It's been a while

Hoo whee. I just noticed that it has been over a year since I last posted to this blog. It's not that I haven't had anything to blog about, quite the contrary. Just too busy and distracted to actually sit down and do it.

So, since last January, some stuff has been going on. First, we moved. To the UK. Again. Magnus was headhunted for a job with Urenco, a company that enriches and sells uranium. This time we are outside, but fairly close to London, in Buckinghamshire. We've been here for about 6 months now (since early August) and things are settling in. It's a beautiful area, quiet with lots of nature around. We have an orchard in our back yard: 5 apple trees, 1 each of plum, pear and cherry trees and blackberries too. We are close enough to London to take day trips, but we haven't done many. Weekends have been spent settling into the house.

The Boy is enjoying school, especially since he got a place at the local school, St Paul's Church of England Combined School in Wooburn Green. He went to a school in High Wycombe (Beechview), which is a 15 minute drive from home, because there were no spots available at closer schools. Long story. He is participating in a lot of activities: Fencing, Tech Club, Cub Scouts, Film Club, and Karate. He has made several friends and is doing well academically.

On the poetry scene - I had 3 reviews of collections in issue no. 40.2 of Star*Line: Jackalope Girl Learns to Speak, Field Guide to the End of the World, and An Assortment of Sky Things. They are in Alphabetical order on the linked page.
I also had another poem published in Star*Line 40.3 "Rocket Fuel".
And The Boy had a poem published in Star*Line 40.4 as well:

The Big Bang
where our imaginations began
and the fluid of time
flows.

Brilliant, isn't it?

I have a concert coming up in Germany: The 20th anniversary concert of the Women's Schola Choir Hildegardensis of Dillenburg. I've been singing as their soloist, primarily on the program of music by Hildegard von Bingen since their inception. We'll be singing some Hildegard, plus Cesar Franck, Frank Martin, Heinrich Schütz, P.F. Böddecker and others. It will be so lovely to sing with the group, Joachim Dreher (the church musician there) and in Dillenburg. Who knows when I'll ever do it again!

I've hooked up with the local church and there are some gems of musicians hidden away there. A retired professional accompanist has been helping me prepare for the concert in Dillenburg and we are having fun just singing all sorts of things and thinking about what we could perform in a recital. We might do a joint recital with a wonderful baritone, Craig Turpie, who is also a member of the church.

I have a few singing pupils already, just by word of mouth, but hopefully I'll be able to get a few more in the coming months.

Thanksgiving, Choir Class Concert, Advent and a Review

This has been a busy week around here!

We celebrated Thanksgiving on Saturday. Practical reasons really: no one has Thursday off and to eat a tradition Thanksgiving dinner at 7pm is just wrong and bad in so many ways, plus I'm unwilling to cook it all all by myself, which is what would happen if we did it on Thursday. Dante was so excited! We mad toilet paper turkey napkin rings on Friday and on Saturday he asked about every 5 minutes when the guests were arriving. It was pure torture. For him and us. We invited our new friends the Pillai's, whose daughter shares a desk with Dante at school. They are of German/Sri Lankan/Canadian extraction. And we invited our foodie and kitchen guru (Holger Kahl from Poggenpohl designed and built our kitchen) and his family. Turns out his son is also Type 1 diabetic! An Australian friend sent us a wonderful collection of readings curated by Seth Godin (A Thanksgiving Reader), which we attempted to do (the Germans went on strike!) and it was lovely. It includes quotes and brief passages by the likes of Khalil Gibran and Native American prayers and such.

And will wonders never cease? The food was all hot when it landed on the table and it tasted delicious!!

The next day, yes, on a Sunday morning, was the Hannover Chorklassenkonzert (Choir Class Concert). We had to be at rehearsal at 9:15 and pick up one of his classmates on the way. Ugh for the early start. But the whole thing was wonderful! The program encourages schools to designate one class per grade as the Choir Class and music and singing play an important role in the character of the class and the singing is integrated into the lessons as well. Dante loves it, I'm so glad he was chosen to be in that class. His singing skills have improved dramatically! For all the exposure to and learning about music and instruments that happened at Ecole Koenig they always sang songs that were too low and pretty much just shouted the whole time! Not so here! Yay! The concert itself was actually quite good. There were 3 schools represented. The other schools had a couple of grades each, but Dante's is the only Choir Class in his school. It was really interesting to see how well they sing
together after having done so a few years. Dante still pretty much looks like a deer in the headlights,
but he said it was fun, so....

This year we are doing all the activities. Germany makes a lot of Fall and Winter activities integral to childhood and Dante's just at the right age to appreciate everything. There was the St Martin's parade, where the kids make lanterns and parade through the streets sing the lantern songs. Now we have the Advent Calendar, where he gets a treat or a mini-present everyday and in a couple of days St Nicholas comes to give the kids goodies or coal. We also have an advent wreath that we light every evening, and we've put up most of the decorations. The Christmas tree will go up this weekend. On the 13th is Santa Lucia, who brings The Kids in Scandanavia and Verona, Italy presents. He's getting totally spoiled. But the poor kid has so many activities and so much homework that there's not much time for playing!!!

