Various Authors

Embroidered Worlds: Fantastic Fiction from Ukraine and the Diaspora

Paperback

edited by Valya Dudycz Lupescu, Olha Brylova, and Iryna Pasko

$24.95

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ISBN: 978-1-961654-10-5 Categories: , ,

Description

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.

Yuriy Vynnychuk
translated by Michael Naydan
“An Embroidered World”
A.D. Sui “Svitla”
Oleksiy Zhupansky
translated by Kateryna Darchyk
“Havrylovna”
R.B. Lemberg “Geddarien”
Ostap Ukrainets
translated by Oksana Katsanivska
“Neptune’s Day”
Max Kidruk
translated by Tetiana Savchynska
“Closest to the Pole”
Mykhailo Nazarenko
translated by Claire Haffner
“Big Nose and the Faun”
N. R. M. Roshak “A Bitter Thing”
Éva Berniczky
translated by Bogi Takács
“The Dreamers of Ungvár”
David Demchuk “Three Forest Tales”
Yaryna Katorozh
translated by Kateryna Darchyk
“The Bike Shadow”
Olha Brylova
translated by Anatoly Belilovsky
“Iron Goddess of Compassion”
Anatoly Belilovsky “Three Love Stories”
Vasyl Dukhnovskyi
translated by Tetiana Savchynska
“A Hole in the Shape of God”
Myroslava Hornostayeva
translated by Konstantin Boulich
“The Stray Streetcar (A ’90s Businessman’s Tale)”
Iryna Pasko
translated by Hanna Leliv
“The Rainbow Bridge”
Elizabeth Bear “Lest We Forget”
Olena Krasnoselska
translated by Oksana Katsanivska
“Scream”
Oleksiy Gedeonov
translated by Svetlana Lavochkina
“The Midst of Snow”
Stefan O. Rak “The Long Black Veil”
Ihor Silivra
translated by Konstantin Boulich
“Family v1.1”
Károj D. Balla
translated by Bogi Takács
“In the Belly of the Dinosaur”
Askold Melnyczuk “A Brief History of the Little : People”
Halyna Lipatova
translated by R.B. Lemberg
“The Last of the Beads”
Vira Balatska
translated by Michael M. Naydan and Alla Perminova
“Revenge in Pursuit”
Oleh Silin
translated by Anatoly Belilovsky
“To See Jupiter”
Valya Dudycz Lupescu “Honey”
Tetyana Adamenko
translated by Gari Light
“‘Kestrel’ Travel Agency”
Svitlana Taratorina
translated by Tetiana Savchynska
“Battle of the Gods”
Volodymyr Arenev
translated by Hanna Leliv
“To the Garden”

Cover illustration by Taras Kopansky.

Media

Review by Nicole Yurcaba, Chytomo

Accolades

Longlist – 2023 British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) Awards for Collection

Reviews

“Bold and brave, its stories are a testament to the role of storytelling and remembering in Ukrainian culture. More so, Embroidered Worlds is a reminder to the world that Ukrainians do, and always will, exist.” – Nicole Yurcaba, Chytomo

“An amazing collection of short stories from the best Ukrainian sci fi and fantasy authors, made even more poignant because of the current war. The stories are very different and still heartbreakingly lovely, and the introduction is very helpful in telling the reader more about the authors and their own histories. Excellent book that I hope will be more popular with the Western readers.” – Rina Iosad, Book Reviewer

Places where you can help Ukrainians in need

And a message from translator Hanna Leliv: 2 January 2024

No donation is too small.

  • Chytomo magazine is the largest independent media covering publishing and contemporary literary and cultural processes in Ukraine. https://chytomo.com/en
  • The Hospitallers is a volunteer organization of paramedics who assist those who need immediate treatment, directly on the front line. https://www.hospitallers.life/
  • Dobrobat is a volunteer construction battalion that assists the survivors in de-occupied territories in the urgent restoration of housing and social infrastructure. http://dobrobat.in.ua
  • Unite with Ukraine is using funds raised to supply items such as medical and protective equipment to the front line. https://unitewithukraine.co
  • UA Animals actively helps animals within war zones: evacuate, provide feed and medicines for shelters. https://uanimals.org/en
  • Razom funds projects that are designed to have immediate manifestations of impact, with a focus on the needs on the ground to support Ukraine and on opportunities to amplify voices from Ukraine. https://www.razomforukraine.org
  • The Leleka Foundation focuses on first aid, evacuation, and definitive care of war casualties in Ukraine by funding front-line medical professionals. https://www.leleka.care/donate
  • Dignitas seeks to empower the Ukrainian people by providing essential humanitarian supplies, technology, training initiatives, and expert guidance. https://dignitas.fund

Valya Dudycz Lupescu is a writer, poet, and editor living in Chicago. She is the author of the The Silence of Trees, a magical realism novel drawing upon Ukrainian folklore and history, as well as co-author of the nonfiction books Geek Parenting and Forking Good. The first volume of her new graphic novel trilogy, Mother Christmas, was published by Rosarium Publishing in 2022. Valya earned her M.F.A. in writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and her work has been published in The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, Kenyon Review, Gone Lawn, Jersey Devil Press, Strange Horizons, Mythic Delirium, and others. She is the founding editor of Conclave: A Journal of Character and co-founder of the Wyrd Words Storytelling Workshop. Valya has been making magic with food and words for more than 30 years, incorporating traditions from her Ukrainian heritage with practices that honor the Earth.

Olha Brylova has lived in Dnipro, Ukraine, since her early childhood and cannot imagine living in a city without a big river. She has studied Japanese language and literature at Oles Honchar Dnipro National University, translated Japanese poetry into Ukrainian, and written several novels; recently, she has been writing screenplays for TV and video games. She dreams of becoming a showrunner of a big SF TV series and is sure that one day she will become one. Olha doesn’t fixate on any one particular genre — she has written fantasy, space opera, speculative fiction, and her next big thing is a detective story. She is also a huge cinephile and runs a blog about movies and TV series in partnership with her son Arseniі. She loves cats, including the one that is nibbling at her toes right now.

Iryna Pasko lives in Dnipro, Ukraine. She graduated from Oles Honchar Dnipro National University, a candidate of philological sciences majoring in Ukrainian literature. She taught at her alma mater from 2013 to 2022, and now works at the New Ukrainian School media and at the Dnipro Art Museum. Iryna has been shortlisted for the ProМинуле historical short story contest three times; and she has twice won the Starfort (Зоряна фортеця) fantastic short story contest. In 2021, Iryna was a finalist in the all-Ukrainian poetry competition Granoslov. In 2021-2022, she participated in the “Independence Agency” project, a collection of fantastic stories dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the restoration of Ukraine’s Independence; and Legendarium of the Wonder Cities (retellings of fairy tales). In 2022, Iryna wrote the online comic “Things” (“Речі”) about the experience of living the war in a relatively safe city, and she co-organized the fantasy-poetry competitions at the Аль Мор festival (2022) and the story competition #ракбоятисьне_можна (2022-2023). Before the full-scale war, Iryna collaborated with the Book Space Dnipro and Gogolfest (in Dnipro and Mariupol), as a lecturer and tour guide.

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Various Authors

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