The Winter 2024 Edition of Star*line 47.1 is out now.
Is it really 2024 already? I remember growing up as a child of the 70s, trying to calculate just how old I would be when the calendar flipped over to 2000. That date seemed unimaginably far off, something I’d only read about on the pages of science fiction or see in television shows like Space:1999… certainly, it wasn’t something I’d see on a wall calendar in the classroom anytime soon.
But here we are, already a quarter of the way into the 21st century. To be sure, we all now have enormous computing power in our pockets, and can connect to thousands of Starlinks whizzing overhead… meanwhile we’re still grappling and coming to terms with with age old social issues, and directing flying killer robots to fight proxy battles that The Terminator could only dream of...
Sure, 1984 may not have come to pass… but there’s always 2084. Perhaps Orwell’s dystopian vision was averted only because of his warning, given to us via fiction. And this alone speaks to the power of speculative fiction. Poetry in particular can sharpen these hopes and dreams to a fine point, the very distillation of an idea or concept.
For going on four and a half decades, Star*line magazine and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association (SFPA) has been the flagship for all things speculative poetry. Within are poems long and short ranging from science fiction to fantasy to horror and the outright strange and unique. These can make you laugh, cry, or above all, think. The art from cover to back page is all original and reader submitted, as well.
Excerpts our favorite samples from Star*Line 47.1 include:
Death Cheats at Cards by Mary Soon Lee
Death cheats at cards,
rides a canary-yellow Vespa,
lies about her weight,
which is more than she’d like
because she habitually breakfasts
on gin and donuts.
The Fate of Seven Ark Ships by Jason P. Burnham
(and Those Left Behind)
Missed target planet.
Unclear if it was habitable.
A possible substitute was found,
but the altered trajectory
caused loss of structural integrity
after too long a journey—catastrophic decompression.
The Trees Are Made of Metal by Caleb Edmondson
and if you’re quiet enough, you can hear
their whispers throughout the night,
Melancholy of mechanical harmony,
gears spin and sing, each contributing
a verse to the machine….
The essay The Gloves Come Off, Part Deux on the perils of pay-to-play poetry in the modern market by Denise Dumars in the current 47.1 issue is also well worth a read, for starting or seasoned writers. To be sure, you’ll giveaway lots for free as a writer… but alarm bells should sound off in your brain when someone asks you to pay for the privilege. Good publishers pay their writers, not the other way around.
Finally, I always like to encourage fans to not just read speculative poetry, but to write and submit it as well. Not only does this hone your skills as a writer, but it’s a great way to test ideas on the page, and serves as a great entry into the world of published writing… and besides, doesn’t the title of ‘science fiction poet’ just plain sound cool?
Be sure to pick up a copy of Star*line 47.1, as a gateway into the realm of speculative poetry.