Tag Archives: sfpoetry

Announcements

Eye To The Telescope Launches!

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“A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.”
— From: “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” (1949), Joseph Campbell

The hero’s journey has always fascinated me. The call to adventure. The wise mentor. The return with new knowledge or insight that changes the ordinary world. In the past, these stories have featured men in battle, using their cunning and strength to find their way in the world.

Today, we acknowledge these protagonists can come in many non-traditional forms. In this issue of “Eye To The Telescope”, I hope as editor to capture the idea that being a hero is not all about swords and dragons, although certainly these have their place, but can also form from different viewpoints and experiences of cultures all over the world. Welcome to the Quest!

Eye To The Telescope launches on October 15th and will be free to read online on its website: http://eyetothetelescope.com

I am honored to have been chosen to guest edit issue #46 of this quarterly online speculative poetry journal.

Announcements

Meet Anaheim’s Poet Laureate Wendy Van Camp

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Last April I had the honor of becoming Anaheim’s Poet Laureate. I have entered a world filled with poetry readings, open-mics, editing anthologies, and organizing events. The Canyon Hills Branch in the Anaheim Library system is the first to feature me in an event in my city. I am honored to make my debut there.

Speculative Poetry is my poetry specialty. It all began at a workshop at a local science fiction convention. I was introduce to science fiction themed haiku. I discovered a real love for micro-poetry. As the years went by, I steadily published this form and developed my own poetic voice. I hope you’ll come to hear about my journey, ask questions about the speculative poetry community, and hear a few poems from my Elgin nominated poetry collection, “The Planets”.

Canyon Hills Branch Library
400 S. Scout Trail, Anaheim, CA 92807

Tuesday, October 18th at 5pm.

Scifaiku

SCIFAIKU: Take The Close Approach

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A Scifaiku Poem by Wendy Van Camp

dodge radiation
humans reach for god of war
take the close approach

It is a rare and special event when a new scifaiku poetry magazine appears on the scene. I am honored to be published in the inaugural issue of “The Starlight Scifaiku Review”. The poem series of “Close Approach” came about twofold, one inspiration was an image sent back by Curiosity from the surface of Mars. Overhead was a beautiful display of the Milky Way galaxy. This combined with my Mars research about the steps to colonize the red planet. When Earth and Mars are at their closest point, their “close approach”, that is the moment when colonists should depart. It happens only once every couple of years. This is where I took the title of the series from.

This poem is a part of the scifaiku poetry series “Close Approach” that appeared in “The Starlight Scifaiku Review” in the Fall of 2021 and was nominated for a 2022 Pushcart Prize for Poetry.

Announcements

Dwarf Star Nomination for Poet Wendy Van Camp

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I’m pleased to announce that one of my scifaiku poems from 2021 has been nominated for a Dwarf Star Award and accepted into the upcoming Dwarf Star anthology. This is the first time I’ve been nominated for this award and I’m honored to make the cut this year.

What is a Dwarf Star? It is the Rhysling equivalent for micro poetry via the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association. Poems that are 10 lines and under are eligible. Since I specialize in Scifaiku and haiku astropoetry, this is the category that I usually fall under come award time. The nominated poems are published in an anthology once a year and from these poems, the ultimate winner of the Dwarf Star Awards are selected.

My nominated scifaiku is from the poem sequence “The Last Journey” which appeared in “Eccentric Orbits: An Anthology of Science Fiction Poetry, Vol. 2” during April of 2021. The poem is about the study of the death of the universe using AI to simulate our universe and the effects of dark matter. (Something that is still waiting to be proven to be real and hence, what makes the sequence of poems science fiction.)

Eccentric Orbits 2

Announcements

Eccentric Orbits 3 Available on Amazon

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Eccentric Orbits: An Anthology of Science Fiction Poetry, Vol. 3

As editor of “Eccentric Orbits 3”, I am proud to announce that our anthology is available in both paperback and ebook on Amazon. I am honored to be supported by so many distinguished speculative poets.

AMAZON

The function of speculative poetry is to engage the mind to a new understanding, not rehearse the past or the ordinary. This anthology of science fiction, fantasy, and horror poetry explores new concepts, folklore, myth, and the fantastic, by some of the most exciting, speculative poets of our time. Discover the insights of these contemporary wordsmiths that are surging from the pages of science fiction into the reality of our world.

This speculative poetry anthology is perfect as a gift for poetry lovers, readers of science fiction, fantasy, or horror literature or to complete your own book collections.

Speculative Poets represented in this anthology:
JANUARY BAIN * STEWART C BAKER * ROBERT BEVERIDGE * CATHERINE BROGDON * FARUK BUZHALA * DALE CHAMPLIN * LINDA M. CRATE * BILLIE DEE * KENDALL EVANS * GARY EVERY * MARK A. FISHER * JEAN-PAUL L. GARNIER * LEE GARRATT * KEN GOUDSWARD * FIN HALL * MICHAEL HOFFMAN * DEBORAH L. KELLY * DEBORAH P. KOLODJI * DAVID C. KOPASKA-MERKEL * BLAISE LANGLOIS * GERRI LEEN * RICHARD MAGAHIZ * JACK MASSA * ALLENE NICHOLS * MICHELLE OUCHAREK-DEO * RK RUGG * RYFKAH * JUSTIN SLOANE * JOSHUA ST. CLAIRE * SEAN STUBBLEFIELD * REX SWEENY * LISA TIMPF * LAMONT TURNER * WENDY VAN CAMP * MIKE VAN HORN * RUTH E. WALKER * TD WALKER * LYNN WHITE * JEFF YOUNG