Draft:Frank Coffman

Frank Coffman (Dean Franklin Coffman, Jr. [1948-]) is a writer of speculative poetry, speculative fiction, and scholarly research He is a retired professor of English, Creative Writing, and Journalism. A Formalist poet, his speculative verse regularly appears in a variety of journals, magazines, anthologies, and collections.

Biography
Coffman was born 29 June 1948 in Decatur, Illinois, the son of Dean Franklin Coffman, Sr. and Melva Irene (nee Arnold) Coffman. After graduating from Stephen Decatur High School with honors, he attended Millikin University [Decatur, IL], earning a B.A. in English and Secondary Education. He later received both an M.A. in English (1975) and an M.S. in Journalism (1985) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He did work on the PhD in English at Northern Illinois University, passing the comprehensive exams in 19th Century British Literature, Modern British Literature, and American Literature Since the Civil War. His dissertation work was on G. K. Chesterton and the Philosophical Detective Story.

Writing
He is a traditional, meter-and-rhyme, formalist poet, making use of exotic, cross-cultural, ancient to modern, and experimental-inventive forms.

His published poetry collections include: Coffman Street: Poems for Robert E. Howard (2006); This ae Nighte, Every Nighte and Alle [chapbook 2018]; The Coven's Hornbook & Other Poems (2019); Khayyám's Rubáiyát (2019); Black Flames & Gleaming Shadows (2020); The Exorcised Lyric [collaborating with Steven Withrow] (2021); Eclipse of the Moon (2021); and ''What the Night Brings (2023).

His short fiction has appeared in Test Patterns, Quoth the Raven, Caravans Awry, Eldritch Tales, Thirty White Horses on a Vermillion Hill, Hell's Empire, Spooky Stories, and others. His collection of occult detective stories, Three Against the Dark: Dr. Venn Occult Detective Mysteries (2022) will be followed by Maxime Miris: Twelve Tales of Horror, the Weird, and the Supernatural (early 2024).

His scholarly research work includes his collection, with introduction and commentary, Robert E. Howard: Selected Poems (2007) and articles published in Studies in Fantasy, Conan Meets the Academy, Two-Gun Bob: A Centenary Study of Robert E. Howard.

He is a member of the Horror Writers Association and the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association. He founded and moderates the Weird Poets Society Facebook site.

Editing & Publishing
He is the founder, publisher, and editor of Mind's Eye Publications that produces the semi-annual Journ-E: The Journal of Imaginative Literature [vernal and autumnal equinoxes] that presents fiction, poetry, scholarly research, and other non-fiction articles and notes in the genres of Adventure, Detection & Mystery, Fantasy, Horror & the Supernatural, and Science Fiction. Mind's Eye Publications [ mindseyepublication.com ] also publishes the work of various poets and authors as well as themed collections, thus far including: The Gargoylicon and The Vampiricon.

Awards & Nominations
Coffman's poetry has been nominated for both the Rhysling and Elgin Awards from the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association. His poetry collections have had preliminary consideration (first round of balloting) for the Stoker Award for Poetry Collection from the Horror Writers Association. Individual poems have placed in the annual contests of the SFPA.

Poetry Collections
The Ae Nighte, Every Nighte and Alle [chapbook], 2018, Mind's Eye Publications

The Coven's Hornbook & Other Poems, Bold Venture Press, 2019

Khayám's Rubáiyát, Bold Venture Press, 2019,

Black Flames & Gleaming Shadows, Bold Venture Press, 2020

Eclipse of the Moon, Mind's Eye Publications, 2021,

The Exorcised Lyric (with Steven Withrow), 2022, Mind's Eye Publications

What the Night Brings, Mind's Eye Publications, 2023

Fiction Collections
Three Against the Dark: Collected Dr. Venn Occult Detective Mysteries, Mind's Eye Publications, 2022. 

Scholarly Research
Robert E. Howard: Selected Poems, Mind's Eye Publications, 2007

"Barbarism Ascendant: The Poetic and Epistolary Origins of the Character and His World" in Conan Meets the Academy: Multidisciplinary Essays on the Enduring Barbarian, (ed.) Jonas Prida, Marfarland & Co., 2019,