Earthseed: Honoring the Past and Future of Feminist Science Fiction 

A celebration and open mic event!

Celebrating Octavia Butler and her legacy, as well as all of our PNW women in speculative fiction that have made an impact on the field. Featured readers include Amber Flame, Rashida J. Smith (CW ‘05), and Imani Sims. 

June 25 from 5:30pm-9pm, at Third Place Commons

The schedule includes an artwork unveiling at the bus stop, a reception with light refreshments in the Commons between, original music inspired by Parable of the Sower, open mic readings, and three readings from our featured guests. 

This event is brought to you by: Third Place Commons, Clarion West, Two Hour Transport, The Bushwick Bookclub, Third Place Books, Terry Morgan, King County Metro, and the Lake Forest Park in Action Book Club/Lake Forest Park Climate Hub.

Schedule

• 5:30 p.m. Art unveiling at the bus stop with opening remarks from King County Metro, the Lake Forest Park Mayor, and the Lake Forest Park Deputy Mayor.
• 6:00 p.m. Sign-up for the Open Mic
• 6:30 p.m. Music Inspired by Parable of the Sower
• 6:45 p.m. Five-Minute Open Mic Readings
• 7:25 p.m. Break
• 7:35 p.m. Featured Readers

GUIDELINES FOR READERS

Open-mic readings will be in-person only. We will have 10 slots for 5 minute readings. Please bring your original work, poems, short fiction, and essays — are all welcome.

Consider reading your original work, poems, short fiction, and essays — all are welcome. Your original work inspired by Octavia Butler, Ursula Le Guinn, Vonda N. McIntyre, and other feminist authors of science fiction and fantasy are encouraged. We request that readers present only original material and do not read material that has been written with, or by, AI.

More about our Featured Readers: 

Amber Flame is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, and educator whose work garnered residencies with Hedgebrook, Vermont Studio Center, Hugo House, Wa Na Wari, and more. Flame explores spirituality and sexuality, cross-woven with themes of grief, loss, motherhood, magic, and interstitial joy. As the singer-songwriter of jazz-inspired, country-sauced blues band, Last of the RedHot Mamas, Flame sings about Black queer life. Co-founder and Deputy Publisher of Generous Press, a romance house publishing Black and brown, queer, and disabled love stories, Flame’s poetry and essays have been published in diverse arenas and anthologies, including Wanting: Women Writing About Desire. Ordinary Cruelty, Flame’s full-length poetry collection, published in 2017 through Write Bloody Press; the second book, apocrifa, launched May 2023 from Red Hen Press, with a third collection forthcoming in fall 2027. Flame is at work writing essays, a film, and a romance novel while raising a talented kid in Tacoma, Washington.

Find Amber on Instagram @theamberflame & online at https://www.theamberflame.com/

Rashida J. Smith (CW ‘05) writes stories about the things that go bump in the night, including headboards. A California native, she mostly loves living in Seattle but refuses to give up her umbrella. She is the author of the fantasy romance series The Grace Bloods and its prequel trilogy Tooth & Spell. Rashida attended Clarion West in 2005, served on the board of directors from 2017-2019, and joined the staff in 2020, where she developed and manages Clarion West’s extensive online offerings. 

Find Rashida on Instagram @authorjasminesilvera & online at https://jasminesilverabooks.square.site

Imani Sims is an alchemist and author from Seattle, WA. Wonder is Imani’s specialty and drawing inspiration from the cosmos to integrate art, ritual, and the Black aesthetic into experiences tailored for QTBIPOC communities and allies. With a background spanning over three decades in performance & literature, they’ve dedicated themselves to fostering spaces where imagination thrives. Their shelves overflow with books delving into Afrofuturist realms, and their tarot deck, The Deck of NONE, embodies their deep connection to the genre. Imani’s work is a world within a world.

Find Imani on Instagram @bookthirtythree & online at wwww.bookthirtythree.com

More about our guest musician: 

Asha Neely is the number one music fan of all time, as well as an advocate for all girls interested in learning instruments or finding more confidence. She has been playing guitar since she was 11 years old and hopes to use her voice to inspire more music enjoyers, specifically other girls her age or younger!

More about the artists:

Eileen Jimenez is an IndigiQueer leader, community member, educator. Her mother is Maria Cruz, her grandmother is Eloisa, and her great grandmother is Ysidora, matriarchs of the Ñätho (Otomi Peoples of Michoacan/Guanajuato, Mexico). Eileen uses printmaking and mixed-media techniques to develop her own ways of telling stories in the complex layers that they exist in, as well as to demonstrate the ways that we are connected to the Land and to each other. In her current body of work, she focuses on the embodiment of the divine that is manifested through our bodies and our hands specifically. In her work, you will also see her commitment to centering the stories of joy that flow through our communities.
Find Eileen on Instagram @maese.art.by.eileen.jimenez & online at: www.eileenjimenez.com

Andrea Marcos is a queer community-taught linocut printmaker, educator, nerd, graphics maker, aries-youngest-child, dedicated to collective liberation and radical imagination.⁠ Find Andrea on Instagram @drea.marcos