Amazing Stories Magazine - BETA version

With everything else that has been going on, there's also been quite a bit of movement toward legitimizing my hobbies of SF Poetry and Voice Acting.

I've gotten my first paying job as a narrator. Granted it's pretty minor - I'll be reading 3 stories for an anthology called Geek Love Anthology. It's a little risque :-) But Nobilis Reed is paying me to do it, so I'm happy!

The other semi-professional improvement is that I will become one of the original bloggers for the new Amazing Stories Magazine that is launching its beta-version on Jan. 2nd, 2013. Here's the official press-release:

Amazing Stories, the world's first science fiction magazine, opens for Beta Testing of Phase 1 on Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013.

Fifty+ Writers Sign On to provide genre-related content!

Experimenter Publishing Company
Hillsboro, NH
December 20, 2012

AMAZING STORIES are just one click away!

On Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013, I will be joined by more than 50 other writers from around the blogosphere to help launch the Beta Test of Phase 1 of the return of Amazing Stories.

Amazing Stories was the world's first science fiction magazine.  Published by Hugo Gernsback, the Father of Science Fiction, the magazine created the genre's first home and was instrumental in helping to establish science fiction fandom – the fandom from which all other fandoms have evolved.

The magazine itself ceased publication in 2005; in 2008 the new publisher, Steve Davidson, discovered that the trademarks had lapsed and applied for them.  The marks were finally granted in 2011.

Phase 1 introduces the social networking aspects of the site and the Blog Team, more than 50 authors, artists, collectors, editors, pod casters, designers and bloggers who will address 14 different subjects on a regular basis – SF, Fantasy & Horror literature, anime, gaming, film, television, the visual arts, audio works, the pulps, comics, fandom, science and publishing.

Those wishing to participate in the Beta Test should request an invite by emailing the publisher, Steve Davidson.

Amazing Stories' Social Magazine platform is designed to create an interactive environment that will be familiar to fans – especially those who attend conventions or enjoy club activities – with blog content designed to encourage discussion and take things beyond the usual user-generated content model for social networks.

The Amazing Stories Blog Team will cover (for now – more coming!) fourteen popular topics – Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Literature, Film, Television, Gaming, Comics and Graphic Works, the Visual Arts, the Pulps, Audio Works, Anime, the Business of Publishing, Science and Fandom itself.

Amazing Stories' relaunch will take place in two phases. Those interested in participating in the Beta Test of Phase 1 should contact the publisher at steve.davidson33@comcast.net. Phase 2 will introduce additional interactivity and user-customization to the site. Following the completion and testing of Phase 2, the magazine, featuring both new and reprint fiction, essays, photo galleries, reviews and more will begin publication. Readers who are interested in what the magazine will look like can read two Relaunch Prelaunch issues on line, or download them from the Amazing Stories store. (Additional Amazing Stories themed product is also available here.)

How cool is that?!? My first blog post will mostly be just an introduction and a bit of a teaser to get people interested in coming back. I have several ideas for subsequent posts and I think it will be fun!


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Poetry Planet No. 8 SFPA Poetry Contest 2012

It's been a while - had you noticed? My last post was actually the previous Poetry Planet! Well, we've moved. Not just moved house, but moved to a new city, a new country, a new language! We've moved from Germany to Paris. Yes, and you'll find us under the Eiffel Tower... Not actually, but nearly! We have a lovely apartment (huge, for Parisian standards) and live in a very dynamic area of town - on the border of the 7th and 15th arondissements (quarters). We are nearly out of all the boxes and have found homes for most of our stuff. Even having left most of our books and CD/DVD collections in Hannover and doing some major decluttering, we're still struggling with lack of space.

