THE ULTIMATE SCIENCE FICTION POETRY GUIDE






HUNDREDS OF LINKS TO WEB SCIENCE FICTION POETRY RESOURCES

Send e-mail to The Ultimate SF Poetry Guide
SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY POETRY:
2.3 Magazines, Anthologies, and Collections of Science Fiction Poetry
by
JONATHAN VOS POST
Copyright 1996, 1997, by Magic Dragon Multimedia.
All rights reserved. May not be reproduced without permission.
May be posted electronically provided that it is transmitted unaltered, in its entirety, and without charge.
RETURN TO SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY POETRY TABLE OF CONTENTS
Update of 3 August 1993 
2.3  Magazines, Anthologies, and Collections of Science Fiction Poetry

2.3  Magazines, Anthologies, and Collections of Science Fiction Poetry


2.3.1  Magazines


With the birth of Science Fiction as a genre, Science Fiction Poetry frequently 
appeared in magazines known primarily for fiction, such as 

    

  1. Amazing
    2. 

  2. Fantasy & Science Fiction
    3.  and later in

  3. Aboriginal SF
    4. 

  4. Ariel
    5. 

  5. Galileo
    6. 

  6. Ice River, edited by David Memmott:
     published a good many sf poets and explored quite a range of 
     speculative poetry, though it was not wholly dedicated to poetry
    7. 

  7. Isaac Asimov's
    8. 

  8. New Worlds (British)
    9. 

  9. Quark
    10. 

  10. Science Fiction Eye
    11. 


Several magazines were devoted to science fiction poetry, including
(in chronological order):

    

  1. Kinesis (ed. Virginia Kidd, 1968-70)
    2. 

  2. Edge #5/6 (ed. Bruce McAllister, 1973)
    3. 

  3. Eternity (ed. Stephen Gregg, 1972-75)
    4. 

  4. Cthulhu Calls (Vols. III & IV. ed. Terry Shorb, 1976-77)
    5. 

  5. Treaders of Starlight (ed. Mark Rich, 1974-76)
    6. 

  6. Speculative Poetry Review/The Anthology of Speculative Poetry (ed. Robert Frazier, 1977-80), 
    7. 

  7. Star*Line (SFPA, 1978-present)
    8. 

  8. Umbral (ed. Steve Rasnic Tem, 1978-xxx)
    9. 

  9. Uranus (ed. Roger Dutcher, 1978-ended with the 4th issue in 1984)
    10. 

  10. Magazine of Speculative Poetry (ed.Mark Rich and Roger Dutcher, 1984-)
     started with v1#1 in 1984, 
     the current issue is V4#1 just out in April 1997.  
     Roger Dutcher plans "at least one more issue, with just me as editor, 
     to be out the fall of this year. After that it will be year by year."
    11. 


Steve Sneyd, in Data Dump #17, October 1996 (ISSN 1359-2041), gives a 
listing of "genbre little magazines" in the U.K. which in the 1990s have 
included poems which are science fiction or "near-SF/Speculative" -- a list 
of those which have used Horror, Dark Fantasy, Fantasy and subgenres related, 
like Vampire, Gothic, Pagan, Imagined History, etc. would swell the list 
unmanageably, to put it mildly":

    

  1. Alternaties
    2. 

  2. Ammonite
    3. 

  3. Auguries
    4. 

  4. Beyond the Boundaries
    5. 

  5. Eastern Rainbow
    6. 

  6. Flickers 'n' Frames
    7. 

  7. Focus [magazine of the British Science Fiction Association]
    8. 

  8. Handshake
    9. 

  9. Kimota
    10. 

  10. Nexus [a Rev. Lionel fanthorpe SF Hymn]
    11. 

  11. Nova
    12. 

  12. Ocular
    13. 

  13. Overspace
    14. 

  14. Premonitions
    15. 

  15. The Scanner
    16. 

  16. Scar Tissue
    17. 

  17. Sierra Heaven
    18. 

  18. Strange Attractor
    19. 

  19. Tales from the Broken Drum [humorous SF verse]
    20. 

  20. The Third Alternative
    21. 

  21. Threads
    22. 

  22. Works
    23. 

  23. The Zene
    24. 

  24. xxx
    25. 

