Embroidered Worlds Is Now Live on Kickstarter!

As I was preparing to write this post to announce the launch of our Kickstarter campaign for Embroidered Worlds: Fantastic Fiction from Ukraine and the Diaspora, I realized that it was almost exactly 12 years ago (September 2, 2011) that I ran my first Kickstarter campaign, along with artist Madeline Carol Matz, for our comic book, Sticks & Bones. Kickstarter was still a fairly new platform then; nonetheless, it brought together 90 backers who helped us bring that comic, with its beautifully hand-painted pages, to fruition. I love that story, and I am so grateful for the lessons my first Kickstarter taught me about collaboration and creative community.

So much has changed in those 12 years—in the world and in my life. This time, the goal of the kickstarter is to bring Ukrainian stories of the fantastic to a broader audience, in partnership with an indie publisher out of Detroit, Atthis Arts. The executive editor is author E.D.E. Bell, who works alongside managing editor Chris Bell, with the support of a team of friends and associates.

How did a small press in Detroit connect with two editors in Dnipro, Ukraine—Olha Brylova and Iryna Pasko—and one (that’s me) in Chicago? Thanks to some introductions by members of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association, writers who are living and fighting and writing though a war were able to connect with an indie publisher passionate about championing diverse and authentic voices.

You can hear from those two Ukrainian editors on the Kickstarter video (link below in the comments), and from me (I appear at the end!)  It is an honor to work alongside them and the publishers to bring you this anthology. I would have loved to discover such a collection of stories when I was young. Back in the 1980s, I could find little contemporary Ukrainian fiction, due to Soviet censorship and propaganda. I was hungry for those stories; that is part of what motivated me to start writing my own, and it is also a big reason why I am editing this anthology today.

In this terrible invasion that is part of its ongoing colonialism, Russia is trying to erase Ukraine, her people, her culture, her history, her language, her stories. Art and writing are very much an act of resistance. Science fiction, fantasy, horror, weird, and experimental genres of literature have long allowed writers to tell imaginative stories that also comment on injustice, provide an escape, celebrate authentic expression, challenge assumptions, defy stereotypes, and suggest possibilities other than the one we are living through today.

That is powerful. Stories are powerful, and that power grows when the stories are shared. Please help us to share these stories in any way you are able. There are different options on the Kickstarter campaign, and there are so many social media channels and community organizations that can help to spread the word. Reach out to me on this site if you have questions; I will do my best to answer them or find someone who can.

Thank you for your time and support. Slava Ukraini!

Maureen Seaton (1947-2023)

I just heard the news that Maureen Seaton passed away on August 26th. I’m saddened by the loss but grateful that we will always have her poetry.
A long time ago when I was at a crossroads, Maureen encouraged me to be authentic, to take creative risks, to defy expectations, to be a poet. When I think about the people who have been muses or angels in my life, who have inspired and encouraged me, Maureen is on that list.
A beloved teacher & mentor, talented poet, beautiful soul, she will be missed.
May her words & memory be eternal.
A few links to her work:

Ukraine’s Independence Day – Bread & Salt

Today is the 32nd anniversary of Ukrainian Independence. It is also day 546 since Russia began its war in Ukraine. On August 24, 1991, Ukraine regained its independence from the Soviet Union. The day is a powerful reminder of Ukrainian democracy and self-rule, and we celebrate the courage and bravery of the Ukrainian people.

Last week, at the Parliament of the World’s Religions, I participated in a ritual performance that featured goddesses from around the world offering messages to the audience, each one wearing a beautiful mask hand-made by artist Lauren Raine.

Each of us was tasked with writing something that spoke to the challenges we see around the planet: pollution, starvation, inequality, war.

It was my honor to wear a mask of the goddess Lada, as well as my embroidered folk costume from Ukraine. I carried bread and salt on top of an embroidered rushnyk, in a traditional greeting.

In Ukraine, bread and salt are offered as a sacred tradition, incorporated into celebrations that include weddings, funerals, and holidays. I asked my aunt Katia Hrynewycz, who is a baker and the owner of Chicago Cake Art, to bake a special circular bread (korovai) that could be used in the performance and then shared with the audience.

There are so many ancient ideas and stories tied to bread in Ukrainian culture: The grain is symbolic of prosperity and fertility, the circle a symbol of eternity and community, the salt exemplifies wealth and also protection. The bread may be adorned with trees, braids, birds, and more, depending on the occasion. As is the case with Ukrainian pysanky and embroidery, every object that adorns Ukrainian bread is symbolic of a blessing or intention for the people who will receive it.

On Ukrainian Independence Day, I wanted to share Lada’s message:

Lada’s Message

We come to the threshold with bread and salt,
our greeting since before maps and borders.
We say Vitayemo to welcome guests
and offer communion with treasures of
the rich black soil we call chornozem:
grains we grind to bake this holiness,
salt precious and pulled from the ground,
to preserve, to give life flavor.
Everything we have loved and grown
and lost and buried, is in that black earth.

When we say Vitayemo, we are inviting you
into our home and into our story,
with wheat grown from the heart of our Mother,
and salt from her seas and stones,
We are sharing a part of ourselves,
a part of our ancestors, our roots deep in that fertile soil.

When we say Vitayemo, we are telling you that we see you.
and we will remember the way you receive our gifts:
Will you show gratitude?
Will you take nothing more than what was offered?
Will you share something of yourself?
Will you leave the space better than when you entered?

We are living the legacy of betrayal—
what happens to bread and salt
when all is blood and butchering?

When we say Vitayemo, we enter into relationship—
I am saying that I am open to you.
Can you feel the opening of my heart?
Do you see the ripping open of my heart?
Will you watch the bleeding of all who are held in my heart?
How will you cross the threshold?

Слава Україні!  Героям слава!