If 2023 was my year of “the short story” then 2024 was my year of Zamyatin. In my last blog post I briefly mentioned The Utopia of Us – the anthology I edited to celebrate the centenary of the first publication of Zamyatin’s We – but my brief mention there doesn’t quite convey all the many hours of work that went into this anthology.
First, of course, there was the editing of the chosen stories. Some authors’ stories came to me needing nothing whatsoever in terms of editing, but others required some polishing and one or two needed the odd bit of structural editing. Editing, as any conscientious editor will tell you, is an incredibly intense and exacting process, and whilst I was editing the stories I found it pretty much impossible to work on anything else. Plus, I had a deadline to meet! The publisher – the wonderful Francesca of Luna Press Publishing – was keen to get it published by the end of May, just in time for the Cymera Festival, where we could then launch it. So, quite frankly, I spent the spring months working my butt off to make sure all the last edits, proofreads etc. were done in time to hit our 28th May deadline. And we did it! We also sold out of copies at our launch at Cymera which proved that there definitely is an ongoing interest in Zamyatin’s work.
Unfortunately, after a week or so after my return from Cymera I became ill with some kind of bug (possibly one that was doing the rounds at Cymera, but who knows) so it took me a while to get my energy back, still… Francesca and I did what we could to gain reviews and soon enough they started coming in. It was particularly pleasing to see The Utopia of Us gain highly positive reviews over on Runalong the Shelves, SF Crowsnest, Parsec issue 11 and Supernova Reviews, as well as Amazon. Though more reviews are always appreciated!
Then, in an effort to do as much promotion as possible, the article writing started… I was honoured to have the Orwell Society publish a piece I wrote about how The Utopia of Us came into being, and then I began on an essay entitled ‘Zamyatin – Heretic, Writer, Prophet’ for the British Science Fiction Association’s critical magazine Vector (issue 300). It’s been an age since I’ve done academic-type writing (the last was probably my essay ‘Bluebeard – the Eternal Predator’ for A Shadow Within, also published by Luna Press Publishing) so I genuinely found this essay mentally challenging. Also, there was all the research and reading that it required. That said, I am incredibly proud of my essay and if you’re a member of the BSFA you’ll be able to find it in Vector. The last post I wrote about The Utopia of Us was on my husband’s blog where I explored how limerence (an obsessive kind of love) was to be found in both We and 1984.
In August, I had a wonderful time at Worldcon speaking on a panel alongside Nina Allan, Anne Charnock, Ann Gry and Niall Harrison about Zamyatin’s work and influence on dystopian fiction, and then there was another book launch at Five Leaves Bookshop in Nottingham and another panel about dystopian fiction at EdgeLit. There was also the Luna Press online launch, which was a lot of fun, as well as a final panel about dystopias and apocalypses at FantasyCon in October.
Throughout 2024, and thanks to the excellent The Englishman from Lebedian: A Life of Evgeny Zamiatin by Julie Curtis, I learned an incredible amount about Zamyatin, his life and his writings, as well as the Russian Revolutions and his stance on use of violence in revolution (he was very much against it) and his thoughts on freedom of speech (he was very much for it). All in all, I’ve come away with a much better sense of what Zamyatin was like – I believe he was a man of great integrity – and I’m proud of the part I’ve played in helping to celebrate the centenary of the first publication of We. Hopefully, I’ve brought more readers to the incredible We which really does bear rereading. Every time I dip into it I find myself compelled to read on, fascinated by the ideas he explores, the language he uses. The many ellipses in action…!
I am also very pleased to know that despite the anthology being costly to put together (in publishing terms) we’ll soon be able to start reaping royalties, which can then be sent over to the Red Cross’s Ukraine Crisis Appeal, given that the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal will be closing to donations at the end of 2024.
Once again, I want to thank Francesca of Luna Press Publishing, as well as all the wonderful writers who made The Utopia of Us a reality, and all its readers and supporters.
Here’s to 2025 and all the other amazing writers and books we are yet to discover and be inspired by…