  25. xxx
    26. 


Steve Sneyd, in Data Dump #17, October 1996 (ISSN 1359-2041), further 
provides a list of "Mainstream, Alternative Mainstream, 
Unclassified/Unclassifiable" magazines, and comments "this is not extensive, 
merely indicative, a selection of titles from which files contain one or 
more SF poems published in the '90s, by a variety of poets:

    

  1. Acumen
    2. 

  2. Bete Noir
    3. 

  3. Beyond the Brink
    4. 

  4. Blithe Spirit
    5. 

  5. Cowpat
    6. 

  6. Envoi
    7. 

  7. Exile
    8. 

  8. Flying Squad
    9. 

  9. Frontal Lobe
    10. 

  10. Krax
    11. 

  11. The Little Red Book
    12. 

  12. Maelstrom
    13. 

  13. Memes
    14. 

  14. New Hope International [gave your humble webmaster a good review...]
    15. 

  15. The North
    16. 

  16. Ore
    17. 

  17. Paladin
    18. 

  18. Poetry Review [Peter Redgrove]
    19. 

  19. Purple Patch
    20. 

  20. Rustic Rub
    21. 

  21. A Riot of Emotions
    22. 

  22. Smokin' Dragon
    23. 

  23. Spout
    24. 

  24. Target
    25. 

  25. Tenth Muse
    26. 

  26. Terrible Work
    27. 

  27. T.O.P.S.
    28. 

  28. Voices from Cornwall
    29. 

  29. Wearworlf
    30. 

  30. We Kiss Through Gasmasks
    31. 

  31. Wire
    32. 

  32. X-Calibre
    33. 



Scavenger's Newsletter
Scavenger's Newsletter (ed. e-mail Janet Fox)
     contains information on small press poetry markets.


2.3.2 Anthologies


18 important anthologies devoted to Science Fiction Poetry include: 

    

  1. A Book of Science Verse, London: Macmillan, 1961;
    2. 

  2. Against Infinity, ed. Ernest Robson & Jet Wimp, Parker Ford PA: Primary Press, 1979; 
    3. 

  3. Aliens and Lovers, ed. Millea Kenin, Oakland CA: Unique Graphics, 1983;
    4. 

  4. Anthology of Astronomical Poetry, ed. G. Tomlinson & D. Trainque, Tipton IN: Tipton 	Planetarium, 1984; 
    5. 

  5. Burning With A Vision, ed. Robert Frazier, Philadelphia: Owlswick, 1984; 
    6. 

  6. Computer Poems, ed. Robert Schadewald & Richard W. Bailey, MI: Potagannissing Press, 1973;
    7. 

  7. England Swings SF, ed. Judith Merrill, New York: Ace, 1968;
    8. 

  8. Frontier of Going: An Anthology of Space Poetry, ed. John Fairfax, London: Panther, 1969; 
    9. 

  9. Holding Your Eight Hands, ed. Edward Lucie-Smith, New York: Doubleday, 1969; 
    10. 

  10. Inside Outer Space, ed. Robert Vas Dias, New York: Doubleday, 1970;
    11. 

  11. Omnigatherum, ed. Bacon & Tryanovich, XX: Stygian Isle Press, 1976;
    12. 

  12. Poems of Science, ed. John Heath-Stubbs and Phillips Salman, London: Penguin, 1984; 
    13. 

  13. Poly, ed. Lee Ballentine, Mountain View CA: Ocean View, 1989; 
    14. 

  14. Rocket Candy, ed. Duane Ackerson, XX: Dragonfly Press, 1977;
    15. 

  15. Rocket Songs, ed. Jane Yolen, xxxxxxx, 1995 (?); 
    16. 

  16. Songs From Unsung Worlds, ed. Bonnie Bilyeu Gordon, Boston MA: Birkhauser/AAAS, 1985; 
    17. 

  17. Time Frames, ed. Terry A. Garey, Minneapolis MN:Rune Press, 1991;
    18. 

  18. The Umbral Anthology of Science Fiction Poetry, ed. Steve R. Tem, Denver: Umbral, 1982; 
    19. 




2.3.3  Single-Author Collections


Important single-author books of science fiction poetry include: 

