The 2025 Dwarf Stars Anthology and Award

The 2025 Dwarf Stars Anthology: The Best Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Short Poetry of 2024

2025 Dwarf Stars Editor:
Miguel O. Mitchell, PhD(he/his/him) is a Black speculative poet, SFF author, visual artist, and retired chemist. His poems have appeared in Amazing Stories, Dreams & Nightmares, Eye to the Telescope, FIYAH, Sauúti Terrors anthology, Scarlet Dragonfly Journal, Scifaikuest, Star*Line, and the anthology Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction (2022). He has also published two poetry collections, Surrealia (Gnashing Teeth Publishing, 2024) and Periodic Table of Alien Species (Elements 1-86) (Barnes & Noble Press, 2021). Two of Miguel's poems, "A Descendant's Gift" and "Becoming," were nominated for the 2022 Rhysling Award in the Long Poem category, and "Max Returns to His Homeworld" (from Surrealia) was nominated for the same award in 2025. His poem “Wine Tasting on the Planet Ufahamu” (FIYAH, 2025) received Honorable Mention in the 2024 SFPA Poetry Contest.

In editorial roles, Miguel was 2023 Dwarf Stars Co-Editor (with David C. Kopaska-Merkel) and is also founder and Editor-in-Chief of SpecPoVerse: An International Journal of Speculative Poetry, https://specpoverse.org/

Cover Art: "Running Man" by Pamela Gordimer
Layout: F. J. Bergmann
Publisher: Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association

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Dwarf Stars contributor bios

