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Midwest Cryptids Anthology Goes on Sale Oct. 7, 2025!

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In an exciting 175-page anthology, more than 50 emerging and established voices of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, horror, and other genres join to deliver fresh visions and explorations regarding the “forgotten” terrain and deep recesses of the American Midwest! “As people who live and visit here already know, the American Midwest is more than just ‘Children of the Corn,’” writes anthology editor Randy Brown. “ Giants still walk our flat and rolling lands, and swim in our deep lakes and rivers. Ask around any truck stop or diner, and you’ll likely meet or hear-tell of frog people. Dog men. Wendigo spirits. Even our endless, flyover-skies contain ancient and thunderous birds . Remember that, as you run to your next connections.” The book Cryptids, Kaiju & Corn: Poems and Micro-Stories about Modern Midwest Monsters collects more than 70 short poems and 300-word narratives of mythic beasts that illuminate, celebrate, or challenge stereotypes of Midwestern identity. Sections of the anthol...
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'Charlie Sherpa' to Serve as a War Poetry Postcard Project Judge

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Author of the award-winning poetry collection “Welcome to FOB Haiku: War Poems from Inside the Wire,”  U.S. Army veteran, journalist, essayist, and literary activist  Randy “Sherpa” Brown  (he/him) will serve as one of the contest judges of the first-ever War Poetry Postcard Project . Contest organizers seek short poems   (equal to 26 lines or less, including line-spaces) regarding   effects of armed conflict, state violence, and military service . The contest is co-sponsored by  Collateral Journal  and  Middle West Press . On a panel of three judges, Brown joins  Collateral  Journal  founding editor and WPPP keynoter   Abby E. Murray  (they/them), as well as poet, fellow editor , and literary activist Lisa Stice . Brown is also the founder and editor-publisher of Middle West Press. A cohort of three winning poems will be selected, then  produced, printed, and distributed as ready-to-mail 4x6-inch postcards  late...
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Lisa Stice to Serve as a War Poetry Postcard Project Judge

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Author of poetry collections including “Letters from Conflict” and “Permanent Change of Station,” North Carolina poet and U.S. Marine Corps spouse Lisa Stice  (she/her) will serve as one of three judges for the inaugural War Poetry Postcard Project (WPPP)  contest.  Contest organizers seek short poems (equal to 26 lines or less, including line-spaces) regarding effects of armed conflict, state violence, and military service . The contest is co-sponsored by  Collateral Journal  and  Middle West Press . As announced last week , Collateral  Journal founding editor and WPPP keynoter Abby E. Murray (they/them) will also serve as a contest judge. A cohort of three winning poems will be selected, then  produced, printed, and distributed as ready-to-mail 4x6-inch postcards later this summer.  Contest deadline is May 3, 2025. Everyone who enters will receive a set of the three winning postcard poems.  Organizers hope that the postcards wil...
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Abby E. Murray is War Postcard Project's "Keynote Poet"

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Author of the poetry collections “Hail and Farewell” (Perugia Press, 2019) and the forthcoming “Recovery Commands” (Ex Ophidia Press, 2025),  Abby E. Murray  (they/them) is now also author of the “keynote” poem for the War Poetry Postcard Project (WPPP) . Murray’s poem  “Hello, I am Not a Soldier,”  wrestles with a daily dissonance felt as a spouse in an active-duty U.S. Army family:  “[...] Wherever I go, I cling to my hope / like a weapon I have been trained to love.”  The work was first published on-line in  Rattle  magazine Nov. 17, 2024. Now, it will be produced and shared with others on a postcard! “Like many of our fellow citizen-poets, we’ve been struggling to find constructive, useful ways to deploy our words and talents in a world of increasing  fascism, racism, genocide, and cruelty ,” says Randy Brown , editor-publisher of the independent micro-press  Middle West Press LLC . “For us, Abby’s poem provides a perfect example o...
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"War Poetry Postcard Project" Contest: Your War in 26 Lines or Less!

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Literary organizations Middle West Press LLC and Collateral Journal have issued a short-fuze call for postcard-sized poems that thematically engage with the effects of war, state violence, and military service. Contest deadline is May 3, 2025.  This summer, up to three prize-winners of the inaugural “War Poetry Postcard Project” contest will have their poems published as visually engaging glossy 4x6 postcards , each suitable for mailing to friends, family, politicians, and others. Learn more about the project at:  linktr.ee/warpoets “With the increasing chaos and friction of the world around us, and the decreasing utility of social media in building community, we’ve found ourselves looking for new ways to encourage artful conversations about experiences with the military ,” says Randy “Sherpa” Brown (he/him) of Middle West Press LLC , Johnston, Iowa. Brown is a published poet and literary activist, as well as a 20-year retired U.S. Army veteran. “That can include chewy d...
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Midwestern Micro-Publisher Launches On-line Merch Store!

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An Iowa-based independent micro-press has launched an on-line store of T-shirt, coffee mug, and other designs inspired by its literary projects, communities, and anthologies. Themes include "aggressively midwest" and "Greetings from Flyover Country!"  The latter was inspired by the cover of a recently launched anthology of science-fiction flash and poetry, "Midwest Futures." Product designs inspired by the Midwest Futures project include: “Greetings from Flyover Country! ”  (a Golden Age rocket ship flying across a contrail-filled sky) “Mars Needs Bacon!”  (flying saucers abducting ... hogs?) “Astro-Cornfield”  (an astronaut kneeling on a mutant blue-corn planet) "We're always looking for new ways to engage people in constructive conversations," says editor-publisher Randy Brown . "Featuring the work of our writers and artists on a T-shirt or sticker seems like a fun way to further build awareness, community and conversation!" Inc...
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Available NOW! 'Midwest Futures: Poems & Micro-Stories from Tomorrow's Heartland'!

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NOW ON SALE! In a first-of-its-kind anthology,  30 emerging and established voices  of  science-fiction, fantasy, and horror  tell fresh  new narratives of environmental and social transformation  set in the American Midwest! Corn-fueled rocket ships! A jungle in Minneapolis! A Kansas City on Mars! Flooded suburbs! Tourist-trap family farms! A popcorn apocalypse! With  insight, humor, and empathy , each creator offers responses to the turbulence of 21st century life, work, environment, and place . Through considerations of real-world challenges—including  climate change, drought, wildfire, flood, and social isolation —they provide  stories of resilience and growth.  “The best anthologies result in  a collaborative act of magic and alchemy —writers become a generative hive-mind of possibilities,” writes anthology editor Randy Brown. “Our contributors cultivated  new visions and interpretations  of the American Midwest’s...
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