Donald Sidney-Fryer

This thirteenth issue of Spectral Realms once again features many of the leading poets of our era--Richard L. Tierney, Ann K. Schwader, Adam Bolivar, Frank Coffman, Wade German, Leigh Blackmore, and K. A. Opperman. Several writers better known for their fiction--Darrell Schweitzer, Nicole Cushing, David Barker, Curtis M. Lawson, and Don Webb--contribute poetry of metrical precision and terrifying potency. Scott J. Couturier evokes the shade of William Hope Hodgson in "Amongst the Sargasso," while Adele Gardner writes an acrostic dedicated to Poe in "Nevermore." Among our prose poets, Maxwell I. Gold again stands out in his signature issue--the mingling of weirdness and technology. Manuel P rez-Campos's "After Verdun" evokes the horrors of war. Spectral Realms is now attracting an international cast of contributors. From Singapore, Christina Sng has long graced our pages, and here she is joined by Ngo Binh Anh Khoa from Vietnam, Andrey Pissantchev from Russia, and Tatiana Strange from Germany. The classic reprints feature poems by two colleagues of H. P. Lovecaft, R. H. Barlow and Arthur Goodenough. Donald Sidney-Fryer supplies an extensive review of David E. Schultz's landmark edition of the work of Leah Bodine Drake.

Donald Sidney-Fryer has been a towering presence in the world of fantasy literature for more than five decades. As an octogenarian he continues to exhibit his expertise and broad literary range in this volume of miscellany. The volume leads off with a substantial work of fiction--the novel A King Called Arthor, in which the author retells the story of King Arthur, Merlin, Uther Pendragon, and the other memorable figures that constitute the legendry surrounding this Dark Age warrior. Applying his profound knowledge of Arthurian myth as well as his familiarity with the history of Britain in that remote age, Sidney-Fryer revivifies all the characters in this saga in a stirring narrative. Sidney-Fryer's recent essays and reviews speak eloquently of his passion for the best that weird and fantasy fiction has to offer. Numerous essays discuss Clark Ashton Smith, the chief focus of the author's scholarship over the years. Sidney-Fryer also sees H. P. Lovecraft as a "beacon and a gateway" to the realms of the weird, and he also has high regard for the pulp fiction of Robert E. Howard. More recent poets, such as K. A. Opperman and Ashley Dioses, have received Sidney-Fryer's imprimatur as worthy successors to the classic poets of the early 20th century. Donald Sidney-Fryer is a legend in his own time, and this volume attests to the acuity, diversity, and humane scholarship that infuses every story, poem, essay, and review he has ever written.

The latest issue of Hippocampus Press's acclaimed journal of weird poetry begins with a moving elegy to the late W. H. Pugmire by Wade German, one of the leading weird poets of our time. Other luminaries of contemporary weird verse, including Christina Sng, Pat Calhoun, K. A. Opperman, Ashley Dioses, and Darrell Schweitzer, are also included. This issue is distinguished by works displaying virtuosity in a variety of verse forms, including a poetic drama by Tatiana Strange, a rondel by Frank Coffman, ballads by Adam Bolivar and Carl E. Reed, haiku by Geoffrey A. Landis, sonnets by Ann K. Schwader, David C. Kopaska-Merkel, and others, and striking examples of free verse by Ross Balcom, Ian Futter, and others. Donald Sidney-Fryer indites a poetic letter to G. Sutton Breiding. And striking prose poems by Manuel Arenas, Liam Garriock, David Barker, and Maxwell Gold highlight the issue. Among the classic reprints we find an uncollected poem by May Sinclair and a poem by Samuel John Alexander that was much appreciated by Clark Ashton Smith. Marcos Legaria provides the third and final segment of his expansive essay on Robert Nelson's relations with Clark Ashton Smith, quoting numerous letters by Nelson and also several entire poems. And Donald Sidney-Fryer supplies a detailed review of Frank Coffman's scintillating volume The Coven's Hornbook and Other Poems. In all, this issue demonstrates why Spectral Realms has become the go-to venue for today's weird poets.

The tenth issue of Spectral Realms demonstrates that this journal of weird poetry is going strong as it completes its fifth year of publication. Once again, this issue features the work of many of the leading voices in contemporary weird verse: Wade German, Adam Bolivar, Christina Sng, Frank Coffman, Ann K. Schwader, Chad Hensley, Thomas Tyrrell, and Ian Futter. Manuel Arenas, Liam Garriock, David Barker, and others provide vivid prose-poems. Jeff Hall's "In the Garden of Thasaidon" is a tribute to Clark Ashton Smith, while Manuel P rez-Campos's "The Mirror of Arkham Woe" draws inspiration from H. P. Lovecraft's "The Colour out of Space." The classic reprints feature a pair of scintillating haunted-house poems by the acclaimed American poets Lizette Woodworth Reese and Edwin Arlington Robinson. Marcos Legaria supplies the second part of his study of Clark Ashton Smith's influence on Robert Nelson, quoting the entirety of Nelson's vivid poem "Dream-Stair" (Weird Tales, April 1935). Among the reviews, Leigh Blackmore studies the October 2018 issue of Eye to the Telescope, the online journal of the Science Fiction Poetry Association, and Donald Sidney-Fryer contributes a review-article on the brilliant work of G. Sutton Breiding. As a special bonus, a complete index of authors and titles to all ten issues of Spectral Realms is provided.