Seer of ghosts & weaver of stories

Third poetry sale of 2013:

Wed, 15 May 2013 17:29:04 GMT

"Fallout" will be appearing in Issue 6 of inkscrawl.

Second poetry sale of 2013 & other forthcoming work:

Sat, 04 May 2013 15:55:16 GMT

"Cold Covers / Uncovered" will be appearing in a near-future issue of Niteblade, although I don't yet know which one. "Cold Covers" is a slightly older poem, which some of you might recognize, and "Uncovered" is a previously unpublished addendum written only just in February this year that completes the piece.

"Two Tongues," "Pushing Atlantis," and "Rigel" have been selected by my co-editors at Dark Mountain to appear in Book 4. I can't call this a sale, but what's notable about these pieces is that they're all from the commissions batch I wrote in February. Without the people who provided me the prompts (and payment), these poems would not exist.

It's been a rough year for me on the writing front: I haven't written a new poem since February, unless you count one draft about which I feel rather ambivalent.

On Monday, I started a three-month temporary intermediate-to-advanced administrative post in a student services department at one of Boston's major universities, which so far I'm enjoying so much I can't really adequately express the sentiment, and in which I hope very much I'll be able to remain. It's not the same kind of temp-to-permanent one usually gets; the temp is invited to apply along with external candidates for the post, which I obviously have done. I'm relieved that this employment has come along, but I won't be off my guard until such time as this job is secure for me in the long-term, if I'm so fortunate as to get it. As you know, four solid months of submitting twenty job applications per week, seemingly to no result, has been absolutely harrowing, and I'm eager for that to end.

For those waiting to hear back about Dark Mountain subs:

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 21:22:03 GMT

We received so many excellent subs and have decided to accept so many of said excellent subs that we've decided it will be necessary to split this year's Dark Mountain anthology into two volumes: Book 4 will be published in early summer, and Book 5 will come out sometime in the autumn. You should be hearing from me or one of the other three editors (depending on which editor has been allocated your piece) by Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest. A handful of people have already heard back; the remainder of notifications are, quite literally, nigh.

Thank you all for your patience, and also for submitting!

Catching up on LJ, probably failing in the attempt:

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 15:58:20 GMT

* Here are some extremely vital discussions on editorial address and gaze from Stone Telling editors shweta_narayan and rose_lemberg. Nota bene would be putting it too mildly.

* Rhysling nominations are out; I have two poems in the mix, one in the Short Poem category and one in the Long Poem category. To me, based on past precedent, this is rather unexpected. Thank you to the person or persons responsible! And best of luck to all nominees.

* I'm in the midst of reading Dark Mountain submissions. Overload.

First poetry sale of 2013:

Sat, 16 Feb 2013 20:50:42 GMT

"Watershed" will be appearing in Dreams & Nightmares 95.

Rhysling Nominations have been extended until February 28th...

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 22:25:22 GMT

...and the announcement of such made me realize I hadn't drawn up a list of my eligible pieces (nomination instructions can be found here: http://sfpoetry.com/ra/rhysnom.html). Here they are, with very handy links so that you can easily look at all of them:

"Parallax," Stone Telling (February 2012):
http://stonetelling.com/issue7-mar2012/odasso-parallax.html

"Spell," Goblin Fruit (Spring 2012):
http://www.goblinfruit.net/2012/spring/poems/?poem=spell

"Returning Song," Strange Horizons (June 2012):
http://www.strangehorizons.com/2012/20120604/odasso-p.shtml

"What They Called Me," Goblin Fruit (Summer 2102):
http://www.goblinfruit.net/2012/summer/poems/?poem=whattheycalledme

"Stone Ghost," Inkscrawl (Summer 2012):
http://inkscrawl.net/issue4-august2012/odasso-ghost.html

"Ink Archaeologist," Through the Gate (Summer 2012):
http://throughthegate.net/issue1-sept2012/odasso-archaeologist.html

"Tables Turned," Stone Telling (Autumn 2012):
http://stonetelling.com/issue8-aug2012/odasso-turned.html

"The Recto Fragments," qarrtsiluni (Autumn 2012):
http://qarrtsiluni.com/2012/10/23/the-recto-fragments/

