science fiction and fantasy poetry association
Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association
2020 Dwarf Stars Anthology and Award

Anthology Information

Editor: Robin Mayhall

Cover Art: A Peaceful Dream by Michal Kváč
digital © 2020
artstation.com/kvacm/store

Layout: F. J. Bergmann

Publisher: Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association

Award Winners

Winner: “Standing Up” • John C. Mannone • Nadwah: Poetry in Translation, December 2019.

2nd Place: [There are fossils] • Mark A. Fisher • Silver Blade 44.

3rd Place: 2015 Zinfandella • Denise Dumars • Dismal Oaks Winery Broadside, Spring 2019.

Editor and Winner Biographies

Robin Mayhall was also the editor of the 2017 Dwarf Stars. She is a writer, editor and PR professional with a lifelong yen for science fiction and fantasy stories and poetry. Disabled by rheumatoid arthritis, she still works full-time and loves reading and getting lost on the internet. She is interested in history, especially World War I, as well as journalism and media, healthcare issues and politics. She lives in Louisiana with her cat, Banichi.

John C. Mannone was the 2013 Rhysling Chair. He has speculative work in Pedestal, New England Journal of Medicine, Eye to the Telescope, Baltimore Review, Devilfish Review, Event Horizon, Riddled with Arrows, NonBinary Review, Star*Line and many others. He has three poetry collections: Apocalypse (Alban Lake Publishing) won 3rd place for the 2017 Elgin Book Award; Disabled Monsters (The Linnet’s Wings Press) was featured at the 2016 Southern Festival of Books; Flux Lines (Celtic Cat Publishing) with love-related poems using science metaphors is forthcoming in 2019. He’s been awarded the Horror Writers Association Scholarship (2017) and nominated for several Pushcart, Rhysling, Dwarf Stars and Best of the Net awards. He’s poetry editor for Abyss & Apex, Silver Blade, and Liquid Imagination. He’s also notable in literary circles: celebrity judge for the National Federation of State Poetry Societies (2018), winner of the Jean Ritchie Fellowship in Appalachian literature (2017), a Weymouth writer in residence (2016 & 2017). He is a retired professor of physics living between Knoxville and Chattanooga, Tennessee. jcmannone.wordpress.com

Mark A. Fisher is a writer, poet, and playwright living in Tehachapi, CA. His poetry has appeared in: Angel City Review, Mojave River Review, Altadena Poetry Review, Penumbra, Unlikely Stories Mark V, and many other places. His first chapbook, drifter, is available from Amazon. His second, hour of lead, won the 2017 San Gabriel Valley Poetry Chapbook Contest. His plays have appeared on California stages in Pine Mountain Club, Tehachapi, Bakersfield, and Hayward. He has also won cooking ribbons at the Kern County Fair.

Denise Dumars says that this poem and the Dismal Oaks Winery broadside it was published in would not have existed without s. c. virtes and the crazy wine country poems Denise and Scott decided to write after touring Temecula wine country with the best wine-tasting buddies ever: Deborah Kolodji, Naia, and Richard Potthoff.