2025 Award Finalists
(114 poems)

• [Andromedan spring] • Akua Lezli Hope • Nature Triumphs: A Charity Anthology of Dark Speculative Literature, eds. Alison Armstrong & Pixie Bruner (Dark Moon Rising Publications)
• [another Adam …] • Tracy Davidson • horror senryu journal, 16 May
• Astrosommelier • R. Mac Jones • Star*Line 47.3
• [autopsy report] • Ngô Bình Anh Khoa • SPOOKY Magazine 2
• [big bang the expanse of our silence] • Eavonka Ettinger • The Taste of Sunlight, eds. Kathabela Wilson, Marcyn Del Clements, & Lorraine A. Padden (Southern CA Haiku Study Group)
• binary system • Marisca Pichette • Star*Line 47.2
• [blind date] • Ngô Bình Anh Khoa • SPOOKY Magazine 2
• [body swap] • Tracy Davidson • horror senryu journal, 26 August
• The Boy Who Knew No Fear • H. V. Patterson • Scifaikuest 22:1
• [burial pod] • dl mattila • Haikuniverse, 23 February
• [butterfly effect] • Colleen Anderson • Weird Worlds (Weird House Press)
• [by jack-o’-lantern light] • Brian Rosenberger • Scifaikuest, May
• [Cerberus in Wonderland] • Randall Andrews • Scifaikuest, October
• [cicadas were their bridesmaids starlings their ushers] • Richard Magahiz • Five Fleas Itchy Poetry, 10 January
• [cold dreams] • David C. Kopaska-Merkel • horror senryu journal, 25 March
• [a conscious mind—] • Harris Coverley • Scifaikuest, February
• [crescent moon] • Ngô Bình Anh Khoa • SPOOKY Magazine 2
• death is a less terrible thing • Marisca Pichette • Moss Puppy Mag 7
• [Defenestration] • Jason P. Burnham • Star*Line 47.4
• Depth • F. J. Bergmann • Right Hand Pointing 156
• [devil’s hour—] • Valentina Ranaldi-Adams • Haiku in Action Week 147
• Draco Urbis • Marie Brennan • Worlds of Possibility, June
• The Dying Girl • Jamal Hodge • The Dark Between The Twilight: A Journey Through Evil, Loneliness, and Redemption (Crystal Lake Publishing)
• [Earth day] • Ann K. Schwader • Yaddith Times, 22 April
• [the egg moon] • Tejendra Sherchan • Five Fleas Itchy Poetry, 28 November
• [endless] • Joshua St. Claire • Five Fleas Itchy Poetry, 28 November
• Erasure • Anna Cates • The Haibun Gallery, 19 April
• The Eye • Kayla-Jane Barrie • Eccentric Orbits 5, ed. Wendy Van Camp (Dimensionfold Publishing)
• [a fawn steps] • Debbie Strange • The Cicada’s Cry, Summer
• Fearsome predators • Richard Magahiz • Five Fleas Itchy Poetry, 16 April
• [flying back to earth] • Greer Woodward • Troutswirl, 11 December
• The Future is Here • Eugen Bacon • Meniscus 12.2
• [generation ship] • Colleen Anderson • Dreams and Nightmares 128
• Graver Gravities • Brian U. Garrison • Nature Triumphs: A Charity Anthology of Dark Speculative Literature, eds. Alison Armstrong & Pixie Bruner (Dark Moon Rising Publications)
• Golden Shovel: Lon Chaney, Jr. as "The Wolf Man" • LindaAnn LoSchiavo • Altered Reality Magazine, Summer
• [Halloween terror] • Akua Lezli Hope • Halloween Horror Haiku, November
• [halloween time warp still green] • Helen Buckingham • The Pan Haiku Review 3
• The Hive Relocating to Planet Earth • Crystal Sidell • petrichor, 1 August
• Hush • Angela Acosta • ionosphere Vol. I Issue 2
• [in flying cars] • Jill Trade • Dreadnought SF 2
• In Hungry Times • H. V. Patterson • Scifaikuest 22:1
• [in the cold night park] • Akua Lezli Hope • Instagram Halloween Haiku Challenge, November
• Intangible viscera • Yuliia Vereta • The Fear Doctor: A Dragon Soul Press Anthology (compiled by Dragon Soul Press)
• It Wasn’t as If … • Anna Cates • Star*Line 47.1
• Lianus Astros • Harris Coverley • View From Atlantis 94
• [Light glances off the] • Mahaila Smith • Star*Line 47.1
• A line of prayers • Richard Magahiz • Shot Glass Journal 43
• Lunar Beast • LindaAnn LoSchiavo • tiny frights 3:2
• [a man of mere bones] • Brian Rosenberger • Scifaikuest, May
• Manhattan 2081: The Physiognomy of Fear • Alicia Hilton • Extrasensory Overload: an anthology of speculative excess, eds. Naomi Simone Borwein & Chun Hyon Lee (Angry Gable Press)
• The Mechanical Bride • Carolyn Clink • Polar Starlight Magazine 13
• [Medusa’s mansion raided] • Randall Andrews • Star*Line 47.3
• [migrating dragons] • F. J. Bergmann • Star*Line 47.1
• [mind readers marry] • Randall Andrews • Scifaikuest, May
• [monthly expenses] • Ngô Bình Anh Khoa • Star*Line 47.3
