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.


I approached Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead with the particular wariness reserved for books that arrive already garlanded with praise. The Pulitzer. Oprah’s Book Club. Raving reviews online. The kind of unanimous applause that makes a reader suspicious before they’ve even cracked the spine. I was wrong to hesitate. The Boy Behind the…

Gods, spirits, and old tales

Poems for the moments that don’t fit

On writing, making things, and building a creative career

“Sometimes you need to scorch everything to the ground, and start over. After the burning the soil is richer, and new things can grow. People…

Publication Date: July 21, 2020Publisher: Macmillan Publishing Group ‘It was the kind of day in Buttonwood, Alabama, where trouble slipped into town with the breeze,…

“She sowed in my mind the idea that reality is not only what we see on the surface; it has a magical dimension as well…

We trod the cobbled courts around Karluv Most Played the fiddle in Piazza San Marco Gambled with rain in Gamla Stan Bought books in Berlin Awaited the…

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.