Table of Contents

  • 2015 Zinfandella • Denise Dumars • Dismal Oaks Winery Broadside, Spring 2019
  • Aeolus • Brian Gene Olson • StarLine 42.2
  • [baby born healthy] • Ngo Binh Anh Khoa • Scifaikuest, November 2019 print
  • Balancing Act • Deborah L. Davitt with D. A. Xiaolin Spires & Gretchen Tessmer • StarLine 42.1
  • [beyond its two eyes] • Juan Perez • Haikuniverse, June 8, 2019
  • [bioluminescence] • Debbie Strange • Seashores 2
  • [black widow spider …] • Valentina Ranaldi-Adams • Bleached Butterfly 1:1
  • [clear winter night] • Frank Coffman • The Coven's Hornbook & Other Poems (Bold Venture Press, 2019)
  • Cold Weather Accessories for Imaginary Creatures • Lorraine Schein • StarLine 42.2
  • [dancing] • Deborah P Kolodji • Altered Reality Magazine, December 2019
  • Death Spiral, Korolev Crater • Ann K. Schwader • Eye to the Telescope 32: Sports and Games
  • [dystopic future] • Carolyn M. Hinderliter • Scifaikuest, August 2019 online
  • Epitaph for John Carter • Herb Kauderer • Scifaikuest, November 2019 print
  • Erwin Schrodinger • Jean-Paul L. Garnier • Cholla Needles 29
  • [Feast of St. George—] • C.R. Harper • Dreams and Nightmares 111
  • [For her who laid and hatched my egg] • Ronald A. Busse • StarLine 42.1
  • [gentlest quiver] • Christina Sng • Scifaikuest, August 2019 print
  • [gestating through space …] • Terrie Leigh Relf • Scifaikuest, May 2019 print
  • [the ghost wife] • Gloundan Smorpian • Dreams and Nightmares 112
  • [a glimpse] • Hazel Hall • Stardust Haiku 35
  • [glow-in-the-dark fruit] • Robert Borski • Scifaikuest, August 2019 print
  • [H3N2] • LeRoy Gorman • Scifaikuest, February 2019 online
  • [harvest moon] • Barbara Tate • Autumn Moon Haiku Journal 2:2
  • The Haunting • Lucy Whitehead • Otata 38
  • [her gentle kisses] • ayaz daryl nielsen • StarLine 42.1
  • [hoping for the best] • Johannes S. H. Bjerg • Sonic Boom 15
  • How to Notice a Dark Nebula • Mary Soon Lee • Triangulation: Dark Skies, eds. Diane Turnshek & Chloe Nightingale (Parsec Ink, 2019)
  • How to Time Travel • Mary Soon Lee • Analog, May/June 2019
  • [human flesh transformed] • Brian Gene Olson • StarLine 42.3
  • [I read the future] • Geoffrey A. Landis • Spectral Realms 11
  • Infection • Roger Dutcher • Alba 32
  • [iron in the dunes] • Greer Woodward • Random Planets, ed. t. santitoro (Alban Lake Publishing, 2019)
  • [The knife blade flutters] • Colleen Anderson • Quatrain.fish, March 2019
  • [leaving Saturn] • LeRoy Gorman • Scifaikuest, February 2019 print
  • loose change • Allan Rozinski • StarLine 42.1
  • [mass into photons] • Kimberly Nugent • Scifaikuest, August 2019 online
  • [memorial day visit] • C. William Hinderliter • Scifaikuest, August 2019 online
  • [moonlight] • Duro Jaiye • Akitsu Quarterly, Winter 2019
  • the music of Luna's pull • Herb Kauderer • Influence of the Moon, September 2019
  • Mystery Multiplied • Bruce Boston • StarLine 42.2
  • [New Earth’s many moons] • Lauren McBride • Dreams and Nightmares 111
  • [night sieved] • Joseph Salvatore Aversano • is/let, September 7, 2019
  • Notes for the Next Letter Home • Herb Kauderer • Dreams and Nightmares 113
  • The Old Ones: A Ghazal • Joshua Gage • Spectral Realms 10
  • [ordinary flashlight] • Tom Sacramona • Scifaikuest, August 2019 print
  • [peeling night] • Alegria Imperial • Colorado Boulevard, June 12, 2019
  • [pi day] • Deborah P Kolodji • Modern Haiku 50.3
  • [placoderms sizzling] • David C. Kopaska-Merkel • Poetry Nook, February 19, 2019
  • ragtime gal • Brittany Hause • Scifaikuest, May 2019 print
  • Recent Federal Postings • Greer Woodward • Illumen, Winter 2019
  • red shirts • David C. Kopaska-Merkel • Illumen, Summer 2019
  • [reeking of time] • Robert Borski • Scifaikuest, August 2019 print
  • [ritual at dawn—] • Carmen Duvalma • Autumn Moon Haiku Journal, June 2019
  • [seeing stars] • Christina Sng • Scifaikuest, August 2019 online
  • [she had broken] • Susan Burch • Bleached Butterfly 1:3
  • A simpler time • F. J. Bergmann • StarLine 42.4
  • [space station yoga] • John J. Dunphy • Scifaikuest, August 2019 online
  • [stale morning smog …] • Nick Hoffman • StarLine 42.4
  • Standing Up • John C. Mannone • Nadwah: Poetry in Translation, December 2019
  • [stargazing on Olympus Mons] • Greer Woodward • Random Planets, ed. t. santitoro (Alban Lake Publishing, 2019)
  • [starless night …] • Greg Schwartz • Star*Line 42.3
  • [still can't decide] • Christina Sng • Scifaikuest, August 2019 online
  • [stream of consciousness] • William Shaw • Scifaikuest, May 2019 print
  • [There are fossils] • Mark A. Fisher • Silver Blade 44
  • [through the portal] • Julie Bloss Kelsey • Bleached Butterfly 1:2
  • Tikbalang • Vince Gotera • Altered Reality Magazine, February 13, 2019
  • Tree in Drought • Beth Cato • Frozen Wavelets, November 2019
  • The Trophy Room • Andrew J. Wilson • Eye to the Telescope 32: Sports and Games
  • [Voyager outbound] • Ann K. Schwader • Dreams and Nightmares 111
  • what she knows for sure • Cathy Tenzo • Dreams & Nightmares 113
  • When Death Comes Back • Cindy O’Quinn • Sorrow: A Horror Anthology, ed. James Ward Kirk (James Ward Kirk Publishing, 2019)
  • [within sight] • Christina Sng • Scifaikuest, May 2019 online
  • [zen garden] • Helga Anton-Beitz • Scifaikuest, February 2019 print

    Nominations by Publication

    96 members voted on 72 poems from 47 publications.

    Number of NominationsPublication Name
    1Akitsu Quarterly
    1Alba
    2Altered Reality Magazine
    1Analog
    2Autumn Moon Haiku Journal
    2Bleached Butterfly
    1Cholla Needles
    1Colorado Boulevard
    1The Coven's Hornbook & Other Poems (Bold Venture Press, 2019)
    1Dismal Oaks Winery Broadside, Spring 2019
    6Dreams and Nightmares
    2Eye to the Telescope
    1Frozen Wavelets
    1Haikuniverse
    1Illumen
    1Influence of the Moon
    1is/let
    1Modern Haiku
    1Nadwah: Poetry in Translation
    1Otata
    1Poetry Nook
    1Quatrain.fish
    2Random Planets, ed. t. santitoro (Alban Lake Publishing, 2019)
    19Scifaikuest
    1Seashores
    1Silver Blade
    1Sonic Boom
    1Sorrow: A Horror Anthology, ed. James Ward Kirk (James Ward Kirk Publishing, 2019)
    2Spectral Realms
    11Star*Line
    1Stardust Haiku
    1Triangulation: Dark Skies, eds. Diane Turnshek & Chloe Nightingale (Parsec Ink, 2019)
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