A question to editors (and anyone else, really) that read this blog:

If you knew that you weren't going to publish someone based on some previous experience with them, i.e., if they were blacklisted from your publication, would you tell them so in your response to their manuscript? Or would you let them keep submitting, and simply reject them with a standard form rejection? I'm curious because I know I've burned a few bridges with my critiques, both of journals and of the Rhysling anthology, so I'm just wondering what the standard approach is.

Greg Schwartz asked a while back, but I've been overloaded with work and family stuff to actually reply.

However, I've been given a few minutes, so I can post some updates


My dark folktale manuscript:

 

15 / 40 poems. 38% done!

I just finished a Sleeping Beauty poem based on "Sun and Moon and Talia" for Enchanted Conversation, only to find out that I missed their deadline. Boo-hiss. Still, I can't wait to see their first issue. Am working on Beauty and The Beast ideas right now. That being said, I've got a 40 odd line poem based on Perrault's tale if anyone knows of a good venue.

My zombie haiku manuscript:

 

70 / 100 zombie haiku. 70% done!

However, having read this review, I'm now a little nervous, and wondering this this isn't more like 65 or so, taking into account possible repetition. I see the book breaking down into four parts: Haiti, Invasion, Occupation, Survival. By part four, I want to see humans so starved, depraved and ravaged with fear that they become the very things they hate. Political 2x4 in the face aside, I'm worried that part one is too based on the reader's knowledge of voodoo, and that parts 2 and 3 are repetitious. Part 4 is too thin, and I'm starting to get very wordy, syllable wise, with these pieces. Also, I'm still looking for markets for these pieces, so if you know of places that might enjoy some zombie haiku, let me know.


On a similar note, my science fiction tanka manuscript just got a boost:

 

82 / 120 science fiction tanka. 68% done!

Two more of these were picked up for May 2010 Scifaikuest, so check that out. Again, there are many in this collection that need a good home. Let me know if you have suggestions for tanka friendly magazines.

Go here to see what I'm doing and why. All readers are invited, encouraged, and begged to respond. The purpose of this experiment is to engage in discussion.

"Death and Life on Enceladus" by Kendall Evans & David C. Kopaska-Merkel

In preparing for this entry, I have read and reread this poem, and every time I do I find something else I enjoy. Now, there are clearly things that I don't like. For me, part of the enjoyment of a poem is the way it sounds, and the formulas in sections V and XV confound my tongue. So that's an issue for me. However, the back and forth between personal introspection and cold outside perspective really worked for me, and added a lot of tension to this piece. I liked some of the implied metaphors, such as "What am I/That I wake/in this strange place/named consciousness?" I also liked the way the form echoed the content in XVI, the syllabic pattern echoing the signal from Otto Deuce in XIV. For me, this was a very solid poem that held itself all the way through, which is not that easy for a poem of this length. I'd be curious to see where this ended up on the votes tally for the Rhysling Award. It should have been a close contender for the top three slots.

"Mrs. Margaret Lovett, Her Book" by Gemma Files

The lyricism in this piece is intoxicating. I loved the way Files used punctuation to augment and break the meter of these lines into some haltingly rhythmic pieces, as in the lines: "A moment, only. Then all the gutter noise/Comes rushing in once more, Pies piping hot, my lilly-o!/The children res. Four and twenty, bones for bread..." The images, too, were very raw and consistent. I didn't get a sense of anacronysm or false voice, which is something very difficult to achieve in a period piece. The use of history in this poem, too, with details like "Stumps dipped in tar, tied with silk./Doctors stun women took in labour with mallets/To stop them squalling." is effective, and balances the horror tropes enough with reality to make the whole piece believable. It is a shame that this poem didn't receive more attention via the Rhyslings. It is one of the forty odd poems receiving an Honorable Mention in the Best Horror of the Year Anthology, but this is a tight piece, and really deserves another look.

Darrell Kastin is a very lucky man. Not only does he have a novel published, but he also has his daughter as his publicist. Please check out his novel, The Undiscovered Island, "a story of mystery and magic--magical appearances and mysterious disappearances, mysterious women and magical islands--beautifully and lyrically told," according to Karen Joy Fowler. This is a novel of Portuguese history and legend, poetry and mystery, and philosophical musings on art and love. Please check out this book.

Go here to see what I'm doing and why. All readers are invited, encouraged, and begged to respond. The purpose of this experiment is to engage in discussion.