• [moonlight fishing] • Brian Rosenberger • Scifaikuest, May
• Multiversal • Michael H. Payne • JOURN-E 3:1
• Musings of an Artificial Intelligence • Jenny Thompson • The Quarter(ly) 11
• [my first spacewalk] • Lauren McBride • Dreams and Nightmares 126
• Neptune • Christina Sng • Star*Line 47.4
• Night Song • Johanna Haas • Star*Line 47.3
• [nudist colony] • Ngô Bình Anh Khoa • Scifaikuest, May
• [old junkyard] • Ngô Bình Anh Khoa • Star*Line 47.2
• On the Way Here • Corinne Hughes • Star*Line 47.2
• [one for the road] • John Hawkhead • Failed Haiku, November
• Origins • Anna Cates • Star*Line 47.4
• [a parallel universe] • Ngô Bình Anh Khoa • Scifaikuest, May
• [the path away] • Anna Cates • Star*Line 47.2
• Perish and Live Forever • Pedro Iniguez • Mexicans on the Moon: Speculative Poetry from a Possible Future (Space Cowboy Books)
• Pity They’re Now So Rare • David C. Kopaska-Merkel • Star*Line 47.4
• [Pluto crosses Neptune.] • Brian U. Garrison • Micropoetry for Microplanets (Space Cowboy Books)
• [practicing safe sex] • Randall Andrews • Scifaikuest, October
• The primal cry • Yuliia Vereta • Eccentric Orbits 5, ed. Wendy Van Camp (Dimensionfold Publishing)
• [rebuilding the reef] • Harris Coverley • Dreadnought SF 2
• recycling • Crystal Sidell • Eye to the Telescope 51
• [red Sol] • Joshua St. Claire • Dreadnought SF 2
• Red Tide • Shane D. Keene • Moth Frenzy
• [refugee moon] • Susan Burch • Cold Moon Journal, 7 February
• [refugees everywhere …] • Lesley Anne Swanson • tinywords, 11 June 11
• [rolling fog] • Kimberly Kuchar • haikuniverse, Halloween Haiku, 31 October
• [scrapyard] • Ngô Bình Anh Khoa • Scifaikuest, May
• [seedtime] • Joshua St. Claire • Dreadnought SF 2
• [selling horrible alien bugs] • F. J. Bergmann • Star*Line 47.4
• [shapeshifter Halloween party] • Lauren McBride • Scifaikuest online, November
• Sibling Rivalry • Jenny Thompson • Star*Line 47.2
• [singing a song …] • Kimberly Kuchar • horror senryu journal, 30 August
• Small Reveals • Colleen Anderson • Amazing Stories, August
• The smog bowl • Yuliia Vereta • The Fear Doctor: A Dragon Soul Press Anthology (compiled by Dragon Soul Press)
• [sole survivor] • David C. Kopaska-Merkel • horror senryu journal, 17 May
• Space being • Pravat Kumar Padhy • The Pan Haiku Review 4
• Spectral Rune • Max Bindi • Aphelion 296
• [Spotting aliens in a crowd] • Yuliia Vereta • Star*Line 47.2
• [spring morning] • Pravat Kumar Padhy • Autumn Moon Haiku Journal 7.2
• [sun through a prism—] • Julie Schwerin • Prune Juice 44
• [a sunbeam slowly hardens into thought] • Vijay Prasad • Five Fleas Itchy Poetry, 24 September
• [swimming free] • Harris Coverley • Dreadnought SF 2
• [tardigrade] • Jerome Berglund • Dreadnought SF 2
• Terricolousia • Harris Coverley • View From Atlantis 95
• [threefold symmetry] • Mark Gilbert • Scifaikuest, October
• [to hail a late-night taxi] • Lorraine Schein • Lost Between Light & Shadow: A Collection of Dark Poetry
• To Love Too Much • Deborah L. Davitt • Penumbric, December
• [train station] • Gordana Vlašić • haikuniverse, 11 June
• The Universe singing • Yuliia Vereta • The Fear Doctor: A Dragon Soul Press Anthology (compiled by Dragon Soul Press)
• untitled • Terrie Leigh Relf • The Drabbun Anthology 2.0, eds. Francis W. Alexander & t. santitoro (Hiraeth Publishing)
• [vampire rest home] • Greer Woodward • Halloween Horror Haiku Contest
• [VR sim—] • Lisa Timpf • Scifaikuest, February
• [warp drive folds spacetime] • Jean-Paul L. Garnier • Radon Journal 6
• We Will Become Mars • AJ Dalton • Carmina Magazine, September
• What Evil Lurks • Adele Gardner • Spectral Realms 21
• What Villains Read • Mary Soon Lee • Kaleidotrope, Autumn
• [When riding] • Sarah Mahina Calvello • Five Fleas Itchy Poetry, 8 December
• When the devil enters through the door • Faruk Buzhala • Eccentric Orbits 5, ed. Wendy Van Camp (Dimensionfold Publishing)
• Whirlpool • Colleen Anderson • 2024 SFPA Poetry Contest: Dwarf Form Winner
• Who • Anna Cates • Star*Line 47.1
• [The world’s first time traveler] • Randall Andrews • Star*Line 47.4
• [your planet’s not gone—] • Richard Magahiz • Star*Line 47.1

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