Richard Leis

@richardleis

Writing speculative and horror poetry and fiction while working on an active Mars mission. "Curious Cat" in WEIRD FICTION QUARTERLY: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. "La fantasmas en Su Boca" nominated for the 2026 Rhysling Award. richardleis.com

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Richard Leis@richardleis· Jul 7

The @wilwrite.bsky.social Conference starts early with Mary Robinette Kowal as our online kick-off keynote speaker! Get your craft jolt on structure this July 19, 1-3 pm PDT as part of your in-person or online track registration. Here's the full schedule: willamettewriters.org/programs/con...

Conference Keynote Mary Robinette Kowal in a blue jacket with tan scarf, orange gloves, and glasses smiles at the camera while holding several books.

Richard Leis@richardleis· Jun 2

Poisoned Soup for the Macabre, Depraved and Insane: Nostalgic Terror is out and available to purchase here: brigidsgatepress.com/product/pois... The cover features fantastic artwork by Alison Flannery.

Book cover of Poisoned Soup (Brigids Gate Press) with the title centered in the top half and "Curated By Wendy Dalrymple and Grace R. Reynolds" centered near the bottom. The title is in big illustrated text in smoke rising from a bubbling cauldron of, well, poisoned green soup. The cauldron is sitting on a burning logs. In the background, hexagons depict eerie illustrated scenes like ghosts rising from holes in the ground, symbols, and other forms. Artwork by Alison Flannery.

Richard Leis@richardleis· Jun 2

A nice message in @wilwrite.bsky.social's Dispatch this morning! I'm always happy to share about Mars and @uahirise.bsky.social. I think in the photo I'm introducing two autofiction writers who didn't know each other yet. Find your people, people! None of us are alone. mailchi.mp/willamettewr...

Two autofiction writers introduced at Willamette Writers Conference 2025 by director Richard Leis in the atrium at Crowne Plaza Hotel in Portland, Oregon. The three are laughing. Photo take by Gail Pasternack.

Richard Leis@richardleis· May 16

Thank you to Katherine Quevedo for taking a picture of me at my table at the Beaverton City Library Local Author Fair today. It was a great show and people love folk horror, lol (that's the edition of Weird Fiction Quarterly that always sells well.) It was fun talking to so many readers and writers.

Richard Leis sitting behind his table at the Beaverton City Library Local Author Fair. Weird Fiction Quarterly anthologies with his flash fiction and anthologies with his poetry sit on mini-shelf on top of the table, and books and flyers are laid out elsewhere.

Richard Leis@richardleis· May 14

I got to see The Midnight on Tuesday. I took crappy pictures, but what a great show! I miss Tim McEwan being a part of the tour, but with Tyler Lyle, Justin Klunk, & all the new touring musicians, it was still The Midnight's fantastic music and energy. Opening act New Constellations was great, too!

Tyler Lyle and bandmates of The Midnight, performing at the Crystal Ballroom in Portland, Oregon under blue lights.

Tyler Lyle and bandmates of The Midnight, performing at the Crystal Ballroom in Portland, Oregon under violet lights.

Richard Leis@richardleis· Mar 11

I was one of several hosts at the Mars Reconnaissance Orbit Mars orbital insertion public event in Tucson, Arizona twenty years ago! We're still in orbit and still taking @uahirise.bsky.social pictures of the surface of Mars. Happy anniversary, MRO and instrument teams!

Richard Leis was one of the co-hosts at the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars orbital insertion event on March 10, 2006. He's holding a small microphone in front of him while gesturing. A Mars globe sits on a table nearby. Behind him is footage from NASA TV of operations waiting for confirmation that MRO made it into Mars orbit.

Richard Leis@richardleis· Jan 30

I'm practicing and looking forward to our COLD Horror Reading tomorrow at 2 p.m. at Beaverton City Library.

Richard Leis@richardleis· Dec 6

"Los Fantasmas en Su Boca," a poem about my great-grandmother protecting me from ghosts, arrives December 16 in "Poisoned Soup for the Macabre, Depraved, and Insane" from @brigidsgatepress.bsky.social. Edited by Wendy Dalrymple and Grace R. Reynolds, the anthology can be pre-ordered now.

Richard Leis@richardleis· Nov 19

I'm so proud of our team at @uahirise.bsky.social. We were able to capture images of Exocomet 3I/ATLAS with the HiRISE camera! A lot of work went into this effort, and a lot of work continues to refine and analyze these data. Congratulations everyone! www.uahirise.org/releases/3i-...

On 2 October 2025, MRO turned away from Mars to image 3I/ATLAS, only the third interstellar object ever observed passing through our solar system!

In this 3.2 second exposure, HiRISE successfully detected 3I/ATLAS at a scale of 30 km/pixel and a spacecraft distance of roughly 30 million kilometers (19 million miles). However, MRO is not well-suited to exposures of this length. The nucleus, estimated from Hubble Space Telescope images to be at most a few kilometers across, cannot be resolved in our HiRISE image. Additionally, due to spacecraft jitter during the observation period, 3I/ATLAS is smeared by several pixels. Refinement of the data continues, but we can clearly see the coma. In fact, the full coma spans our entire HiRISE image, but only the brightest inner region is detected given the exposure time used. (See an annotated version here).

