Volume 48, Issue 1
Winter 2025

a dark-skinned woman with green hair stands twined in the vine of a plant with teeth and a curling pink tongue
Cover: The Botanist
© Dante Luiz

Wyrms & Wormholes

Farewell My Friends, Sort Of...

It has been a great honor to be at the helm of Star*Line and to read so much of your wonderful work, even if I had to send out rejections. I am in constant awe of the quality of the poetry from all of you speculative poets from around the world, and I treasure my time becoming so familiar with all of your voices. While I am leaving as editor, I am still going to be an active part of our community and am looking forward to reading your work in various journals, bumping into you at cons, and sharing the stage at readings. Thank you for trusting me with your art, I hope that I have done it justice.

It is also an honor to hand over the helm to our new editor John Reinhart. I’m sure that you are familiar with his poetry and book reviews from past issues of Star*Line, and I know that he will do an excellent job with our journal. Please join me in welcoming him!

If you’d like to stay in touch, I can easily be found online through my bookstore Space Cowboy Books, and I welcome further communication. Your poetry has truly been an inspiration. Thank you!

—Jean-Paul L. Garnier, Star*Line Editor


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Star*Line Staff:

Editor: Jean-Paul L. Garnier
Layout: F. J. Bergmann
Production Manager: F. J. Bergmann
Mailing: Brian U. Garrison

Star*Line Reviews
Star*Line Archives
Star*Line History
Star*Line Contributor Bios

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Table of Contents

Departments

  • Wyrms & Wormholes * Jean-Paul Garnier
  • SFPA Announcements
  • President’s Message * Colleen Anderson
  • From the Small Press * Herb Kauderer, John Reinhart, Lisa Timpf
  • Stealth SF * “The Fault in Our Starts” * Denise Dumars
  • SpecPo Publishing * Interview with Nicasio Andres Reed * Jean-Paul Garnier

Art

  • The Botanist * Dante Luiz
  • Pyramid Protector * Denny E. Marshall

Poetry

  • Exploring Europa’s Icy Ocean * Lauren McBride
  • A big red one coughed * Richard Magahiz
  • [landslides] * D. A. Xiaolin Spires
  • Is He Really My Brother If He Died Before I Was Born? * Jason P. Burnham
  • [arrested for crimes] * Richard E Schell
  • [after they carve our names] * Yuliia Vereta
  • [a child shattering] * Joshua St. Claire
  • Flow * Roger Dutcher
  • Seek the Strawberry Plant * Devan Barlow
  • The Chaos * Arukoya Tamois
  • Spaceship schoolyard games * Kathryn Papadopoulos
  • Or Just Another Hoax? * Sarah Cannavo
  • The Time-Travelling Bystander * A J Dalton
  • [supernova] * Mariel Herbert
  • [The truth about our realities] * Yuliia Vereta
  • Top Zombie Classic Rock Bands * Robert Frazier
  • Just Outside of Chattanooga * Anna Madden
  • Halls of the Dread Ship * Garrett Carroll
  • Its boughs tangled in starlanes * Richard Magahiz
  • Ahead * Roger Dutcher
  • Getting to know you less and less * Richard Magahiz
  • Overheard at a Spacestation Bar * Lauren McBride
  • Cosmetic Cosmos * John H. Dromey
  • Mimicry is Key * Jason P. Burnham
  • The E. coli Sudoku Team * Art Holcomb
  • [a dodo a day] * LeRoy Gorman
  • Model X, 2075: Darling Companion * Elizabeth Fletcher
  • Time to Stay Home * Lauren McBride
  • my life thus far (at two months old) * Julie Allyn Johnson
  • That Scream in the Night * RK Rugg
  • [vampires, witches] * John Reinhart
  • Life and Death on TerraX * H. V. Patterson
  • Futures of Grandeur * Spencer Keene
  • Pocket Black Hole * Casey Aimer
  • [feelings of insignificance] * Royal Baysinger
  • A Feast for Dark Angels * Marge Simon
  • On A Spaceship * Bailey Thomas
  • [repurpose, reuse, renew] * Lauren McBride
  • Skull, knuckle * Nicholas Alti
  • Sol Three Must Be Saved * David C. Kopaska-Merkel
  • Each Bite a Cleansing * Jenna Hanchey
  • Lost in Time * DJ Tyrer
  • Solar Eclipse * James Arthur Anderson
  • The Present * Ian Willey
  • Our Blessed Technologies, Their Barbarous Technologies * Jenna Le
  • [Haunted house adapts to 21st century] * Alan Ira Gordon
  • Sevenling (Tomorrow) * Caleb Edmondson
  • Spectacles on the Local Asteroid Casino * M. Ray Vidrine
  • Hardcore * Mary Soon Lee
  • Time and Heat * Josh Pearce
  • The Last Human Being * Alessio Zanelli
  • Pathology Report * M. Frost
  • [age is just numbers] * Howard V. Hendrix
  • Happier Ever After #2 * Mary Soon Lee
  • [great-great-Grandma] * David C. Kopaska-Merkel
  • A Frog Laments * Devan Barlow
  • Irrevocable * Adele Gardner
  • The Artist Traveling Through Time & Space * Marge Simon
  • At the Brink of Insanity * Veda Villiers
  • Found poetry: Electronic Readout at Gate 27, from Halon City to the Galactic Fulcrum * Brian Hugenbruch
  • On the Run * Jordan Hirsch
  • [those awful things I said] * Royal Baysinger
  • [fading light] * Greg Schwartz
  • Alien Skies * Gregory M. Thompson
  • When Are You? * F. J. Bergmann
  • The Song of the Dragon Nidhogg * A J Dalton
  • [I land] * Alper Ghuchlu
  • [Goldilocks Zone] * Anna Cates
  • Since Utopia * Mary Soon Lee
  • koi pond * Richard E Schell
  • Contravention * F. J. Bergmann
  • [Merfolk] * Denise Dumars
  • Five Ways To Murder Your Mentor * Michael Victor Bowman
  • [she pencils in her murder] * Amber Winter
  • Undoing the deeds * Richard Magahiz
  • The Final Anthropomorphism * Frank Leblanc
  • [cowboys passing through] * Royal Baysinger
  • The World Is Ending, but the Drive Thru Is Still Open on Broadway and Eighth * AJ Wentz
  • Aberration of Light * Jennifer Crow
  • [al dente] * Greg Schwartzback
  • Burying the Captain, the Legend * Lauren McBride
  • Burnout * Sydney Bernthold

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