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mary_soon_lee's review
3.0
This anthology contains this year's contenders for the Dwarf Stars award for best short-short speculative poem (10 lines or fewer). There are almost 100 poems contained in 31 pages, and they encompass a great variety of styles and subject matter. In addition to poems that clearly fall under the speculative umbrella of science fiction, fantasy, and horror, there are also entries that lie on the border with mainstream poetry, and, for me, some that cross that border and are not speculative. By and large I liked the poems, some of them considerably. As I tried to whittle down the poems so that I could place my votes, I initially marked some twenty-two poems for re-reading, then whittled that down further to just seven poems. Those seven were by Michelle Muenzler, Robert Borski, Ken Poyner, Jennifer Hambrick, Herb Kauderer, John J. Dunphy, and Lorraine Schein. Since the voting deadline is not yet past, I will refrain from commenting further, other than to note that I found it hard to choose the final three from those seven selections. (N.B. One of my poems is included in the anthology, but, as per my general policy, I did not consider voting for it.)
About my book 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. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).
About my book 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. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).
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