Darius Writing Update – Fall 2026 

It’s Fall, so there’s no time to waste. Let’s get straight to the writing updates. Here we go!

My First Reprint Sale
First up, I have resold my poem “Harmonium” from The Book of Hours to James Gunn’s Ad Astra magazine.  It should be out in their October edition.

Here’s the first line, to get you interested:

What poem can be as perfect as the rain?

I’m excited because I’ve rarely been in straight-up Science Fiction magazines. So, that’s a bit new for me and will get my words in front of different people.

Anyway, keep tuned into my Instagram and Facebook accounts for details. I’ll post there when the poem comes out.  

A Quick Look Back at Imaginarium and NecroNomiCon  
I was at the Imaginarium Convention in Louisville in August and Necronomicon, in Providence, Rhode Island, in August.

I really needed these conventions. Earlier this year, I felt I was getting less and less out of writer conventions. On reflection, I think the reason was that when I started going to them, I was really hungry for community. But now, I’ve found members of that community that I like and I don’t necessarily have that same, almost desperate, hunger for community.

So, it’s been good to have the last two conventions of this year to renew that interest and need and help me realize that building community should be a continual process.

First up, Imaginarium was great. It sorta brought me back to conventions as a whole. Everyone was just so friendly. I ended up on a panel about Pro Wrestling—which I know NOTHING about—and despite that, everyone was so warm and welcoming that we got through it together. In fact, we got through it with humor, and insight, and laughs and at the end I think everybody, including the audience, had a great time and even learned something. I sure did!  

Second, Necronomicon. It was just prodigious. I can’t say enough good things about it. Providence is such a cool, quirky setting, too. A college town steeped in New England and speculative fiction history. At the Con itself the readings, the panels, the academic track—all of it—was top notch. I met so many new writers (mostly from New England, upstate NY, and NYC) and had a blast just hanging it out and, as always, trying to figure out what was going on. Turns out, those New Englanders and New Yorkers are plenty friendly, you just gotta not a be a tool, that’s all. Ha.   

I highly recommend both conventions and can’t wait to go back.  

Poetry Keeps Coming—and Evolving
I keep writing poems. I can’t stop, really.

I find it invigorating and comforting to have this place to put emotions as they come up. (“Poetry—it’s what emotions are for!”) Good emotions, bad emotions. Scary ones and triumphant ones. Emotions of doubt and certainty.  

Lately, I feel my poetry is evolving. I can’t quite put my finger on it. Maybe I’m just more seasoned now? But as always, I’m suspicious of feeling too settled. I think in poetry more than most things, we must retain our Beginner’s Mind, that old Zen idea (shoshin). We must aim to become not a master, but an eternal student.

I will let you know if I ever figure out what’s going on here.

First Draft of New Book Is Done
Most importantly, I’ve finished a new book. It’s called “The Power in the Darkness.”

It’s over 100,000 words right now, so I’ll have to cut a little. But not tons. I feel good about it. It says what I wanted it to say.

Crucially, it’s not Horror. It’s not Fantasy, either. It’s more like Post-Post-Apocalyptic Literature: What happens when the world starts to heal again. As it surely will, given enough time. In particular, it’s about two women (a woman and a girl, actually) who get involved in a female religious Order whose mission it is to heal a shattered and convulsed wasteland Earth.  

That’s all I’ll say for now…

So, I’m off to write the synopsis, edit it, and get it off to as many as editors and agents as I can.

Wish me luck!

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That’s all for this time. Kept it short and sweet. Until next time…

Keep Reading, Keep Writing,  

Darius