And now, comes the plug for my most recent poetry review. Last Spring I wrote a LOT of reviews for Star*Line (the journal of the SFPA) and my agreement with the editor is that I can use those reviews for Amazing Stories as well after a period of exclusivity. That's cool, because Star*Line pays me (a token) whereas Amazing Stories does not (yet). So, when I went on hiatus prior to the end of school for Dante, our vacation in Italy and the end of our sojourn in Paris and move to Germany, I still had 2 reviews from S*L that hadn't yet appeared on Amazing Stories. I completely forgot about them, because my hiatus extended into Fall and in fact just ended about 3 weeks ago with my return to posting at Amazing Stories. ANYHOO, the 2nd and last of those reviews appeared last week Tuesday (which is the new Wednesday - which was my posting day). It is a review of Carolyn Clinks ever morphing poetry collection entitled "Much Slower Than Light". It includes 3 full poems in audio read my moi.

Poetry Review - Littlest Lovecraft series by Tro Rex and Eyona Bella (Amazing Stories Mag)

Littlest Lovecraft is a series of picture books in verse based on novels or stories by H.P. Lovecraft. I have helped Kickstart all 3 Littlest Lovecraft books in the series. It finally occurred to me that I could review the first 2 (The Call of Cthulhu and The Dunwich Horror) and promote the 3rd (The Shadow over Innsmouth) for Amazing Stories. There are 2 audio excerpts, The Call of Cthulhu read by moi and The Dunwich Horror excellently read by Dan Putnam.

Poetry Review – Littlest Lovecraft series by Tro Rex and Eyona Bella

Poetry Review - The Sex Lives of Monsters by Helen Marshall (Amazing Stories Mag)

The Elgin Award winning (2014) collection The Sex Lives of Monsters by Helen Marshall was one I'd been planning on reviewing in full (more than just the mini-review that I did in 2014 along with all the other Elgin nominated works). I also recorded 2 full poems (one of which is a series of 5 short poems on Billy the Kid) for your listening pleasure!

Poetry Review – The Sex Lives of Monsters by Helen Marshall

Resonance Dark and Light by Bruce Boston (Amazing Stories Mag)

I have interviewed SFPA Grandmaster Bruce Boston and reviewed his work before. This is his most recent collection. I enjoyed this addition to his oeuvre very much! I love the cover, which Boston designed himself.

Poetry Review - Resonance Dark and Light by Bruce Boston

I recorded three full poems for your listening pleasure as well.

Poetry Review - Turn Left at November, by Wendy Rathbone (Amazing Stories)

As I mentioned yesterday, I discovered I've been very remiss in keeping up this blog. To be honest, I've been too busy with life and keeping up the blog at Amazing Stories and I just forgot about this one. But this blog reaches different people than Facebook and Twitter do, so when I feel like I miss some of you when I don't announce my activities here on this blog. I wonder if that's actually true? Let me know in the comments if this is the first you're reading about the stuff I've posted yesterday and today.

I was asked to review an omnibus collection (in ebook format), Unearthly, of Wendy

Rathbone's previously published chapbooks about a year ago, I'd say. So many people have asked me to review their collections or chapbooks that I had to increase the frequency of my posts at Amazing Stories from once a month to every other week (or fortnightly, which is a word I love!). Even so, I now find myself in the position that I have such a backlog of reviews to write that I could publish one every week until the end of the year! At any rate, it took me so long, that Wendy's next collection was due to come out just when I was really getting down to business reading Unearthly. Wendy graciously agreed that I should review the new one instead. So here it is - and I even manage to mention Unearthly as well!


Poetry Review - Turn Left At November, by Wendy Rathbone


This is a very atmospheric collection all about Autumn! It includes 3 poems in audio. I hope you enjoy it. Here's a snippet of my review:

Turn Left at November is a diminutive 63 page volume of 47 poems. 12 poems, listed at the beginning, appeared in the poetry journals Star*Line, Dreams & Nightmares, Scifaikuest, One Sentence Poems and The Southern California Haiku Anthology. The rest are new to, presumably, just about everyone.

Wendy Rathbone paints with words. There’s no better way to describe what she does, even if it sounds a bit cliché.

What are you waiting for?!? Click the link above to read the whole thing and listen to some lovely poetry!

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Graphic Poetry Review - Stairs Appear in a Hole Outside of Town, John Philip Johnson (Amazing Stories Mag)

Oh boy! I've been very busy and absolutely remiss in blogging about my writing and narrating! It's been 3 months! In those three months I've written quite a bit. Not quite the once-a-week blog post that I was hoping to do, but still! I'll start with the most recent and work my way back in time in separate posts. Get used to hearing from me every day or so....

My most recent post on Amazing Stories Magazine is a review of John Philip Johnson's recently Kickstarter-funded Graphic Poetry Comic Book "Stairs Appear in a Hole Outside of Town", with artwork by 6 different artists of various renown (Bob Hall of Spider-Man perhaps the most famous). My review includes one poem in audio and links-a-plenty, including to the full-package experience of listening to me read the title poem while following along with the Graphic Poem!

Graphic Poetry Review - Stairs Appear in a Hole Outside of Town

If you're still around, here's a little teaser:

I’m not sure if this is the very first genre graphic poetry book, but it sure seems like it might be. I haven’t been able to find much else available for purchase (although I have found the odd graphic poem in various out-of-print publications). John Philip Johnson has taken 5 of his most successful poems over the past few years and had them made into little mini-graphic novels. Each line of the poetry has its own panel, and each poem is a couple of pages long. Each poem is illustrated by a different cartoonist/artist/illustrator—and some very successful ones, at that.