"Letters to Lost Friends & Imaginary Lovers," Strong Verse (Autumn 2012):
http://www.strongverse.org/cgi-bin/poiesis.pl?search=659&header=number&method=perfect&template=poem

"Fairy Beekeeper," Strange Horizons (December 2012 - this poem was accepted well before I joined the editorial team there, so as not to cause any consternation!):
http://strangehorizons.com/2012/20121231/odasso-p.shtml

To the best of my memory, I have only one past nomination (maybe two years ago; I believe it was "The Ghosts of Moody Street"), and this is largely because I've usually been too busy to draw up a list of my eligible pieces (or at least I hope that's the reason). Fingers crossed that this extension may prove a blessing for some, and thanks in advance for your consideration!

ETA: I've just realized that I had one poem published in print only during 2012 that's eligible for the Long Poem category. It's called "The Still Point of the Turning World," and it's in the Mandragora anthology from Scarlet Imprint. If you want me to email you a copy of the text of this poem, please let me know! My only other poem eligible for the Long Poem category is "Letters to Lost Friends & Imaginary Lovers," and it's linked above with the rest.

Strange Horizons: Second Month of Reading Redux

Sun, 03 Feb 2013 17:59:20 GMT

Unlike my first month on duty, which was September 2012, this month's exercise was, to say the least, manic. Last time, I saw just under 200 submissions; this time, I saw at least 300. Given that we're still facing a backlog of accepted poems, our next thinning tactic, rather than a month's closure (as we did for December 2012), will be to break the rest of this year up into two-month reading periods. Therefore, my next reading period will be June/July 2013 (February/March and April/May belong to my co-editors respectively, although I'm not sure in which order; I believe it's Romie and then Sonya). The tough part for us will be limiting ourselves to six poems per two-month reading period for the rest of the year, but we hope we'll be able to return to a more settled pattern after 2013 is out.

My acceptances for this month, just as I have previously announced:

"Slouching Towards the Garden," by Margarita Tenser

"Triptych," by Jane Crowley

"St. Patrick and the Snakes," by Jane Yolen

"The Loss," by Mari Ness

"Counterpart," by Stefanie Maclin

"Sand Bags," by Dominik Parisien

Of my September acceptances, I'm very pleased to say that one of them has been already been published in a recent update to the Strange Horizons website; you can find Crystal Hoffman's "Heat and Sainthood" here. The next one from September's batch that'll be published is M. S. Burtenshaw's "Schrödinger's Tree"; by our current rota, it should be published on March 18th, so keep an eye out for that marvelous piece, too.

(Cross-posted to the Strange Horizons Blog)

After almost three years in the making, it's finally here!

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 17:49:55 GMT

erzebet of Papaveria Press has released a hand-bound miniature limited edition of my poem, "Journeying," which originally appeared in Mythic Delirium #20 (the one that was its Tenth Anniversary Issue and had a poem by Neil Gaiman in it). If you'd like to read the text of the poem in order to refresh your memory, it's also archived here.

This little book contains illustrations by Paige Zaferiou (twilightgardens), who is a longtime friend and creative colleague of mine. Of the 18 exemplars in this limited run, I believe only about 13 are still available at this point, so if you'd like a copy, strike quickly!

ETA, February 15th: I think there are only two or three copies left by now.

Smiling groggily through the haze of tissues:

Sun, 27 Jan 2013 23:56:38 GMT

A piece of work by me has turned up in Mitchell Hart's editorial choices for the top speculative poems published in 2012.

(To see all of the editors' picks so far, mine included, here's the tag.)

I am sick, sick, sick...

Sat, 26 Jan 2013 22:02:23 GMT

...and apparently there is even a term for it.

Moving from Worcester to Dorchester tomorrow; hoping I'll feel less horrid. At the moment, drugged and not very with it, so if I email you in this state: oops. Typos and other related hilarities may occur.

rose_lemberg is doing a cool thing you should go read!

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 06:27:25 GMT

Rose asked a number of us who edit various poetry magazines (or departments within SF/F/Spec zines, as in my case) to send her lists containing our top five choices of poems first published during 2012. About the only rules were that the poems could not be your own and could not be published in the magazine(s) for which you edit.

So far, she has posted my choices and Amal's choices.

