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As of today, I've responded to all poetry submissions sent to Strange Horizons during the month of September. I'm pleased to say that I saw just under 200 submissions (as expected) and that the decision-making was challenging in the best of ways. I'd like to start a tradition similar to the one that Matt Kressel established while reading submissions for Sybil's Garage, i.e. listing the titles of the pieces I've accepted during a given month along with the poets' names so that readers can look out for them in the weeks and months to come, as I'm incredibly excited about the first works I've had the privilege to accept for this publication. The poems and poets are, in no particular order:

"Air On a G String," by Jude Cowan Montague

"Maidenhead," by Adriana Tosun

"Wolf Daughter," by Sara Norja

"Again, Pygmalion," by Stella Nickerson

"Heat and Sainthood," by Crystal Hoffman

"A Modern Prometheus," by Lynette Mejía

"Castle Csejthe (Bathory)," by Jennifer Ruth Jackson

I'm also pleased that, as it turns out, none of these poets have ever been published in Strange Horizons before (in fact, a couple of them have never had poetry published before at all). Thanks to every one of you who submitted during the month of September, and I look forward to reading your verse again when December rolls around!

 



AJ's first full-length poetry collection, The Sting of It, was published by Tolsun Books in 2019 and won Best LGBT Book in the New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards.  Their first novel, The Pursued and the Pursuing, was published by DartFrog Blue in 2021 and won 2nd place in the Adult Historical Fiction category of the Reads Rainbow Awards.  AJ holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Boston University and is a full-time English Faculty member at San Juan College.  AJ has been on staff at Strange Horizons since 2012.  You can find them on Twitter and visit their website.
Current Issue
10 Nov 2025

We deposit the hip shards in the tin can my mother reserves for these incidents. It is a recycled red bean paste can. If you lean in and sniff, you can still smell the red bean paste. There is a larger tomato sauce can for larger bones. That can has been around longer and the tomato sauce smell has washed out. I have considered buying my mother a special bone bag, a medical-grade one lined with regrowth powder to speed up the regeneration process, but I know it would likely sit, unused, in the bottom drawer of her nightstand where she keeps all the gifts she receives and promptly forgets.
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