John Philip Johnson is a member of the SFPA and a poet with whom I’ve had the pleasure of corresponding mostly on poetic topics but also other things. We have similar tastes and ideas and he hired me to be the voice of his poetry on two occasions, for which I am very grateful....

You'll have to follow the link above to read the rest!

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Poetry Planet No. 15, Amazing Stories Poetry Reviews and Narration!

OK, guys, this is going to be an info filled post. First the "show notes" for Poetry Planet. Then I forgot to post here about last week's review on Amazing Stories and today the next one went up. Then last week also put a story narration of mine out into the ether. So, I'll try to keep the blather to a minimum!

Poetry Planet
I've finally finished Poetry Planet No. 15 - The 2014 Elgin Award Showcase Part 2! This time you'll hear some examples of poetry from the 3 placing chapbooks in the award:

1st place: The Sex Lives of Monsters, by Helen Marshall
Kelp Queen Press, 2014. Available from Blurb.com - $9.99 (paperback)

2nd Place: The Edible Zoo, by David C. Kopaska-Merkel
Alban Lake Publishing, 2013. $8.00

3rd Place: Inhuman: Haiku from the Zombie Apocalypse, by Joshua Gage
The Poet's Haven, 2013. $6.00

If you only want to listen to Poetry Planet (but why would you? There's some great content in this episode!) it starts at the 1:03.45 mark. Enjoy!

Amazing Stories Magazine
Poetry Review: The Rings of Ganymede by Kendall Evans. This review includes an audio excerpt by me and poetry reciter extraordinaire Robert Neufeld.

Poetry Review: The Endless Machine by Max Ingram. This review also includes 2 poems in audio form (read by me).

StarShipSofa
Story narration: Silence in Florence by Ian Creasey. This is a story I narrated for StarShipSofa at least 4 years ago, maybe 5! But now it is finally floating in the ether for your listening enjoyment!

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Amazing Stories - Poetry Review: Mourning Jewelry, by Stephanie M. Wytovich

So, I don't have multiple items for you this week, just one article published on Amazing Stories Magazine: Poetry Review - Mourning Jewelry by Stephanie Wytovich.

This is the first mostly negative review I've published. It's not that it's bad poetry per se (although it's not excellent either), it's just a little over the top for me. Death, death and more death. And then death again. BUT if this is your thing, then you'll probably enjoy this collection and perhaps even the review. Feel free to let me know in the comments there, if you have a different opinion and can tell me why.

And now, because I have a dearth of things to announce, how about I list the items on my To Do List?

• Narrate Trial by Fire by Matthew Iden from the shared world anthology Walk the Fire 2
• Record and put together the next Poetry Planet(s) - Elgin Award Showcase, Animals & Creatures, SFPA Poetry Contest, Rhysling Award Showcase (because by the time I get the Elgin Award one finished they'll have announced the Rhysling Award...)
• Record Cthulhu Haiku II and other Mythos Madness (OMG this has been on my plate for so long, but it's not my fault, really!)
• Narrate The Potter's Daughter by Martha Wells (!) for Far-fetched Fables (podcast)
• Update website to list the poetry recorded (got my website updated - yay!)
• Write the next Amazing Stories post (and the next and the next!)

That's enough to keep me busy well into next year!

Diane

Various and Sundry - Poetry Planet: Dwarf Stars, and Fearworms

Last week was almost another week of vacation for the adults of this family. Dante went to school, except for Tuesday, because it was a holiday here in France, and so my husband took Monday off as well because why not?!? The organization he works for was moving its offices on Friday so he was home from work then as well.

We went to see Interstellar on Monday morning (at 9:30 am)! We weren't the only couples with that idea - the theater was almost full! I really liked it, although there are the requisite problems that arise from thinking too much about the flow of time. I had one BIG problem with the movie and I've read a total of 2 reviews of the film and both mentioned the same thing: the music was mixed too loudly. There were times when I couldn't understand the dialogue for the booming music. That said, the music was amazing. Quite effective, except when I was thrown out of the narrative conscious of the loudness of it. Sigh. And on top of it, Matthew McConaughey, really has turned into quite a fine actor.

Tuesday we did the Eiffel Tower. Finally. Magnus and I visited about 8 years ago, pre-Dante, but we hadn't been up with Dante since we moved to within spitting distance. It was wonderful. Dante really enjoyed the excursion.

Friday, Magnus and I went out to a fancy restaurant for lunch. Quinzième, Rue Chautry, 70015 Paris - chef Cyril Lignac. The food was wonderful, traditional, but quite interesting French cuisine. The chef came out to greet us. Check out this amazing dessert:

Today, I have 2 items of interest if you are a poetry lover:

First, a new edition of Poetry Planet (No. 14)! It's been awhile, and this is not the one (Animals & Creatures) that's been in the works for over a year, but rather "The Dwarf Stars Awards Showcase 2014". It's a short and sweet one, due to the nature of the short short poetry. You can find it on StarShipSofa Episode No. 363 - together with a story by Megan Lindholm aka Robin Hobb! I swoon.