(Watch for more editors' choices in the days to come!)

Back from Arisia more or less in one piece!

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 03:55:44 GMT

(As per usual, my icon tells a completely different story.)

Arisia 2013 was fantastic! I sat on both speculative poetry panels (the group reading on Saturday @ 8:30 PM and the discussion session on Sunday @ 8:30 PM), got up to mischief of the plotting-things sort with cucumberseed, discussed my favorite medieval and early modern love stories (La Chanson de Roland, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Hamlet—don't look at me like that, of course these are love stories if you read from the right angle) with teenybuffalo, and generally did lovely things with Gill, leenah, skogkatt, sovay, and shadesong.

Thank you all for a most memorable weekend. I'll see you all at Readercon 24 in July (and you, firynze), if not sooner, and I will have Kaysha (eldanis) in tow.

Not dead, just editing!

Sun, 13 Jan 2013 18:17:11 GMT

I'm managing two sets of submissions this month, and submissions to both journals come due on January 31st: Dark Mountain and Strange Horizons. If you have anything you think you might like to send for my consideration in either case, please do! Eighteen more days.

I have a lot to post about, largely regarding how the 2012-to-2013 New Year's transition offered the finest party I've attended in ages.

(But right now, I'm preoccupied. Not a bad thing, mind.)

Hear ye, hear ye!

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 23:39:30 GMT

After a month's closure, the Strange Horizons Poetry Department is once again open to submissions! We had a lovely holiday break.

I'm the on-duty editor this month, so send me things.

Twelfth poetry sale of 2012:

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 12:29:21 GMT

A new short piece, "Terce(t)," will be appearing in inkscrawl #5.

(If you recall, that publication ran "Stone Ghost." For poets more frequently given to short verse than to long verse, this publication is something of a godsend. Keep up the great work, samhenderson!)

This means I hit my poem-a-month sale goal set at the beginning of 2012. I know there must be poets out there who sell far more than that, but I think it's better than I've done in previous years when it comes to individual poem-sales vs. other types of projects, so I'm pleased!

Strange Horizons: Poetry Department December Update

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 03:58:58 GMT

I would have announced this if I'd known sooner, but we are closed to submissions for the month of December. As this was meant to be my next month on the rota, I will now be reading next in January 2013, so please note that any submissions that were sent between December 1st and December 5th will simply be batched into January.

We apologize for the inconvenience of not announcing this sooner, but we only just realized that, given the average time between acceptance and publication ranges from four to nine months, we really need to close for a month in order to narrow the gap a little!

And, finally, a belated acceptance announcement:

"Schrödinger's Tree," by Madeline Sebastian Burtenshaw

(Cross-posted to the Strange Horizons Blog)

Two new poems live at Strong Verse:

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 05:17:06 GMT

Letters to Lost Friends & Imaginary Lovers

Carnal Knowledge

(This venue published my very first three poem-sales back in the autumn of 2005, so I can't help but feel I've come full circle, at least for the present. The old poems are available there on the archive. Enjoy!)

New poem live at qarrtsiluni:

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 22:03:35 GMT

The Recto Fragments

I'm the last poet of this issue, which is kind of cool.

Drudge Report Redux

Sun, 21 Oct 2012 17:31:50 GMT

The antiquarian-book firm decided not to hire any of us who made it to the final interview stage, as they looked at their finances and realized they'd been hard-hit by bad sales over the summer. Swell. That really was one of my dream jobs, and who knows when that kind of opportunity will come around again. In the meantime, I've been temping (full-time hours) for a company in Southborough, MA as telephone tech-support for a baffling array of home medical gadgets they manufacture. People are always stunned to learn that, in spite of being an artsy type, my math skills are stellar and my learning curve on cracking how stuff works is incredibly steep.

On the writing front, a bit of news: the hand-bound limited edition of my poem that ran in Mythic Delirium 20 (and is also the closing poem of my first collection, Lost Books), "Journeying," will soon be released by Papaveria Press. It will include a rather stunning pull-out illustration by my old friend and very talented artist Paige Zaferiou. I've seen the proofs, and it looks fantastic. Thank you, erzebet, for everything!

A locked post will shortly follow this one, as there is other interesting stuff afoot.

