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.
My story "Goodbye to Rock" placed 7th in the "Elemental Flash" contest! The issue was published online today and our stories will be published in a print anthology in the future! I'm grateful to be included; these flash contest issues are always a highlight.
There's a humorous tone to some of the stories in the latest issue of Lightspeed Magazine I don't think I'm really in the right place emotionally right now to completely appreciate, which might explain why my favorite story in this issue is probably "Burn the Ships" by Alberto Yáñez. It's dark, but also deeply satisfying by the end.
"Beyond the scarred surface, I saw the bones of the Moon, / the geology of a crime. He would not speak of it."
The 2020 SFPA Poetry Contest runs from June 1 through August 31, 2020 and is open to both non-members and members.
Lightspeed’s May 2020 issue includes stories by some of my favorite authors, and some new favorites.
Phreak often worked against my narrative expectations with its fragmented, time-jumping, and vignette-style approach, and in the process delivered a singular character whose clear and deeply felt recollections warn us how close we are to delivering a similarly bleak future to the next generation. You’ll want to get your hands on this novel as soon as possible.
"Aliens are here"
I'm preparing lesson plans and writing new exercises for two fall workshops at the Writers Studio. 
I'm teaching a new 6-week workshop titled "Crafting Fantastic & Imaginative Worlds" and it uses The Writers Studio method of persona writing and critiquing. It begins Saturday, July 27, 2019.
How does the writer of genre fiction approach difficult subject matter like sexual assault? Two excellent and potentially triggering recent short stories by two fearless writers suggest two effective approaches.
Neil Gaiman's "The Mushroom Hunters" was my personal favorite in the collection, along with Mary Soon Lee's "Advice to a Six-Year-Old" and all her other poems, Linda D. Addison's "Sycorax's Daughters Unveiled", Cislyn Smith's "Hot", and Shannon Connor Winward's "The Raven's Hallowe'en."
Comparing the movies and the book. The novel has more room for exposition than the film, and in general this additional information is really interesting. 
The August 2016 (I'm a little behind) issue of Asimov's Science Fiction is a really good collection of stories, poems, and essays.
One of my absolute favorite short stories. I've read "The Price of Oranges" many times, but I always seem to forget how it ends, making each new read a magical, emotional experience all over again. 
Bio-enhanced ballerinas and dogs. Mothers and daughters. The price of passion. This powerful short story is a must-read.
Ted Chiang's collection of his stories published between 1990 and 2002 is now one of my favorite books ever, full of some of my favorite stories ever. There is not one story in this collection I did not enjoy, and all of them left me in awe. Yes, I'm going to be a little breathless with this review, but it's how I've been feeling for days now ever since I started reading Stories of Your Life and Others.
Richard Leis 
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