    

  1. Diana Ackerman, The Planets: A Cosmic Pastoral, xxx, 
     has scientific glossary at end!;
    2. 

  2. Duane Ackerson, The Eggplant & Other Absurdities, xxxxx;
    3. 

  3. Dick Allen, Anon and Various Time Machine Poems,  New York: Dell, 1971; 
    4. 

  4. John Williams Andrews, A.D. Twenty-One Hundred: A Narrative of Space, foreword by 		Walter Cronkite, Boston: Branden Press, 1969;
    5. 

  5. Lee Ballentine, Dream Protocols, Beech Grove, IN: Talisman Books, 1992; 
    6. 

  6. Michael Bishop, Windows & Mirrors, Moravian Press, Aug. 1977; 
    7. 

  7. Bruce Boston, All the Clocks are Melting, Berkeley CA: Velocities, 1984; 
    8. 

  8. Bruce Boston, Alchemical Texts, Denver CO: Ocean View Books, 1985; 
    9. 

  9. Bruce Boston, Nuclear Futures, Berkeley CA: Velocities, 1987;
    10. 

  10. Bruce Boston, A Bruce Boston Omnibus, Denver CO: Ocean View Books, 1987; 
    11. 

  11. Bruce Boston, Time: Titan Press Magazine #5, Broken Arrow OK: Titan Press, 1988; 
    12. 

  12. Bruce Boston, Musings, broadside, 4 poems on writing, Troy NY: Eldritch Emu Press, 1988; 
    13. 

  13. Bruce Boston, The New Bruce Boston Omnibus, Denver CO: Ocean View Books, 1990; 
    14. 

  14. Bruce Boston, Cybertexts, Beech Grove IN: Talisman, 1992;
    15. 

  15. Bruce Boston, Specula: Selected Uncollected Poems, Beech Grove IN: Talisman, 1993;
    16. 

  16. Bruce Boston, Sensuous Debris: Selected Poems, 1973-1993, Concord CA: Dark Regions, 1994;
    17. 

  17. Ray Bradbury, Where Robot Mice and Robot Men Run Around in Robot Towns, and 2 other 	books;
    18. 

  18. John Brunner, A Hastily Thrown Together Bit of Zork, xxxxxxxx; and Tomorrow may Be Even 	Worse, xxxxxxxxxxxx;
    19. 

  19. John M. Burns, BioGraffiti: A Natural Selection, W.W. Norton, 1981;
    20. 

  20. Stanton Arthur Coblentz, The Thinker and other Poems, 1923; Stanton Arthur Coblentz, Atlantis 	and other Poems, Wings, 1960;
    21. 

  21. Marion Cohen, The Weirdest is the Sphere, New York: Seven Woods Press, 1979;
    22. 

  22. Michael R. Collings, Naked to the Sun: Dark Visions of Apocalypse, Mercer Island WA: 	Starmont House, Dec. 1985, 75 pp., cloth, issued simultaneously in paper, 2nd printing 	Jan. 1990
    23. 

  23. Michael R. Collings, Fields of Starflowers, and Other Poems: Science Fiction, Fantasy, and 	Horror, Thousand Oaks CA: Buckthorn Chapbooks, Aug. 1988, 24 pp., paper, self-	published chapbook, later incorporated into Dark Transformations: Deadly Visions of 	Change; 
    24. 

  24. Michael R. Collings, Transformations, Thousand Oaks CA: Buckthorn Chapbooks, July 1989, 	24 pp., paper, self-published chapbook, later incorporated into Dark Transformations: 	Deadly Visions of Change; 
    25. 

