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Dwarf Stars Anthology
Dwarf Stars 2024
The best very short speculative poetry of the prior year
30 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 19, 2024
As always this is a great anthology of SpecPo published in the year prior. This is an especially strong (and long!) edition. Well done, editor Brittany Hause!
Now the hard work starts: I will read the anthology again in groups of 6 poems and pick the 2 best. My third pass will only review those chosen in the previous pass. Choosing the 2 best from each group of 6 until I’ve whittled it down to what are in my opinion the 3 best of the entire anthology. Then I go and place my vote.
Now the hard work starts: I will read the anthology again in groups of 6 poems and pick the 2 best. My third pass will only review those chosen in the previous pass. Choosing the 2 best from each group of 6 until I’ve whittled it down to what are in my opinion the 3 best of the entire anthology. Then I go and place my vote.
December 30, 2024
Read to vote for the year's best short spec fic poem.
Read
August 18, 2024As per usual, this year's Dwarf Stars anthology collects the short speculative poems that are under consideration for the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association's annual Dwarf Stars award.
I whittled my favorites down to eighteen, then seven, then four, and had considerable difficulty deciding my vote from among those four. It was a good collection and a hard choice.
[N.B. I am honored to have two poems in the anthology, but, as per usual, I will not vote for my own work.]
About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. In the case of poetry books, for various reasons, I often omit an overall star rating.
I whittled my favorites down to eighteen, then seven, then four, and had considerable difficulty deciding my vote from among those four. It was a good collection and a hard choice.
[N.B. I am honored to have two poems in the anthology, but, as per usual, I will not vote for my own work.]
About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. In the case of poetry books, for various reasons, I often omit an overall star rating.
August 21, 2024
Dwarf Stars 2024 includes an excellent selection of speculative short poetry this year, which made it particularly difficult to select my top three choices when voting. Both translated pieces in the anthology are excellent, many of my favorite poets are represented, and I appreciate the more serious leaning of this year’s poems (with the occasional humorous and irreverent entry offering a nice respite.)
My first pass of favorites, before the difficult process of picking my top three choices:
* By Its Cover by F. J. Bergmann
* chalk flowers bloom by David C. Kopaska-Merkel
* Cornucopia by Ian Willey
* fading echoes by Herb Kauderer
* gondoliers strum strings by Akua Lezli Hope
* harvest moon by Hla Yin Mon
* the infinite possibilities of trees by Xiao Xi
* Lesser Realities by Brian U. Garrison
* The Observer by Bruce Boston
* Prayer for the Old Voyagers of Earth by Angela Acosta
* The Sky Was Falling by Eugen Bacon
* Tapping on the Void by Marsheila Rockwell
* two glottal stops by D. A. Xiaolin Spires
* UAP by Wendy Van Camp
* Up in the Air by Ian Willey
* Valley of Ashes by Diem Okoye
* What We’ve Left by Holly Day
* What Ghosts Didn’t Do by Mary Soon Lee
* Wish by Emily Jiang
My first pass of favorites, before the difficult process of picking my top three choices:
* By Its Cover by F. J. Bergmann
* chalk flowers bloom by David C. Kopaska-Merkel
* Cornucopia by Ian Willey
* fading echoes by Herb Kauderer
* gondoliers strum strings by Akua Lezli Hope
* harvest moon by Hla Yin Mon
* the infinite possibilities of trees by Xiao Xi
* Lesser Realities by Brian U. Garrison
* The Observer by Bruce Boston
* Prayer for the Old Voyagers of Earth by Angela Acosta
* The Sky Was Falling by Eugen Bacon
* Tapping on the Void by Marsheila Rockwell
* two glottal stops by D. A. Xiaolin Spires
* UAP by Wendy Van Camp
* Up in the Air by Ian Willey
* Valley of Ashes by Diem Okoye
* What We’ve Left by Holly Day
* What Ghosts Didn’t Do by Mary Soon Lee
* Wish by Emily Jiang
August 20, 2024
This is the voting anthology for this year's Dwarf Stars award, which limits what I wish to say about individual poems. The ones that I favored, in alphabetical order, are
F. J. Bergmann's "By Its Cover"
Thomas Tilton's "draped"
Bruce Boston's "The Observer"
Chad Lee Robinson's "red sun rising..."
Peter Payack's "Souvenir from the Center of the Universe"
Carma Lynn Park's amusing "Storm God"
Personally, the collection didn't appeal to my aesthetic. Respectable, just not very interesting to me.
And that happens.
F. J. Bergmann's "By Its Cover"
Thomas Tilton's "draped"
Bruce Boston's "The Observer"
Chad Lee Robinson's "red sun rising..."
Peter Payack's "Souvenir from the Center of the Universe"
Carma Lynn Park's amusing "Storm God"
Personally, the collection didn't appeal to my aesthetic. Respectable, just not very interesting to me.
And that happens.
August 21, 2024
I love a short poem, and while it would be nearly impossible to pick the best speculative poetry from any year, the Dwarf Stars team took a good swipe at it. At least, they published a lovely little book that I'm carrying around and forcing all my poetry friends to read.
August 18, 2024
An excellent collection of speculative micro-poetry by contemporary poets.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews