Cheap haiku books

After Christmas is the best time to buy a lot of things. If you're looking for some inexpensive haiku, check out these offers:

- Breath Marks by Gary Hotham, $4 online from Barnes & Noble ($8 list price)

- The Haiku Handbook, 25th Anniversary Edition, by William J. Higginson & Penny Harter, $12.24 from Amazon ($18 list price)

- The Essential Haiku: Versions of Basho, Buson, & Issa, translated by Robert Hass, $11.55 from Amazon ($16.99 list price)

- The Sound of Water: Haiku by Basho, Buson, Issa, and Other Poets, translated by Sam Hamill, $8.69 from Amazon ($10.95 list price)

I have all of these books except for the last one, and (unfortunately) I paid much more than they're selling for now. I can definitely recommend each of the first three -- Breath Marks is a great collection of haiku from an American master, The Haiku Handbook is an invaluable resource for anyone who wants to learn more about the form (either appreciating it or writing it), and Essential Haiku includes a large selection of well-translated poems from the Japanese masters. The Sound of Water looks like a good collection as well (I like Sam Hamill's translations that I've read in another collection) and I'll probably have to get that one.

New issue of Trembles, Apex closed for poetry, a haiga

The new issue of Trembles (the November/December double issue) is out now, available as either a print mag ($7.99), as a Kindle or Nook download (99¢), or as a download for other digital formats ($1.29). It's filled with around 100 pages of fiction and poetry, including one of mine. I haven't read the whole issue yet, but what I have read I've liked.

Apex Magazine is apparently closed to poetry submissions for now, according to Ralan (even though their guidelines page says that they're still accepting them) but they are reading fiction submissions.

And lastly, here's a really good haiga by W.F. Owen.

A poetry contest & a good book deal

The Pennsylvania Poetry Society hosts a poetry contest every year. (This is the 60th one.) This contest has many different categories, including one for haiku, senryu, and tanka. There is a $2 entry fee per poem for non-members, and poems must be unpublished. There are two prizes for each category -- $100 and $75 for category #1 (The Grand Prize), and $30 and $20 for the other categories. All entries must be postmarked by January 15th.

If you're looking for free online reading, new issues of Sketchbook, Shamrock, and The Heron's Nest are available. And a good generational haiku can be read over at tinywords.

For fans of good science fiction and horror fiction, you can currently pick up a SIGNED copy of Charles Gramlich's Cold in the Light, from the author himself. One signed copy of the book is only $8, which is significantly cheaper than ordering an unsigned copy from Amazon would be.

Cold in the Light is a great book, and if there were a sequel I'd buy it in a minute. You can read blurbs about it by people much more famous than me on the Amazon page. Visit the author's blog for information on ordering a copy.

Norman Partridge ebook 99 cents today only

Norman Partridge fans (and those who've never read him) can get a copy of the Wildest Dreams ebook today only for just 99 cents. This horror novel is regularly priced at $4.99, so if you want to check out Norman Partridge, now's a good time to do it.

Two markets

Ghostlight is the magazine of the Great Lakes Association of Horror Writers. Their current reading period ends December 31st, and next year they'll be cutting back on their issues as well as eliminating poetry, so now is a good time to submit. The magazine pays $5 per story or $4 per poem, and their listed response time is one month. (Click on the "Ghostlight guidelines" link to view the guidelines in PDF form.)

Daily Science Fiction doesn't publish horror, but they will consider dark fantasy. They pay 8¢ per word for stories anywhere from 100 to 10,000 words long, and there's a chance they could choose to reprint your story at some time in the future, in which case you'd get paid more. They typically respond in under a month.

Two open markets, a haiku

Ideomancer is open for submissions again, through the end of January. They pay 3 cents per word, or $6 per poem, and respond in a month or less.

Abyss & Apex (which now has a new website) has also started a new reading period, but only for the month of December and only for poetry submissions. Up to 3 poems can be submitted at a time, and payment is $5 per poem.

Here is a really good haiku by Alexander B. Joy, posted at tinywords today.