Book One: Spellbound
Witch.
What rises when you read that word? If something stirs, read further.
The Book of Rot & Bloom is a speculative fiction anthology inspired by The Coven series by Ukrainian painter Inna Vjuzhanina. In this project, the witch is approached through a poetic lens: the knowing one: healer, witness, protector, shapeshifter, threshold-keeper, maker of impossible choices.
Inna does not frame this series as Ukrainian folklore, nor are we asking writers to retell Ukrainian folk tales. These paintings are doors into fantasy, beauty, danger, transformation, and the strange conversation that happens when visual art and story answer one another.
Choose one piece from Inna Vjuzhanina’s The Coven collection in the gallery below.
Find the witch who calls to you.
Then write the story only you can hear.
The witch from the painting must be essential to your story. They may be protagonist, antagonist, guide, beloved, monster, god, machine, memory, familiar, place, or impossible presence. Gender, species, body, and world are yours to imagine. The only rule is this:
Without this witch, the story falls apart.
What We’re Looking For
We want speculative fiction with a pulse, with compelling characters that experience change by the end of the story.
We welcome work in, around, and between speculative traditions, including but not limited to:
- mythopoeia
- magical realism
- alternate history
- fantasy
- science fiction
- gaslamp fantasy
- steam-, hope-, or solarpunk
- horror
- space opera
- sword & sorcery
- folkloric fantasy
- genre-bending work that refuses to sit politely in one chair
Your story does not need to be set in Ukraine. Your protagonist does not need to be Ukrainian. Your witch does not need to be human. We are especially interested in stories that treat the chosen artwork as a living source of inspiration rather than a decorative prompt.
We welcome controversial subjects, difficult themes, flights of fancy, tenderness, terror, and wonder. Be bold. Be thoughtful. Give us a tale that stands up and dances on the page.
Length
Stories may be up to 15,000 words.
Poetry of up to 50 lines will be considered.
Flash fiction and shorter work may be considered if it fully answers the chosen painting.
Who May Submit
Writers anywhere in the world may submit.
We also have an optional priority-read question for Ukrainian writers, Ukrainian diaspora writers, and writers currently living in or displaced by war zones. This information would be voluntary and used only to help us manage the reading process with care.
Payment
We offer a token payment of $50CAD, with goals in our fundraising campaign to raise this amount.
Submission Window
Submissions close December 1 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time.
Submit through: Submit via Google Forms HERE
How Stories Will Be Evaluated
Submissions will first be read by a slush reader pool. Recommended stories will be forwarded to the editors, who will create a long list, a short list, and a final list of accepted work.
We are looking for stories that are beautifully written, emotionally alive, imaginative, respectful, and deeply connected to the selected painting.
What We Are Not Looking For
We will not consider work that relies on ethnic stereotyping, exoticism, “orientalism,” pseudo-Slavic caricature, mangled-accent humor, or lazy cultural shorthand.
We are not interested in patriarchal stock figures such as the evil old hag, the seductive wicked woman, or the witch as a one-note object of fear or desire.
We are not looking for graphic sexual content, sexual violence, or violence included merely for shock value. Dark stories are welcome. Cruelty without purpose is not.
If your story draws from a living culture, marginalized tradition, or community that is not your own, handle that material with humility, research, and care. Stories using Romani or Sinti lore, in particular, should be approached with serious attention to sensitivity and respect.
Bring us witches with agency. Bring us transformation. Bring us rot and bloom.