  25. Michael R. Collings, Dark Transformations: Deadly Visions of Change, Mercer Island WA: 		Starmont House, Jan. 1990, 96 pp., cloth, issued simultaneously in paper, 2nd printing Michael R. Collings, Poetic Peculations: Parodies, Pastiches, Appreciations, and Perpetrations, 	Thousand Oaks CA: Buckthorn Chapbooks, 19 Aug. 1991, 32 pp., paper, self-published 	chapbook;
    26. 

  26. Michael R. Collings, The Boneyard of Old Ezra Snow, and Other Poems, Thousand Oaks CA: 	Buckthorn Chapbooks, May 1993, 32 pp., paper, self-published chapbook; 
    27. 

  27. Robert Colombo, Mostly Monsters, Toronto: Hounslow Press, 1977;
    28. 

  28. Adam Cornford, Animations, San Francisco: City Lights, 1992 (?);
    29. 

  29. Keith Allen Daniels, Loopy is the Inner Ear,  Bowling Green OH: Quick Glimpse Press, 1993; Jack Dann, Christs, xxxxxxxxxxx;
    30. 

  30. Keith Allen Daniels, Satan is a Mathematician, Anamnesis Press
     P. O. Box 51115
     Palo Alto, CA 94303
     415-255-8366
     415-255-3190 (fax)
     Anamnesis Press website
     e-mail Anamnesis Press (Keith Allen Daniels);
    31. 

  31. Christopher Dewdney, Fovea Centralis, Toronto: Coach House Press, 1975;
    32. 

  32. Tom Disch, The Right Way to Figure Plumbing, xxxxxxxxxxxx; and other books;
    33. 

  33. Sonya Dorman, Stretching Fence, xxxxxxx; and Paper Raincoat, xxxxxxxxxx;
    34. 

  34. Lord Dunsany:  see Section 9.0;
    35. 

  35. Loren Eisley, Notes of an Alchemist, xxxxxx; The Innocent Assassins, xxxxxx; Another Kind of 	Autumn, xxxxxx; and All the Night Wings, xxxxxxxx;
    36. 

  36. Robert Frazier, Co-Orbital Moons, Mountain View CA: Ocean View, 1988; 
    37. 

  37. Robert Frazier & Bruce Boston, Chronicles of the Mutant Rain Forest, Staten Island NY: 		Horror's Head Press, 1992; 
    38. 

  38. Phyllis Gotlieb, Within the Zodiac, McClelland & Stewart, 1964;
    39. 

  39. Phyllis Gotlieb, Ordinary, Moving, Oxford, 1969;
    40. 

  40. Phyllis Gotlieb, Doctor Umlaut's Earthly Kingdom, Toronto: Calliope Press, 1974;
    41. 

  41. Phyllis Gotlieb, The Works, Toronto: Calliope Press, 1978;
    42. 

  42. Scott E. Green, Baby Sale at the 7-11, Newark NJ: Bloom, 1984; 
    43. 

  43. Scott E. Green, Private Worlds, Woburn MA: Bedouin Press, 1983; 
    44. 

  44. Joe Haldeman, SAUL'S DEATH & OTHER POEMS, Anamnesis Press
     P. O. Box 51115
     Palo Alto, CA 94303
     415-255-8366
     415-255-3190 (fax)
     Anamnesis Press website
     e-mail Anamnesis Press (Keith Allen Daniels)
     in May 1997 released Joe Haldeman's latest book and first collection of 
     poetry, ISBN 0-9631203-4-4, $10.95 trade paper;
  45. 

  46. Robert E. Howard: see Section 8.0;
    47. 

  47. Andrew Joron, Force Fields, Starmont House, 1987;
    48. 

  48. Andrew Joron, Science Fiction,  Berkeley: Pantograph Press, 1992;
    49. 

  49. Andrew Joron & Robert Frazier, Invisible Machines, Jazz Police, 1994; 
    50. 

  50. Lilith Lorraine (1894-xxx), Let the Patterns Break, xxxxxxxxxx, over 500 science fiction poems,  	[date? pub?],	Lilith Lorraine worked hard to gain respectability for science fiction poetry
    51. 