Throughout October, 3I/ATLAS was too close to the Sun in Earth’s sky to be visible from most telescopes, giving MRO a unique view of the coma. While the comet will pass no closer than 270 million kilometers from Earth, it came within 30 million kilometers of Mars.

Richard Leis@richardleis· Oct 27

The Timberline Review is opening for submissions this Saturday, November 1, 2025, and there are no longer submission fees for submitters. Previously, Willamette Writers members were able to submit for free, but now everyone can! www.timberlinereview.com

Website banner for the Timberline Review, a literary magazine from Willamette Writers. The magazine title and subtitle are centered in in the graphic with an illustrated mountain scape behind the title. Behind this block is an illustration of a forest and mountain scene.

Richard Leis@richardleis· Oct 26

Speaking of props: hungry monster in a metal box, Tootsie Rolls, and a feeding orientation with reader @jbkish.bsky.social! Our talented performers had our audience engrossed and laughing. No audience members were eaten by the monster during the orientation.

J.B. Kish provides a monster feeding orientation at the Horror Authors Book Party at the Beaverton City Library while audience members look on. Behind him, a green metal box holding the monster sits on a table decorated for the Halloween event.

Richard Leis@richardleis· Oct 26

Writer @niyyahwrites.bsky.social brought fantastic performances, costumes, & props (her daughter behind a box with a potato and other head props for a headless horseman tale!) to two well-attended Halloween readings in Portland and Beaverton, OR this weekend. This is from Beaverton City Library.

Niyyah Ruscher-Haqq in costume reading a headless horseman tale in front of an audience while her daughter crouched behind a box prop holds up a potato and other prop heads.

Richard Leis@richardleis· Oct 15

Not my usual genre, but I enjoyed @rebeccamzornow.bsky.social's new romantasy novella "Landsome Roads" a lot! It's meta, it's funny, it's surprisingly tense, and it includes great moments like the heroine explaining cosmology in a magical, medieval setting. rebeccamzornow.com/landsome-roa...

Landsome Roads by Rebecca M. Zornow, a romantasy hardcover with the heroine on the cover glancing over her shoulder and heading toward a massive castle in a gorgeous fantasy setting. The book was photographed on an end table with autumn decorations, including orange candles and faux orange and yellow leaves and flowers.

Richard Leis@richardleis· Sep 19

I'll be with @hwaoregon.bsky.social at Salem Pride in the Park tomorrow! We'll be selling horror books and talking about the HWA (@horrorwritersassoc.bsky.social), including our local chapter. Come find us! salemcapitalpride.org/pride/

Richard Leis@richardleis· Aug 28

My choices for first and second place were relatively easy to make, but it was tough choosing a third-place poem for this year's Dwarf Stars Award, because there are so many strong contenders. I ended up going with brevity and strong imagery over other considerations. sfpoetry.org/wp/dwarf-sta...

Cover image: Running Man by Pam Gordimer, featuring reds, blues, and black in a space scape of nebulas and a vague running figure (I also see a skull fleeing through the universe!)

Richard Leis@richardleis· Aug 12

One of my first tasks when I started my job @uahirise.bsky.social was... attending the launch of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, since it was carrying our camera. 🚀 We continue to take images of the surface of Mars with the HiRISE camera 20 years later.

Launch of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on August 12, 2005 taken from viewing area across water. Billowing smoke and engine flames as launch vehicle containing MRO clears the ground and rises quickly into the sky.

Richard Leis@richardleis· Jun 5

SFWA is raising money to support the professional science fiction, fantasy, and horror organization with its annual silent auction. There are pages of old journals, signed books, meetings with editors, and much more up for auction here: www.biddingforgood.com/wbi

Richard Leis@richardleis· Apr 15

One episode to go. I'm still waiting.

Anakin-Padme Meme. In the upper left corner, Anakin sitting in the grass and says "Great guest stars on the latest Daredevil: Born Again episodes." Padme on the upper right with a big smile says "She-Hulk, right?" Anakin on the lower left does not respond. Padme with a worried look on the lower right repeats "She-Hulk, right?"

Richard Leis@richardleis· Mar 24

9 days left to support "Claw Machine: The Anthology" and meanwhile I found these claw machines installed in my local Albertsons this weekend! www.kickstarter.com/projects/jus...

Claw Machines installed at a local Albertsons, with two levels of machines for short and taller people, and machines on either side of the vending machine-like payment console. The items inside appear to be mostly plush creatures.

Richard Leis@richardleis· Mar 1

If you're looking for a fantastic online writing conference, or you're nearby or can travel to Portland, Oregon this summer for the incredible in-person experience, I recommend the Willamette Writers Conference, happening July 30 - August 3, 2025. willamettewritersconference.org

Text over a blurred background of particles like rain or beach sand: "July 30th through August 3rd, Willamette Writers Conference."