The next Poetry Planet will be the Elgin Award Showcase for 2014. Last year, I put the two awards together in one podcast, but it was taking me to long to get it together, so I decided to split them up, especially, since I thought it might run way too long if I did it all in one. After that, I'd like to slip the Animals & Creatures one in before tackling the SFPA Contest 2014 and The Rhysling Award Showcase editions.

Second, a review of an upcoming poetry collection by Robert Payne Cabeen, Fearworms - Selected Poems went up on Amazing Stories today. I've recorded 2 of the 12 poems collected and linked to the audio of two more, so I hope you'll go read and listen.

Enjoy!

Liminality and Undoing Winter

Last week was a weird week. I decided a couple of weeks ago that I had enough material and reviews/articles half written that I could post on Amazing Stories every week for a little while. I was all set to finish up my review of Liminality: A Magazine of Speculative Poetry on Tuesday but not without a computer! A sequence of problems locked me out of my computer and I couldn't access my article text or the poetry recordings, so Steve Davidson (the editor of Amazing) graciously said I could submit it when it was finished and he'd put it up whenever. Whenever came on Friday. Unfortunately, I was at a wedding in Germany (where I don't have a data plan and didn't have wifi) Friday afternoon when the article was published. I didn't get home until Saturday evening. At which point I thought I'd just combine that review with the next one.

Here's a snippet from my review of Liminality:

I’ve reviewed a single issue of a magazine (and thus, by default the magazine itself – Mythic Delirium). This time I’m reviewing an entire issue of a brand new online magazine. Liminality – A Magazine of Speculative Poetry, edited by Rhysling-winning poet Shira Lipkin and Dwarf Stars Award-winning poet Mat Joiner, just published it’s inaugural issue in September. It is, as advertised, a magazine, which focuses on Speculative Poetry. Each quarter poems “that touch the heart as much as the head; poems of the liminal, the fluid, and the fantastic.” (From the About Us page of the site) By “liminal” they mean poetry that isn’t easily categorized, that “shifts shape”, changes or is transformative, and which embraces diversity. They want to hear from new writers, but publish established poets as well. I welcome another magazine on genre poetry. We find ourselves in an era where poetry can blossom from every crevice and be showcased quite successfully.

I take a look at the lovely cover art. And I've recorded 4 poems for your listening pleasure!

This week, I've reviewed a little chapbook, Undoing Winter, Shannon Connor Winward. There are only 11 poems in this little book, but they are so worth it. Go read the review, please. There are also 3 complete poems in audio. Here's a snippet:

This chapbook is probably the least speculative of all so far (although you might remember that John W. Sexton’s The Offspring of the Moon and Sandra Kasturi’s Come Late to the Love of Birds aren’t really genre). I believe it is worth including here simply because it is of such high quality and Shannon’s body of work tends toward the Speculative. Several of the poems of a more speculative nature have been previously published in the magazine Pedestal Magazine, Ideomancer and The Magazine of Speculative Poetry, so who am I to deny it a space here?

Enjoy!

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Interview Part 2 and Reviews in print

Today the 2nd part of my interview with Elizabeth Barrette came out on Amazing Stories: "Interview with Elizabeth Barrette Part 2" . Here's a snippet from the beginning:

Thank you for joining me as we continue our conversation with Elizabeth Barrette, Poet and Wordsmith. If you missed part one, you can find it here.

Today, Elizabeth tells us more about her activities in Crowdfunding her poetry, the poets who have been influential in her own writing, recommendations for further poetry reading and the usefulness of publishing your poetry on clay tablets.

Sound intriguing? Go read the rest of it! Thank you.

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In other news, I've officially begun my reviewing career with the SFPA's journal Star*Line. In it, I review a collection horror poetry by the poetry editor of Raw Dog Screaming Press, Stephanie Wytovich. It will be printed in truncated form in the print magazine, but you can read it in full on the SFPA website: Mourning Jewelry, by Stephanie Wytovich. You'll have to scroll down, the posts are in alphabetical order by title.

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Amazing Stories - Poetry Review - Wolf Skin by Mary McMyne

I have a new review up on Amazing Stories - a wonderful chapbook by Mary McMyne: Wolf Skin. I really enjoyed this little volume, I hope it comes through in the review (which comes complete with 3 poems read, in their entirety by moi). Here's a snippet:

I don’t know how long it’s been going on, but a lot of Alternate Fairy Tales come into my To-Read-and-Review Inbox. (I know I said that about Horror Poetry too, but it’s true, these are the two main sub-genres I receive, and sadly, little actual Science Fiction Poetry.) Like most people, I’m familiar with most Fairy Tales in a basic way, but unlike many people in the writing biz I didn’t grow up with an intimate love of them borne of the possession of some beloved volume. Additionally, I believe I basically grew up knowing merely the Disney Versions! Oh, the horror! The poor deprived soul! (I can just hear you now!) I know. But as an adult I have indeed remedied that by reading much of the Brothers’ Grimm (in German) as well as others, albeit less systematically, and have perhaps delighted more in the alternate versions by modern writers as a result. Would I like these twisted fairy tales at all if I had a beloved “original” version that I’d known from childhood? And no, Disney doesn’t count, because while I love those movies, it is not at all a stretch for me to realize that they are almost unrecognizable when compared to the originals. I’m much less forgiving when it comes to adaptations of books and stories.

My re-education, as it were, stems mostly from poetry not novels, although I’ve read a few novel-length retellings – most notably Beauty, by Sherri Tepper and Briar Rose, by Jane Yolen. But I love the succinctness, the brevity of what it takes to subvert a well-known fairy tale in a poem. I love what a capable poet can do to give a character added depth, more back-story, which totally changes your emotional attachment or simply to re-invent the tale altogether, spinning it onward from the traditional ending or telling it from an alternate point of view, in such a narrow space. Mary McMyne is one of these capable poets.

Mary McMyne begins and ends Wolf Skin not with alternate fairy tales, but with poems about those ethereal winged creatures: Butterflies (and moths). They are not fairy tale creatures in the least, but I think she uses them in a way which mimics our feelings toward the characters found in fairy tales. Fluttery, flying creatures serve the same purpose, meaning that they’ve become Fairy Tale Creature allegories for some innate desire – mostly of Flying.

 Please head over to Amazing Stories to read the rest and to listen to the poetry! Enjoy!

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In other news, I'm slowly whittling away at all the narrating gigs I signed up for. Finally finished that paid gig and am told that it's being submitted to Audible! That would be quite awesome if I can claim to be an Audible narrator. I've been toying with the idea of signing up to be one of the narrators on Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX) and now I think I must. But I really have to fix my set-up first! The room I record in is really too loud (traffic) and boomy for truly professional recordings.

I'm also making head-way on the next Poetry Planet (Animals 6 Creatures). I hope I'll be able to get it up before the end of the year - Ha! No really, the SFPA has just announced the winners of the Dwarf Stars Awards and the Elgin Awards, so I really should do a podcast on those. Or maybe I'll just write a post for Amazing Stories and record some poetry for it. Ah we'll see. So many plans, so little time!

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Involuntary Hiatus, Vacation, Larry Santoro and Poetry Review. In that order.

So, it's been a while. I was starting to believe the universe was trying to tell me something, but I wasn't sure what, exactly. Maybe that I should slow down and rest and not stress out about things I've tasked myself to do, but which I do on a volunteer basis? Perhaps, but instead of slowing down, things came to a screeching halt. And I had a job, which paid actual money to do.

First, just as my husband went off on a long business trip, during which I could've gotten lots of recording and writing in, my The hard drive on my Mac decided to die a slow death. At first, I didn't know what the trouble was and it took awhile of investigation, chatting with the Apple "geniuses" and trying everything known to man to determine this was probably the trouble (or maybe the fan was broken) and I had to wait a week to get an appointment at the Apple Store. Hard Drive it was and fixing it could take up to a week. Ugh. Well, thankfully they only needed two days and I thought I was going have my computer back soon! Magnus had made a back-up just before it started acting strangely, so no worries there. HA!! When I flipped the switch on the external back-up hard drive nothing happened. Nothing. Just some flashing lights, but no whirring and no recognition that it was even on by the computer. Huh. A friend did some research for me and said this had apparently come up fairly often for this HD. The problem? Something in the start up software and it would either magically start up if you kept trying or it would need to be replaced. The end of this story is that miracles DO happen!!! And my computer is now in working order again!

I got one evening of recording in when a very bad cold hit me like a sledge-hammer, leaving my voice a ravaged mess. Needless to say, that was the end of that. Luckily, my paying client is a patient man. Likewise, with the myriad people waiting on me to produce various reviews and narrations.

We went on a 3 week vacation to Italy, to visit family and the beach in Bibione (on the Adriatic Sea between Venice and Triest). It was a very relaxing vacation, even if beach holidays aren't my favorite (too hot, too much sun for this lass of Irish decent). I read a lot. Not just poetry and Faceboook, though. I managed to read an entire novel (gasp!) in a week's time (keels over in shock!)! I re-read one of my favorite books (The Assassin's Apprentice, by Robin Hobb), so it was good fun.

Now we are back home and have settled in. Dante is still on summer vacation through the month of August, so the routine is not quite the same as normal, but still... And then my dear (mostly internet) friend, colleague (I think I'm allowed to call him that) and mentor, Larry Santoro passed away. He had been ill only briefly. He was diagnosed with Duodenal cancer only a couple of months ago, but it had already spread to his liver and kidneys and other spots and he was already to weak for the chemo to help much. He was taken care of by his wife of 11 years, the wonderful beautiful Tycelia. It's heart-breaking. We lost him too soon and too quickly. I was able to speak to him on the phone in June, but I had intended on calling him again this past Saturday, the day after getting home. He'd passed the night before. Reading all the tributes and the out-pouring of love to Tycelia just confirms what our brief friendship had already shown. That he was a warm, funny, compassionate, passionate, giving person, whose voice over the ether was like something of a by-gone era. His podcast, while the fiction was not really my favorite (again, Horror), was a pleasure to listen to, just because he made you feel at home and like he was chatting with you, a friend. I will miss you, Larry, as will more people than you knew.