  51. Henry Edmund Martinson, Aniara  (Stockholm: Bonnier, 1957; New York: Knopf, 1964)(a 	spaceship story as 102 poems, later made into an opera hailed throughout Europe, a poor 	translation from Swedish which he disavows was reprinted in Avon Books' SF 	Rediscovery Series); 
    52. 

  52. David Memmott, HOUSE ON FIRE (which includes the 1990 Long Poem Rhysling 
     Award-winning poem, "The Aging Cryonicist..." as well as "Sounding 
     the Praises of Shadow to the Merchants of Light" which appeared in 
     THE FOURTH ANNUAL COLLECTION OF BEST FANTASY AND 
     HORROR, edited by Datlow and Windling, not to mention poems 
     which appeared in magazines such as DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES, 
     THE MAGAZINE OF SPECULATIVE POETRY, STAR*LINE, ALPHA GALLERY, 
     POETS OF THE FANTASTIC and ONCE UPON A MIDNIGHT. 
     ISBN: 1-877655-07-6, $9. Perfectbound trade, 7 X 8 1/2. 
     Jazz Police Books. ISBN: 1-877655-07-4, hardbound, $20;
    53. 

  53. David Memmott, THE LARGER EARTH, Permeable Press, August 1996, 
     ISBN: 1-882633-18-0, 6 X 9, perfectbound, $9.95. 
     This is a Cycle of Long Poems revolving around the personna 
     of an astronaut who walked on the moon and returned to earth a changed man. 
     The subtitle is: Descending Notes of a Grounded Astronaut.
          Andrew Joron wrote the following about THE LARGER EARTH: 
     "THE LARGER EARTH counts as the best writing Memmott's done 
     yet: his metaphor of the 'grounded astronaut' travels with uncanny 
     speed across the late 20th-century landscape. Each poem withint 
     the cycle, morever, can be read as a self-contained entity, 
     possessing its own mood & character. I admired the simultaneously 
     autobiographical & visionary feel of the cycle." 
          Later Joron wrote the following as well.  "...you have written one of 
     the finest works of SF poetry ever.  So much of the potential of SF 
     poetry to illuminate political situations as well as psychological states 
     is realized here, while not skimping on the "cosmological 
     perspective" that is part of the framework of the genre."
          Keith Allen Daniel wrote: "...the freedom of the open lines of your 
     work allows plenty of room for the autobiographer and the visionary 
     to soar (and plunge) together. The repetition of key words and 
     phrases throughout the cycle lends it the feel of an almost desperate 
     mantra designed to ward off so many deaths: the death of dreams, 
     the death of mystery, the death of the natural world, the death of 
     perfection and pride in craftsmanship, the death of the human spirit 
     under the weight of corporations, the death of perspective and the 
     loss of values under the weight of advertising and media hype, etc...
     I felt, always, that I was in the presence of a poet of keen insight, a 
     man of illumination who has chosen the right path despite all 
     obstacles."
          THE LARGER EARTH was also reviewed by Brian Evenson in RAIN TAXI, 
     Vol. 1, No. 4, Fall 1996. Evenson writes: "Science Fiction poetry...has 
     had difficulty finding places to go. Too often it consists of 
     narratives broken into verse, low on poetic device and high on 
     space opera. There are, however, a few poets working consciously 
     to expand the range of science fiction poetry and to bring it closer to 
     literature...Fortunately, the author of THE LARGER EARTH is one of 
     the best of these."
    54. 

  54. Edwin Morgan, Star Gate, Glasgow: Third Eye Centre, 1979; 
    55. 

  55. Lillian Morrison, Overheard in a Bubble Chamber, New York: Lothrop Lee & Shepard,  
    56. 

  56. Arch Oboler, The Night of the Auk, New York: Horizon, 1958, a freeverse science fiction verse 	play which was not successful on the stage;
    57. 

