David C. Kopaska-Merkel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
David C. Kopaska-Merkel is an American geologist, poet, and editor.
Kopaska-Merkel holds a doctorate in geology. He has worked for the Geological Survey of Alabama in Tuscaloosa[1] and has co-authored numerous articles on topics in paleontology and geology published in peer-reviewed journals such as Computers & Geosciences, The AAPG Bulletin, and the International Journal of Coal Geology. He has also co-authored books addressing topics in the same subject areas. Kopaska-Merkel is a member of the National Center for Science Education.[2]
As an author of fiction, Kopaska-Merkel started out writing short stories. He switched to writing poetry while his partner was pregnant with their first child, a daughter, and since that time has concentrated more on poetry than on prose fiction. Strange Horizons editor Romie Stott has described Kopaska-Merkel's writing style as reminiscent of "a Beat poet who turned down an odd alley in Haight-Ashbury and wound up in outer space."[3] As a poet, his work in the genres of dark fantasy and horror has been especially noted by reviewers.[4]
In 1986, Kopaska-Merkel founded Dreams & Nightmares, "one of the oldest speculative poetry magazines" on record,[3] recognized by reviewers in the field as "a good bet for literate, enjoyable horror and dark fantasy poetry,"[5] a venue readers can reliably turn to for "weird and often dark poetry."[6] Since the magazine's inception, Kopaska-Merkel has acted as sole editor of more than 100 issues.[7] In 2020, Dreams & Nightmares had a subscriber base of 88 and a print run of 140 copies.[8]
Kopaska-Merkel also acted as editor of the speculative poetry journal Star*Line from 1996 to 2002.[9] In 2020, he guest-edited an issue of online poetry magazine Eye to the Telescope.[10]
From 2011 to 2014, Kopaska-Merkel held the post of president of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association.