"Oracle" by Malcolm Deeley

This is an interesting poem about a the responsibilities of a prophet to their tribe. It's not a unique trope, but one that Deeley handles well. The language in this poem is deceptively simple, but it mirrors the content and echoes the idea of an oral culture, as does the use of repetition. However, some of the language seemed unnecessary to me, especially the adjectives. Take, for example, the line: "But I rose, rough goddess, perhaps, but responsible, and proud." For me, "responsible" and "proud" are shown in the narrative of the piece, and actually are hinted at in "rough," and seem to be overstating what could easily be connoted with more specific language, language that I would argue is already in the piece. On top of that, the lines and their breaks seemed uneven. There were times when Deeley cleverly uses the break to create a dual meaning or to develop a certain tension between lines. However, at times the lines seem overly long, and dependent on the completion of a sentence or clause that could easily be broken to develop the underlying tension of the piece. Deeley has shown, with some of his line breaks, that he is aware of this technique, so it leaves the reader wondering why he chose to not use it in lines like "atop a flat stone pedestal, then I tore the flower with my hands," or "the creamy-petaled thing, and went to my room to weep a little," Despite everything that is working here, the unevenness of this piece leaves me wanting something stronger. Thus, this one is ultimately not a contender for the Rhysling.


"Orpheus and Eurydice" by Malcolm Deeley

This poem is a retelling of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. It's a well-layered piece, with the occasional tight image and clever turn of phrase. But the lines, for the most part, are broken at the clause and thus this piece reads more like a short story than a poem. There are some sections that have a bit of pull between the lines: "Do not look, do not look,/the cadence of his ruined heart/was the only echo around him." or "stone, stone, embracing him with all the weight/of the earth, his beloved's grave" However, for the most part, the lines are sentences neatly chopped: "If you look at her before the light touches her face,/she will never know light again./So he climbed, dreaming only of her voice" etc. This is a tale of internal tension, but Deeley's lines rarely convey that tone, and leave an awkward gap between content and form. To add to this, there are many uses of abstraction that seem unnecessary, and a few adjective noun combos that seem to teeter into cliche: "beloved bride," "harsh stone," "weary gasps," "hollow land," etc. There's too much that isn't working in this piece to read it as Rhysling worthy.


"The Leviathan" by Malcolm Deeley

This is an interesting telling of the power of myth in a person's life. I might actually read this poem as magical realism for the way certain elements of fantasy are presented as common place, but probably not. Deeley's lines in this piece are interesting, and begin to approach a multi-layered aspect in cases like "shining we under suns from their deep/dives, walking the sands/with their odd fluid grace, I knew/that I had chosen right, better" Lines such as those, where the emphasis on "I knew" is doubled by the pause of the comma and the half-pause of the line break, play into the very push and pull of lyric poetry. Knowing that Deeley can create such tensions, I would have liked to have seen more in this piece. However, the majority of this piece did not create such moments. In addition, a lot of the language was a bit too abstract for my taste: "harsh truths," "closeness to mystery," "language heavy with truths," etc. Some of this echoes, perhaps, the monastic life detailed in the poem. When the images were there, they worked, as in the simile: "each breath like/swallowing bloody rags" or the final image of the poem, "the small waves speaking." But these were more exceptions than the norm, and I found myself wanting more.

If you follow my journal regularly, and I know you do, you'll know that my newest book is out. It's a collaboration with renegade_zombie , and it's superniftykenopeachycool. It's also a collection of speculative poetry, and it needs your help.

To aid in your pimpage of said collection, I've created some images that feature poems from the book. If you're on Facebook, you can send them as gifts using this app. If you're not, here are a few from each of us to aid your pimping and peak your interest.

From renegade_zombie       

From hooks_and_books

       

So, my newest book, Intrinsic Night, a tag team effort with renegade_zombie is finally ready for pre-order. So, scabbing a list from yuki_onna , I come to beg. This is my second book, but my first official "genre"-esque collection, even though only about half the poems or so are actually "genre". However, the "genre" label is a bit off putting for fans of "mainstream" poetry, so this book needs extra cuddles from those whose arms are inclined to give.

How You Can Help (if, you know, you're inclined to do things like helping out relatively unknown authors. And if you like the book, which is by no means certain.)

• Buy the book. Obviously. I mean, this is the most direct way, and pretty important. Poetry sales, overall, suck fat monkey wang. We all know this. By buying this book, and a copy each for close friends and family, it tells the publisher that this is the sort of book you want to read and that you support them in their efforts. Sam's Dot is awesome in their support of genre poets, both with their magazines, anthologies as well as their book catalog. Please show them love.
• Link to the book in your journals/websites--colloquially known as "pimping." Time to get out your big hat with the giant feather and your oversized fur lined coat! And if you are or have the ear of any of the high-traffic bloggers, see if they'd/you'd like to wear the pimp hat for a day. Please do get the word out, if you can. All poetry books need help, especially if they are genre, not written by Billy Collins, or both. If you want me to cross-link to any of your work in exchange, let me know.
  