  57. Edgar Allan Poe, Eureka, 1848, remarkably prescient cosmic metaphysics;
    58. 

  58. Jonathan Vos Post, Chaos:Infinity, Pasadena CA: Emerald City Publishing, 1992; 
    59. 

  59. Clark Ashton Smith:  see Section 10.0;
    60. 

  60. Frederick Turner's science fiction poetry epic of the 21st Century The New World, Princeton 	University Press, 1985 and Frederick Turner's booklength single poem Genesis, Saybrook 	Press, 1988; [see p.80]...       many other examples [TO BE DONE].
    61. 

  61. Frederick Winsor, The Space Child's Mother Goose, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1958;  
    62. 




2.3.4  Anthologies Including Poetry


Anthologies not devoted to poetry, but which contain a sprinkling of science 
fiction and fantasy poetry include: 

    

  1. The Year's Best SF, ed. Judith Merrill, New York: Gnome, 1957, New York: Dell, 1960, 1961, 	1963, 1964, 1966, 1968; 
    2. 

  2. Best SF, ed. Harry Harrison & Brian Aldiss, 1969-1975; 
    3. 

  3. Best SF Stories from New Worlds 4, ed. Michael Moorcock, New York: Berkeley Medallion, 	1969; 
    4. 

  4. Clifton Fadiman's two remarkable anthologies Fantasia Mathematica, New York: Simon & 	Schuster, 1958 and The Mathematical Magpie, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1962; 
    5. 

  5. From Unknown Worlds, ed. John W. Campbell, New York: Street & Smith, 1953; 
    6. 

  6. various Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine anthologies, New York: Davis, 1977, 1982, 	1983; 
    7. 

  7. The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction, New York: Doubleday, 1954-1962, 1966, 1967, 	1977, 1979; 
    8. 

  8. Laughing Space, ed. Isaac Asimov & Janet O. Jeppson, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1982;
    9. 

  9. Of Men and Machines, ed. Arthur O. Lewis, Jr., New York: E.P. Dutton, 1963; 
    10. 

  10. Synergy, ed. George Zebrowski, San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1987, 1988; 
    11. 

  11. Air Fish, ed. Joy Ostreicher, xxxxxxxxx; 
    12. 

  12. Random Walks in Science, ed. Robert L. Weber, 1972??;
    13. 

  13. More Random Walks in Science, ed. Robert L. Weber, The Institute of Physics/Heyden, 1982;
    14. 

  14. The Poetry of Geology, ed. Robert M. Hazen, London: George Allen & Unwin, 1982: 
     "Poetry is so closely connected with whatever is grand and beautiful, 
     that there is hardly a science or an art which does not possess more or less 
     of it.... Shall not geology, which is the first science in affording scope for 
     the imagination, be brought into favor with the Muses, and afford themes for 
     the Poet?" [Edward Hitchcock, Jr., 1849]; 
    15. 

  15. various anthologies edited by Jerry Pournelle, including
     There Will Be War [which has 2 poems by Jonathan Vos Post]
    16. 

  16. Xanadu, ed. Jane Yolen, Vol.1: 1993, Vol.2: 1994, Vol.3: 1995;
    17. 

  17. The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror, ed. Ellen Datlow & Teri Winding,
      some consider it the major anthology to reprint poetry in the SF mainstream.;
    18. 

  18. The Nebula Award anthologies could be listed here as well, 
      although they only include the two Rhysling Award Winners;
    19. 




2.3.5  Science Fiction Poetry Online


"Explorer of the cosmic sentence"
     a collection of multidimensional poems which are displayed at this web site.
     Webmaster: Claude Vanolst
                30, boulevard d'Avranches
                Luxembourg 1160
     e-mail Claude Vanolst
SEND YOUR INFORMATION/URL/LINK to THE ULTIMATE SCIENCE FICTION POETRY GUIDE. We will review your information and add it to this list if appropriate.

Compiled by Magic Dragon Multimedia

Go to Ultimate Mystery/Detective Web Guide

Copyright 1996, 1997 by Magic Dragon Multimedia.
All rights reserved. May not be reproduced without permission.
May be posted electronically provided that it is transmitted unaltered, in its entirety, and without charge.