Mary Soon Lee's Blog, page 2

August 2025 update

For the curious, here is the August installment of my newsletter.

As per usual, it contains my poetry news and an update on what I've been reading.

Worldcon reprints

I have two poems reprinted in Worldcon-related publications.

My poem "Not Like This," first published in Apex Magazine, is in the Worldcon 2025 Souvenir Program Book.

And my poem "To Undertake a Quest" is in the Worlds of Possibility Poetry Anthology, which can be downloaded free of charge during the week of Worldcon.

:-) :-)

Heroic Fantasy Quarterly

My poem How to Save the Dynasty has just been published in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, my eleventh poem to appear there.

50 poems in Uppagus

I have now had 50 poems published in Uppagus! The latest of which is Corn Snake #2 , a poem about my daughter's snake.

Favorite July reads

What did everyone read in July that they loved?

I loved three books:

- Victoria Goddard's The Bone Harp, which draws on Tolkien. The first and third parts were amazing -- the scene near the close of part one blew me away.

- Guy Gavriel Kay's newest book Written on the Dark. Kay is excellent as ever.

- Lois McMaster Bujold's Penric and the Bandit. I am so very fond of Penric.

It was a very good reading month. I also greatly enjoyed Marie Vibbert's two Hellcat books, Nghi Vo's "The Brides of High Hill," and the first three Liaden Universe books (Sharon Lee + Steve Miller).

July 2025 update

For the curious, here is the July installment of my newsletter .

It contains news of free chocolate, poetry publications, a vacation cut short by COVID, and book recommendations.

Review of "The Sign of the Dragon"

The online review section of Star*Line has been updated and the 2025 section includes a review of The Sign of the Dragon by Lisa Timpf :-)

Many thanks to Lisa and Star*Line :-)

It's the last review on the page -- lots of other good poetry books to consider first!

N.B. reviews are very very much appreciated, or ratings without reviews, or recommendations to friends, or buying copies for everyone you know. And their cats. Maybe their dogs too.

Rhysling Anthology

I am very honored to have three poems in this year’s Rhysling Anthology: Right to Shelter (Radon Journal), What Dragons Didn’t Do (Uppagus), and “The Blackthorn” (Dreams and Nightmares, not available online).

Dwarf Stars

I am honored that my poem What Villains Read is included in Dwarf Stars 2025.

The poem first appeared in Kaleidotrope.

[Dwarf Stars is the anthology associated with the award of the same name for short poems.]

Favorite June Reads

What did everyone read in June that they loved?

I loved three books (liked more, but loved three):

C. S. E. Cooney's Saint Death's Daughter - I've never liked a necromancer so much.

Jodi Taylor's Just One Damned Thing After Another - such a fun read, though there is grief in it

Sharon Lee's Carousel Seas - very enjoyable finish to the Archer's Beach fantasy series. I wish there were more books in the series.

Plus I listened to Jane Austen's Emma as read by Jenny Agutter and enjoyed it so much! I'd read it before, multiple times, but not for a long while. Hearing Agutter read Austen's dialogue was a delight.