• Come to a reading if you're in the area. Or hunt me down at cons. I'll let you know where and when I'll be if I can scrounge up some features.
• Review it. On your blog, or elsewhere if you work for a review site or a magazine. I can send a PDF Also, keep in mind that if you don't like the book and give it a bad review, I am not going to hate you. I promise not to flame you or call you in the middle of the night. Obviously, I hope you like it, but if you don't, you don't. Poetry, especially minimalist forms like cinquains, are pretty open to suggestion. In addition, collaborative work of any sort can be dicey. I think we did a really solid job with this manuscript, but you may disagree. There will be no Egyptian curses of locusts or reanimated dead placed upon you if this is the case.
  
• Ask your local booksellers to carry it, if they don't already. This is important, as it is still hard to get into those damn chains if the book isn't on a major press, indie, academic or otherwise. Also, the lack of an ISBN doesn't help, as Amazon won't even look at it. So be it. This is the reason poets support indie bookstores and try to keep them going, and I strongly urge you to do the same.

Go here to see what I'm doing and why. All readers are invited, encouraged, and begged to respond. The purpose of this experiment is to engage in discussion.

"Zombie Bombs" by Mike Allen & Ian Watson

I like the general idea of this poem, that someone in the future or an alternate universe, either us or aliens, will send our reanimated corpses to the present and attack us. There are a lot of questions which this poem does not address, but that sense of the unknown is part of the horror of the piece. Craft wise, this piece is spotty at best. The first clear issue is the lack of consistent rhythm in the lines. The poem starts with a strong three-accent line, occasionally deviating into four accents, but by the second stanza, the rhythm is all over the place. This shift calls attention to itself in an unpleasant way, especially considering the first stanza was disconcerting and choppy with its quick line breaks. The line breaks, as well, were iffy, as in "could cope, medics striving to/assist just as at a plane crash." or "sail onward blithely. Or may this be/the Second Coming of everyone who ever lived." On top of that, the word choice at times, seemed to deviate from itself, as in the shift to the academic in the fourth stanza, and some of the language--"mobile flesh," "squirming protoplasm," "Devilish miracle,"--seemed awkward. Overall, this piece just didn't come together as well as a Rhysling winner should.

"Wild Over Tombs Does Grow" by C.S.E. Cooney

This is a very intricate piece, but one that may or may not be served by the form. Essentially Cooney has a few threads happening. The first seems to be a period piece based around a blood sacrifice.  It’s a dark idea—that “Tall Ones…wolves and ravens walking in the skins of man” would haunt the village if not sated. There’s a mistake and two are slain instead of one. Then they become zombies, seemingly through their attachment to each other, which is a little too slipstream for me, and guard the graves. After that, years pass, and the Tall Ones  come to suck the bones of the dead. Already, the plot seems a bit to murky for a poem, and needs more detail to be truly successful. In addition, Cooney slipped back and forth between rhymed and non-rhymed lines, which called attention to both; however, they did not seem to serve the poem or its purpose. There is also a lot of internal rhyme that stands out in these lines which, again, did not seem to serve the poem and felt more obvious than lyrical. Finally, many of the stanzas lacked the imagery I would expect from a poem. When the images were there, they were fresh and clear, but they were too few and far between for my taste.  This is a solid attempt at a longer piece, but simply doesn’t hold up the way that it should, and especially not the way a Rhysling winner should.
 

“Tentacle 1” by Camilla DeCarnin

This piece is a complete mess. Usually I like to find something good to say about all pieces, but this one just didn’t do anything for me. The imagery was weak, if not absent altogether, as was any sense of rhythm or line. This poem read like academic prose chopped into small segments without any sense of pattern or cadence driving the breaks. One section, in fact, was simply a list of molecules and organic compounds that, presumably, will develop into complex life, and read very much like a biology textbook, and not a poem.  I get a sense, at the end of this piece, that DeCarnin is using this as the vehicle for some great metaphor, but I’m having trouble seeing it. This poem certainly did not read, for me, as a Rhysling finalist.

As many of you know, I'm obsessed with Alton Brown--dorky science meets food meets bowling shirts and hawaiians! So I thought I'd blog about my experiences with my journeys through the world that is Alton Brown's Good Eats.

Last night, I made a version of the Good Eats Meatloaf.
( Changes I Made, Results, and Pairings... )

I heard a discussion on WCPN's Around Noon yesterday about science fiction, and science fiction in film specifically. Considering that it provoked a "Driveway Moment," I thought it would be good to consider some of the implications of the discussion.

