112319b

Poem by me in A Poet Explores the Stars, ed. by J. Alan Erwine.(ISBN 9781697141443). Also includes work by Lisa Timpf, Juleigh Howard-Hobson, Mike Morgan, & many more.

092519b

The Poetry Nook anthology features several of my science fiction and fantasy poems, as well as many by poets familiar to most of you:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1939832152

010919d

It looks like I will be editing the Rhysling anthology of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association. Apparently some plans fell through at the last minute, so I am taking over  about a month behind schedule. I hope that people will cut me some slack because of this, but I should soon get up to speed. This is a unique award in literature: members of the organization nominate poems, published in the previous year, which are then published in an anthology that is distributed to every member. Thus every member can read  all of the nominated poems and every poet gets a fair shot at winning the award. Watch this space for more information,  but if you want to get involved and are not a member of the Association, join now: http://sfpoetry.com/rhysling.html

Press Release about Rhysling Anthology

I sent it to my local paper. Based on the template Robin Mayhall created.

Local Writer Edits Volume of Poems

Nominated for International Poetry Award

A local geologist and part-time science-fiction writer is the editor of this year’s Rhysling Anthology, the annual collection of poems nominated for a prize awarded by the Science Fiction Poetry Association to honor the best science fiction, fantasy or horror poems from the previous year.

Kopaska-Merkel has been writing science fiction and fantasy short stories and poems for more than four decades. He has edited and published the speculative poetry magazine Dreams and Nightmares since 1986. The Rhysling Award honors poetry in two categories: short poems of 1 to 49 lines and long poems of 50 lines or longer. Kopaska-Merkel won the long-poem award in 2006 for “The Tin Men,” a collaboration with Kendall Evans.

Only dues-paying members of the Science Fiction Poetry Association can nominate a poem for the Rhysling Award, which was established in 1978. All of the nominated poems are published in a printed anthology, which is distributed to the membership for use as a voting tool. SFPA members vote on their favorites in each category, and the winners are announced in the summer. The Rhysling Anthology also is sold by the SFPA to offset the cost of printing and to raise funds for association programs.

The winning works are regularly reprinted in the Nebula Awards Anthology from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc., and are considered in the speculative fiction field to be the equivalent in poetry of the awards given for “prose” work: achievement awards given to poets by the writing peers of their own field of literature. Past winners have included such science fiction and fantasy notables as Ursula K. Le Guin, Bruce Boston, Joe Haldeman and Jane Yolen.

Kopaska-Merkel was born and raised in Charlottesville, Virginia, but has lived in Tuscaloosa for almost 30 years. He works for the Geological Survey of Alabama. His publications include 25 books of poetry and short fiction, more than 100 scientific books and articles, and poems in such publications as Asimov’s Science Fiction, Strange Horizons, and Night Cry. He is past president of the Science Fiction Poetry Association, and a former editor of its journal Star*line.

The Science Fiction Poetry Association was founded in 1978 to bring together poets and readers interested in science fiction poetry. In addition to the Rhysling Anthology, the SFPA publishes Star*Line, its quarterly official newsletter featuring market news, interviews, articles, reviews, member news and letters, association business, and poetry by members and nonmembers. For more information, visit the association’s website at http://www.sfpoetry.com.

Rhysling update

The deadline for submitting nominations for the Rhysling award has passed. If you have sent a postal nomination or have had problems getting through, talk to me as soon as possible. We will work with you and want your nomination to be included.

Give me a couple of days to work through all the recent nominations and get permission from the authors to reprint the poems in the anthology. We are having trouble getting in touch with a few people, and I will send out a request for help with that as soon as I can make up an up-to-date list. Give me a couple of days for that.

As always, if you have any question or problem, email me or any of the SFPA officers.

I think you'll be impressed with the length and breadth of the anthology this year. Most of you will be sorry you can't vote for more poems, they are that good.

Cthulhu haiku fundraiser

Popcorn Press' new horror anthology. Contribute so authors & artists get paid!

On the Brink of Never Contents

On the Brink of Never


Contents

Introduction


Part I: It Comes 7


Apocalypse Lullaby by Marcie Lynn Tentchoff
Scanning the Skies by Terrie Leigh Relf
The Sun God Bids Farewell to His Lover by Marsheila Rockwell
Fate by Jaime Lee Moyer


Part II: Apocalypse Now


When the Earth Shakes by Marcie Lynn Tentchoff
Sunrise by Jennifer Schwabach
Lotto Drawing by Terrie Leigh Relf
After the Broadcast by Marcie Lynn Tentchoff
End of the World by Jaime Lee Moyer
Ephemeral by Jennifer Schwabach
The Last Olympiad by Marsheila Rockwell
How doth the world end? by David C. Kopaska-Merkel
Holiday by Marcie Lynn Tentchoff
You Can Run, Chicken Little by David C. Kopaska-Merkel
Final Score by Marsheila Rockwell
The Sign Read: Post-Apocalyptic Choir Seeking New Members by Terrie Leigh Relf
End by Jennifer Schwabach
The Important Things by Marcie Lynn Tentchoff
Christmas by Jennifer Schwabach


Part III: Aftermath


Spring by Jennifer Schwabach
Turning Tides by Marcie Lynn Tentchoff
Habitats for Humanity by Terrie Leigh Relf
Nuclear by Jennifer Schwabach
Starfish by Samantha Henderson
When the Comet Came by Marsheila Rockwell
Insanity Is the New Sanity by Terrie Lynn Relf
Keepin' On by David C. Kopaska-Merkel
Goodbye by Jennifer Schwabach
Excess Baggage by David C. Kopaska-Merkel


Part IV: Looking Back


Rebuilding by Jennifer Schwabach
The Refugee Camp on Psion IV by Terrie Leigh Relf
Rebellion by Jennifer Schwabach
A Wink of the Further Eye by David C. Kopaska-Merkel
Immortality by Jennifer Schwabach
Remembrance Day by Marcie Lynn Tentchoff
Mapping the Limits by assu

On the Brink

I now have a pdf of "On the Brink of Never," the new end-of-the-world
poetry anthology by the Musers. If you are interested in writing a
review or making a Stoker nomination, please let me know.

New twitter anthology

I'm in there

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006KLYF8G/

Burning with a Vision on sale

Famous SF poetry antho too cheap to pass up

http://dreamnnightmare.livejournal.com/100214.html

Hint fiction anthology now open

The shortest of stories. Do it. It'll be fun.

http://www.robertswartwood.com/?page_id=8