Well, that's not actually what this post is meant to be about! Wed. 19 December 2012 comes the release of a new edition of Poetry Planet! No. 9 - the SFPA Poetry Contest 2012. You can listen to it here: StarShipSofa No. 269. You'll hear the winners and the runner up poems of the contest sponsored by the Science Fiction Poetry Association. And as a bonus at the end I also read the winning poems of the Dwarf Stars Award. You can read the winning and placing poems in their entirety on the SFPA website. So without further ado, here are the links and show-notes for the show:

Dwarf length:

• Runner up: Noel Sloboda - Dinosaur Heart. Noel Sloboda is the author of the poetry collection Shell Games as well as several chapbooks. He has also published a book about Edith Wharton and Gertrude Stein. Sloboda teaches at Penn State York and serves as dramaturg for the Harrisburg Shakespeare Festival. His forthcoming poetry collection, Our Rarer Monsters, will feature original art by Marc Snyder. Catch a glimpse here: tumblr.com/tagged/our-rarer-monsters
• Winner: Steven Wittenberg Gorden, M.D. - Lilith. Steven Wittenberg Gordon received his BA from Amherst College and his MD from Albany Medical College. He credits his romantic Shakespearean sonnets and other love poems with his luck in wooing, winning, and keeping his wife—a lady otherwise clearly out of his league. In the past year, he has been experimenting with speculative poetry, mainly fantasy and horror. “Lilith” is his first work of short fiction to be published in a professional market. Doctor Gordon resides in Kansas with his wife, their two children, and a poorly trained Airedale terrier. He continues to practice medicine on a part-time basis. Visit him at eretzsongs.blogspot.com.

Short length:

• Runner up: Cathy Bryant - Calculated. Cathy Bryant lives in Manchester, UK, and performs her poetry all over the country. Her short stories and poems have been published in every continent except Antarctica, and in 2012 she won the Swanezine Poetry Prize, the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Prize, the Sampad 'Inspired by Tagore' Prize and the Malahat Review Monostich Poetry Prize. Her collection Contains Strong Language and Scenes of a Sexual Nature was published recently and can be purchased from amazon.co.uk or any good bookshop. Fnd out more at cathybryant.co.uk.        
• Winner: Damien Cowger - Cold.  Damien Cowger is a writer of short fiction and poetry. His work has most recently appeared in Fox Cry Review, Midwest Literary Magazine, and Denver Syntax. He lives in Athens, Ohio where he is the Managing Editor of New Ohio Review. Damien estimates that he has swallowed about $1.20 in dimes in his lifetime.

Long length:

• Runner up: Jade Sylvan - Rocketman Pantoum. Jade Sylvan is a writer and performance artist. She's the author of The Spark Singer and has had work published in PANK, The Sun, Bayou, Basalt, Word Riot, Decomp, and others. Read her work and about her various projects at jadesylvan.com. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
• Runner up: Bryant O'Hara - The Music is Always On. Bryant O'Hara is a programmer, poet, occasional musician, and budding maker - not always in that order, sometimes all at once. He has worked as an industrial engineer and technical writer, and is currently a software developer. Bryant started writing poetry in earnest during the mid-1990's, performing as part of the Klub Kuumba poetry collective in Atlanta, GA. After a long hiatus, he revisited many of those poems and began creating new ones. "The Music is Always On" is his first published poem. You can listen to poetry with musical backgrounds here on SoundCloud. Bryant lives in Stone Mountain, GA, with his wife Alice and two of his seven children.
• Winner: Darrel Lindsey - The Fugitive. Darrell Lindsey is a freelance writer/ poet/songwriter from Nacogdoches, the oldest town in Texas. His haiku and tanka have won awards in the United States, Japan, Croatia, Bulgaria, Canada, and Romania. He is the author of Edge Of The Pond ( Popcorn Press, 2012), available on Amazon and from the publisher at popcornpress.com.

Dwarf Stars Awards:

• 3rd Place: "Snowflake galaxies" by G.O. Clark 
• 2nd Place: "Closure" by Greer Woodward
• Winner: "Blue Rose Buddha" by Marge Simon

News items:


Kickstarter Projects mentioned:

• Clockwork Phoenix 4 and other stories of beauty and strangeness, ed. Mike Allen
• Cthulhu Haiku and Other Mythos Madness, Poems and Stories, ed. Lester Smith
• Apocalypes Now: Poems and Prose from the End of Days, ed. Andrew McFadyen-Ketchum & Alexander Lumans. 

