
Are there others, farther west, that bear the imprint of your
body and your thoughts?
How much is you and how much the phage,
terrifying and uncommunicative?
Why don't you speak?
END
First published in Xenophilia 4, 1992.
102511 spooky!
moonrise
watching my killers
drink the cursed wine
What is Coffin Hop?
http://dreamsandnightmaresmagazine.blogspot.com/2011/10/do-hop-coffin-hop.html
watching my killers
drink the cursed wine
What is Coffin Hop?
http://dreamsandnightmaresmagazine.blogspot.com/2011/10/do-hop-coffin-hop.html
Monday, October 24, 2011
Short horror story for Coffin Hop
anniversary
Katie knew what she had to do: the red spoon was dirty -- again. Several gobbets of flesh had escaped their notice. As she scrubbed, a thin, white hand crept out of the hole in the baseboard. Reaching up, it make a secret mark on the back of her right calf and withdrew as silently as it had come. She did not precisely feel this intrusion, but Katie knew something was wrong. Later she said: "I felt that the cabinet door was not entirely shut"
Before everything changed she might have watched a little television. She knew better, though, and donned her outdoor gear--its bulk obscuring her worn features moments after she disrobed.
The stairs were difficult despite the banister's disappearance the previous winter but outside the suit hampered her but little as she cleaned the goblins from the intake ducts. Not the goblins of fairy tale and Hollywood, perhaps, but the lumpy creatures resembled the repulsive creatures of legend far more than they did their own parents.
"Always trying to get back in," she thought. "It comes of lax discipline," she added firmly.
The mark must have been apprehended somehow through the impervious fabric of the suit. A small creature burst out of the undergrowth where the hedge had been. She had never seen a live goblin when the sun was up, and they scarcely ever approached people, despite their incessant efforts to enter buildings. Flames curled from its ears as it crumpled at her feet, gabbling at her for a few seconds and pawing at her feet.
"I couldn't make out what it was saying," she mused wistfully, "But I almost thought it called to me."
"Nonsense. They don't speak. They can't." Willard hoisted himself out of the hammock and began to lurch back and forth, scissoring his tusks. "Next time, carry a stick to keep them off." He ruffled his dorsal plates. "And stop that hole!"
That night, Katie left a saucer of milk out on the kitchen floor, but Willard found it and dumped it out before he went to bed with the others.
END
Katie knew what she had to do: the red spoon was dirty -- again. Several gobbets of flesh had escaped their notice. As she scrubbed, a thin, white hand crept out of the hole in the baseboard. Reaching up, it make a secret mark on the back of her right calf and withdrew as silently as it had come. She did not precisely feel this intrusion, but Katie knew something was wrong. Later she said: "I felt that the cabinet door was not entirely shut"
Before everything changed she might have watched a little television. She knew better, though, and donned her outdoor gear--its bulk obscuring her worn features moments after she disrobed.
The stairs were difficult despite the banister's disappearance the previous winter but outside the suit hampered her but little as she cleaned the goblins from the intake ducts. Not the goblins of fairy tale and Hollywood, perhaps, but the lumpy creatures resembled the repulsive creatures of legend far more than they did their own parents.
"Always trying to get back in," she thought. "It comes of lax discipline," she added firmly.
The mark must have been apprehended somehow through the impervious fabric of the suit. A small creature burst out of the undergrowth where the hedge had been. She had never seen a live goblin when the sun was up, and they scarcely ever approached people, despite their incessant efforts to enter buildings. Flames curled from its ears as it crumpled at her feet, gabbling at her for a few seconds and pawing at her feet.
"I couldn't make out what it was saying," she mused wistfully, "But I almost thought it called to me."
"Nonsense. They don't speak. They can't." Willard hoisted himself out of the hammock and began to lurch back and forth, scissoring his tusks. "Next time, carry a stick to keep them off." He ruffled his dorsal plates. "And stop that hole!"
That night, Katie left a saucer of milk out on the kitchen floor, but Willard found it and dumped it out before he went to bed with the others.
