AJ Wentz
@ajwentz.com
Writer of speculative poetry and prose | not hip, cool, or with it | words in Lightspeed, Modern Haiku, Dreams & Nightmares, and elsewhere | member of SFPA and Haiku Society of America | ajwentz.com
Pinned
AJ Wentz
@ajwentz.com
· Oct 25
Eye to the Telescope
Eye to the Telescope, the quarterly online journal of SFPA, the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association, an international organization of speculative poets.
eyetothetelescope.com
“The city / of nightmares is dark, but she will light it up.”
Do you desire cyberpunk with Y2K aesthetics? Cyborgs with transparent plastic body mods?
My poem “Girlie-Pop Cyborgs Dream of Revolution” might be for you! Available in the latest issue of Eye to the Telescope!
Do you desire cyberpunk with Y2K aesthetics? Cyborgs with transparent plastic body mods?
My poem “Girlie-Pop Cyborgs Dream of Revolution” might be for you! Available in the latest issue of Eye to the Telescope!
Trying a gluten-free version of my holiday staple rum cake. Since marrying into a gluten sensitivity, I’ve reserved the rum cake for work parties, but I miss making it for family events (and I’ve stopped going to my own family events 😬), so I’m going to try to make it gluten free.
Wish me luck!
Wish me luck!
November 25, 2025 at 9:17 PM
Trying a gluten-free version of my holiday staple rum cake. Since marrying into a gluten sensitivity, I’ve reserved the rum cake for work parties, but I miss making it for family events (and I’ve stopped going to my own family events 😬), so I’m going to try to make it gluten free.
Wish me luck!
Wish me luck!
Reposted by AJ Wentz
This seems to be a good time to note that I'm still hoping that we will have a Special Hugo Award for Best Poem in 2026!
I love that the special award happened and that you were nominated for it!
November 22, 2025 at 5:07 PM
This seems to be a good time to note that I'm still hoping that we will have a Special Hugo Award for Best Poem in 2026!
I have whiskey. I have a seat near the stage. I am ready to listen to some literature.
November 21, 2025 at 12:40 AM
I have whiskey. I have a seat near the stage. I am ready to listen to some literature.
Reskeet with a time you looked cool
November 21, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Reskeet with a time you looked cool
It is rainy and thundery and dark, and I should not have to leave my house, my cat, and my books.
November 20, 2025 at 1:14 PM
It is rainy and thundery and dark, and I should not have to leave my house, my cat, and my books.
Reposted by AJ Wentz
Wondering what are the BEST science fiction and fantasy books of 2025? I got you covered! Here are ten fantastical books that rocked my world and keep snagging in my mind.
www.washingtonpost.com/books/2025/1...
www.washingtonpost.com/books/2025/1...
The 10 best sci-fi and fantasy novels of 2025
From an indigenous vampire story to the tale of two sisters living in a cosmic whale, this year’s books kept us guessing.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 19, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Wondering what are the BEST science fiction and fantasy books of 2025? I got you covered! Here are ten fantastical books that rocked my world and keep snagging in my mind.
www.washingtonpost.com/books/2025/1...
www.washingtonpost.com/books/2025/1...
Discovered that my blender is broken while cooking the first soup of the season 😫
November 19, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Discovered that my blender is broken while cooking the first soup of the season 😫
please trust me with your potions and spells
I can be trusted with potions and spells
November 18, 2025 at 6:23 PM
please trust me with your potions and spells
Sorry I'm late, the autumn leaves instilled in me a simultaneous awe of nature and piercing remembrance that all things end.
November 18, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Sorry I'm late, the autumn leaves instilled in me a simultaneous awe of nature and piercing remembrance that all things end.
I will need a little Christmas two weeks from today and absolutely no sooner.
The grocery store is playing “Need a Little Christmas Now” on November 15th and I am not okay with this.
November 15, 2025 at 8:23 PM
I will need a little Christmas two weeks from today and absolutely no sooner.
I may be tired, but my notes app is full. So many glimpses of beauty lately.
November 12, 2025 at 4:27 PM
I may be tired, but my notes app is full. So many glimpses of beauty lately.
My local distillery is doing Twilight themed cocktail classes tonight, so you can expect me to be so obnoxious about it
a woman is sitting in the driver 's seat of an orange truck .
Alt: Bella Swan in a pickup truck awkwardly throwing a peace sign
media.tenor.com
November 12, 2025 at 1:18 AM
My local distillery is doing Twilight themed cocktail classes tonight, so you can expect me to be so obnoxious about it
If the history of SFF literature is at all of interest to you, you want to read Trace Elements.
Jo and Ada taught two courses using the working draft as the textbook, and they were phenomenal. I learned so much in those two semesters!
Jo and Ada taught two courses using the working draft as the textbook, and they were phenomenal. I learned so much in those two semesters!
