Major influences include his parents, a scientist and an English teacher, Walt Kelly, JRR  Tolkien, and Keith Laumer.  Humor, science fiction, and humorous science fiction were the almost inevitable paths taken by his writing.

A collaboration with Kendall Evans won the Rhysling award of the Science Fiction Poetry Association for the best long science fiction or fantasy poem of 2006.

His science fiction and fantasy poetry magazine, Dreams and Nightmares, received a $100 grant from the Professional Book Center.

Dreams and Nightmares has been continuously published since 1986 (81 issues at the time of writing).

15 chapbooks of poetry and short fiction have been published since 1991.

Poetry and fiction books by David C. Kopaska Merkel 1.underfoot, the runaway spoon press, 1991, ISBN 0-926935-60-7, available from the author, $3 postpaid 2.a round white hole, dbqp press, 1993, possibly out of print 3.The Conspiracy Unmasked, Dark Regions Press, 1994 4.hunger, Preternatural press, 1996, out-of-print 5.Results of a preliminary investigation of the electrochemical properties of some organic matrices , Eraserhead Press, 1999, possibly out of print 6.Y2K survival kit, smoldering banyan press 1999, out-of-print 7.The Ruined City, gnarled totem press, 2003, Out of print 8.Shoggoths, Sam's Dot publishing, 2003 9.The Deadbolt Casebook, Sam's Dot publishing (fiction), 2004 10.the egg show, speakeasy press, 2005, ISBN 0-9762962-0-9 ($40, entirely handmade including the paper) www.speakeasypress.com 11.I don't know what you're having, Sam's Dot publishing, 2005 12.Separate Destinations (with Kendall Evans), D66 Press, 2005, ISBN 1-892958-02-3 13.Hasp Deadbolt, Private Eye, Sam's Dot publishing (fiction), 2007 14.Drowning Atlantis, spechouseofpoetry.com, 2007 15.The Memory of Persistence, Naked Snake Press, www.nakedsnakepress.com, 2007 Items 8, 11, 12, and14 are available from spechouseofpoetry.com or GenreMall.com. 4 new books are in the works for late 2008 and 2009 from three different publishers.

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all about Kopaska-Merkel's venerable science fiction and fantasy poetry magazine

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