* 41.4 Fall 2018 $5.00 Autumn Migration by F. J. Bergmann Table of Contents 03 Dragons & Rayguns • Vince Gotera 07 SFPA Announcements 15 President’s Message • Bryan Thao Worra 19 From the Small Press • Luke Forney • Rebecca Buchanan • Herb Kauderer 25 Stealth SF: Wouldst Thou Like to Live Deliciously? • Denise Dumars 30 Publishing Speculative Poetry: Rejectomancy and Rejection Rates • Herb Kauderer 42 XenoPoetry: Cebuano Ekphrastic Poetry • Jonel Abellanosa 43 In Memoriam Steve Sneyd • Andrew Darlington Poetry 04 [pinprick] • Roxanne Barbour • Lupus Familiaris • Deborah L. Davitt • [gardens] • Roxanne Barbour • [spawn of earth] • Roxanne Barbour 05 [last Christmas lights] • LeRoy Gorman • [Christmas on Phobos] • LeRoy Gorman • Repairing • Kimberly Nugent 06 Buried in the Lee • Lauren McBride • Robot Scifaiku.1 • Alzo David-West • Days of Prehistoric Futures Past • Robert Borski • Prehistoric Provisions • Beth Cato 08 Advice Columnist Replies to Mrs. Frankensteinsmonstersbride • Sarah Brown Weitzman 09 Spider Star • Josh Pearce • Hail Mary Pass • Benjamin Whitney Norris • [flying through the stars] • Marcus Vance • Ghost Dunes • Ann K. Schwader • [one moon sky] • Deborah P Kolodji 10 After the Seas’ Rise • Deborah L. Davitt • Nearsighted in the Mushroom Cloud • Stephanie M. Wytovich 11 The Marvel of Us • Lisa Timpf • When the Wild West Meets the Frontier • Lisa Timpf 12 The Swarm • Deborah L. Davitt • Louisiana Dragon • Melody Steiner • Maybe Tomorrow • Beth Cato 13 The Warrior Mephala • Christina Sng • How Do They Do That? • Gerri Leen • How to Be Invisible • Mary Soon Lee 14 The Bar-Fly Dilemma • Ken Poyner • [gearing up for Christmas] • Greg Schwartz • What They Took • Mary Soon Lee • [Rice Krispies—] • Susan Burch 15 [brooms burning in the square] • John Reinhart • [fantasy football league] • F. J. Bergmann 16 Misstep • David C. Kopaska-Merkel and Ann K. Schwader 17 Wherefore Art Thou? • Kathleen A. Lawrence • [might be a good time] • Denny E. Marshall • Alien Nursery • Gretchen Tessmer 18 Recent Excavations in Amerika • David Barber • [some] • David C. Kopaska-Merkel 23 Herding Comets • Robert Borski • Lost souls • Matthew Wilson • Hangry • Deborah L. Davitt • boulder moves • Allan Rozinski • [The moon has a big icy blotch,] •Robert Dawson • There was an A.I. from Key West • Robert Dawson 24 Cretaceous Zoo • Gary Every • A Terrible Meat-Eating God • Holly Lyn Walrath 28 Claimant • F. J. Bergmann • [electric savior] • Brian Gene Olson • [cold tentacles] • LeRoy Gorman 29 Date Night • John Grey • Fate • Marge Simon • iSpell • John Reinhart • [dystopic future] • C. William Hinderliter 31 Transformation • Jacob Skillings • Wind Chimes • G. O. Clark • [asteroidinosaurecall] • LeRoy Gorman • [first frost] • F. J. Bergmann 32 [New from the Quantum Physics Book Club:] • Robert Borski • [full autumn moon—] • Susan Burch • Wish You Were Here • David C. Kopaska-Merkel and Kendall Evans • [lost my gun] • Brian Gene Olson • [grandma died last night] • Ngo Binh Anh Khoa 33 [four arms are better] • Marcus Vance • [spaceship window] • Lorraine Schein • Drones & Dragons Disaster • Robert Borski • [time stream convergence] • C. William Hinderliter 34 The Septenary World • Kimberly Nugent • [alien infant clutching tightly] • John Reinhart • The Time Traveler’s Proposal • Phoebe Wagner • Earworm • Benjamin Whitney Norris • [santa sees bright flash] • Denny E. Marshall 35 [growth spurt] • Billy Antonio • A Rondeau on the Televised Launch of the First Rotating Wheel Spaceship • R. Mac Jones • [for the first time] • Billy Antonio • The Space Helmet Hand Dryer Where the Science Fiction Writers Meet • Ian Hunter • unarmed • Justin Short 36 Designated Responsibilites for Spokesparticles • Sandra Lindow • Arthur the King • John C. Mannone • [moonlit sea] • Greg Schwartz 37 [earth’s gravity dies] • Denny E. Marshall • Moon of a far planet • Mark A. McCutcheon 38 (Under)worlds Collide • Mindy Watson • [the alien’s suit] • D. A. Xiaolin Spires • [hid his voodoo doll] • William Landis • Icarus • Benjamin Whitney Norris 39 [time travel retail] • LeRoy Gorman • [autumn bonfire] •F. J. Bergmann • Mining Solo • Lauren McBride [CONTINUED ON FACING PAGE] Star*Line 2 Fall 2018 Dragons & Rayguns Dear friends in speculative poetry, greetings! This issue of Star*Line closes the SFPA’s 40th anniversary. It’s been a marvelous year of poems! Our cover’s whimsical fall fantasia in colored pencil is by previous Star*Line editor F. J. Bergmann, so once again cover art by a poet. We have several interesting forms represented in this issue: an ovillejo chain by Mindy Watson (a centuries-old Spanish form popularized by Cervantes); a terzanelle by Deborah L. Davitt (the terzanelle is a terza rima–based form invented by Lewis Turco); linked cherita by David C. Kopaska-Merkel and Ann K. Schwader (the cherita is a