November 10, 2025 at 2:57 PM
If the history of SFF literature is at all of interest to you, you want to read Trace Elements.
Jo and Ada taught two courses using the working draft as the textbook, and they were phenomenal. I learned so much in those two semesters!
Jo and Ada taught two courses using the working draft as the textbook, and they were phenomenal. I learned so much in those two semesters!
Got to spend the weekend in community with other poets, and I am going into the week feeling invigorated.
November 10, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Got to spend the weekend in community with other poets, and I am going into the week feeling invigorated.
Experiencing writer’s block? Try being trapped in a villa with Lord Byron! You won’t regret being trapped in a villa with Lord Byron.
November 10, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Experiencing writer’s block? Try being trapped in a villa with Lord Byron! You won’t regret being trapped in a villa with Lord Byron.
Petition for a red-letter edition of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter
(or, if this already exists, for someone to tell me where I can find it)
(or, if this already exists, for someone to tell me where I can find it)
November 10, 2025 at 12:09 AM
Petition for a red-letter edition of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter
(or, if this already exists, for someone to tell me where I can find it)
(or, if this already exists, for someone to tell me where I can find it)
Poetry is alive and well in the south, and that fills me with hope.
November 2, 2025 at 2:36 AM
Poetry is alive and well in the south, and that fills me with hope.
MORE poetry, you say 👀
Tonight kicked off the Hot Springs Poetry Festival with a reading from some amazing poets. I was truly blown away by the talent, and my creative well is overflowing from the sense of community.
You can find two of my poems in the festival zine: “Pareidolia” and “Waxwing.”
Tonight kicked off the Hot Springs Poetry Festival with a reading from some amazing poets. I was truly blown away by the talent, and my creative well is overflowing from the sense of community.
You can find two of my poems in the festival zine: “Pareidolia” and “Waxwing.”
November 2, 2025 at 2:29 AM
MORE poetry, you say 👀
Tonight kicked off the Hot Springs Poetry Festival with a reading from some amazing poets. I was truly blown away by the talent, and my creative well is overflowing from the sense of community.
You can find two of my poems in the festival zine: “Pareidolia” and “Waxwing.”
Tonight kicked off the Hot Springs Poetry Festival with a reading from some amazing poets. I was truly blown away by the talent, and my creative well is overflowing from the sense of community.
You can find two of my poems in the festival zine: “Pareidolia” and “Waxwing.”
Book mail! 🍁📙🍂 Excited to have a one-line haiku included in Issue 55 of Acorn
November 1, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Book mail! 🍁📙🍂 Excited to have a one-line haiku included in Issue 55 of Acorn
Seeing a lot of fee-based chapbook prizes extending deadlines this fall, and I’m hoping it’s because writers are choosing not to submit to pay-to-play publishers.
November 1, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Seeing a lot of fee-based chapbook prizes extending deadlines this fall, and I’m hoping it’s because writers are choosing not to submit to pay-to-play publishers.
The Cave of Creatures and Famine
Happy Halloween! 🎃 Never the house to turn off the porch lights and pretend we're not home, we made this tricky little treat for you.
Look up your birth month then the first initial or your first and last names to get the title of your horror novel. 📚
What's your horror novel title?
#HorrorSky
Look up your birth month then the first initial or your first and last names to get the title of your horror novel. 📚
What's your horror novel title?
#HorrorSky
November 1, 2025 at 12:01 AM
The Cave of Creatures and Famine
Happy Halloween 🎃 My office takes fun very seriously
October 31, 2025 at 11:48 PM
Happy Halloween 🎃 My office takes fun very seriously
Watching Over the Garden Wall and handing out candy to trick or treaters. The perfect Halloween.
a group of pumpkins are gathered around a large pumpkin with a face
Alt: GIF from Over the Garden Wall: the citizens of Pottsfield dancing
media.tenor.com
October 31, 2025 at 11:41 PM
Watching Over the Garden Wall and handing out candy to trick or treaters. The perfect Halloween.
Stepping out of SFF circles to submit to general magazines is wild. Was BCC-ed on an email to all accepted poets informing us that our poems will appear in the magazine. Which of the 3 poems I sent? 🤷♀️ Did they make sure it was still available? No.
October 30, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Stepping out of SFF circles to submit to general magazines is wild. Was BCC-ed on an email to all accepted poets informing us that our poems will appear in the magazine. Which of the 3 poems I sent? 🤷♀️ Did they make sure it was still available? No.
The downside to reading a novel so good it rewires your brain is that the next five books you read will be terrible, no matter how good they are. The magic of the amazing book has to fade before you can enjoy anything else.
October 29, 2025 at 11:37 AM
The downside to reading a novel so good it rewires your brain is that the next five books you read will be terrible, no matter how good they are. The magic of the amazing book has to fade before you can enjoy anything else.