First off, my top five science fiction films/movies:

• Blade Runner -- I would argue that this is one of my top films of all time. I love the characterization, the mystery, the visual metaphors, the prophetic nature of the film, etc. I am completely undone every time I watch this film, and wish that I had a home entertainment system with my own private movie screen just so that I could drool from time to time.
• Forbidden Planet -- Shakespeare as science fiction. Oh hell yeah! It's a little pedantic, of course, and cheesey at times, but there is so much happening in this movie that thrills me every time I watch it. The socio-political message is great, but so is the literary allusion.
• The Day The Earth Stood Still -- the original, not Keanu Reaves being crappy and pensive. The politics of this film are STILL relevent, which is scary and disturbing to say the least. However, I liked the way that the boy and the alien built a relationship, and the way that the savior of the earth used ths innocence of a child to explore our society. That was very clever.
• Twelve Monkeys -- I love the use of time travel in this piece, and the way that the character is ultimately trapped in a viscious cycle that he cannot escape. THAT was a very interesting idea which I thought played out well in this movie. In addition, I liked the idea that when one travels through time, one will not know where one ends up, and is forced to constantly realign one's perspective. That's a very haunting idea, and though it's been explored many times in literature and film, I thought this movie played with that idea quite well.
• Logan's Run -- I like the idea of dystopia, and while this may not be the best example (which I now might argue is Wall-E, because the opening of that film was TERRIFYING for me) I enjoyed the way it played out in this film. My favorite part is when they meet the feral children. I always thought that was creepy. Box is pretty disturbing, too.

Anyway, that's my top 5. Some movies that I think should be discussed: War Games, eXistenZ, Gattaca, Metropolis, The Truman Show, Destination Moon. Others?
Now, what is science fiction? I tend to follow Ferrett's (theferrett )idea that there has to be SOME underlying science to make it science fiction. He sees (and I agree) StarWars as more fantasy with science fiction trappings than true science fiction. I would add to this list movies/books like Dune and the Riddick trilogy which, despite their aliens/spaceships/foreign planets/etc., one really has a hero quest or saviour myth in different guises. Which is not to say that I didn't enjoy the movies (well, maybe not Dune) or reading the books, but that I don't see them as truly science fiction.

September begins an end of the year boon for my poems, many of which are or will be online. I strongly urge readers to check out the following venues and show their support:


Steampunk Magazine
Cabinet des Fees
Aoife's Kiss
Star*Line
Wayfarer's Journal


Recently published and/or coming soon (by the end of 2009)

Sounds of the Night
Goblin Fruit
Scifaikuest
The Book of Tentacles
MindFlights
Fear and Trembling

Everyone needs to go to mer_moon's LJ and give her poems of happy birthday one year olderness. Big shiney ones! With sparkles!!!

Go here to see what I'm doing and why. All readers are invited, encouraged, and begged to respond. The purpose of this experiment is to engage in discussion.

"The Devourer" by Sonya Taaffe

When Taaffe is on, she's really, really on. This poem explores various mythic consumers, from the more contemporary wolf of Red Riding Hood fame to the Biblical whale that swallowed Jonah to even older mythologies, possibly Egyptian or Sumerian. All of this is in Taaffe's signature density of language and rhythm: "the whale yawns wide its ribs/to ferry the prophet reluctantly/through the engulfing depths"--a fairly steady three foot line that seems short, possibly clipped, and thus adds tension to the piece. Taaffe then juxtaposes these eaters against  the speaker of the poem, who "eats monsters,/the peach-pulp of their brains,/their punctured grape-black eyes". The last few lines are ominous. Occasionally, Taaffe's line's seemed overly dense, laying the adjectives and descriptive clauses on quite thickly without giving the rest of the language room to breathe, but the rhythm and the imagery of the poem was enough to carry the reader through such waters without rocking their boat too much. Of the four Taaffe pieces in this anthology, this was not only the most speculative (a key point when considering the Rhyslings) but also the strongest in terms of clarity and tone. Certainly one to have considered for a finalist this year.

"In the World" by Sandy Walejko

If  I had to pinpoint this poem to one speculative genre, I might argue it as magical realism, unless one defines "fantasy" as "dealing with the fantastic," in which case magical realism might be a subset of "fantasy" as a whole. Don't tell Marquez I said that, okay? What I enjoyed about this piece was the way that it shifted from one point of view (the angel) to another (the farmer) almost seamlessly, to the point that the angel is all but forgotten before she's brought back in. Walejko uses the stanzas in this poem to successfully distance the reader from the initial subject, surprising them at the end when it is brought back to the forefront. However, the lines got tedious after a while, and where too focused on clauses to the point that the poem lost fluidity by the thrd stanza, a constant danger with free verse and/or breath lines.

"Screams" by Ian Watson

Watson's poem is based loosely on a pun, "Anti-Wrinkle Scream" as opposed to "Anti-Wrinkles Cream," which he painfully explains in the third stanza. Humor is like sex: as soon as you go into details, it ceases to be as fascinating. Watson also suffers the "line as clause" syndrome, using longer lines that almost resemble, and occasionally are, sentences. As such, the poem suffers, resembling a clever piece of short prose diced into lines and presented as a poem. The lack of consistent imagery and focus on prose-like narrative leads the reader towards this impression. On the whole, while the plot of the piece is slightly clever, I read this as flash fiction diced into lines.

"Smells" by Jane Yolen

This is another poem that, for me, doesn't read as speculative, unless one considers any poem that graphically discusses death horrific. Yolen's descriptions are indeed eerie: "The dying man.../...smells of old urine/and unwashed teeth.../He smells of sweet decay." The way Yolen's speaker mourns her spouse is touching, and the juxtaposition of smell against smell works well in this piece. However, Yolen steers the poem away from the horrific to the melancholy and sentimental that, by the end of the poem, I'm left questioning the speculative nature of the piece. It's a decent poem, and one that bears rereading, but I don't see it as a Rhysling nominee, let alone a candidate for a winning finalist.


Okay, that's it: My take on the Short Category poems for the 2009 Rhyslings. I'd love to hear what you thought about any or all of these poems, specifically their craft techniques. Call me academic, but it seems that speculative poetry is suffering from a lack of craft discussion, and I'd love to hear other poets chime in on that discussion.

I will make stuff for you

The first five (5) people to respond via comment to this post will get something made by me. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations so please read carefully:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make.
2. What I create will be just for you and stuff.
3. It'll be done sometime this year (August 2009 - August 2010).
4. I will not give you any clue about what it will be. It will be something made in the real world and not something cyber. It may be weird or beautiful or useful or a edible.
5. I reserve the right to make something extremely strange.
6. In return, all you need to do is post this text into a note of your own and make five things for the first five to respond to your note. (If you already did this, that can count too.)...
IMPORTANT: This offer is null and void if I do not see you post your own note to pay this forward

Go here to see what I'm doing and why. All readers are invited, encouraged, and begged to respond. The purpose of this experiment is to engage in discussion.


"[eruptions]" by Terrie Leigh Relf

For me, this works as a scifaiku, and here's why. The Scifaiku Manifesto stresses three points: immediacy, minimalism and human insight. Relf's poem touches on all three. The poem is immediate--a single moment in time captured with two clear images. Using these images, Relf draws their reader immediately into the scene she has created. The poem is also minimal--6 words. That's all. The language is precise, captures the moment, but does not try to decorate it, nor does it suffer the flaw of adhering to an inaccurate form (i.e. no 5-7-5 syllable count!). As far as human insight, there is a hint of beauty in the natural world here that touches on the human condition. Even on this distant planet or moon, in a harsh and destructive landscape, there is still a sense of beauty. Relf's scifaiku is wonderful, and stands up as a contendor against any of the longer short work nominees.

"Streamside" by Mark Rich

This is a very interesting and lyric poem. Rich follows a formal rhyme scheme, but maintains it very loosely, depending on slant rhymes, consonant rhymes, and the like, even abandoning the form when it doesn't serve his purpose. This shows a mastery over form that some may or may not appreciate. Rich does not allow the form of his poem to dominate him or his work, but instead uses the form as a rough guide which is followed or not as the poem dictates. The content of the poem was iffy. Too many of the lines were abstract or cliche, too many of the adjectives were tired, the images not fresh. I liked the idea of the poem, taking the cliche "river of stars" and running with it whole heartedly. There were times when this poem touched on beauty, but those moments were too breif, and more often than not, Rich dipped into the obvious and cliche instead of the fresh and new.

"A Sad, A Southern Face" by Lynn Strongin

I don't read this poem as speculative; the best that I can see is that it's a poem about death, which is a horror trope. The magazine in which this was published, Doorways, is a magazine of the supernatural horror and paranormal. Perhaps there are hints of ghosts in this piece, but I feel as though I'm stretching for something that may or may not be there. Baring that, many of the craft elements of the poem seem off. There are weak line breaks on prepositions, some images that over explained things, and some things that seemed too personal for poetry. In other words, there were points at which the image was clear, but didn't mean as much to me, possible, as it did the speaker, and I felt alienated from the poem. Overall, this is a weak piece with too little speculative to be considered a finalist.

A friend of mine, after reading the posts on LJ concerning the SFPA and Star*Line asked a few poignant questions that got me thinking. I hope this wont be another foot in the mouth post, but if it is, so be it.

But first, a science lesson. On the island of Mauritus there grows a tree that, at one time, was thought to be near extinction. The tambalacoque (Sideroxylon grandiflorum) is a tree which grows seeds surrounded by a hard shell. At one time, it was theorized that the reason this long lived (300 years) tree was nearing extinction was because it was the main food source of the dodo bird, which had been hunted to extinction . The seeds of the tree needed the dodo to digest it before it could survive. This theory, while still questioned if not all but proven incorrect, presents an interesting case for biodiversity.

