Assorted poetry news

My long poem “In the Third Cycle” received a Rhysling nomination. I am glad. The Cycle is the first queer epic piece I wrote during the epic “Ten Days in December” (2010), and to see it recognized (first via the Rannu competition win, and now the nomination) makes me feel that people really do care about the work that comes from my very core.  Not that I ever cut corners with poetry, but this one is just… if I had to choose only three poems of mine to survive, this one would be on the list. If I had to only choose one poem, this one would probably be it. Many thanks to Strange Horizons, and to Sonya Taaffe, for publishing it.

And speaking of Sonya Taaffe, I got a package in the mail from Erzebet with this most beautiful book:

A Mayse-Bikhl, Yiddish for “a little storybook”, is full of Jewish-themed speculative poems (in English ). It is wondrous, and can be purchased at the Papaveria press website.

The next two items have been announced on my Livejournal, but not on the official blog, so here goes: my poem “After the Mistress of the Copper Mountain” (dedicated to Shweta Narayan) sold to Fantastique Unfettered, issue 5; and an interview with me about the Queer issue of Stone Telling is up at the Outer Alliance blog (thanks, Julia Rios!). There’s still plenty of time to submit your work, and we would love to consider it!

Last but not least, I now have an author page at the Aqueduct website. Yay! The Moment of Change is scheduled for May 2012.

inkscrawl, and Stone Bird Press

Some of you might remember inkscrawl, a magazine of minimalist fantastical poetry launched by Mitchell Hart in 2011. Unfortunately, it closed after just two issues, after having published some wonderful short poetry in such a short period of time. This saddened me; though I rarely write very short poetry, I have been well  aware that there is a dearth of markets for it. So after some soul-searching and waiting and more soul-searching, I wrote to Mitchell… and as of today, with Mitchell’s blessing, inkscrawl is alive again. It will edited by Samantha Henderson. The guidelines are here; please send us your stuff for the third issue. Oh, and we raised the payment to $3 from $2, and we are open to all kinds of speculative poetry, including science fiction. (Sam is reading and making decisions; I am publishing).

While I was contemplating reviving inkscrawl, it occurred to me that since I now seem to be publishing two magazines, I might as well launch a micropress. So voila – a micropress: Stone Bird Press! It is so tiny, there is nothing in it. Yet. But there will be a few things there in the upcoming months, and I will let you know when it happens.

2011 in review, and nominations/eligibility

I guess this is an obligatory nominating post for your nominating considerations; here are All the Things I published in 2011.

Short Fiction of 2011:

“Held Close in Syllables of Light,” Beneath Ceaseless Skies, novelette. (If you know me, you know how important this one is to me!)
“A Mother Goes Between,” Jabberwocky, short story.
“Giant,” Not One of Us, flash.

Also, I am nominating for the Nebulas this year. Please recommend works to me in the following categories: novella; novelette; short story. My novel ballot is more or less finalized. If you’re reading this, you probably know what I like to read!

Poetry of 2011:

Short:
“If I had reb Yoel’s violin,” inkscrawl #1
“Three Bone Masks“, Goblin Fruit Winter 2011
“The tenured faculty meets to discuss the moon’s campus visit,” Mythic Delirium 25 (this is the only one not online, but I made it available on my website). Give it a try – it’s kind of hilarious!

Long:
“Reap the Whirlwind,” Jabberwocky 5
“Strong as Salt,” Goblin Fruit Winter 2011
“Kytgy and Kunlelo,” Cabinet des Fees 2011
“Thirteen Principles of Faith,” Apex April 2011. Apex took this poem down, I have no idea why. It now lives on my website.
“In the Third Cycle,” Strange Horizons, the poem that won of the Rannu competition

Now, it’s not hard to guess what I am most proud of, but here:
1. ”In the Third Cycle,” I keep repeating it because it is true.
2. ”Thirteen Principles of Faith.” it’s Jewish magic realism. It’s my life. I love it.
3. ”If I had reb Yoel’s violin.” It just happened, and it is only six lines, but I think there is something in it that is important to me.

I have no idea who of you is nominating poetry this year, if any, but hey, this is a chance for me to say – these works happened, and I am very proud of them. This has been my strongest year in poetry so far, and in fact, I am a little unsure as to how to grow from here – but I hope I will! This will be an adventure!

November-December summary

I sold a magic realist short story, “Seven Losses of Na Re,” to Daily Science Fiction – which means that I now qualify for SFWA.

In poetry news, my mythic-folkloric poem “Kytgy and Kunlelo” came out at Scheherezade’s Bequest, and the whimsical “The Tenured faculty meets to discuss the Moon’s campus visit” came out at Mythic Delirium 25;  I am now working on poetry/art for my Magick4Terri auction.

Held Close in Syllables of Light: the official announcement.

and has a ship on the cover!

“Held Close in Syllables of Light,”  my clockpunk novelette set in Birdverse, just went live at Beneath Ceaseless Skies. It features three queer characters, secondary world Jews, automata, magic, and a curious mechanical box.  It is a part of my novel in progress, The Earthkeepers.

Incoherent babblings about the novelette are at my livejournal blog.

Publishing news and appearances

My small poem “The Journeymaker in Kestai,” featuring two Cycle characters, has been accepted for publication at Mythic Delirium for the Spring 2012 issue. Mike Allen announced the ToC yesterday; my piece is in a very good company.

