Nominated for the Rhysling

Well, I got some exciting news this morning. I was thrilled to find out that a poem of mine called "Gaunt" has been nominated for the 2016 Rhysling Award, which is for poems published in 2015. This award is given by the Science Fiction Poetry Association. My piece was nominated for the "Short Poem" category, (under 50 lines). Here is how the SFPA describes the award:

"The winning works are regularly reprinted in the Nebula Awards Anthology from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc., and are considered in the SF/F/H/Spec. field to be the equivalent in poetry of the awards given for "prose" work— achievement awards given to poets by the writing peers of their own field of literature."

I'm really happy to hear about this. Sometimes when you labor in the fields, someone comes along and says, "nice job!" It's always appreciated.

"Gaunt" was published in The Pedestal Magazine. It's still up in their archives. The link is here if you'd like to read it. 

Still Busy

Not much writing going on in my world. Midterms are done but everything else that backed up behind that is now due. I've got two IRB proposals on my desk today, and I've already dealt with two others this week. IRB stands for Internal Review Board, and we are the committee on campus that reviews any research involving human participants to make sure no one gets hurt. Unfortunately, I'm the chairperson. Sigh!

Ninety-five percent of the studies we review are just surveys, with virtually no chance to cause a participant any discomfort. In those cases, I'm the only member of the committee who has to review the project. The main issue is making sure all the i's are dotted and t's are crossed so we won't get into trouble with funding agencies. This wouldn't be so tough if professors weren't a lot like students in their failure to read instructions.

A submitter told me once, "Wow, I guess it would have made your job a lot easier if I'd proofread my proposal before turning it in."

You think?

One bit of good news, though. One of my horror haiku from Wanting the Mouth of a Lover has been nominated for the Rhysling Award in speculative poetry. This is the award given annually by the Science Fiction Poetry Association (SFPA). I know who nominated the poem and I much appreciate it. It's a great honor.
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