If a species is dependent on only one other species to survive, and something happens to that one species, the other will suffer. A greater case can be seen in the Irish potato famine, in which only two types of potatoes were planted as the main food source for the Irish, both of which were responsible for the blight. For any system to survive and thrive, it needs diversity.

Back to Star*Line: As I wrote on seajules's blog, Marge has been EXTREMELY helpful to me as a poet, both in accepting my poems (horror, scifi AND fantasy) for Star*Line, but also as a reviewer/critic of my poems in the WickedVerse Yahoo community. She's published and accepted some of my articles, as well, AND she's also illustrated two of my poems for MindFlights and nominated me as a "Best Of Issue..." for the previous Star*Line." (My biodiversity metaphor may imply that I'm calling Marge Simon a dodo, and I'm most certainly not.) I am not anti-Marge Simon, nor am I against her as Star*Line editor. She does make a few editing decisions that I don't agree with, but no more so than any other editor, speculative or non, that I've read or worked under. That's part of reading or subscribing to any magazine, litereary or non--some parts will work for you, some wont. Overall, Star*Line has be pretty solid through the years.

However, it is clear that it doesn't represent everybody. There are folks who are dissatisfied with the editorial decisions made in Star*Line, and as I wrote before, I'm not always thrilled with the editorial decisions myself. This may be a direct result of the magazine's lack of biodiversity; too long has the magazine been focused on the choices of one editor. It just happens to be Marge Simon, but it could be ANY editor, and this needs to be recognized.   If a journal that represents a specific group is under the control of a single person for too long, then that person becomes, in some sense, the voice of that organization. The diversity contained with in that organization is silenced, to some extent, simply because that person is an individual with specific tastes, ideas and preferences that may or may not represent the group as a whole. This is not a fault of Marge Simon, who as my friend pointed out has graciously accepted the post of editor when nobody else will step up to the plate on more than one occasion. The same could be true for ANY EDITOR. Any time a single person represents the voice of a group for too long, the group's voice and that person's voice draw closer together, alienating others in the group who disagree.

That being said, as an editor myself, I often find myself in the position of publishing not so great work by simple necessity. There are X amount of pages to fill, Y submissions, but only Z amount of good poems. Y tends to be very large, but Z often is minuscule, usually a lot lower than X.   Y > X > Z.   Ideally, X=Z, but that's rarely the case. One way to draw the two variables closer together, of course, is to increase Y. However, I get the sense from what many folks have said, posted, and implied that Y is not at its optimum. This can only serve to hurt Star*Line, and hurt Marge Simon as editor. If there is not enough good poetry to choose from, the editor of the magazine is forced to go with the next best poems, the not so great poems, etc. On top of that, space requirements and (haha!) diversity need to be considered. Is it better to publish one long four page tome by one author that may be brilliant, or four one page pieces by four authors that are a bit mediocre, but still passable. Add on top of this all the other considerations that go into putting together a magazine (articles, reviews, time schedules, etc.) and you have a mess that only the mad would attempt to control. Pints to you, Marge, as you dance in your asylum cell! ;-)

The solution, as I see it (and have run by Deb Kolodji, who is ultimately the one in charge) is virgin sacrifices. Appease the beings in charge of poetry with untainted blood, and all will be well. Baring that, a rotating editorship might improve things by giving others the chance to voice their preferences. In addition, many poets in the SFPA know other poets who are not necessarily speculative, but have written speculative poems, or could be enticed into doing so; it is one thing as a poet to invite another poet to submit to a magazine that they think might accept them, but entirely another for an editor to invite a poet to submit work to a magazine. This could ultimately increase membership in the SFPA, theoretically enlarging the slush pile from which other editors could choose their poems (increasing Y, thus bringing X closer to equilibrium with Z), but also increasing the diversity within the organization.

I am putting together a pamphlet for WorldCon and HNA that would represent the
possibilities of scifaiku. I am looking for scifaiku that have been previously
published to fill said pamphlet. I would prefer non 5-7-5, but will take
anything.

If you have scifaiku that you can contribute (please no tanka, cinquains or
other forms), please e-mail them to me with publication information included. I
cannot guarantee any payment outside of copies, but please send your snailmail
address along, as well.

First off, I am extremely bothered that a comment about sacrificing or spending money for poetry would garner more comments on my LJ than discussions of craft and the Rhysling. So be it.

First, an apology. When I wrote my comments about saving money or selling poems to pay for an SFPA membership, I honestly meant no offense. The comment was directed at a few folks that I know personally, as well as a few who have posted on SFPAnet and LJ. It was not meant as a blanket statement, as especially not meant for anyone struggling to survive. Those of you who know me and follow my LJ know that I have participated in a few activities and auctions to support struggling artists. Those of you who don't I hope will forgive a very nasty comment made in haste and anger.