Strange Horizons: First Month of Reading Redux

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 21:53:56 GMT

As of today, I've responded to all poetry submissions sent to Strange Horizons during the month of September. I'm pleased to say that I saw just under 200 submissions (as expected) and that the decision-making was challenging in the best of ways. I'd like to start a tradition similar to the one that mattkressel established while reading submissions for Sybil's Garage, i.e. listing the titles of the pieces I've accepted during a given month along with the poets' names so that readers can look out for them in the weeks and months to come, as I'm incredibly excited about the first works I've had the privilege to accept for the publication. The poems and poets are, in no particular order:

"Air On a G String," by Jude Cowan Montague

"Maidenhead," by Adriana Tosun

"Wolf Daughter," by Sara Norja

"Again, Pygmalion," by Stella Nickerson

"Heat and Sainthood," by Crystal Hoffman

"A Modern Prometheus," by Lynette Mejía

"Castle Csejthe (Bathory)," by Jennifer Ruth Jackson

I'm also pleased that, as it turns out, none of these poets have ever been published in Strange Horizons before (in fact, a couple of them have never had poetry published before at all). Thanks to every one of you who submitted during the month of September, and I look forward to reading your verse again when December rolls around!

(Cross-posted to the Strange Horizons Blog)

New poem live at Through the Gate:

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 03:38:10 GMT

Ink Archaeologist

This is the inaugural issue, so go give Mitchell some love!

Surfacing (however briefly) from the slush...

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 15:56:03 GMT

I know that discussion of editorial process differs from editor to editor: some give statistics updates and even mention the titles and authors of pieces accepted as they go along, whereas some don't discuss it much at all. While working with Paul and Dougald on the submissions that came in for Dark Mountain Issue 3 from autumn last year through spring this year, I talked about how impressed I was with the overall quality of submissions and how difficult our decisions were going to be (they were). So far this month for Strange Horizons, I've seen nearly 100 poems, and I'm told I'll see at least another 50 before the month is out. One thing I'm really trying to keep down is response-time; if I'm very certain I can't take a piece, the submitter will hear from me sooner than not. If I really like a piece but know that I still can't take it, I've been trying my best to suggest alternative venues to which the poet might send said piece. In any case, when the average total intake from month to month is 150-200 and you can only accept about six, that's difficult decision-making on a level at which my previous experiences at Dark Mountain had only hinted. More than anything else, I'm dazzled at the array of talented voices I've had the chance to read so far this month. Keep the verse coming (if not this month, then I'll read you in December)!

First month on duty!

Mon, 03 Sep 2012 17:22:31 GMT

All poetry submissions sent to Strange Horizons during the month of September are under my jurisdiction, as we alternate months between the three of us now comprising the department. We decided that letting people know when our individual reading periods are, as it were, is no bad thing; therefore, if you've been considering submitting poetry to the magazine and wouldn't mind it being considered on my watch, this month is your chance (and I expect, therefore, barring unforeseen changes, that December will be my next month in the rota). I'm only a few days into officially receiving submissions, and I enjoy reading what comes in immensely. So, you know what to do!

Stone Telling 8 is now live!

Wed, 29 Aug 2012 16:08:58 GMT

Features work from me, sovay, alankria, shadesong, tithenai, and more!

Update!Fail 2012

Sun, 26 Aug 2012 20:45:34 GMT

I've been good at keeping after the poetry sales and other writing-related developments, but this is mostly because they amount to the sum total of positive things that have happened to me this year.

Everything else has been dire. I'm running out of polite words when it comes to describing the immigration debacle that has ultimately prevented James and me from returning to London, and I'm not coping well with the fact that we've been stuck living with my in-laws for eleven months now while we wait for some possible job leads (in my case particularly) to settle out. At this point, I desperately need a place (not this attic bedroom) that's mine—ours—again. My home's been taken from me; being stuck in someone else's, however grateful I am for their assistance, has been anything but easy. And I feel like I can't seem to communicate to James how important it is we get out of here, even if we end up having to enlist further help from his parents (but he won't hear of it).

(I'm hoping the job in question comes through. It's got to, as it would solve the above conundrum. However, if it doesn't, I fear I'm going to have to get creative as far as plotting our escape. And when everything feels like a dead end, that's not a happy prospect.)