{"id":4737,"date":"2025-03-04T10:06:31","date_gmt":"2025-03-04T15:06:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stelliform.press\/?post_type=product&#038;p=4737"},"modified":"2026-04-18T23:14:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T03:14:07","slug":"seed-beetle-by-mahaila-smith","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/www.stelliform.press\/index.php\/product\/seed-beetle-by-mahaila-smith\/","title":{"rendered":"Seed Beetle by Mahaila Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4>About the Book<\/h4>\n<p>In a climate changed future, Canada is thought to be a promised land. But in southern Ontario, the promise and the land are exhausted: industrialization has led to widespread destruction, desertification and food insecurity. So when Utopic Robotics promises growth and presents a community with a swarm of automated beetles that will revitalize the land and rebuild utopia, community members rally behind the corporation and its message of hope. But technological solutions often come with secret risks.<\/p>\n<p>This collection of illustrated poems explores those risks inherent in utopia and the idea that through science alone we can solve our environmental problems. Through femme and queer perspectives, Smith lays bare the social implications of a technological savior, and creates a blueprint for co-opting technology in the name of community and connection.<\/p>\n<h4>About the Author<\/h4>\n<p>Ottawa-based writer <strong>Mahaila Smith<\/strong>\u2019s poetry has been nominated and finalist for the Best of the Net Award, the Rhysling award and the Ralph Angel Poetry Prize. Their debut chapbook, <em>Claw Machine<\/em>, was published by Anstruther Press. Their second chapbook, <em>Water-Kin<\/em>, was published by Metatron Press. Their poems have been published in <em>Room<\/em>, <em>Augur<\/em>, <em>Untethered Magazine<\/em> and elsewhere. You can find more of their work on their website, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mahailasmith.ca\/\">mahailasmith.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\">A whimsical and thoughtful narrative poetry collection published May 2025.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">&#8220;A dystopian yet incredibly tender other world.&#8221; \u2014 Conyer Clayton, author of\u00a0<em>But the Sun, and the Ships, and the Fish, and the Waves<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">&#8220;Witty, sharp, and heartfelt.&#8221; \u2014 Manahil Bandukwala, author of <em>Heliotropia<\/em> and <em>Monument<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center; font-size: 12px;\">Customers outside of CA\/US: due to supply chain issues, worldwide shipping of print books is currently slow and expensive. We recommend shopping with your local indie bookstore. If you do order a print book from us, it will be shipped from the closest print facility to you and will therefore be printed on standard paper and will not include the goodies we send with CA\/US orders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":4810,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0},"product_cat":[98,70,100,101,45,53,56],"product_tag":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Seed Beetle by Mahaila Smith &#8902; Stelliform Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn about SEED BEETLE by Mahaila Smith, a narrative poetry collection about a usurping robotics company and one community&#039;s resistance.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stelliform.press\/index.php\/product\/seed-beetle-by-mahaila-smith\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Seed Beetle by Mahaila Smith &#8902; 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