But nevertheless, my most recent genre poetry review has been published on Amazing Stories Magazine. It is of Chad Hensley's dark poetry collection Embrace the Hideous Immaculate. Here's a snippet:

But what is horror anyway? We’ve been having a very interesting discussion on the SFPA Yahoo Group (which, by the way is actually open to others interested in genre poetry, not just members. It is, however, often used to announce and discuss SFPA business) about the nature of horror literature. Is it a true genre or rather a mood which is created. The general consensus seems to be that it sends but can be either or both. Michael Arnzen posted this, which, in addition to being a bit of poetry in and of itself, hits the nail on the head, in my opinion:

Horror is a church. Its blood-stained glass both colors and reflects its readers’ worldview. It sacrifices many readers on the altar of repugnance....

Go here to read more! Poetry – Embrace the Hideous Immaculate, C. Hensley

Now that I have one small thing on my list checked off I'm feeling the pressure of all the rest of the things waiting for me! Hopping to it!

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Amazing Stories: Poetry Review - Scenes Along the Zombie Highway, G. O. Clark

I know I promised a non-Amazing Stories post as my next one, but time seems to fly by these days Scenes Along the Zombie Highway) has gone up and you can read it here. Here's a snippet:
and I haven't had a chance to sit down an write something that WASN'T for Amazing Stories... So now today my latest review (of G.O. Clark's

 

-->Scenes Along the Zombie Highway is his most recent collection, jumping on the bandwagon of zombie enthusiasm. I have to admit, I’m not a huge fan of zombies. I find the idea pretty disgusting and creepy and I don’t enjoy being grossed out. This collection, however, is not full of splatter, blood and guts (although there is plenty of gore – don’t ask me what the distinction is), so if you are looking for that kind of thrill you’d be better off looking elsewhere. Clark’s poems are first and foremost informative, then creepy, grisly and even a little bit tongue-in-cheek funny. At least that’s how they strike me.
I hope you enjoy!

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Amazing Stories: Poetry Review - Blue Sunset by Mary Jo Rabe

I review an interesting collection of linked poetry about the first colony on Mars in this week's installment at Amazing Stories: Blue Sunset, by Mary Jo Rabe.

Here's a snippet:

I “know” Mary Jo Rabe through the Science Fiction Poetry Association, but only in the virtual sense. Because she also lived in Germany, where I was at the time, I struck up a conversation with her. It turns out we had several things in common: Being from Iowa (well, I was born there and have extended family there) and my aunt’s name is Mary Jo. Mary Jo the SF poet from Iowa and living in Germany is a warm, open and engaging person and those traits come out in her poetry.

You'll have to go to Amazing Stories Mag to read the actual review and hear the poetry - I hope you will! These are very enjoyable poems. If you liked The Spoon River Anthology and you like people, you'll like these poems. No interest in Mars or Science Fiction necessary...

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Amazing Stories: Poetry Reviews - Where Rockets Burn Through and Spaces of Their Own, by Russell Jones et al

My latest post for Amazing Stories will go went up today! In it I review two books of poetry. The first is the anthology Where Rockets Burn Through, edited by Russell Jones. The second is Jones' own chapbook poetry collection Spaces of Their Own. It's a very long post with LOTS of poetry to listen to. I hope you'll read and listen to all of it. It's so worth it. You can find the post here (when it goes up!).

Because there are 19 poets represented in this post, I couldn't give any of them individual airtime, so to speak. I'd like to make up for that in this post, so if you are interested in any one poet from my review, you can read more here and follow links to their work. I know poets appreciate the time you take to look into what they are doing, so thank you!

Russell Jones - an Edinburgh-based writer, editor and researcher. His first collection of poems, "The Last Refuge" was published in 2009 by Forest Publications. He is guest editor of The Interdisciplinary Science Reviews. His most recent collection of sci-fi poems is "Spaces of Their Own" (Stewed Rhubarb Press, 2013). Russell has researched and published on the science fiction poetry of Edwin Morgan. (From his website)


Edwin Morgan - Edwin Morgan (1920-2010) published many volumes of poetry including Star Gate: Science Fiction Poems (Glasgow: Third Eye, 1979), as well as collections of essays, most of which are available from Carcanet Press and Mariscat Press. Morgan translated poetry from Italian, Latin, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Hungarian, French, German, and other languages. Among other achievements he was made Glasgow’s first Poet Laureate in 1999 and was named as the first Scottish national poet — the Scots Makar — in 2004. (From Where Rockets Burn Through WRBT)


Alisdair Gray - is a Scottish writer and artist. His most acclaimed work is his first novel, Lanark, published in 1981 and written over a period of almost 30 years. It is now regarded as a classic, and was described by The Guardian as "one of the landmarks of 20th-century fiction." His novel Poor Things (1992) won the Whitbread Novel Award and the Guardian Fiction Prize. He describes himself as (despite critical comments regarding the influence of English immigrants to Scotland) a civic nationalist and a republican. "From Wikipedia)

Steve Sneyd - His most recent SF poetry collection is Mistaking The Nature of The Posthuman (2009). SF-related readings include the 1995 National Year of Literature, Swansea, Radio 4’s Stanza in Space, Newham Libraries SF Festival, and SF conventions. He has written many books and articles about SF poetry and has been a member of the Science Fiction Poetry Association since 1977. MA in Poetry (1999). (From WRBT)

