Scifaikuest
AUGUST 2020 ONLINE
When She Goes Bump in the Night by Sandy DeLuca
EDITORIAL
Happy 17th Anniversary to all of our Readers and Contributors!!! Yaaaay! :-)
I hope you are all staying safe and are well. If you are still in lockdown where you are, here are some awesome poems for you to read in you "alone time"!
But first, please be aware that we have some IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS, below:
Scifaikuest finally has it's own ISBN!!! Please inform your local book stores and library that they are now able to ORDER SCIFAIKUEST from Ingram!!!
And, even BIGGER NEWS: WE'VE MOVED to a new imprint!!!
You can now find us at Hiraeth Books at: https://www.hiraethsffh.com/
If you don’t have a subscription to our PRINT edition, they are available at:
And, if you would like to join the select group of contributors by submitting your poetry, artwork or article, you can find our guidelines at: https://www.hiraethsffh.com/scifaikuest
Pssst! Looking for something to read? How about a WESTERN VAMPIRE TALE? You can order t.santitoro's latest novelette, The Legend of Trey Valentine, at: https://www.hiraethsffh.com/product-page/legend-of-trey-valentine-by-teri-santitoro
And you can read 2 of her short stories, which appear in Alban Lake's anthology, Only the Lonely, edited by Tyree Campbell at: https://www.hiraethsffh.com/product-page/only-the-lonely-edited-by-tyree-campbell
Santitoro's newest short story appears in the Hiraeth Book's anthology, No Greater Love: Martyrs of Earth and Elsewhere, edited by Robert Krog at: https://www.hiraethsffh.com/product-page/no-greater-love
I'd love to extend a big WELCOME to our newest contributor, Stephen C. Curro!
our 17th anniversary
who would have thought
we'd be in space
-sakyu-
SCIFAIKU
"Reasons for War"
suing British museum
demanding artifact's return
dead Martian's crown
Matthew Wilson
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Europa ocean
underwater cave systems
a mermaid village
William Landis
***
stage of civilization
arachnid natives
oceans conquered by sailboats
with eight pontoons each
Herb Kauderer
***
solar flare flashes
photos reveal heart-shaped glow
heat death of my love
Herb Kauderer
***
his fly is down?
but he’s swathed all in silk
in a spider web
Gary W. Davis
***
built to breach heaven
an organic computer
Tower of Babel
W. B. Biggs
***
newlyweds
embark in their own
starship
Akua Lezli Hope
***
snowfall—
which button turns up
the cat’s purr?
Laura Garrison
***
after sunset
the phosphorescence
of moon plums
Laura Garrison
***
scattershot convoy
his gravity sling
off by a second of arc
lightyears apart now
Benjamin Whitney Norris
***
inheritance
left to decay
their galactic infrastructure
our "zombie" apocalypse
Benjamin Whitney Norris
***
safe place
carbon-based lifeforms
don't work in this universe
no "gray goo" here
Benjamin Whitney Norris
***
fast spinning planets
favored by the elderly
adding days to their lives
Lauren McBride
***
on switch
the robot blinks
and wonders why?
Stephen C. Curro
***
orbiting a gas giant
the console blares,
“ENGINE FAILURE!”
Stephen C. Curro
***
abyssal zone
a moon-like eye
watches our ship
Stephen C. Curro
***
space market
finding a reminder of home...
Earth rock
Tracy Davidson
***
military hanger
rusting out slowly
a man-made UFO
Tom Sacramona
***
adrift in space
watching reruns
of Star Trek
semi
***
altering course
to an unknown world
ship's AI navigator
semi
***
forbidden planet . . .
scanning for life
before they disembark
semi
***
Desert Stroller by Denny Marshall
***
SENRYU
dooming Earth
the starship’s cat leaps onto
the tKlaG ambassador’s lap
Nick Hoffman
***
through scattered debris
from a colonization ship:
kids playing tag . . .