END
Halloween costumes
I took this photo of a dragon
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2303245513942&set=a.1124832854362.19585.1633365772&type=1&theater
steampunk time machine (6 photos)
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2303245513942&set=a.1124832854362.19585.1633365772&type=1&theater
It's not done yet!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2303245513942&set=a.1124832854362.19585.1633365772&type=1&theater
steampunk time machine (6 photos)
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2303245513942&set=a.1124832854362.19585.1633365772&type=1&theater
It's not done yet!
Do the hop, the coffin hop
Halloween is coming, & I've joined the "Coffin Hop". This is a group of horror-related sites (nearly 100 of them, listed here www.coffinhop.blogspot.com). You should check out as many as possible. The purpose of the Coffin Hop is to promote indie publishers of horror. Most of the sites participating are from horror publishers or horror authors. Indie publishers produce excellent work that would never be read if we left publishing to big publishing companies. Many top-notch writers get started this way. Think of the indie press as the wetlands of literature.
To contribute to this effort I'll be posting horror poetry & fiction here all the rest of this month. Some new, some from indie publications.
knocks on the
basement wall from dirtside
yes, come on through
To contribute to this effort I'll be posting horror poetry & fiction here all the rest of this month. Some new, some from indie publications.
knocks on the
basement wall from dirtside
yes, come on through
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Friday, October 21, 2011
Poem reprinted from Brushfires
Brushfires is my most recent solo poetry book.
UNDER MARS
Life goes on - following the residual heat
on its terminal Journey to the Center.
Cities the size of countries,
abandoned millennia ago,
desiccated and compressed,
conceal deeper and far greater metropoli
whose inhabitants have forgotten surface
and sun in their pursuit of the
dwindling warmth about which
revolves their world.
The arts glorify conduction, thrift, adaptation,
or bemoan the vampiric seduction of heat by the
cold, dry regions
from which the People have been inexorably
driven.
Legends never speak of sky, stars, open spaces,
but tell only of a time when the tunnels throve -
heat was plentiful,
water ubiquitous,
and gravity strong,
Once, an expedition was sent to the high regions -
to seek out the ancestral tunnels wherein the People had been born.
Through the miles of desiccated necropoli the seekers climbed,
struggling with ever-increasing weight, collapsed tunnels, cold, and drought.
The survivors turned back after a 1,000-mile trek into
the frigid immensities of abandoned graveyards,
still untold miles from their unrecognized goal.
*****
On the surface, colonists from the third planet
huddle under domes, tailor lichens, marvel at red stony vistas.
There are no ruins -
the tenuous atmosphere has obliterated them.
The two races can never meet, never suspect each others' presence
one on, and one within, the cooling corpse of the red planet.
Where to get Brushfires
http://dreamsandnightmaresmagazine.blogspot.com/2011/04/where-to-get-my-books.html
UNDER MARS
Life goes on - following the residual heat
on its terminal Journey to the Center.
Cities the size of countries,
abandoned millennia ago,
desiccated and compressed,
conceal deeper and far greater metropoli
whose inhabitants have forgotten surface
and sun in their pursuit of the
dwindling warmth about which
revolves their world.
The arts glorify conduction, thrift, adaptation,
or bemoan the vampiric seduction of heat by the
cold, dry regions
from which the People have been inexorably
driven.
Legends never speak of sky, stars, open spaces,
but tell only of a time when the tunnels throve -
heat was plentiful,
water ubiquitous,
and gravity strong,
Once, an expedition was sent to the high regions -
to seek out the ancestral tunnels wherein the People had been born.
Through the miles of desiccated necropoli the seekers climbed,
struggling with ever-increasing weight, collapsed tunnels, cold, and drought.
The survivors turned back after a 1,000-mile trek into
the frigid immensities of abandoned graveyards,
still untold miles from their unrecognized goal.
*****
On the surface, colonists from the third planet
huddle under domes, tailor lichens, marvel at red stony vistas.
There are no ruins -
the tenuous atmosphere has obliterated them.
The two races can never meet, never suspect each others' presence
one on, and one within, the cooling corpse of the red planet.
Where to get Brushfires
http://dreamsandnightmaresmagazine.blogspot.com/2011/04/where-to-get-my-books.html
Photos from fossil field workshop
http://bps-al.org/trips/october-28-2011-sumter-co-al-teacher-workshop.html
Arachnophobia
Poor Little Miss Muffet!
Arachnophobia
The trouble actually started when Little Miss Muffet was busted for gambling. She was operating under the alias of Wax Liploc. I think she was involved with the Pumpkin Eater prostitution/white slavery ring, but making bets was the only thing we could pin on her. She was out on the street again in less than a year.
My name is Deadbolt, Hasp Deadbolt, and I'm a private eye. I'd been hired by the City on a temporary basis. They'd been short-handed since the Jack Horner debacle. I had the job of seeing that Muffet went straight.
For a while she seemed to be adhering to the requirements of her probation. She spent a lot of time in the library, checking out books on explosives and poisons, and audio-visual items like "Arabic in 4 easy lessons" but I wasn't fooled. She was a pie waiting to spew birds, a shoe waiting to vomit kids.
Then it happened. She was in the park, eating a light lunch on a sort of portable stool she'd brought with her, and I was pretending to sail a small boat in the pond. It was not easy with no wind. I heard a scream and looked up. A wolf spider the size of a small horse was hitting on Muffet. As I ran up I heard it say "Hey baby, how about you fly into my parlor?" It wrapped a few hairy legs around her and sat down right on the tuffet with her. Muffet screamed again and wrenched herself free. She whipped out the umbrella that she always carried with her and she brought it down. Again. And again. And again. I jerked it out of her hand. She was still screaming. I slapped her once, twice, and she shut her mouth with a shudder. She was spattered from head to toe with spider guts. All she would say, over and over again as she was led away, was "I hate spiders!"
Oh yes. She got off on a plea of temporary insanity. If you ask me, that girl is going to be trouble.
The end
This story, and many other tales featuring the redoubtable Hasp Deadbolt, are to be found in Nursery Rhyme Noir. And we do meet Muffet again.
Reviews
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wual/arts.artsmain?action=viewArticle&sid=14&id=1470478&pid=217
http://www.fantastique-unfettered.com/2011/06/nursery-rhyme-noir-hasp-deadbolt-files_03.html
http://www.slothjockey.com/books/bryant_shelly/hasp_deadbolt.shtml
Print book
http://sdpbookstore.com/anthologies.htm
Ebook
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/42875
Arachnophobia
The trouble actually started when Little Miss Muffet was busted for gambling. She was operating under the alias of Wax Liploc. I think she was involved with the Pumpkin Eater prostitution/white slavery ring, but making bets was the only thing we could pin on her. She was out on the street again in less than a year.
My name is Deadbolt, Hasp Deadbolt, and I'm a private eye. I'd been hired by the City on a temporary basis. They'd been short-handed since the Jack Horner debacle. I had the job of seeing that Muffet went straight.
For a while she seemed to be adhering to the requirements of her probation. She spent a lot of time in the library, checking out books on explosives and poisons, and audio-visual items like "Arabic in 4 easy lessons" but I wasn't fooled. She was a pie waiting to spew birds, a shoe waiting to vomit kids.
Then it happened. She was in the park, eating a light lunch on a sort of portable stool she'd brought with her, and I was pretending to sail a small boat in the pond. It was not easy with no wind. I heard a scream and looked up. A wolf spider the size of a small horse was hitting on Muffet. As I ran up I heard it say "Hey baby, how about you fly into my parlor?" It wrapped a few hairy legs around her and sat down right on the tuffet with her. Muffet screamed again and wrenched herself free. She whipped out the umbrella that she always carried with her and she brought it down. Again. And again. And again. I jerked it out of her hand. She was still screaming. I slapped her once, twice, and she shut her mouth with a shudder. She was spattered from head to toe with spider guts. All she would say, over and over again as she was led away, was "I hate spiders!"
Oh yes. She got off on a plea of temporary insanity. If you ask me, that girl is going to be trouble.
The end
This story, and many other tales featuring the redoubtable Hasp Deadbolt, are to be found in Nursery Rhyme Noir. And we do meet Muffet again.
Reviews
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wual/arts.artsmain?action=viewArticle&sid=14&id=1470478&pid=217
http://www.fantastique-unfettered.com/2011/06/nursery-rhyme-noir-hasp-deadbolt-files_03.html
http://www.slothjockey.com/books/bryant_shelly/hasp_deadbolt.shtml
Print book
http://sdpbookstore.com/anthologies.htm
Ebook
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/42875
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Monday, October 17, 2011
101711
Do quadripeds have to win two dice rolls to shoe their babies or are 14 and 22 the winning rolls?