Joshua Gage has written to accept “Walrus,” the only short poem I’ve written and published in 2010, for the upcoming Dwarf Stars anthology. “Walrus” was published as a twitter poem, so I am especially happy that it will appear in print – in its quirky, walrusy form!

Not One of Us 46

Meanwhile, my copy of Not One of Us 46 arrived, featuring my short story “Giant.” I’ll put the story up next year as a sample, for the anniversary of the Giant‘s death. Meanwhile, the issue looks terrific, with wonderful work by Patricia Russo, Sonya Taaffe, Mike Allen, Jeannelle Ferreira, and others.

Appearances

I will be talking about feminist speculative poetry on #feministsf twitter chat on October 23rd; for times and further details, please see this Feminist SF wiki page.

Finally, a face-to-face appearance! I am scheduled to attend the World Fantasy convention, where I will be hosting an unaffiliated open-mic speculative poetry reading (everyone welcome). I will post further details when I have them!

Table of Contents for the Moment of Change

I‘m very proud of this. Putting this book together has been quite a journey. I cannot begin to tell you how much I love these poems.  You can get a glimpse from the ToC as to how diverse the contents/contributors are, but you cannot truly see it just from the ToC, but trust me:  this is both tremendous and diverse.

And I couldn’t have done this alone. Thank you so much to everyone who gave advice and held my hand through this process  (I’m looking at you, Team Stone Telling!). Special thanks to Sonya Taaffe for suggesting poems, and Shweta Narayan, Jennifer Smith, and Sharon Mock for help w. ordering the ToC. And of course, many thanks to the contributors.

Congratulations to everyone!

People who want to know about preordering: not yet, but I will let you know as soon as I can.

The Moment of Change: An Anthology of Feminist Speculative Poetry

Rose Lemberg. Introduction.

POETRY:

Ursula K. Le Guin, Werewomen
Nicole Kornher-Stace, Harvest Season
Eliza Victoria, Prayer
Shweta Narayan, Cave-smell
Theodora Goss, The Witch
Amal El-Mohtar, On the Division of Labour
J.C. Runolfson, The Birth of Science Fiction
Kristine Ong Muslim, Resurrection of a Pin Doll
Lawrence Schimel, Kristallnacht
Cassandra Phillips-Sears, The Last Yangtze River Dolphin
Peg Duthie, The Stepsister
Catherynne M. Valente, The Girl with Two Skins
Theodora Goss, Binnorie
Nandini Dhar, Learning to Locate Colors in Grey: Kiran Talks About Her Brothers
Rachel Manija Brown, River of Silk
JoSelle Vanderhooft, The King’s Daughters
Lisa Bradley, The Haunted Girl
Mary Alexandra Agner, Tertiary
Sara Amis, Owling
Athena Andreadis, Spacetime Geodesics
Lisa Bradley, In Defiance Of Sleek-Armed androids
Sofía Rhei, Cinderella
Alex Dally MacFarlane, Beautifully Mutilated, Instantly Antiquated
Shweta Narayan, Epiphyte
Elizabeth R. McClellan, Down Cycles
H.E.L Gurney, She Was
Kelly Pflug-Back, My Bones’ Cracked Abacus
Kat Dixon, Nucleometry
N. A’Yara Stein, It’s All In The Translation
Sally Rosen Kindred, Sabrina, Borne
Adrienne J. Odasso, The Hyacinth Girl
Delia Sherman, Snow White to the Prince
Phyllis Gotlieb, The Robot’s Daughter
Vandana Singh, Syllables of Old Lore
Greer Gilman, She Undoes
Emily Jiang, Self-Portrait
Ki Russel, The Antlered Woman Responds
Catherynne M. Valente, The Oracle at Miami
Athena Andreadis, Night Patrol
Koel Mukherjee, Sita Reflects
Lorraine Schoen, Hypatia/Divided
Sharon Mock, Machine Dancer
C.W. Johnson, Towards a Feminist Algebra
Jo Walton, Blood Poem IV
Meena Kandasamy, Six Hours of Chastity
Samantha Henderson, Berry Cobbler
Sofía Rhei, Bluebeard Possibilities
Sheree Renee Thomas, Old Scratch poem featuring River
Elizabeth R. McClellan, The Sea Witch Talks Show Business
Ranjani Murali, Chants for Type: Skull-Cap Donner at Center-One Mall
Sonya Taaffe, Madonna of the Cave
Jeannelle Ferreira, Anniversaries
Rebecca Korvo, Handwork
Patricia Monaghan, Journey To The Mountains Of The Hag
Ari Berk, Pazerik Burial on the Ukok Plateau
Neile Graham, Dsonoqua Daughters
Sonya Taaffe, Matlacihuatl’s Gift
Ellen Wehle, Once I No Longer Lived Here
Yoon Ha Lee, Art Lessons
JT Stewart, Say My Name
Amal El-Mohtar, Pieces
Sofia Samatar, The Year of Disasters
C. S. E. Cooney, The Last Crone on the Moon
Minal Hajratwala, Archaeology of the Present
Jennifer McGowan, Mara Speaks
JT Stewart, Ceremony
April Grant, Trenchcoat
Tara Barnett, Star Reservation
Mary Alexandra Agner, Old Enough
Nisi Shawl, Transbluency: An Antiprojection Chant