F.I. and Joel Goldhaber, poet and authors of science fiction and fantasy

April 16, 2026

"Rebellion"

Compromise his music or sacrifice his soul? Fisk rebels against the worst organist ever encountered in more than four decades of filling his church with heavenly music. But when the rector blames him for the resulting dissonance, must he make the ultimate sacrifice?

It always pays, sometimes quite literally, to read a publication's guidelines before sending in a submission. In doing so last year, I spotted this in an essay by the editor of Zooscape, Mary E. Lowd: "the word 'furry' isn’t really about fur. When it comes to the fandom and genre, 'furry' is really a shorter, catchier, much easier to spell, stand-in for 'anthropomorphic.' If you’ve ever tried to spell 'anthropomorphized' regularly, you’ll understand the desirability of a catchier, easier to spell word. … You can also anthropomorphize rose bushes, toasters, and if you're watching Tuca and Bertie, apparently every single goddamn thing in the universe. … clearly, the definition of 'furry' is a lot less limited than people often assume."

That definition is certainly broader than I ever imagined. After reading that essay, I immediately sent "Rebellion" in for consideration as a reprint, which is how it came to appear in Issue 26: Conscripted to Fight of Zooscape.

Zooscape is a literary magazine of fantastic furry fiction where the animals can talk, magic flows, and the stars are in reach.

"Stain" (a Fibonacci)

"Stain" was first written as a Shadorma two years ago. Since then it has been sent out for consideration as a prose poem and blank verse as well. It finally found a home, after 61 rejections, as a Fibonacci, appearing on crime poetry weekly The Five-Two February 2, 2026.

Publishing an original poem each Monday, The Five-Two's "purpose is to bring current and historical wrongdoing to light". You can also listen to me read "Stain" on editor Gerald So's YouTube channel.