Volume 40, Issue 1
Winter 2017

Star*Line 40.1 cover
Cover: Jörmundgandr
© Joshua Chapman
facebook.com/chappytattoos/photos/
Wyrms & Wormholes
THE TRUMP OF DOOM

The thing about most science fiction and fantasy (she says, solidly smacking horror on its ugly head) is that even the most menacing plots and dystopian settings end up not being insurmountable. Presented with despots, tyrants, and those of Little Judgement, our plucky heroes and heroines, as well as those who fall on the intervening spectrum, gird up their loins, charge their phasers, hone their blades or hollow-point their bullets, and carry on. It may be a long, difficult struggle; there may be grievous losses, but our protagonists come away all the stronger for having faced the darkness and pummeled it to its knees rather than succumbing to despair.

                You, shadow, leap the wall
and climb up the ladders of the silos.
Open wide their steel doors of night.

      —Gregory Kimbrell, “Nocturne (Wind from the Hills)”

We must take courage from our genre; that we will come out of what seems like certain destruction fundamentally unharmed, if not unchanged, with an immoderate array of poem ideas. At the very least, we can still be charmed and distracted from woe by what is available in speculative poetry these days. I’ve recently encountered two delightful genre-ish books: the hilarious Multiple Choice by Alejandro Zambra, and The Primitive Observatory by Gregory Kimbrell, both of which I hope will soon be reviewed herein. And anyone is welcome to submit reviews of their run-ins with spec po books.

They knew simply that from the earth, this infernal thing had risen and that to the earth it must return via a burning door.
      —Gregory Kimbrell, “The Advance of the Glacier”

Let’s put the “u” back in “dystopian”!

—F.J. Bergmann
Star*Line Editor


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Star*Line Staff:

Editor: F.J. Bergmann
Layout: F.J. Bergmann
Production Manager: F.J. Bergmann
Mailing: Brian Garrison

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Table of Contents

Features

  • Wyrms & Wormholes • F.J. Bergmann
  • SFPA Announcements
  • President’s Message * Bryan Thao Worra
  • In Memoriam: Scott E. Green * Herb Kauderer
  • From the Small Press * Joshua Gage, Herb Kauderer, David C. Kopaska-Merkel, Sandra J. Lindow , Diane
    Severson, Daniel C. Smith
  • Stealth SF * Elegy in a Suburban Churchyard * Denise Dumars

Poetry

  • Zheng He * David Barber
  • asteroids * LeRoy Gorman
  • each ship burns * Robin Wyatt Dunn
  • “space station break-up” * Susan Burch
  • The Usual Muck * Magdalena Ball
  • “which you” * Christina Sng
  • “scent of blackened” * Greer Woodward
  • “maybe there are” * M.X. Kelly
  • “election defeat” * LeRoy Gorman
  • “black moon” * Christina Sng
  • Things Fall Apart * Jenny Blackford
  • Something Sinister * G. A. Scheinoa
  • The Ambassador Takes One for the Team * David C. Kopaska-Merkel
  • While I wait … * Terrie Leigh Relf
  • Halo Effect * Michael Kriesel
  • A Planet’s Right To Say No * David Barber
  • “bloody spindle” * Christina Sng
  • Chemical Submission * Chris Galford
  • Unlike Here * Claudine Nash
  • They’ll Be Back * David C. Kopaska-Merkel
  • Abtu and Anet * M. C. Childs
  • Another Year * Roger Dutcher & Joanne Merriam
  • Magicians * Mary Soon Lee
  • Telemorphosis * Rohinton Daruwala
  • “time travel therapy” * LeRoy Gorman
  • “time travel dentistry” * LeRoy Gorman
  • “at the yam-field border” * David C. Kopaska-Merkel
  • epitaph for the crab monster * Herb Kauderer
  • “all that talk” * Christina Sng
  • Parting * Deborah L. Davitt
  • Time Travelers Suck * Justin Zimmerman
  • “at the edge of time” * John Reinhart
  • there was little argument * John Reinhart
  • Wilderness 2050 * Mary Soon Lee
  • “Silent passengers sleeping” * Matthew Wilson
  • Once Human * Deborah L. Davitt
  • The Werewolf Earns a Living * David C. Kopaska-Merkel
  • Homeworld Bias * Ken Poyner
  • Pop Culture Fairy Tale Tweet * M.X. Kelly
  • The Best Western on 107 Piscium E * Deborah L. Davitt
  • “in the spacestation lobby” * Lauren McBride
  • Occasional Werewolf * David C. Kopaska-Merkel
  • “not what you seem” * Deborah P Kolodji
  • Here Comes * Neal Wilgus
  • A Different Britain * Jenny Blackford
  • The Kinsmen * Cas Blomberg
  • Interplanetary Immigration Policy * Mark Danowsky
  • Ice Desert Skating Club of Europa * Robert Frazier
  • voyage stranded * John Reinhart
  • “sea serpent by starlight” * Lauren McBride
  • End-Times Tables * Margarita Tenser
  • Now I’m going down * Robin Wyatt Dunn
  • “served with fingerlings” * ayaz daryl nielsen
  • “the sea gulls screaming” * ayaz daryl nielsen
  • “braiding tentacles” * Herb Kauderer
  • Some Things Never Change * Alan Ira Gordon
  • “stripped screws & nuts” * LeRoy Gorman
  • Natural Form * JD DeHart
  • The Graveyard of Ships * Deborah L. Davitt
  • Back into the atmosphere * Magdalena Ball
  • Substrates * J. Zachary Rothstein
  • job interview * Davian Aw
  • A Well-Seasoned Vehicle * David C. Kopaska-Merkel
  • Suburbia 2050 * Mary Soon Lee
  • The End of the Fabulous * David C. Kopaska-Merkel
  • “squalling from a shelf …” * ayaz daryl nielsen
  • epitaph for the invisible man * Herb Kauderer
  • Invitation * Mary Soon Lee
  • The Right Stuff * Steven Wittenberg Gordon
  • “Here lies Richard Kingdon” * Matthew Wilson
  • Adam’s Other Son * Glenn A. Meisenheimer
  • Dinosaur Time Travel * Gary Every
  • The Consequences … * Kenny A. Chaffin
  • Cryogenic Sleep * Robin Wyatt Dunn
  • “zero gravity” * LeRoy Gorman
  • open the fridge * David C. Kopaska-Merkel
  • Tending a Trace of Chaos * Daniel Ausema
  • archaeological puzzle * Davian Aw
  • The Pax Pandemica * William John Watkins
  • Being Human … * Beth Cato
  • “Halloween night” * Christina Sng
  • Ghost Light Paradelle * Deborah L. Davitt
  • The Boy of Sparrows and Silver * John W. Sexton
  • Rooted Here Now … * Lauren McBride
  • “mesmerizing, but” * ayaz daryl nielsen

Illustrations

  • Volcanic Crawler Emerges * Denny E. Marshall

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