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Friday, October 14, 2011
Hasp Deadbolt
Wrote two new stories this week. Composting the Mother Goosery Rinds. The latest is my take on "Hush, little baby."
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Nursery Rhyme Noir: Excellent Xmas Gift
Mother Goose, murder, & puns. Check out the reviews & sample.
Sample story
http://dreamsandnightmaresmagazine.blogspot.com/2011/02/nursery-rhyme-noir-sample-story.html
Reviews
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wual/arts.artsmain?action=viewArticle&sid=14&id=1470478&pid=217
http://www.fantastique-unfettered.com/2011/06/nursery-rhyme-noir-hasp-deadbolt-files_03.html
http://www.slothjockey.com/books/bryant_shelly/hasp_deadbolt.shtml
Print book
http://sdpbookstore.com/anthologies.htm
Ebook
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/42875
Sample story
http://dreamsandnightmaresmagazine.blogspot.com/2011/02/nursery-rhyme-noir-sample-story.html
Reviews
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wual/arts.artsmain?action=viewArticle&sid=14&id=1470478&pid=217
http://www.fantastique-unfettered.com/2011/06/nursery-rhyme-noir-hasp-deadbolt-files_03.html
http://www.slothjockey.com/books/bryant_shelly/hasp_deadbolt.shtml
Print book
http://sdpbookstore.com/anthologies.htm
Ebook
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/42875
Monday, October 10, 2011
101011
one year from
symmetry the pome has nothing
self-reference
That's a title! A frog-f@#%ing title! You made a title out of a date! Haiku don't have m&%^#r-f$*#ing titles! And now it's a haibun. Sort of.
symmetry the pome has nothing
self-reference
That's a title! A frog-f@#%ing title! You made a title out of a date! Haiku don't have m&%^#r-f$*#ing titles! And now it's a haibun. Sort of.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Friday, October 7, 2011
Thursday, October 6, 2011
A poem from _The Tin Men_
A collaboration with Kendall Evans, published in a new chapbook from Sam's Dot.
http://dreamsandnightmaresmagazine.blogspot.com/2011/09/divergent-quanta-poem-from-tin-men.html
http://dreamsandnightmaresmagazine.blogspot.com/2011/09/umbral-valleys-poem-from-tin-men.html
http://dreamsandnightmaresmagazine.blogspot.com/2011/09/where-to-order-tin-men.html
http://dreamsandnightmaresmagazine.blogspot.com/2011/09/tin-men-cover.html
The Grand Experiment
The alchemist leaned back and smiled
The elixir was complete;
It was time for his initial trial.
If his calculations were correct,
He would soon be able to witness the Sphinx being built
The early indo-european migrations
The razing of the great library in Alexandria
As he brought the cup to his lips
An intense peppermint flavor burst upon his tongue.
He looked out the window
Just as a shadow passed across it
He picked up the phone
"Did it work?"
He slammed down the phone;
It rang.
He hurried out of the room
And down to the front door
He reached for the knob, hesitated,
Then stepped back:
He waited.
Just as he finally reached for the knob once again,
The door was flung open.
Nursing his jammed fingers he stared at Carson:
"It's only getting worse!" he said,
With a groan or maybe a whine in his voice.
He ran outside, fell,
And climbed back to his feet.
The earth rolled unsteadily
And he heard the sound of breaking glass
From inside the house;
A new explosion in his upstairs lab?
Or the one four months ago?
* * * * *
A biplane and a pterodactyl
Loop-de-loop in the sky above
An intricate parody of WWI aerial combat;
Would the others in the street,
Looking up, see both, or one?
Or neither?
Encountering a sudden forest
Dense with undergrowth and trees
He pushes through to an overgrown ruin
And shoves back shrubs from cuneiform words
Carved into weathered stone
An ancient Sumerian engraving
Which he methodically translates:
"If a piece of felt cloth
Is abandoned in the forest
With no one to touch or feel it,
Can it really be felt at all?
Or is it something else entirely?"
Surely he has erred; this can't be right
Ancient Sumerican is tricky.
