Greetings to all those who have recently signed up for this newsletter (there are quite a few) and “Hello” to my regular readers.
Well, I have a lot of “firsts” in my writing journey I want to share. They are a little bit scary and exciting at the same time…So…Scary good?…
Anyway, here’s the latest on my writing journey.
Two Award Nominations: The Rhysling and Imadjinn Awards
Last September, Alien Buddha Press published my debut book, The Book of Hours and now that collection has been nominated for a couple of well-known Speculative Fiction awards.
First up, the entire collection is a finalist for the Imadjinn Awards given out at the Imaginarium Convention, to be held July 17-19, 2026 in Louisville, Kentucky. I will be in attendance there this summer, hoping that the collection can go all the way. We’ll see…Also, the Imadjinn finalists got a little write-up on Locus Magazine’s website. It’s my first mention in that storied, award-winning journal.
Second, “Glitch,” a poem which first appeared in The Books of Hours, is nominated for the Science Fiction Poetry’s Association’s Rhysling Award in the Short Poem category. It’s a short Cyberpunk poem about how the real often gets pushed down in our everyday lives.
This all comes after I self-nominated these works (if the rules allowed) or someone else nominated them (if the rules didn’t allow that). So, a big “Thank You!” to all who recommended my poems for reading lists and put them forward as nominations for these awards.
Another First: Getting on the Reading List for SFWA’s Nebula and the Rhyslings
Speaking of reading lists. Poems and stories are (usually) first put on reading lists for awards, then selected as “nominees.” Until finally, those nominees are whittled down to the final winner.
So, I’m glad to say that a handful of my other poems made it onto reading lists for a number of awards including:
- “Glitch” and “The Conduit” both made it onto the SFWA’s Nebula Award reading list for poetry. “The Conduit” is about a girl who is a conduit for miraculous powers that she eventually learns to manipulate and control. It was quite a personal poem for me. It did not become a Nebula Finalist—but I’m very glad to see the SFWA honoring poetry in this way, which is a new(ish) thing for them.
- “The Book of Hours” was on a long reading list for the HWA’s Stoker Award in the Poetry Collection category.
- “Glitch” was originally on the Rhysling reading list in the “Short Poem” category before graduating to nominee status.
Two New Poems Out: At Strange Horizons and Star*Line Magazine.
Music and mathematics. They wouldn’t seem to go together at first. But I’m proud to announce that I had a “music” and a “math” poem published this Spring:
- “Chopin” appeared in Star*Line magazine’s Winter 2026 edition. It was inspired by the great Romantic composer, Frederic Chopin. I tried to suffuse the piece with a certain desperate longing—a very Chopin thing. I hope I succeeded.
- “The Point” [FREE at the link!] is about mathematics and evolution, and appeared in Strange Horizons in February. It’s about a point on a page that becomes a line. The line becomes a triangle and then all shapes and all things in a cascading rush of self-reinvention, of self-evolution…This is my second appearance in Strange Horizons—and I’m very grateful for it.
Teaching my First Course on Writing: “Submitting Stories to Magazines”
I also taught my first writing class this month. It was called “Submitting Stories to Magazines.” I covered nine easy steps for submitting your stories to magazines. (By the way, the ninth step is “Start a New Story.” Thus, bringing you right back to step one.)
In the presentation, I also shared the fact that I have 676 story/poem rejections to date!
I think the presentation was a hit and there were plenty of questions throughout.
Appearing in a Video Interview
Rounding out the “Firsts” this season, I appeared in my first VIDEO interview. Bryan Nowak, a fellow Northern Virginia writer in the Horror space, was kind enough to have me on his YouTube channel, “All Things Writing,” for a chat about Dark Cosmic Poetry.
As usual, I had a blast talking about this stuff. You can watch the whole interview here.
Up Next: Appearances at RavenCon in Richmond and in Alexandria
I will be appearing as a Guest at RavenCon, a great local convention for all things Speculative (SciFi, Fantasy, and Horror) in Richmond April 24-26.
This year, RavenCon will be partnering with Amazing Stories magazine to host the official 100th Anniversary of Science Fiction (as judged by the coining of the term “science fiction.”). Also, Dr. David Brin will be the Guest of Honor (in the Author category). You don’t want to miss it!
I should be on a panel, signing books, and, possibly, doing a reading. Details to come soon, so look for them on Instagram, Facebook, and here on the Blog.
I may also have an appearance in Alexandria, Virginia, just before then that I’m very excited about. Details as soon as it solidifies.
Tweaks/Adjustments:
Finally, I want to capture a couple of adjustments to my writing process here.
With a book out I was struggling a little to put all those non-writing tasks that are an important part of any writing routine back in their place.
So now, I’m trying to schedule discrete times of the day to: Mail books, answer emails, confirm event bookings, post to social media, write Blogs, etc., etc., etc. While still preserving/creating time for writing and downtime between projects and work.
It’s a work in progress, but with time limits on Apps on my phone and other little tricks—I feel I’m making progress in getting those non-writing writing tasks back in the box.
OK! Thanks for reading and see you next time! Until then…
Keep Reading, Keep Writing,
Darius
Inside the Writer's Mind 