Embroidered Worlds Release Day!!!

Today is the official release day for Embroidered Worlds: Fantastic Fiction from Ukraine and the Diaspora!!!

A desperate trek through the icy canyons of Mars, a doll-sized family with giant-sized opinions, a defiant princess whose fate must remain a secret… Welcome to the wild, colorful, and ever-blossoming landscapes of the Ukrainian imagination. Embroidered Worlds presents a bold glimpse into fantastic storytelling throughout Ukrainian culture, from science fiction, fantasy, and horror to slipstream, fairy tales, and more.

This collection gathers 30 short stories from writers living in wartime Ukraine, their work translated into English for the very first time, as well as from international authors of Ukrainian heritage. Come, now, and experience the magic, the terror, and the wonder-filled surprises of the worlds they’ve brought to life.

It’s a beautiful book, put together by a team of talented and dedicated people. I’m so excited that it’s out in the world, and soon physical copies will be in the hands of readers. Thank you to our publisher, Atthis Arts, for making this all possible.

As soon as the Kickstarter campaign successfully funded, the translators, publishers, and editorial team hit the ground running to get Embroidered Worlds ready for print to meet our deadlinelong days and nights spent communicating over time zones, hundreds of emails, dozens of messages, so many drafts, each one improving upon the previous version. We did it! This creative community came together to verify words, edit content, fine-tune intention, and review all the many details.

AND as we were doing that, Ukrainian pysanka artist Anna Chychula was at work crafting this beautiful, one-of-a-kind fantastic Embroidered Worlds pysanka!

I love seeing the energy of this project manifest in this beautiful pysanka. You can read more in Anna’s Embroidered Worlds Kickstarter guest post here.

AND here’s a peek at our limited edition Embroidered Worlds bookplates being printed at Bookplate Ink, in Yellow Springs Ohio!

I have more to share about the process of editing this anthology and the stories and writers and translators, and I’m hoping that things can slow down a little during the end of this year so that I have time to catch up with writing and posts and upcoming projects! This is Mother Christmas season after all….

Blessings of peace and love during this season.

 

Mother Christmas is a Locus Finalist!

I’m honored to share that Mother Christmas, Volume 1: The Muse is a finalist for the Locus Award for Illustrated and Art Book along with the nine other books listed below!


THANK YOU so much to everyone who voted in this year’s Locus Poll, and congratulations to all of this year’s finalists!!

Speaking of Mother Christmas, for anyone who attended Worldcon in Chicago (Chicon8) last year or has a membership to the Chengdu Worldcon (purchased before Feb. 1), TONIGHT is when nominations close for the Hugo Award nominations. Mother Christmas is eligible to be nominated in the category of Best Graphic Story or Comic.

If you have/had a membership, you can nominate the stories, magazines, authors, editors, and artists from 2022 that you love on the Chengdu Worldcon website:

https://hugo.chengduworldcon.com/hugo-awards/#/index

Thank you!

Come Discover the Secret Origin of Santa Claus – An Interview in Comic Book Yeti

“It was the way that Santa inspires generosity that led me to connect his mythology to that of the ancient Muses. From ancient times, the Muses have helped to direct people toward their creative potential. It seemed to me a perfect pairing: Santa as the spirit of generosity and wonder partnered with a Muse, the personification of encouragement and inspiration.”

~Valya Dudycz Lupescu

I really enjoyed being interviewed by Ty Whitton for Comic Book Yeti about Mother Christmas, and I’m delighted to share it with you here:

https://www.comicbookyeti.com/post/come-discover-the-secret-origin-of-santa-claus-an-interview-with-valya-dudycz-lupescu

Here’s a sneak peek, but I hope you’ll follow the link to read the rest!

These are the ornaments I referenced in the interview (and in the previous screenshot).