--> Jane McKie - Her first collection, Morocco Rococo (Cinnamon Press), was awarded the 2008 Sundial/Scottish Arts Council prize for best first book of 2007. Her other publications include When the Sun Turns Green (Polygon, 2009), and Garden of Bedsteads (Mariscat, 2011) which was a Poetry Book Society pamphlet choice. She won the 2011 Edwin Morgan International Poetry Competition and is currently working on a third collection of poems.  She is also interested in writing short stories and reads with the Edinburgh-based Writers' Bloc.
--> James McGonigal - is a Glasgow-based poet, editor and critic. He has published on Ezra Pound and Basil Bunting, Scottish religious poetry and Scots-Irish writing. Recent work includes his biography of Edwin Morgan, Beyond the Last Dragon (Sandstone Press, 2010, 2012) Saltire Society Scottish Research Book of the Year; Poetry: Cloud Pibroch (Mariscat Press, 2010) winner of the Michael Marks Poetry Pamphlet Award; The Poetry of Edwin Morgan and 'Life Sentences' in Black Middens: New Writing Scotland 31.
Sarah Hesketh - Sarah Hesketh was born in 1983 and brought up in Pendle, East Lancashire. Her first full collection of poetry Napoleon’s Travelling Bookshelf, was published in 2009 by Penned in the Margins and was highly commended in the Forward Prize 2010. She currently lives in London and works part time as the Events and Publications Manager for the Poetry Translation Centre as well as teaching creative writing for the Open University.

Andy Jackson - Andy Jackson (b.1965) has had poems published in Magma, Gutter, Trespass, New Writing Scotland and other journals. His collection The Assassination Museum was published by Red Squirrel Press in 2010, and he edited Split Screen : Poetry inspired by film & television, published in 2012, also by Red Squirrel Press. He blogs at "Otwituaries".

Simon Barraclough - is the author of the Forward-finalist debut, Los Alamos Mon Amour (Salt, 2008), Bonjour Tetris (Penned in the Margins, 2010) and Neptune Blue (Salt, 2011). He is the editor of Psycho Poetica (Sidekick Books, 2012) and co-author of The Debris Field (Sidekick Books, 2013). He is currently poet in residence at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory in Surrey and working on a book and event entitled Sunspots. An Article in Pages Of Magazine. An Interview.

Jane Yolen - Jane Yolen is a widely published author of 300+ books. Her poetry has been in numerous magazines, journals and anthologies around the world. Two-time Nebula winner for short fiction, she’s also a World Fantasy Grand Master and a Science Fiction Poetry Association Grand Master. Six colleges have given her honorary doctorates.

--> Dilys Rose - Dilys Rose has published eleven books, including Red Tides, Pest Maiden, Lord of Illusions and Bodywork. Her work has received a number of awards. She enjoys creative collaborations and is currently completing the text for a song cycle. Her novel, Pelmanism, will be published later this year by Luath Press.
Aiko Harman - is a Los Angeles native now living in Scotland where she completed an MSc in Creative Writing at the University of Edinburgh. Aiko’s poetry is published in The Best British Poetry 2011, Anon, and The Edinburgh Review, among others.

Ian McLachlan - His illustrated poetry pamphlet Confronting the Danger of Art  is available from Sidekick Books. He has recently completed a story consisting of twenty-six poems about a London vampire and is currently scoping out publishers. Two poems from this collection can be read in the Spring 2014 issue of Magma. He tweets @ianjmclachlan.

Kirsten Irving - Kirsten Irving is one of the editors behind collaborative poetry press Sidekick Books. Her first collection, Never Never Never Come Back, was released in 2012 by Salt Publishing. Her poetry has been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize, translated into Russian and Spanish and thrown out of a helicopter. She is currently writing on a steampunk novel-poetry crossover and works as a freelance copywriter. She blogs at "Copy That".

Kona MacPhee - (a lifelong SF fan) grew up in Australia and now lives in Scotland. Her second collection, Perfect Blue (Bloodaxe 2010), won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize for 2010. Her most recent collection is What Long Miles.

 WN Herbert - has been visiting this planet in a number of disguises over the last few millennia. Most recent cover story is he was born in Dundee in 1961, XXX is published by Bloodaxe Books, and teaches Creative Writing at Newcastle University. But he’s fooling no-one.

 Andrew J. Wilson - "Merciless" originally appeared in Split Screen: Poetry Inspired by Film & Television, edited by Andy Jackson (Red Squirrel Press, 2012), and then, after being selected for Where Rockets Burn Through, it was reprinted again in Weird Tales #361. His short stories, articles and poems have been published all over the world. Recent work appears in A Sea of Alone: Poems for Alfred Hitchcock and Split Screen: Poetry Inspired by Film & Television. With Neil Williamson, he co-edited the award-nominated anthology Nova Scotia: New Scottish Speculative Fiction.

Claire Askew - Her poetry has appeared in a variety of publications, including The Guardian, The Edinburgh Review, The Istanbul Review and Poetry Scotland.  Her work has also been widely anthologised and won many awards, most recently the inaugural International Salt Prize for Poetry.  She works at Scottish Book Trust as a project co-ordinator, and blogs at One Night Stanzas.

Sue Guiney - Though a native New Yorker, she has lived in London for over twenty years. Besides science, her writing now focuses on modern Cambodia where she teaches for a part of each year. She is the author of 3 novels and 2 poetry collections. Out of the Ruins, Wardwood Publishing.

Ken MacLeod - Ken MacLeod has written more than 13 novels, from The Star Fraction (1995) to Intrusion (2012). In 2009 he was Writer in Residence at the ESRC Genomics Policy and Research Forum. He is now Writer in Residence at the MA Creative Writing course, Edinburgh Napier University. His most recent novel is Descent.

Ron Butlin - is the Edinburgh Makar. An international prize-winning author, his novel The Sound of My Voice was included in the Guardian’s 1000 Books You Have To Read. He is also an opera librettist, short story writer and playwright. His new novel, Ghost Moon, will be published in April; and his new opera, Wedlock, will be premiered later this year by Scottish Opera.

Pippa Goldschmidt - is a writer based in Edinburgh. I used to be a professional astronomer and much of my writing is inspired by science. My novel ‘The Falling Sky’ about a scientist who thinks she’s found evidence contradicting the Big Bang theory was a finalist in the Dundee International Book Prize in 2012 and was published last year by Freight Books. My short stories, non-fiction and poetry have been published in a variety of magazines and anthologies, including Gutter, Lablit, New Writing Scotland and the New York Times.

Thanks for reading!!!
 

Amazing Stories: Poetry Review - Offspring of the Moon by John W. Sexton

Hello! And happy holidays to you all! We're heading to Montana to spend the Christmas and New Year's holidays with my brother and his family and my mom, who moved out there this summer (from Wisconsin). There'll be much fun to be had: Tree decorating, Santa Claus visit, Owling (a special request from Dante because of a book "Owl Moon" by Jane Yolen, which we read recently), sledding, quaffing and gorging and much faullenzing (lazy making). I'm looking forward to it.

I have a new blog post (after a brief hiatus due to illness - bad head cold and couldn't record anything!) up tomorrow on my new day in the schedule. You can read my posts every other Wednesday from now on (unless, of course, I get sick or am traveling/performing too much, etc.).

This time I had the great pleasure of reviewing Irish poet, John W. Sexton's most recent collection Offspring of the Moon for Amazing Stories Mag. Here's a snippit:

I’ve read Irish poet John Sexton’s work often online and in Star*Line, so when I read that he had published a (new) collection I asked if I could het one for review purposes. His Publisher very graciously sent me a copy from Ireland (remember that I’m in France, so it’s not such a stretch). I’m so glad I got to read this collection in the dead-tree edition. It’s a beautiful little volume of 57 mostly short length poems. The cover art by Ludmila Korol, called “Moon Wind” is stunningly perfect and beautiful on the paperback cover. The original is oil on canvas and is certainly even more vibrant in that medium. The volume is a perfect bound paperback printed on smooth cream-colored paper which is very easy on the eyes and a pleasure to hold in your hand. However, if you are in a part of the world that make procuring a hard copy of this collection difficult it is available on Amazon. Sexton has published widely online and in print and I’ve always enjoyed his work. He has written many Haiku sequences and hybrid forms, which are wonderfully evocative. Offspring of the Moon contains many poems which were originally published in print journals and anthologies and they defy categorization.

To read the rest, and listen to my readings of 6 of the poems found within, please go here.

If you have missed any of my previous posts at Amazing Stories you can find a list of them on my author page.

Enjoy!

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Amazing Stories: Poetry Review - Transmissions to the Mystic Nebula

You can now read my latest speculative poetry review on Amazing Stories. It's a review of Christopher Vera's self-published collection "Transmissions to the Mystic Nebula". You may remember Chris was the mentor on my one and only poetic creation and it was published on his website Mystic Nebula. But this time it's about him and his wonderful, moving, intense collection of poetry. Here's a snippet:
 

Transmissions to the Mystic Nebula is a collection of intensely intimate poetry which map a life, somewhat (auto)biographical. Whether it’s the life of the poet himself or a fictional poet doesn’t makes no difference – you are pulled into an examination of events in a person’s life that are momentous and significant.

The collection is organized in a framework of communications with the “Mystic Nebula” by the/a (fictional) poet. This Science Fictional “story” is laid out at the beginning in a “Researchers Note” and the poems are punctuated by beautiful art depicting a Nebula and other space images with status reports regarding the “transmission”. The effect is...

Ah yes, well, you'll have to go to the post to read the rest! 

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Amazing Stories: Review - Unexplained Fevers, by Jeannine Hall Gailey

My next article on Amazing Stories has gone up. This time it's a review of a wonderful collection of poetry by Redmond, Washington, USA's Poet Laureate Jeannine Hall Gailey entitled "Unexplained Fevers".

All of the poems in this collection are in some way or another about Fairy Tale Characters. Here's a snippet:

--> This is a collection about the “heroines” of Fairy Tale, Myth and other stories of the Collective Consciousness. I put quotes around heroines because they often aren’t in Gailey’s poetry. She makes them real people, with foibles and flaws. She takes familiar characters and gives them a back story or spins the story along after the “Happily Ever After” of the original (or Disney version!) is a popular convention among poets. I’ve reviewed two such collections here on Amazing Stories ("Out of the Black Forest" by F. J. Bergmann and "Villains and Heroes" by Mary Turzillo) and you’ll see it...For the full text please go to the post at Amazing Stories Mag. There are 5 poems from the collection to listen to which I recorded and 2 others that you can follow links too. I hope you enjoy the article and the poems.

You can also hear Jeannine read from her forth-coming collection and Unexplained Fevers on the Jack Straw Podcast.

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