Richard Leis@richardleis· Jan 11

Leaving Soon (and Staying Here!)

Leaving Soon

I'm so sorry:
I'll be leaving the Meta properties.
This A.I. slop, misinformation, lies,
algorithmic order, refusal to prioritize
friends, family, groups to which I belong,
any sense of “social” a pipe dream, long gone.

I hate it here—
not your fault, to be clear.
This is all Meta and its ridiculous CEO’s
fault. Bigots and bots, angry tech bros,
MAGA and sycophants…
it’s all too much. I just want

to try again elsewhere,
Bluesky or fair
-er weather, writing blogs,
a return to analog,
meeting friends for lunch…
anywhere is better, without Zuck (or Musk.)

Richard Leis@richardleis· Dec 30

For writers of any genre at any level, any age, and any location: Writer and writing teacher Reneé Bibby hosts a free online Rejection Competition every year: reneebibby.com/rejectioncom...

Silhouettes of a victor and camels led by a cameleer against a dark pink sky. The text reads: Rejection Competition 2025. Submit. Get rejected. Rack up points. Open to all writers of all levels, all genres, all ages, all over the world. reneebibby.com/rejectioncompetition."

Richard Leis@richardleis· Oct 22

Here's an updated author list for this Saturday's "Meet a Horror Author Halloween Party" at Beaverton City Library, taking place between 1-3 PM.

Flyer for "Meet a Horror Author Halloween Party" on Saturday, October 26 from 1 to 3 p.m at Beaverton City Library, Meeting Room B. Graphic of a cute pumpkin walking with candy and a thumb up, along with a bat, stars, leaves, and dots. Background is wrinkled paper or cloth. All Ages Welcome. Books, treats, candy, stories. Featuring host Frances Ippolito and Wendy Wagner, Andrew Fuller, Katherine Quevedo, Richard Leis, J.B. Kish, Sarah Walker, Eric Grove, Niyyah Ruscher-Haqq

Richard Leis@richardleis· Oct 19

I'll be reading a second time next week! Saturday, October 26, several local horror writers will read at the Beaverton City Library's "Meet a Horror Author Halloween Party." We'll be reading between 1-3 PM, and there will be treats, decorations, and books for sale!

Flyer for Beaverton City Library's "Meet a Horror Author Halloween Party" on Saturday, October 26 from 1 to 3 p.m. Graphic of a cute walking pumpkin with candy, a thumb up, and a bat, along with stars, leaves, and dots. Background is wrinkles paper or cloth. Meeting Room B. All Ages Welcome. Books, treats, candy, stories. Featuring Wendy Wagner, Andrew Fuller, Katherine Quevedo, Richard Leis, J.B. Kish, Sarah Walker, Frances Ippolito.

Richard Leis@richardleis· Oct 17

I'll be reading spooky stories with other Oregon HWA members on Friday, October 25, 2024 at 7:00 p.m. PT at BOLD Coffee & Books in Portland.

Richard Leis@richardleis· Sep 16

Bluesky now has over 10 million users, and I was #3,134,342!

Richard Leis@richardleis· Sep 10

"City as Fairy Tale," the second of my poems in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, is now available in the Summer 2024 issue on @weightlessbooks.bsky.social. weightlessbooks.com/the-magazine...

Cover of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Summer 2024, by Mondolithic Studios, with an image of a ruined arch at the edge of a cliff overlooking a lake surrounded by mountains, with three silver UFOs hovering in the blue cloudy sky above. In addition to the magazine banner, authors and stories are listed: "Phoenix Alexander: Slickerthin," "Another Such Victory, Albert Chu," "Esther M. Friesner, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Xinwei Kong, Marie Vibbert." Barcode with pricing and "Display Until Oct 29."

Richard Leis@richardleis· Sep 6

Book review: WE ARE HERE TO HURT EACH OTHER by Paula D. Ashe. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ richardleis.com/2024/09/06/w...

Book cover for We Are Here to Hurt Each Other by Paula D. Ashe, with a face made of teeth in front of a city and a black-winged person, with splatters of blood, in a grim, desolate, and faded style

Richard Leis@richardleis· Jul 17

I am amazed and honored that my poem “After ‘Wave, North Shore of Oahu’ Photograph” was recognized as runner-up for The Paulann Petersen Award for Poetry, part of the Willamette Writers and The Timberline Review's annual Kay Snow Awards. My heartfelt thank you. Congratulations to all the winners!

Announcement of Kay Snow Winners, including first place and runner-up in nonfiction, fiction, scriptwriting, and The Paulann Petersen Award for Poetry.

Richard Leis@richardleis· Jul 16

Another great bundle of recent anthologies from @joshuapalmatier.bsky.social/Zombies Need Brains has arrived, and ZNB will be Kickstarting their next anthologies soon. Now to read, read, read, and read.