Julie Bloss Kelsey Blog contest: Stars in my Sugar Bowl

Online Zines: Abyss & Apex, Goblin Fruit, Inskscrawl, Stone Telling, Niteblade and Scifikuest.

Please do visit the poet's sites and check out more of their work! I know they appreciate the visit. As always, feel free to comment on the show either here or on the StarShipSofa forum.

Thanks for listening!

Poetry Planet: 2012 Rhysling Award Showcase

After much delay, the next installment of Poetry Planet has hit the ether (now on StarShipSofa 256)! The annual Rhysling Award Showcase features the poetry of the award winners in both the Long and the short categories plus the 2nd and 3rd placing poems as well. I must apologize profusely at this stage because the 2nd place long poem failed to make it into the final audio file and by the time I noticed it was too late to fix it. Sorry! But as a bonus, you get it here (see below)

You'll hear:

• 3rd Place Long: Mary A. Turzillo, "The Legend of the Emperor's new Spacesuit (a Tale of Concensus Reality)" 

Mary A. Turzillo's novel An Old-Fashioned Martian Girl and Nebula Award- winning novelette "Mars Is no Place for Children" are recommended reading on the International Space Station. She has been nominated for the Rhysling, the British Science Fiction Association Award ("Eat or Be Eaten, a Love Story"), and the Pushcart (Your Cat & Other Space Aliens, vanZeno). Her latest book is Lovers & Killers, Dark Regions 2012.

• 3rd Place Short: Lyn C. A. Gardener, “In Translation”

Lyn C. A. Gardner grew up beside Keuka Lake in upstate New York, but her family has since gathered in coastal Virginia. With master's degrees in English literature and library science, she’s been the editor for a private maritime museum and currently serves as catalog librarian for a public library. She also loved her work as projectionist for AMC Theatres. In addition to writing, art, and photography, She enjoys fencing, swimming in lakes, biking around the neighborhood, skating (ice & sidewalk skates). She loves owls, cats, trees, snow, the stars, the color blue, and playing folk guitar and harpsichord. Most of all, She loves spending time with her family. Her first book, a poetry collection called Dreaming of Days in Astophel, is available from Sam's Dot Publishing.

• 2nd Place Long: G. O. Clark and Kendall Evans, “The 25-Cent Rocket: One-Quarter of the Way to the Stars” This poem failed to make it onto the final audio file. My apologies to Gary and Kendall! I've posted it to my MySpace space for now, until the next Poetry Planet runs. To listen go here.

Kendall Evans is the author of more than 250 poems and about 50 short stories published in various sf, fantasy and horror publications. He recently completed a book length sf dramatic poem, a ring cycle in four parts, The Rings of Ganymede.
G.O Clark’s poetry has appeared on Poetry Planet previously. G. O. Clark's writing has been published in Asimov's Science Fiction, StrangeHorizons, A Sea Of Alone: Poems For Alfred Hitchcock, Tales Of The Talisman, among others. He's the author of nine poetry collections, most recent, "White Shift" in 2012, and a fiction collection, "The Saucer Under My Bed and Other Stories", 2011. He’s retired and lives in Davis, CA.

• 2nd Place Short: Erik Amundsen, "The Lend"

Erik Amundsen was removed from display, as he was considered zoologically improbable and/or terrifying to small children. He has been sighted in Weird Tales, Fantasy Magazine, Not One of Us and Jabberwocky but his natural habitat is central Connecticut. Taken broadly, Erik Amundsen has had an interesting life; he's been a baker, an itinerant schoolteacher, worked for two governments and gotten in bar fights overseas. He now lives at the foot of a cemetery in central Connecticut where he writes nasty little stories and poems that shuffle around in the night when he's not looking. Or at least he hopes it's them; something's got to be making those noises and it's not the furnace. He maintains a blog on LiveJournal under the code-name cucumberseed.

• 1st Place Long: Megan Arkenberg, "The Curator Speaks in the Department of Dead Languages" 

Megan Arkenberg is a student in Wisconsin. This was her first Rhysling nomination and her first award for speculative poetry. In addition to poetry, she writes short fiction; her work has recently appeared in Asimov’s, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and Lightspeed. She procrastinates by editing the online magazines Mirror Dance, which focuses on the fantasy genre and Lacuna, for historical fiction.

