curated by Ashley Dioses
The Halloween Poetry Reading presents enjoyable speculative poetry to a broader audience, increases awareness of the Science Fiction Poetry Association, and promotes the individual poets who take part. All SFPA members are welcome to submit one audio file per person of themselves reading one of their spooky, haunting, ghoulish, or humorous Halloween poems. See the 2016 Halloween Poetry Reading for examples. If you are uncomfortable reading aloud or are unable to make the audio recording yourself, contact Ashley or ask someone else to read your poem for you and provide the name of the reader. We also want Halloween-themed artwork! See guidelines below. Most recent are at top of page.
 Dead Inside F.J. Bergmann ~
 How Soon The Days M. Juan Orio ~
 The Frightful Night Celena StarVela ~
 Little Monsters Marie Vibbert ~
 The Fetch Deborah L. Davitt ~
 Ghoul Cloud John C. Mannone The submitted photograph that I had taken was enhanced with software in my Samsung Galaxy Note 5 smartphone. A special kind of apophenia, pareidolia (parr-i-DOH-lee-ə) is a psychological phenomenon in which the mind responds to a stimulus, usually an image or a sound, by perceiving a familiar pattern where none exists (e.g., in random data) and most especially faces. Algol (β Persei) also known as the “Demon Star” or “Ghoul Star,” is a bright multiple star system of eclipsing binaries in the constellation of Perseus. Algol is a 2.1 magnitude star but dims to 3.4 magnitude every 2.86 days. It is clearly visible during Halloween.
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“Dead Inside”
by F.J. Bergmann F.J. Bergmann looks forward to November 1 and all the leftover chocolate. ~
“The End of October”
by Gary Baps Gary Baps is a maintenance man by day and an amateur paranormal investigator by night. He is the writer, illustrator and host of When The Notion Knocks Radio Show Podcast ( whenthenotionknocks.com ). ~
“The Frightful Night”
by Celena StarVela Celena StarVela is a southern California native who loves Halloween and horror movies. She enjoys writing poetry, horror, fantasy, and science fiction. She is currently working on her first novel which is a dark YA fantasy with a strong female lead. Celena currently has a blog where she posts her work and will have a poem featured in Brave and Reckless for the month of October. Some of her muses include live music, nature, Wicca, spooky artwork, horror films, epic fantasy tales, and, road trips which include abandoned places. She blogs at ~
“Little Monsters”
by Marie Vibbert Marie Vibbert's poetry has appeared in Asimov's, Strange Horizons, Abyss & Apex, and other fine venues. By day she is a computer programmer. ~
“The Fetch”
by Deborah L. Davitt Deborah L. Davitt was raised in Reno, Nevada, but received her MA in English from Penn State. She currently lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband and son. She’s known for her Edda-Earth novels, Rhysling-nominated poetry, and increasing number of short-story publications. For more about her work, please see edda-earth.com. ~
“Ghoul Cloud”
by John C. Mannone John C. Mannone has work in Blue Fifth Review, New England Journal of Medicine, Peacock Journal, Gyroscope Review, Panoply, Inscape Literary Journal, Baltimore Review, Pedestal, and Pirene's Fountain. He’s the winner of the 2017 Jean Ritchie Fellowship in Appalachian literature and the recipient of two Weymouth writing residencies. He has three poetry collections: Apocalypse (Alban Lake Publishing), nominated for the 2017 Elgin Book Award; Disabled Monsters (The Linnet’s Wings Press) featured at the 2016 Southern Festival of Books; and Flux Lines (Celtic Cat Publishing). He’s been nominated for several Pushcart and Rhysling awards, and two for the 2017 Best of the Net from Eye To The Telescope. He edits poetry for Abyss & Apex and other venues. He’s a professor of physics living near Knoxville, TN. http://jcmannone.wordpress.com “Ghoul Cloud” is a 100-word prose poem stimulated by a smoke cloud from a 2017 4th of July fireworks display in north Knoxville, TN. ~
“The Skull beneath the Skin”
by Ashley Dioses Ashley Dioses is a writer of dark fantasy, horror, and Gothic poetry from southern California. Her debut collection of dark formal poetry, Diary of a Sorceress, is forthcoming from Hippocampus Press in October. Her poetry has appeared in Weird Fiction Review, Spectral Realms, Weirdbook Magazine, and elsewhere. Her poem “Carathis,” appeared in Ellen Datlow’s full recommended Best Horror of the Year Volume Seven list. She has also appeared in the HWA Poetry Showcase 2016 for her poem “Ghoul Mistress.” She is an Active member in the HWA and a member of the SFPA. She blogs at fiendlover.blogspot.com. “The Skull Beneath the Skin” will be published in Ravenwood Quarterly Issue 5 by Electric Pentacle Press. ~
“The Jack-o'-Lantern Trail”
by K. A. Opperman K. A. Opperman is a poet of horror and fantasy influenced by H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Edgar Allan Poe, and David Park Barnitz. His debut collection, The Crimson Tome, was published by Hippocampus Press (2015). His poems, “In Fits of Wildest Dreaming” and “The Blood Garden” appeared in Ellen Datlow's full recommended Best Horror of the Year Volume Eight list. His poem “The Lady in White,” appeared in the HWA Poetry Showcase 2016. ~
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- Submissions are open to current SFPA members only. (Not a member? It's quick, easy, and inexpensive to join.
- Send a 100-word bio with a brief explanation of your submission, a 300-pixel-wide .jpeg or .png file of any accompanying artwork, and/or an mp3 of your poem to Ashley at SFPAHalloween2017@gmail.com.
Members may submit more than one image for consideration. Preference will be given to artwork submitted by poets to complement their poem.
- Reprints are allowed. Please provide the name of the publication and date of first appearance.
Participation is voluntary and unpaid. The SFPA acquires one-time rights only for audio and images. (Please note that for the purposes of Rhysling Award nominations, posting on the SFPA poetry page counts as publication.)
- DEADLINE: Please send all material by October 26th, 2017. Accepted work will be added throughout the month of October.
- Please keep in mind when selecting a poem to record that Halloween is a popular children's holiday. If we feel that there is a problem with using a specific piece, either because of the content of the poem or the quality of the recording, the editor will contact the poet about it directly.
- QUESTIONS? Send questions regarding submissions or the Halloween page to Ashley:
SFPAHalloween2017@gmail.com.
Thanks to the SFPA members who have contributed their poetry and art to this page. All recordings and images are copyrighted by their respective authors and used by permission.