narrative form in 3 stanzas—1 line, 2 lines, then 3 lines—originated by the poet ai li); and also fibs by Lauren McBride and David C. Kopaska-Merkel (in a fib, from line to line the syllable count follows the Fibonacci sequence). Roxanne Barbour gives us a sci(na)ku tanka and a reverse sci(na)ku tanka—a hay(na)ku variation Roxanne invented and premiered in Star*Line a couple of issues back. I neglected earlier this year to thank Mary Chipman, my editorial assistant for issues 41.1 and 41.2 (Winter and Spring 2018). Mary performed this service as my graduate assistant at the University of Northern Iowa. Many thanks for your great work, Mary! Starting with this issue I’m very pleased to have a new editorial assistant, Seth Thill, who is, like Mary, a graduate student in creative writing at UNI. Welcome, Seth! Friends, I hope you enjoy these poems. Why don’t you try out writing an ovillejo or a terzanelle, a cherita or a fib, or a sci(na)ku tanka even! —Vince Gotera, Star*Line Editor 40 wOLF FLOw • Oliver Smith • [whirring of wheels on asphalt] • Lisa Timpf • [two particles] • Marcie Lynn Tentchoff 41 Don’t Step in the Same Reality Twice • Soren James • [the deep vibrato] • Alzo David-West • [black hellebore in Hades’] • F. J. Bergmann • Diana’s Own Black Sky • Kendall Evans • [alien ruins] • Brian Gene Olson • [brain operation] • Denny E. Marshall 42 Pasipala • Jonel Abellanosa • Blasphemy • Jonel Abellanosa Back Cybernetic Harvest • Deborah L. Davitt, Gretchen Tessmer, and D. A. Xiaolin Spires • Legacies • Christina Sng Art Front Autumn Migration • F. J. Bergmann 14 Halloween Cat • Jade Foo 17 Furry • Denny E. Marshall 29 Fate • Marge Simon 31 Happiest Childhood Memories • Christina Sng 42 Little Animals • John Reinhart Star*Line 3 Fall 2018 pinprick Lupus Familiaris bubble bursts speed of light She’d taste, he thought, spaceships disgorge like cinnamon, her with tug-of-war her red hair and cloak, like spicy peppers, —Roxanne or some wickedly sharp mint— Barbour her scent teased at him where he paced the shadows of the forest, ghosting over the ground. The villagers avoided the darkness of the trees, fearing what they might find among them, shadows that moved on their own, gardens spirits that could take flesh on a whim. access denied Space Lords demand He wanted to taste her, to drink her DNA sequencing like the crimson from a sunset, integration stain his throat red with her wine-scent in one long draught, —Roxanne to kneel over her, and discover if poppies Barbour bloomed between her legs, like the roses in her cheeks, and pluck them with his teeth. But to do so, he had to enflesh himself; he pulled himself in from the shadows, poured himself into a form, the first one he saw, spawn of earth among the denizens of his forest, sleek-eared, spaceship transit sharp-fanged, powerful and clean. insects successful integration He padded to the home of the eldest of her line, other world societies struck a bargain with the crone, in the oldest ways— —Roxanne give me your grandchild, Barbour and I’ll grant you my favor, passage through the moon-gate to the lands beneath the sea, to dance among the fey, for all eternity. The grandmother took his bargain, traded a grandchild’s life with hardly a thought— and with a flick of power, he tossed her Star*Line 4 Fall 2018 last Christmas lights sasquatch tracks out of this world, and into another. fill with snow Then he crouched in the shadows of the hut, incorporeal once more, till the girl arrived, —LeRoy Gorman carrying a basket of wheaten cakes, like the ones the villagers had once burned upon his altars. He swirled around her, smelled her fear; then curled back outside, where he Christmas on Phobos shaped himself there carefully, you eat the green ones first into the semblance of a man. From the door, gingerbread Martians he told her, “Forgive me, but there was a wolf here, —LeRoy Gorman who slew your grandmother, but I’ve slain him in turn. You’re quite safe with me; of this I give you my word.” She thanked him, weeping, Repairing and he shook with rage inside; her grandmother had assumed he’d take her, on the long line a life paid for a life given. outside the ship “Is there any recompense the lock releases silently that I could offer you?” I remove the broken panel slide the new one in He leaned forward and inhaled a textbook mission the scent of her hair, until the meteoroid nicks tasted her red on his tongue. my air tank “May I go with you, fair maiden? Take me back to your village, leaking introduce me to your kin. I’d like to walk among them, lungs fill slowly if you’ll just let me in.” my breaths shallow panic fades to peace With a smile, she took the huntsman’s hand, but then pain in my arm and led him on their way, a mask hugs my face little knowing that pumping fresh air in the hunter and the hunted were one and the same.