He retranslates more cautiously,
A text telling of shell-necklaces,
Tax levy increases, due and payable
To the local chieftain--
Or maybe not; the ambiguity of it all
Makes him want to weep.
He's stuck with an image from his departure,
His friend Carson talking to the empty space
In the doorway he had occupied moments before.
One other miscalculation,
He cannot argue with himself:
Better if he had brought along
At least one someone else
As a traveling compantion.
Too disorienting, the way the dimension of time
Seems to be slowly unraveling
Beyond the forest a tall fence looms
Barbed-wire capped, posted with signs
Reading "RESTRICTED AREA"
At this rate, he reflects, it will take me forever
Or at least far too long
To reach Egypt or old Alexandria
The Sphinx will be completed,
The library will be burned.
If only there were a trans-time hotel
Or a genuine signpost
Somewhere along the way
http://dreamsandnightmaresmagazine.blogspot.com/2011/09/divergent-quanta-poem-from-tin-men.html
http://dreamsandnightmaresmagazine.blogspot.com/2011/09/umbral-valleys-poem-from-tin-men.html
http://dreamsandnightmaresmagazine.blogspot.com/2011/09/where-to-order-tin-men.html
http://dreamsandnightmaresmagazine.blogspot.com/2011/09/tin-men-cover.html
The Grand Experiment
The alchemist leaned back and smiled
The elixir was complete;
It was time for his initial trial.
If his calculations were correct,
He would soon be able to witness the Sphinx being built
The early indo-european migrations
The razing of the great library in Alexandria
As he brought the cup to his lips
An intense peppermint flavor burst upon his tongue.
He looked out the window
Just as a shadow passed across it
He picked up the phone
"Did it work?"
He slammed down the phone;
It rang.
He hurried out of the room
And down to the front door
He reached for the knob, hesitated,
Then stepped back:
He waited.
Just as he finally reached for the knob once again,
The door was flung open.
Nursing his jammed fingers he stared at Carson:
"It's only getting worse!" he said,
With a groan or maybe a whine in his voice.
He ran outside, fell,
And climbed back to his feet.
The earth rolled unsteadily
And he heard the sound of breaking glass
From inside the house;
A new explosion in his upstairs lab?
Or the one four months ago?
* * * * *
A biplane and a pterodactyl
Loop-de-loop in the sky above
An intricate parody of WWI aerial combat;
Would the others in the street,
Looking up, see both, or one?
Or neither?
Encountering a sudden forest
Dense with undergrowth and trees
He pushes through to an overgrown ruin
And shoves back shrubs from cuneiform words
Carved into weathered stone
An ancient Sumerian engraving
Which he methodically translates:
"If a piece of felt cloth
Is abandoned in the forest
With no one to touch or feel it,
Can it really be felt at all?
Or is it something else entirely?"
Surely he has erred; this can't be right
Ancient Sumerican is tricky.
He retranslates more cautiously,
A text telling of shell-necklaces,
Tax levy increases, due and payable
To the local chieftain--
Or maybe not; the ambiguity of it all
Makes him want to weep.
He's stuck with an image from his departure,
His friend Carson talking to the empty space
In the doorway he had occupied moments before.
One other miscalculation,
He cannot argue with himself:
Better if he had brought along
At least one someone else
As a traveling compantion.
Too disorienting, the way the dimension of time
Seems to be slowly unraveling
Beyond the forest a tall fence looms
Barbed-wire capped, posted with signs
Reading "RESTRICTED AREA"
At this rate, he reflects, it will take me forever
Or at least far too long
To reach Egypt or old Alexandria
The Sphinx will be completed,
The library will be burned.
If only there were a trans-time hotel
Or a genuine signpost
Somewhere along the way
Next ALLELE lecture
Brad J. Sagarin of Northern Illinois University will be speaking on “Evolutionary Psychology: Exploring Darwin’s Psychological Legacy” at 7:30 p.m. on October 13 in
127 Biology Building on the University of Alabama campus in Tuscaloosa. The lecture is free and open to the public.
His presentation is the first in the 2011-2012 Alabama Lectures on Life’s Evolution, known as ALLELE. The lecture series, in its sixth year, is supported by UA’s College of Arts and Sciences and the departments of anthropology, biological sciences, geological sciences, philosophy, and psychology.
For further information, visit: http://bama.ua.edu/~evolution/alleleindex.html
127 Biology Building on the University of Alabama campus in Tuscaloosa. The lecture is free and open to the public.
His presentation is the first in the 2011-2012 Alabama Lectures on Life’s Evolution, known as ALLELE. The lecture series, in its sixth year, is supported by UA’s College of Arts and Sciences and the departments of anthropology, biological sciences, geological sciences, philosophy, and psychology.
For further information, visit: http://bama.ua.edu/~evolution/alleleindex.html
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Monday, October 3, 2011
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Dreams & Nightmares 90 Contents
Dreams & Nightmares 90
"Apocalypse Soon"
Memorializing the world early enough to really celebrate.
September, 2011 issue
Contents
Randy Moore, cover
From the Brain Stem
Denny Marshall, illo (The four hoarse men)
Elissa Malcohn, Shrine to the Disconnected
Wade German, Dawn of the Carrionids
Denny Marshall, 2012 Blog
Marge Simon, The hanged children
Marsheila Rockwell, Sandpainting on Mars
Kurt Newton, Nuclear Stockpile Janitor
Marge Simon, Spider Rainbows
Ann K. Schwader, The Fatalist
Steve Sneyd, Cybergeddon
Wade German, The Kin Fetch
James S. Dorr, And Suddenly the Poem I Was Working On Turned Into
a Killer Robot
assu, untitled (“an expanding”)
Elizabeth Barrette, Writing in the Sky
Kurt MacPhearson, Surfer Beware
"Apocalypse Soon"
Memorializing the world early enough to really celebrate.
September, 2011 issue
Contents
Randy Moore, cover
From the Brain Stem
Denny Marshall, illo (The four hoarse men)
Elissa Malcohn, Shrine to the Disconnected
Wade German, Dawn of the Carrionids
Denny Marshall, 2012 Blog
Marge Simon, The hanged children
Marsheila Rockwell, Sandpainting on Mars
Kurt Newton, Nuclear Stockpile Janitor
Marge Simon, Spider Rainbows
Ann K. Schwader, The Fatalist
Steve Sneyd, Cybergeddon
Wade German, The Kin Fetch
James S. Dorr, And Suddenly the Poem I Was Working On Turned Into
a Killer Robot
assu, untitled (“an expanding”)
Elizabeth Barrette, Writing in the Sky
Kurt MacPhearson, Surfer Beware
Poem from _The Tin Men_
Latest collaborative poetry chapbook from me & Kendall Evans, copies signed by both of us available from either of us.
EL DORADO ASTEROID
I've heard you are out there
Way out
Exploring the far reaches
Out past the orbit of Mars
Searching
For El Dorado Asteroid
Shuttling thru the belt
Sifting through the void
On a star crossed mission
Seeking El Dorado Asteroid
They say El Dorado
Is radioactive, the old
You-can't-have-it-
If-I-can't-have-it
Gambit
Nuked to prevent a glut
In our solar system's gold market
But those beta particles
Don't last forever
I hear you packed a cold-sleep coffin
I know your game
You’re really something,
If it's hot when you find it
You'll wait that sucker out
Or persuade an android
To mine it; somehow
You’ll win the El Dorado Asteroid
But what will you do
If someone finds it first
Sends it through a time warp
Runs down that radioactivity
With tricky entropy
So the gold of El Dorado Asteroid
Can be sold
Can be exploited
Or, you know
Somebody might already
Have a connection with
Space aliens
Who don't mind a little
Spice with their gold
For whom jewelry
Made from El Dorado asteroid
Is just like eating pickled
Jalapeno peppers
Or maybe, say, it's
More like coriander
For the aliens
Concentrated in
Pomme-granite juice
Plus a few
Randomly fortuitous
Mutations
A glut of gold for your gluttony
El Dorado Asteroid is
And speaking of all that fallout
Long thin straggling strands
All the hair you have left
Have you vomited up any blood
That lonely deadly asteroid
Is your only lover
We could have shared a fortune
When we discovered
El Dorado Asteroid
But you couldn't wait
You wanted me out of the contract
You know
The one I entered into
After the alien contact;
After you left the orbiting crèche
And made such a splash
In Indonesia
But that's not really
What I wanted to tell you
Oh no―
You'll be out there
On life support (if you are lucky)
And I'll be earning credit
In this new growth industry
When information crashed
Metals came back in
They're stable and that's good
When times are hard
But now metals
Are out the airlock
And alien technology is hot
I've got a beautiful contact
And I do mean beautiful
Despite the spines
And we respect each other
We’ve signed a long-term contract
I am really going places
Even without
That damned El Dorado Asteroid
She's really something
And the doctors say
With a little manipulation
They can make my sperm
Her eggs merge/align―
Genetically compatible
P.S. Maybe you could spare
A few ounces of the yellow stuff
Yg-tg-ki-ki has decided to adopt
Our cultural traditions
Says she wants a diamond
14 karat golden ring--
Shall I dream
Of mutated offspring?
--
http://dreamsandnightmaresmagazine.blogspot.com/2011/09/divergent-quanta-poem-from-tin-men.html
http://dreamsandnightmaresmagazine.blogspot.com/2011/09/umbral-valleys-poem-from-tin-men.html
http://dreamsandnightmaresmagazine.blogspot.com/2011/09/where-to-order-tin-men.html
http://dreamsandnightmaresmagazine.blogspot.com/2011/09/tin-men-cover.html
EL DORADO ASTEROID
I've heard you are out there
Way out
Exploring the far reaches
Out past the orbit of Mars
Searching
For El Dorado Asteroid
Shuttling thru the belt
Sifting through the void
On a star crossed mission
Seeking El Dorado Asteroid
They say El Dorado
Is radioactive, the old
You-can't-have-it-
If-I-can't-have-it
Gambit
Nuked to prevent a glut
In our solar system's gold market
But those beta particles
Don't last forever
I hear you packed a cold-sleep coffin
I know your game
You’re really something,
If it's hot when you find it
You'll wait that sucker out
Or persuade an android
To mine it; somehow
You’ll win the El Dorado Asteroid
But what will you do
If someone finds it first
Sends it through a time warp
Runs down that radioactivity
With tricky entropy
So the gold of El Dorado Asteroid
Can be sold
Can be exploited
Or, you know
Somebody might already
Have a connection with
Space aliens
Who don't mind a little
Spice with their gold
For whom jewelry
Made from El Dorado asteroid
Is just like eating pickled
Jalapeno peppers
Or maybe, say, it's
More like coriander
For the aliens
Concentrated in
Pomme-granite juice
Plus a few
Randomly fortuitous
Mutations
A glut of gold for your gluttony
El Dorado Asteroid is
And speaking of all that fallout
Long thin straggling strands
All the hair you have left
Have you vomited up any blood
That lonely deadly asteroid
Is your only lover
We could have shared a fortune
When we discovered
El Dorado Asteroid
But you couldn't wait
You wanted me out of the contract
You know
The one I entered into
After the alien contact;
After you left the orbiting crèche
And made such a splash
In Indonesia
But that's not really
What I wanted to tell you
Oh no―
You'll be out there
On life support (if you are lucky)
And I'll be earning credit
In this new growth industry
When information crashed
Metals came back in
They're stable and that's good
When times are hard
But now metals
Are out the airlock
And alien technology is hot
I've got a beautiful contact
And I do mean beautiful
Despite the spines
And we respect each other
We’ve signed a long-term contract
I am really going places
Even without
That damned El Dorado Asteroid
She's really something
And the doctors say
With a little manipulation
They can make my sperm
Her eggs merge/align―
Genetically compatible
P.S. Maybe you could spare
A few ounces of the yellow stuff
Yg-tg-ki-ki has decided to adopt
Our cultural traditions
Says she wants a diamond
14 karat golden ring--
Shall I dream
Of mutated offspring?
--
http://dreamsandnightmaresmagazine.blogspot.com/2011/09/divergent-quanta-poem-from-tin-men.html
http://dreamsandnightmaresmagazine.blogspot.com/2011/09/umbral-valleys-poem-from-tin-men.html
http://dreamsandnightmaresmagazine.blogspot.com/2011/09/where-to-order-tin-men.html
http://dreamsandnightmaresmagazine.blogspot.com/2011/09/tin-men-cover.html
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