Author Jay Sturner

Was looking through a pile of my 25+ year-old poems and decided it might be fun to release a few of them through a DIY chapbook, if only to say I actually published something this year. The material, of course, is from a very different era of my life; it consists, mostly, of sentimental love and heartbreak poems. But what I like about them is their youthful honesty and lack of pretension. This was before the internet, and before I had any intention of publishing anything. So when will the thing come out? Not sure. Maybe November.

Wrapping up final edits to a blurb for a fellow writer whose stellar book of poetry will be released in November. I'll share details when they become available.

For over ten years, my poem "A Tree" could be read along Meadow Lake near the visitor center at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois. It was written when I worked in the herbarium there. The poem was later published in my book Kairos . Here's the poem. A tree is a treasure burst forth into the sky; a fissured relic covered in emeralds that change with the voice of equinox. A tree is a benevolent caretaker for the wild; a framework of weathered arms holding nests, refuge, and insect treats. A tree is a teacher of patience and endurance; a primeval soul bearing the fruit and labor of the illusion we call Time. A tree is our third parent of unconditional love; a haven of cool shade and wonderment beneath a sentry of leaves.

Officially autumn, but the leaves have only just begun to change: a splash of red here, a wisp of yellow there. It’s as if an uncountable number of dripping paintbrushes are poised over the land, silently waiting to angle down and start their work.

After a short hiatus from writing, I'm happy to share the news that my prose poem "Honorary God" will be appearing in the Winter 2026 issue of Spectral Realms .

"Variations on the I-Ching," co-written with writer Jennifer Crow, has been published in the  Winter Solstice 2024 issue of   Eternal Haunted Summer and can be read by clicking  here .

The latest issue of Weird Fiction Quarterly is now available and includes my story "Moon Masks." The title/theme of this issue is 'Masquerade.' Paperback Version Digital Version (coming soon)

The Autumnal Equinox 2024 issue of  JOURN-E: The Journal of Imaginative Literature  is now available and includes my Clark Ashton Smith-inspired prose poem "The Thing at the Dream Gate." Available in both paperback and PDF versions via the links.

Issue #106 of Yellow Mama Webzine is now live and contains my poems "Venom and Bite," a poem that didn't make it into my chapbook Shadows and Sparks , and "Walking the Suburb," which I wrote in my head while walking the neighborhood. To read "Venom and Bite," click here . To read "Walking the Suburb," click here . Image by Kelly Moyer.

When Confronted by an Elder God... Grab your phone, get video, try for a sample. Then run like hell to a scientist and co-author a peer-reviewed article—win a Nobel! Don’t just stand there and lose your mind. Going mad is so last century. Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s penchant for  having characters “go mad” in several of his stories. It  was first published in Aphelion Webzine in 2024.