This is a space for the stories that linger. You’ll find Slavic myths retold, original poetry, book reviews, and honest writing about the creative life — the work behind the work, and the life behind the work. Old stories have always carried something we haven’t quite named yet. That’s why we keep returning to them.


Gods, spirits, and old tales

Poems for the moments that don’t fit

On writing, making things, and building a creative career

There was no drama when they rose. No thunder split the sky. No graves burst open in spectacle. In Slavic lands, the dead returned quietly,…

There’s a quiet resistance that lives inside most creative people when it comes to marketing. I’ve seen it over and over again. Writers who would…

‘Just look at those fools,’ Marzanna sighed, squinting her dark eyes at the cheering group of villagers gathered around a burbling brook. ‘I thought…

In this review of The Artist by Lucy Steeds, I explore the novel’s setting in 1920 Provence, its central characters Edouard Tartuffe, Ettie, and Joseph…

I’m Erna — writer, poet, devoted cat lady, and a marketer who came to it the strange way, through stories. Slavic mythology sits at the heart of this space, alongside original poetry, book reviews, and honest writing about the creative life.
Pull up a chair. There’s always something worth reading.
Beneath the Surface is a poetry collection about the things we don’t say out loud — the secrets, the weaknesses, the quiet monsters of everyday life. Read more.
New myths, new poems, new stories — whenever they’re ready.