However, I think if one considers poetry as a religious calling, one might be able to adjust their life to a more poetry centered point of view; Accepting oneself as a poet is much like accepting religious vows. One takes on a mantle of poverty and obedience to an unknown, stares every day in the face of the ignorance and cruelty of the human race, and yet persists in writing because one believes in the power of poetry, because one believes that, eventually, people will read their work and listen to the message--that they can, in some way, change the world for the better with this tool.

Growing up, I was ingrained with an idea of familial responsibility. Every party, every wedding, every funeral, every sports event, every bat mitsvah, every bar mitsvah, every graduation required the attendance of at least one member of, if not my entire, immediate family. The reason was simple--"We're family." This attendance was returned in kind, and so the lesson became truth. When my great uncle in Kentucky died, I was righteously angry that none of my cousins were there, partially because I was taken out of a poetry class to make sure that I made it to the local two gate, one runway airport with plenty of time to spare, but partially because so few branches of the "northern contingent" of my family were represented. I felt that we, in some way, were not just letting my aunt and my cousins down, but letting down entire generations and branches of our family.

In terms of poetry, I think we need to start representing and taking care of our family, and I feel that presence cannot be the only answer. If one truly believes in the power of poetry, if one truly believes that they are a poet and accepts that like they would a religious vow, there has to be something more, some greater support that one can give. Perhaps it's through organizations like SFPA. Perhaps it's through an even greater sacrifice, financial or otherwise. In many religions, there is an idea of setting aside a certain percentage of one's income and life for the Divine. Often called tithing or tything, one should set aside 10% of everything for God. Why not do the same for poetry? Or even half of that--5%? At $7/hour, 40 hours/week, 50 weeks a year, one makes $14,000 before taxes. 5% of that is $700, let's say $500 after taxes--a LOT of chapbooks, poetry books, etc. Adding up every book sold at the Deep Cleveland Poetry Hour, a monthly poetry reading that I host in Cleveland, in the past year, I think one could spend between $200-250, which isn't even half of that 5%. If ten people did this each week, or even every other week--2.5% of their income for poetry, many poets would have the financial support they need, and possibly have money to spend on OTHER poets, who in turn would spend THEIR money on poets, etc. What if that 2.5-5% were translated into time? Many record labels have "street teams"--volunteers that go around, promoting concerts, distributing flyers, mailing postcards, etc. to support the bands coming to their town. What if presses and organizations had teams like that, promoting readings and events? What responsibility do you have to poetry? What does that responsibility translate into?

I'm also caught thinking about the idea of "necessity" vs. "luxury." Too often, art and arts organizations, as well as volunteer organizations, are treated as "luxuries," or possibly "hobbies." They are things that people get around to, things that people support "when they find the time," etc. without realizing that there are other things that one could give up to refocus one's energy on the things that matter, like poetry.  As a professor at a local community college, I constantly find myself battling this mentality, so I think it's worth mentioning. Students cannot afford their text books, but can afford cell phones, cable, tanning salons, spa treatments, etc. Students cannot find the time to study, but can find the time to follow American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, the Browns or the Indians, whatever. This isn't every student, and many are actually working two or three jobs to scrape by and try to better themselves, all while keeping their family afloat. But for every student that is honestly unable to pay for their books, there's one that could were they to give up what they consider a "necessity" for a much more important necessity.   I think the idea can be translated to the SFPA as follows:


An SFPA membership is $21. This is $1.75 a month. In most cities this equates to:

-a beverage at a restaurant
-a no-frills coffee
-a bottle of pop
-a load of laundry
-a cheap beer
-half a pack (or less!) of cigarettes
-half a dozen text messages
-a ringtone
-one mp3 download

and many, many other things that could be given up once a month. Not a week, not a day...a month. Twelve small sacrifices a year to support poetry.  If these sacrifices were made on a weekly basis, one would be at the price of a lifetime membership. Sacrifice something big, like cable, and see how  much poetry one can buy!

I don't know each and every potential member's financial situation, nor is it any of my business. I'm also not trying to tell people how to spend their money or run their lives. However, there is a lot of energy being put into a debate, and I've noticed on many occasions people saying that they either aren't currently members, can't afford memberships, etc. Like students, I'm sure there are people who honestly cannot afford memberships, and I would like to know how to use the power of SFPA to help them; I'm thinking auctions, reading series, conventions, contests with entry fees, an extra issue of Star*Line with a small price tag, etc. These are the things we can do to help our greater poetic family.

Alternately, I'm sure there are some that could afford memberships if they would make minor sacrifices twelve times a year for something greater. It was to these people that my comments were directed, and I apologize to anyone else who got caught in the fray.

I don't like to jump in the middle of fights, especially because I tend to get the crud kicked out of me, but there's some serious discussion happening here and I thought I'd throw my two cents in.