Nick Hoffman
***
reptile repertoire
alto singing scales
sheds into soprano
Guy Belleranti
***
HORRORKU
painful bite
water reddens around me
the shoreline too far
Greg Fewer
***
Screenshot
during the invasion
they're checking Facebook
fish in a barrel
Benjamin Whitney Norris
***
TANKA
SCI(NA)KU TANKA
approaching asteroid blasted
before impact -
now
meteors mesmerize
dusk to dawn
Lauren McBride
***
FIBONACCI
Crescendo
Herb Kauderer
wand
in
hand the
maestro leads
Titan’s flowers sing.
a solar system holds its breath.
***
no time to talk
Herb Kauderer
at
space
station
move-in day
friends bump into each
other &
bounce off
***
CINQUAIN
asynchronous
Herb Kauderer
pop song
hits number one
on seventeen planets,
a common song shared centuries
apart
***
FAVORITE POEM by editor t. santitoro
asynchronous
Herb Kauderer
pop song
hits number one
on seventeen planets,
a common song shared centuries
apart
Doesn't this just say it all? Well done, Herb!
Military Cartoon by Neil Strahl
Who?
Guy Belleranti is a regular contributor to Scifaikuest.
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W. B. Biggs is a writer, teacher and aspiring wizard.
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Stephen C. Curro: I live in Windsor, Colorado and I have a Masters degree in Educational Psychology. I work as a middle school paraprofessional and a reading tutor. I have previously published poetry and fiction with Acorn Haiku, Daily Science Fiction and 365tomorrows.
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Tracy Davidson lives in Warwickshire, England, and writes poetry and flash fiction. Her work has appeared in various publications and anthologies. Apart from writing, Tracy likes movies (and thinks the new Star Wars films are awesome, no matter what anyone else says!), music, reading, travel and photography.
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Gary W. Davis is a semi-regular contributor to Scifaikuest
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Sandy DeLuca did our DOOR art!
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A lifelong fan of speculative fiction, movies and television, Greg Fewer is a former enthusiast of role-playing games (for which he has one scenario publishing credit), and writes predominantly speculative flash fiction. His stories have appeared in (among other places): Cuento Magazine, Lovecraftiana, Page & Spine: Fiction Showcase, Schlock! Webzine, and The Sirens Call. This is his first foray into writing poetry.
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Laura Garrison lives in southwest Virginia with her patient husband, mischievous children, and surly cat. She likes rainy days and ghost stories, and she hopes to open an intergalactic cheese shop someday.
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Nick Hoffman grew up in Michigan, but moved to Dublin, Ireland, in 1995. He now lives in Cork, Ireland's second city.
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Akua Lezli Hope is a creator and wisdom seeker who uses sound, words, fiber, glass, and metal to create poems, patterns, sculpture, stories, music, adornments and peace whenever possible. She lives with an indifferent black cat. She has published 127 crochet designs, served as a volunteer leader for Amnesty International and founded a paratransit nonprofit. Her collection Them Gone, was published in 2018 by The Word Works.
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Herb Kauderer is an obsessive poet with over one thousand seven hundred poems published. He is also an obsessive scholar with seven college degrees, many of them related to speculative literature. There may be a theme here.
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William Landis is a regular contributor to Scifaikuest
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Denny Marshall is an artist, poet and regular contributor to Scifaikuest
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Lauren McBride finds inspiration in faith, family, nature, science and membership in the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association (SFPA). Nominated for the Best of the Net, Rhysling and Dwarf Stars Awards, her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in dozens of publications including Asimov's, Abyss & Apex and Fantasy & Science Fiction. She enjoys swimming, gardening, baking, reading, writing and knitting scarves for troops.
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Benjamin Whiteny Norris is a regular contributor to Scifaikuest
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Tom Sacramona (b. 1992) is a poet living in southern Massachusetts. Tom works as an RFP proposal writer and is a member of the Haiku Society of America (HSA).
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Semi, AKA Terrie Leigh Relf, AKA The Boortean Ambassador to Haura, is currently in geosynchronous orbit over San Diego, California (or Ocean Beach, to be more specific). In addition to handling Embassy affairs, she teaches English at National University. Currently, she is working on Beacon Lights of Ranat, which is the sequel to Sisterhood of the Blood Moon. Please visit her website at https://tlrelf.wordpress.com/ to learn more.
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Neil Strahl is a regular contributor to Scifaikuest
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Matthew Wilson is a regular contributor to Scifaikuest
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