010426

I was sick a lot of last year, and one ball I dropped was writing a poem for my spouse for every conceivable holiday and her birthday. Well maybe I did her birthday, It was before I started getting sick. Anyway, I need to get back on the case! It is difficult, though, to write a love poem that's not sappy decade after decade.

010326

Earth embassy
to Mars 3 km down
ice palace

010226

I never voted in Analog magazine's Analytical Laboratory when I was a kid, mainly because the price of stamps seemed much too high. It was probably about 8 cents at the time. But I needed that money for fireworks and candy!

Reading in the New Year

I have been reading Astounding/Analog magazines for the last few months, not strictly in chronological order, and now I have gotten to the first half of 1953. Quite a few excellent stories were published in the first three issues of that year, and the first publication of Hal Clement's Mission of Gravity, certainly one of his finest hard science fiction novels, was serialized beginning in the April issue.

I have also been rereading every Far Side book. This was unquestionably the best single-panel cartoon of it's time, and it still holds up remarkably well. These books also used a higher quality glue in the binding than some contemporary cartoonists' work, so it should not be difficult to find used copies.

Next up, the greatest comic strip of the 20th century, Pogo. I have every book.

010126

Just got around to reading the September/October 2025 Asimov's, which contains, on almost the last page, a poem by me. I had been warned by a correspondent that the presentation wasn't good, but oh my God, who chose that almost unreadable font!? It is one poem that I am particularly happy with, and perhaps someone who is able to read it will consider it for the Rhysling. As for the fiction in this issue, the one I enjoyed the most was the novella "The Signal and the Idler", by Ted Kosmatka. Creepy and believable.

Lifetime service award

This year I received the lifetime service award of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association. I had no clue until the glass award trophy showed up in my mail, because that happened before anyone told me about the award officially or unofficially. Anyway, I think I just received the award for doing my thing over the years. Not that I'm not grateful. I am! Just flabbergasted. If I stand out in any way it is for persistence.

123125

take us
to your Leader
flunks Turing test