• 1st Place Short: Shira Lipkin, "The Library, After"

Shira Lipkin is a writer, activist, mother, and nexus. She has managed to convince Interfictions 2, Stone Telling, ChiZine, Apex Magazine, Steam-Powered, Mythic Delirium, and other otherwise-sensible magazines and anthologies to publish her short fiction and poetry, and she has just won the 2012 Rhysling Award for short poem. She lives in Boston with her family and the requisite cats, fights crime with the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center, does six impossible things before breakfast, and would like a nap now. You can track her movements at shiralipkin.com and shadesong.livejournal.com. Please do. She likes the company.

Please click on the links to the poets' websites, blogs and the like. They appreciate the support. 

Update - after the 2011 Rhysling Award Showcase got a rerun on StarShipSofa No. 255, the 2012 version is now live on the website and iTunes - StarShipSofa No. 256
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Poetry Review: On the Brink of Never

On the Brink of Never, compiled by David C. Kopaska-Merkel, is a collection of apocalyptic poetry written by various authors: Kopaska-Merkel himself, Jennifer Schwabach, Jaime Lee Moyer, Marcie Lynn Tentchoff, Terrie Leigh Relf, Marsheila Rockwell and Samantha Henderson.

Do you have any idea how many ways the "world" can end or when? And what happens afterwards? These questions are explored in this slim volume and each poem brings a little surprise. This is the blurb:

The ancient Maya had a rich mythology. Their religious beliefs included the notion that the world would end on December 21, 2012. For reasons best known to themselves, hordes of modern folk have converted to this ancient religion. If belief sustains the existence of gods, as some have suggested, then perhaps it also sustains the validity of prophecy. I hope not. Because if belief alone can make prophecy real, millions and millions of lapsed Abrahamic religionists may have doomed the rest of us to extinction along with themselves. Nice going guys! In a spirit of hopelessness and despair, engendered by the realization that a boatload of gullible fools are taking us with them into oblivion, we offer the following tribute. I don't know what day you bought this book, but just in case: read fast!
~ David C. Kopaska-Merkel, Terra, Year N-2

The authors form a group, encouraged by Mikal Trimm (strangely absent among those represented in the collection), called the Hitting the Muse group. As explained in the Foreword, they encourage one another to write and give critique to hone their craft. Most of the poems collected are a direct result of this fellowship.

Gathered within is an apocalyptic lullaby (the earth will moan / and scream, my loveling, / and heave, and crack / in fissures deep), a love testament (And we stand together / As we always have, / Watching while the sky falls.), the sun personified (My birth spawned yours; likewise, my death / Our love began with an explosion), the olympic gods (London, 2012 / Apollo's first arrow took out / The entire upper tier / Of Lord's Grand Stand), quite realistic blame laying (We’ve fouled our nest for centuries, / Done exactly as we please, / Our misdeeds now have come to bite us), zombies (and I exhaled with relief, / believing the zombie infestation / had devoured the entire chorus.), remembering what's important (Your daughter's last ballet recital, ... Your son's first real "grownup" party), extinction on another planet (Rescue is not / Coming, not now / Too far away / Supplies short), death by comet (It missed us by more than 200,000 miles. / Missed us, but hit the moon), post-apocalyptic life ("Reality bites," I think, but don't say / while a few folks share stale peanut butter)(They say, "remember," / and I try to see the world's / ending through the eyes of people / like my parents, who survived.) and many, many more.

Some favorites of mine include "Fate" by Jaime Lee Moyer, "The Sun God Bids
Farewell to His Lover" and "When the Comet Came" by Marsheila Rockwell, naturally "The Sign Read: Post-Apocalyptic Choir Seeking New Members" by Terrie Leigh Relf, "Spring" by Jennifer Schwabach, David C. Kopaska-Merkel's "Keepin' On" and "A Wink Of The
Further Eye", and Marcie Lynn Tentchoff's "Remembrance Day".

