Toni Artuso

I'm delighted to report that s everal of my poems were published at the end of last year in various venues.  I got a science fiction poem, "When I listen to a shell," published in issue 45.4 of  Star*Line , the journal of Science Fiction Poetry Association. Even though they're a science fiction market, their journal isn't online, but if you want to purchase issue 45.4 in hard copy, here's the link to their Web site: Science Fiction Poetry Association (sfpoetry.com) I also got a sonnet, "Conjuring Kate: For K.J.," published in  The Lyric . Unfortunately, their journal isn't online, either, though, given the fact that  The Lyric  publishes verse in traditional forms, it's not surprising they don't publish online. Again, if you'd like to purchase a hard copy, here's their link as well:  The Lyric Magazine – The Oldest Magazine in North America Devoted to Traditional Poetry I also recently got a pair of poems published in an animal-or

I'm very pleased to announce that my flash piece of speculative fiction just appeared in Issue #4 of The Pine Cone Review . This story has an interesting (and very long) backstory. I actually wrote it back when I was in college. That would be the '80's. While I saved a copy of the story, I lost track on it until only recently. About two years ago, I moved to my new condo in Salem, MA, and, while I was unpacking and re-filing my creative writing, I ran across this piece, which is entitled "Aubade." I re-read it, and was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. So, I scanned it into a Word file and, with very few revisions, started sending it off. I was delighted when I got it accepted recently. If you'd like to read it, please visit the link below: https://thepineconereview.com/toni-artuso-aubade-issue-4/

Over the last 90 days, like so many people, I’ve been appalled by the wholesale slaughter of innocent civilians at the hands of the Russians as part of their self-styled “special military operation” in— and alleged “denazification” of—Ukraine, especially the tragic deaths of young children in the indiscriminate fusillades of artillery, bombs, and missiles hurled at Odessa and other cities. Why do Putin and his generals think that toddlers are vicious neo-Nazis worthy of extermination? However, lest I fool myself into thinking that such horrific brutality and callousness to human life is only “over there,” the recent racist-inspired mass shooting in Buffalo is bloody testimony that the Russians are not the only haters in this troubled world—and, in fact, mass murderers cut bloody swaths throughout the United States, though, technically, our country is not at war. And now comes the tragic news that still another mass murderer has butchered more children—this time 19 elementary school

Spring is off to a refreshing start for me with my writing. I've had two more stories appear in publications recently.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was excited to learn that my queer speculative fiction piece, "A Little Justice," was accepted by Mollyhouse . It recently appeared in their issue number 4. If you'd like to read the story, see the following link:  Smashwords – Mollyhouse: Issue Four – a book by Raymond Luczak Earlier this month, another of my queer spec fic pieces, "Workshop Without End, Amen," appeared in Penumbric Speculative Fiction Magazine . You can read the story in HTML format at this link:  Penumbric April 2k22, Workshop Without End, Amen Or, if you'd prefer the PDF version, please follow this link: Issue_April2k22.pdf (penumbric.com) I hope you enjoy my pieces and have a good spring!

Great News - Ending '21 on a High Note and Starting '22 Strong!  The end of 2021 and the start of 2022 saw several of my stories published.  I'm pleased to announce that my queer retelling of the classic Cinderella fairytale, "Those Who Wear Glass Shoes ...," was published at the end of December by the speculative fiction online journal All Worlds Wayfarer . Please see the link below if you'd like to have a look. http://www.allworldswayfarer.com/story10/   Then, the New Year got off to a roaring start with not one, but two, publications on the same day. One was a piece of flash fiction, "One Hundred Percent," which appeared in the UK-based online journal, Sledgehammer Lit . The link to this very short story is below. https://www.sledgehammerlit.com/post/one-hundred-percent-by-toni-artuso The other piece that appeared on New Year's Day was one of my historical fiction stories, "Veterans' Reunion." It appeared in The Broadkill Review

 As someone who once did 19 th century historical re-enacting, including both Civil War re-enacting and vintage social dance of that period, I’ve heard of steampunk a lot, but I’ve never really understood it. That was my initial motivation for reading Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear:  it’s billed as a steampunk novel, and I thought reading it would give me insight into that genre. Having finished the book, I can’t say I feel a lot more enlightened about steampunk per se. Featuring a U.S. Marshal from the Indian Territory in hot pursuit a serial killer, the novel feels much more like a cross between Criminal Minds and an episode of The Wild Wild West , the TV show from 1960’s starring Robert Conrad (not the 1999 Will Smith feature film) than anything more au currant in the way of steampunk. Like a kind of alternative history, the universe of Karen Memory is populated with familiar names from the late 19 th century, including U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes and French writer Ju