Mother Christmas Book Release Is Today!

Today is my graphic novel, Mother Christmas‘s Book Birthday!

That means if you have already pre-ordered it, you should have it in your mailbox!

Thank you so much to my brilliant artist, Vic Terra, who brought all these characters and words to life! And thank you to Bill Campbell of Rosarium Publishing for bringing the dream that is Mother Christmas into the world.

I’m going to have more information about signings and fun events over the next few weeks, but today I wanted to share some of the advance praise we received for Mother Christmas. These four women are such an inspiration, and their words honor us.

‘The new mythos Valya Lupescu and Vic Terra have created in Mother Christmas is as rich as it is colorful! I was lost in the gorgeous art and story and I was sorely disappointed when I found out I only had the first arc to read! I can’t wait to find out what happens next!’  —Jill Thompson, Eisner award winning artist and creator of The Scary Godmother

“Colorful and attractive design and drawing, good character work, interesting take on myths and legends. Very entertaining!” —Colleen Doran, New York Times bestselling cartoonist of  Sandman, Wonder Woman, Neil Gaiman’s Chivalry, Snow Glass Apples

“A wondrous story about friendship and the magic we all hold deep inside.”  —Cynthia von Buhler, author/illustrator of The Illuminati Ball

“A colourful, imaginative, and heartfelt beginning, empathetically wordspun by Lupescu and vividly illustrated by Terra.”  —Brooke Bolander, Nebula & Locus Award-winning author

You can order Mother Christmas from your local independent bookstore or comic shop, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Target, Walmart, or wherever you buy your books.

(You can also also request that your library order Mother Christmas for its collection as well! Yay, librarians!)

Stay tuned for more this week, and please review the book on Amazon or Goodreads, and share on social media! #motherchristmas

Thank you & may you be blessed by the Muses!

Chicago blur: 1995 to 2020

I’m excited to share that my poem “Chicago blur: 1995 to 2020” was published this month in the poetry journal Spillway 29, guest edited by Patricia Smith, who recently won the Poetry Foundation’s Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize; and Lynne Thompson, Poet Laureate of the City of Los Angeles.

As writers and artists, we are constantly being influenced by those who came before us and those who are working alongside us. In the early days of the pandemic, in April 2020, Creative Distancing, in partnership with the Philbrook Museum of Art, published a series of creative project tutorials on YouTube, offering artistic prompts from a number of creators. One of these featured a poet, author, and educator whose work I love, Quraysh Ali Lansana, talking about a form he created, the blur poem.

If you’ve never encountered the form, you can also read Quraysh Ali Lansana’s blur poems “Tulsa blur: 1921 to 2012” and “basement blur: wisconsin“.

I was inspired to write my own blur poem and worked on it during those early months of the pandemic. I’m delighted for it to be included among so many wonderful poems in Spillway 29. The annual poetry journal is not online but is available for purchase through Small Press Distribution.

Valya holding a copy of the poetry journal Spillway 29.

A New Story in the Upcoming Anthology–A World of Horror!

I’m so excited to be a part of A World of Horror, an anthology of all-new dark and speculative fiction stories from authors all around the world that explores mythology, horror, or weird fables of their homeland. Edited by the wonderful Eric J. Guignard, and to be published in 2018 through DARK MOON BOOKS!

Here’s a peek at the Table of Contents:

·         “Mutshidzi” by MohaleMashigo (South Africa)
·         “One Last Wayang” by LChan (Singapore)
·         “Things I Do for Love” by Nadia Bulkin (Indonesia)
·         “On a Wooden Plate, on a Winter’s Night” by David Nickle (Canada)
·         “Country Boy” by Billie Sue Mosiman (United States of America)
·         “The Wife Who Didn’t Eat” by Thersa Matsuura (Japan)
·         “The Disappeared” by Kristine Ong Muslim (Philippines)
·         “The Secret Life of the Unclaimed” by  Suyi Davies Okungbowa (Nigeria)
·         “How Alfred Nobel Got His Mojo” by Johannes Pinter (Sweden)
·         “The Nightmare” by Rhea Daniel (India)
·         “Obibi” by Dilman Dila (Uganda)
·         “Chemirocha” by Charlie Human (South Africa)
·         “Sick Cats in Small Spaces” by Kaaron Warren (Australia)
·         “Arlecchino” by Carla Negrini (Italy)
·         “Warning: Flammable, See Back Label” by Marcia Douglas (Jamaica)
·         “Honey” by Valya Dudycz Lupescu (Ukraine)
·         “The Man at Table Nine” by Ray Cluley (England)
·         “The Mantle of Flesh” by Ashlee Scheuerman (Australia)
·         “The Shadows of Saint Urban” by Claudio Foti (Italy)
·         “Warashi’s Grip” by Yukimi Ogawa (Japan)
·         “The White Monkey” by Carlos Orsi (Brazil)
·         “The West Wind” by David McGroarty (Scotland)
To be illustrated by the incredibly talented artist, Steve Lines!
And cover painting by the extraordinary Kennedy Cooke-Garza!
Coming Spring 2018!