Category: Poetry

Oracles by Olivia Sullivan

I’m pretty sure that this is meant to be an illustrated poem, but that’s not the only thing that baffles me about this purported graphic novel. Leaving heartbreak behind, the protagonist pares down their physical existence and decides to go on a long hike in the woods. Things get weird very quickly, as the narrator …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/06/25/oracles-by-olivia-sullivan/

Hugo Awards 2026: Best Poem

I am glad that successive Worldcons have decided to make Best Poem a permanent category. Poetry is probably the oldest literary genre, and limiting the Hugo award to prose meant missing out. Speculative or fantastic poetry is difficult, because a work has to be both: good poetry and something beyond the mundane, whether science fiction, …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/06/19/hugo-awards-2026-best-poem-2/

Hugo Awards 2026: Best Poem

Honestly grateful to the Hugo Awards for continuing this category after last year’s trial balloon, and thereby forcing me to think more about and read more poetry. I’ve discovered that, generally speaking, there are two kinds of poetry I enjoy. One is the story in verse, structured much like a short story but with far …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/05/28/hugo-awards-2026-best-poem/

Reading Resolutions Roundtable, 2026 edition

As 2025 fades around us, Frumious Consortiumists Doreen, Doug and Emily are thinking about our reading plans for 2026! Whether we make official resolutions or not, we all have some definite goals. Emily: Okay, let’s chat new year! Do you make reading resolutions? Anything you’re planning or particularly looking forward to in 2026? Starting in …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/12/29/reading-resolutions-roundtable-2026-edition/

Hugo 2025 Chat

“There are no cast-iron rules about short-story writing, even on word count. Author A.L. Kennedy … asks, ‘Where do you draw the line formally between a novella and a long short story and a short-short story and a literary letter?’ The enduring blurring of boundaries of the short form exhibit themseleves in ranging award rules on word count on what posits as sudden fiction, shorter fiction or a novelette. “I am exhilarated today to see the short story, perhaps more so in speculative fiction, pulsing with vigour and accessibility, and with no mind to perish any time soon.”

Doug Merrill: Hi everyone! Emily Lauer: Hello! Doug: Hi Emily! Doreen Sheridan: Hello, all! I can confidently say that I’m happy they started a poetry category (and that my favorite won, lol) Doug: I’m glad that there’s a poetry category, too, and glad that it seems to have gone over well this year. Now to …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/11/09/hugo-2025-chat/

The Gift Of Animals by Alison Hawthorne Deming

subtitled Poems of Love, Loss, and Connection. Truly an interesting, holistic take on how humanity’s relationships to animals speak to our own existence as individuals. Divided into seven parts — Praise; Lament; Companionship; Fear And Vulnerability; The Least Among Us; The Sacred, and The Future Of Animals — each section begins with an ancient text …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/09/03/the-gift-of-animals-by-alison-hawthorne-deming/

A year of Diana Wynne Jones: Wrap-up!

Emily's photo of her bookcase shows her copies of all the Diana Wynne Jones books to be read in the readthrough. Many are tattered.

This post concludes my year of reading all of Diana Wynne Jones’s books! After her death in 2011, Earwig and the Witch was published the same year, and a collection of her nonfiction writing was published in 2012. Much more recently, Moondust Books has published collections of her plays and poems! In this post I’ll …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/08/11/a-year-of-diana-wynne-jones-wrap-up/

Hugo Awards 2025: Best Poem

Continuing with our coverage of the 2025 Hugo Awards is my survey of the poetry finalists, a category that debuts this year as a trial balloon for inclusion in future WorldCons. Personally, I think it’s a great idea for an ongoing category, especially as it encourages writers to continue experimenting with form and, hopefully, discipline, …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/07/30/hugo-awards-2025-best-poem/

Calypso by Oliver K Langmead

My kingdom for pdfs properly formatted for Kindle! That gripe aside, wow, was I finally glad to be able to read Oliver K Langmead’s novel in verse. And I get it, the pdf was meant to preserve the gorgeous art and design of the book, which it definitely does. It just took way longer to …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/07/21/calypso-by-oliver-k-langmead/

The Zombees by Justin Colón & Kaly Quarles

Aside: this is the second zombie-related book I’ve read in a row, how odd for the middle of July! It’s Halloween and the normally quiet graveyard by Honey Hills is abuzz. Literally, as strange creatures begin to rise from the tombs and wend their winding way through town. Could these flying apparitions be… bees? But …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/07/14/the-zombees-by-justin-colon-kaly-quarles/