reviews and poetry

After my most recent post about a review I wrote for Sloth Jockey, I realized that some of my other pieces there, both reviews and poetry, might be of interest to fans of speculative fiction. I'll be submitting there more over time, so that list should grow, and you can keep up with it at my author page, if you are interested.

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Where Do You Go for Good Science Fiction and Speculative Poetry?

Where do you usually go when you are on the hunt for a new work of science fiction or speculative poetry? For me, I like to shop at the Genre Mall online. They have a very wide selection of fiction, poetry, and magazines to choose from. I've bought a fair number of titles from the Genre Mall, and have never failed to be impressed with the work. A large number of small publishing houses choose to distribute their work from the Genre Mall, so it houses a very nice selection of work that may not be available elsewhere. And, when you buy there, you are supporting the real grassroots movement of the genre.

I've also come across a very interesting site recently called Anthology Builder. I like how you can tailor make and anthology there, and have it put together in a way to suit your own needs and desires. I've already written a more extensive explanation about it at my main blog, so if you have some short stories you'd like to put up for sale, or if you are looking for good stories to read, you might pop in over there to have a look at how it works.



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One Summer, a Thousand Days

I enjoy reading speculative fiction a lot, but I probably enjoy speculative poetry even more. It is a narrower field, in terms of readership, but there is a surprising large amount of very good speculative poetry available through various magazines and chapbooks.

I especially enjoy coming across speculative poetry that is written by poets who are otherwise considered "mainstream" writers. Al Purdy has written a fair bit of speculative poetry, as has Edwin Morgan. In Charles Albano's haiku collection One Summer, a Thousand Days (reviewed here), there is a whole section dedicated to scifaiku. The list could go on and on, because there are plenty of good poets who write poetry that some might consider "just" genre poetry.

If you'd like to have a look at more speculative poetry, or if are perhaps looking for market to publish your own work, you can visit the Science Fiction Poetry Association. And one of my favorite publishing house that is dedicated to speculative fiction is Sam's Dot Publishing. There are lots of magazines and chapbooks there.



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Speculative Fiction

I recently visited a place that keeps a bookshelf set aside for bookcrossing. I first heard about Bookcrossing.com from another blogger, and have had a good time “setting books free” after registering them at the site. I’ve had an equally good time “catching” books released by other bookcrossers. On my recent “hunting trip,” I came across a find that could not have been any better, as far as I am concerned -- John Costello’s Science Fiction Films. I have been having a great time reading through the little volume at a very leisurely pace over the past couple of weeks.

I am quite a fan of science fiction, but am a much bigger fan of the more general category of writing that I’d term “speculative fiction,” encompassing not only science fiction, but fantasy, imaginative tales about possible parallel worlds or possible futures for our world. It’s an area of fiction that can really captivate me, whether talking about 1001 Arabian Nights, Star Wars, The Matrix, or Diana Wynne Jones’s Chrestomanci. I pretty much love it all.


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