What I see happening in the post by seajules that started all this discussion is that two distinct things are informing each other:

1) AN ISSUE (one!) of Star*Line was soundly critiqued, and the editor questioned about apparent scifi leanings.

2) The name of the SFPA was challenged.

While these two things aren't necessarily related, the idea that they both deal with the exclusionary term "science fiction". Now, 30 years ago, when the SFPA was made, that term did include folks writing fantasy (mostly of the S&S variety) and other subgenres, but it doesn't any more and even places like Border's agree, calling that section Science Fiction/Fantasy.

In terms of etymology, "fantasy" comes from the Greek " phantasia, meaning "imagination" or "appearance", from phantazein "make visible." From what little I understand of Greek, the idea was that fantasy was the act of making the imagination visible, via images and imagery; fantasy was a creative act. The term "fiction" comes from the Latin "fingere," which means "to form" "to mold" or "to contrive". This, too, implies an act of creation, but one that's a bit more mechanical and less imaginative.

My issue with the "F" standing for "fiction" is that it implies that, in some way, these things can't be fact, which seems a bit odd. For example, "Destination Moon" was considered fiction until it actually happened, at which point it becomes what...prophecy? How about a mythic poem focused on an ancient religion? Just because these deities may or may not be worshiped currently, does that mean at one time they weren't "real" in the hearts and minds of a certain people? Can we necessarily say that they're "fiction" then, or would "history" be more appropriate?  So, while "fiction" may include ideas of creation, etymologically, I'm not sure it means that any more, and means something more along the lines of "not fact," which is why "science fiction" may not be the best term for what we write.

Now, could the SFPA become the Science Fiction / Fantasy Poetry Association? Sure...but is it necessary to preserve an acronym? I respect that that acronym has taken a lot of flack over the last thirty years, and that many folks who were there from the beginning have a certain attachment to it, and feel that to change it would be a step backwards. I'm not sure that I agree, considering the SFPA is fairly "under the radar" as it is, but if the acronym is such a big deal, let's go with "Speculatie F*cking Poetry Association," and just be done with it. Emphasis on the poetry, please.

Which brings one to the issue of Star*Line and editorial decisions. Having been given the historical run down of how Star*Line has been edited, it seems that if anything, Marge Simon should be championed for stepping in when nobody else would. According to a few sources, some of whom have been there since the beginning, Marge Simon has stepped up at least twice when nobody else volunteered to take over Star*Line. However, there is new blood in the organization, and it might invigorate the organization a little if more of that new blood was given the chance to volunteer. My biggest issue with the SFPA, currently, is that it seems to me to be very California centered. The president lives in CA, as do various members, so if one wants to help with big projects like non-profit status, one seems to need to relocate. Big pout.

One area that I, personally, could see myself helping, and I've mentioned this publicly, would be as a guest editor or editor of Star*Line. It's an area that I have experience in, and is something that I could do from Ohio. While I do not agree with everything seajules wrote in her post, I must agree that all the poems in Star*Line do not represent speculative literature as I see it. Now, I can complain and critique or, like seajules , I can step up and do something about it. I've mentioned the possibility of editing Star*Line to Deb Kolodji, but she's busier than a one legged woman in an ass kicking contest, and clearly has her list of priorities for the SFPA, all of which I understand and completely respect.

Here are the issues that I see in the debate:

• While I respect that the acronym SFPA has built up steam, I'm not sure it's currently the best choice to represent our membership. I like the term "speculative," because it opens up the possibilities across the board.
• I see a lot of people complaining who aren't currently members. I am very much a fan of the "you can't play if you don't pay" mentality; in other words, one has no right to say anything about the SFPA unless one is currently a member. This includes folks who are past members and have dropped out for whatever reason. If you can't get half a dozen poems published a year to cover the cost of membership, I also might question your commitment to poetry in general, but that's an extremely judgmental call, I realize.
• There isn't enough discussion on poetic craft happening in the speculative community; this would clarify a lot of ideas about editorial decisions across the board, as well as open up the potential of the Rhyslings. This is a major issue, and something that a speculative poetry convention might help resolve. Yes that idea, very much. I would help in any way I could to make that idea a permanent reality.
• There is a general lack of response in the community. We have 250 members, but only a handful seem to have a vested interest in any of this. I realize that life gets in the way...a LOT. However, what's the point of being a paying member of a community if you're not going to participate at all? It's like paying for a gym membership, but never working out. I don't get it, and perhaps someone could illuminate me.
• There are a lack of volunteer opportunities in the SFPA for folks who aren't centrally located. This is an issue, and something that I hope can be resolved with, say, regional meetings? Would it be possible to get such things started? Any thoughts on how to arrange such things?

Any thoughts on these would be great.

Check out shweta_narayan's posts here and here. Though I don't necessarily AGREE with what she's saying, it's still very well thought out and something that should open and spur on debate.