There are serious poems and touching poems, poems to ponder and poems to chuckle over (amazingly), so there is something for everyone, I dare say. I received a .pdf version of this for review, so I can say nothing about the physical volume.

You can purchase a hard copy of On the Brink of Never at Alban Lake and at Smashwords in ebook format.

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Narration - The Timpanist of the Berlin Philharmonic - 1942, by Kim Stanley Robinson

At long last, I have another narration up on StarShipSofa No. 249. It is a very moving story by the imminent Science Fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson. This isn't actually a Science Fiction story - at least not as far as I can tell. I'm not actually sure why Tony wanted this story for StarShipSofa, except that any story by KS Robinson would be a good draw for the podcast and I think that is the idea for this month of August with 2 new podcasts he's plugging.

Anyway back to the story. It is ostensibly about the political climate in Berlin in 1942 and what happened to and in the Berlin Philharmonic at the time. The Timpanist's very personal story is intertwined with descriptions of  his relationship to Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. The Symphony is a character in this story and all the "action" takes place during the course of the Berlin Philharmonic's performance of it on Hitler's birthday in 1942. There are some chilling moments as well as some very emotional moments. It is a rare story which gives a positive light to some "ordinary" and extraordinary people who did their best in a bleak time in which there seemed no hope. I almost wish it were in German so that all my German friends could listen to it. Germans as a people still struggle with how to come to terms with the events of WWII and they come down very hard on themselves as a general rule. For the most part this is the correct attitude, but there's always a flip side and this is one of them. It's powerful stuff. I used the actual recording of the symphony from that very night. Not much just about 60 seconds or so of it, but the timing is just perfect with the story...

Go listen to it: The Timpanist of the Berlin Philharmonic - 1942, by Kim Stanley Robinson Tony's intro and the segment about the cover art for the month of August isn't long, but if you'd rather skip straight to the story it begins at the 5'15" minute mark. It's about 45 minutes long.

I'd love to hear what you think about the story and/or my narration. You can post here or at StarShipSofa's Forum Episode Feedback page or FaceBook page.

In other news, I'm still working on The Rhysling Award Showcase edition of Poetry Planet. It'll probably come out in 2 weeks time because Tony appears to be on vacation. Either that or he's sleeping at the desk. :-)

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Poetry Review - A Woman of Mars, by Helen Patrice

I was encouraged yesterday (by Shira Lipkin - this year's Rhysling Award Winner in the Short Form) to review more about the poetry I read. I don't consider myself much of an expert on poetry or even particularly knowledgeable. That might change as I find myself spending more time with it and trying to learn.

I recently finished the collection of related poetry, "A Woman of Mars", by Helen Patrice and this one is easy to review, so here goes. Most of this I also posted on my GoodReads collection.

I won this slim volume in a little contest the author held on her Author Page at FaceBook - so I feel a certain duty to review it properly.

It's a gorgeous, slim hard cover. Brick red, fitting to the setting with wonderful artwork (pencil drawings) by Bob Eggleston. It's a limited, signed (by both author and artist) edition - mine is number 225/300, so there aren't many left!

It's highly readable. Non of the poems are epic in length and so it's possible to read them several times in one sitting, without getting overwhelmed. The poems tell a story and the over-arching narrative is quite compelling. In the space of just a few poems you come to care about this woman and really want to know what happens to her.  That said, despite the woman's love for Mars, there is an underlying sadness or melancholy, perhaps stemming from the hardship of leaving home and the hardship of being the first colonists on Mars, which permeates the volume. Not uplifting, but moving. 

You can find the collection at PSPublishing.

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Raggio-di-Sol on YouTube

The small vocal ensemble that I sing with here in Hannover, Germany (Raggio-di-Sol or "Ray of Sun") has several clips from concerts over the years up on YouTube. You can find the Raggio-di-Sol Channel here. There are a couple with me singing solo:

"Gott der Herr ist Sonn' und Schild" (Part 2) J. S. Bach

"Sfogava con le stelle" Claudio Monteverdi

Hopefully, more coming...