Author: Richard Leis

Richard Leis (he/him) writes poetry and fiction. He lives in Tucson, Arizona where he teaches workshops at The Writers Studio and works for HiRISE, a team at the University of Arizona with a camera in orbit around Mars.

Interview: KJZZ’s “Word” Podcast S6:E7

Word. podcast from 91.5 KJZZ Phoenix I was invited back for the season finale of KJZZ Phoenix's "Word" podcast, hosted by Tom Maxedon. The episode is available today. It was a pleasure to be able to talk to Tom about many topics, including Mars and HiRISE, the Tucson Poetry Festival and our upcoming January fundraising workshops (more information and registration soon), The Writers Studio and The Writers Studio Tucson, and how my writing has been going during the pandemic.

Review: Cradleland of Parasites by Sara Tantlinger

Cradleland of Parasites by Sara Tantlinger, paperback and hardcover editions on bookshelf

Cradleland of Parasites might be Sara Tantlinger’s best collection yet, a sequence of frightening, gruesome, breathtakingly beautiful poems about the Black Plague and other very real pestilence horrors up through modern times. The collection reads especially urgent during our current global pandemic. Its well-researched history of how humanity has dealt with infectious disease in the past arrives through the most beautiful poetic lines, with rhythms, repetitions, and occasional end rhymes. 

Review: House of Zolo’s Journal of Speculative Literature, Volume 3

House of Zolo's Journal of Speculative Literature Volume 3 book cover

The future is frightening, often radically different, sometimes bleak, sometimes hopeful, sometimes both in the beautiful poems and short fiction included in the latest volume of House of Zolo’s Journal of Speculative Literature. What I appreciated most about this anthology is how it complicates my understanding of the dangers of global warming and ecological devastation. Sometimes the end of the world is breathtakingly beautiful, sometimes hope is dangerous, sometimes a single person can make a difference, often they cannot, and through it all, people still live, love, hope, suffer, or die. There are no polemics here, only sharp insights offered by poets and writers observing the human condition.

Tucson Poetry Festival Fundraising Event on Saturday, December 4 at Fini’s Landing

Help raise funds for the Tucson Poetry Festival by dining in or ordering take out or delivery at Fini's Landing restaurant in Tucson between 11:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 4, 2021. Mention it's for "Tucson Poetry Festival (Ocotillo Literary Endeavors)" before ordering your meal. You can RSVP on the fundraising announcement site.

“From Them Prostrate I Flee”

Book cover of Stories We Tell After Midnight Volume Three with list of authors, title, edited by Rachel A. Brune and an image of a skull and skeleton fading into the black background It was amazing to have my latest horror story out in time for Halloween! "From Them Prostrate I Flee" is available now in Stories We Tell After Midnight, Volume 3, the latest anthology from Crone Girls Press and edited by Rachel A. Brune. The ebook is available for purchase from Amazon for Kindle and is included in Kindle Unlimited for subscribers of that service. A paperback edition will also be available soon.

“It Was Another Time”: James Bond and Andrew Cuomo

I love the James Bond films. This weekend, I finished the fourth in the series—Thunderball (1965)—in my latest rewatch. I acknowledge, however, that most of the films in this franchise are filled with offensive and derogatory content, including racism, homophobia, transphobia, and misogyny. There are too many of these scenes. I don't love these films during those scenes. I don't forgive the films these scenes.

Second Dose of Vaccine & I’m Thankful

A lot of my friends and family were concerned when I reported side effects from my first dose of the Pfizer vaccine. I appreciate your love and concern and I'm so sorry that I scared you! You make me feel cared for and loved!

I want to be clearer about this than I was last time: a sore arm, mild fever, headaches, body aches, and/or other side effects over a period of 24-48 hours are all healthy signs that your immune system is doing its job, without killing you in the process! Your immune system is reacting to something that is, fortunately, practically harmless, and this will prime your immune system to recognize and respond safely to something far more dangerous than a vaccine: the deadly coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

Life Update: December 2020

The high anxiety I felt in March and again in the summer hasn't materialized in the same way with the latest, even greater peak of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, which may reflect complacency and exhaustion during this never-ending pandemic. My outrage and despair that much of the Federal government, several state governments, and many fellow Americans have totally abandoned us, however, has never been more acute. It's a stab to the heart and the collapse of my stomach every time I fathom the true scale of this inhumanity.

Review: Nightmare, Issue 93 (June 2020)

Nightmare Issue 93 June 2020 cover art by Grandfailure / Fotolia with character in full face mask and red digital eyes, surrounded by haze and pixelated rectangles of various colors. Text: Nightmare Horror & Dark Fantasy, list of included authors G.V. Anderson, Laird Barron, Ashley Deng, and Robert Shearman, Issue 93 | June 2020, Edited by John Joseph Adams I really love every story in this issue. Everything had the right amount of tension, chills, and ambiguity. There's an image of attendees at a party after the party is over in "Girls Without Their Faces On" by Laird Barron that will haunt me forever. As will the Dorset Ooser from "We, the Folk" by G.V. Anderson, which can you can find on Wikipedia and elsewhere. It's real. AHHH!