A poetry collection set in a dystopian future, where ecological collapse, corrupt corporations, and neurochip implants make life miserable. But there is hope: robot beetles that nourish flowers and forests, scientists who dream of eels and mermaids, and communities who return to the land.

These poems are beautiful, crisp, and lyrical while taking on the load of telling a cohesive sci-fi narrative. I couldn't put it down—I kept being reminded of the stories of Simon Stålenhag. But these poems are much more beautiful, sapphic, and journey from dystopian to solarpunk.

Cheers to Mahaila Smith, Netgalley, and Stelliform Press for the ARC Copy. Publication day is May 15 2025 🐛🪲

This book is both beautiful and scary. Poetry that tells the story of a dystopian future, but a future where hope and resistance still live. I really appreciated this book and will be recommended it.

I got this as an arc on Netgalley and it will come out in May. I didn't always get it but the writing style was captivating. It was definitely a queer critique on climate change and capitalism that was very interesting.

Mahalia Smith’s Seed Beetle toes the line between poetry, academia, and novella in verse. Crafting a unique – but not that far from our own – future of climate devastation, Smith’s characters work through forgotten history, corporate overreach, and uninhabitable lands through community, family, and, yes, poetry.

I thoroughly enjoyed stepping into this strange world and was intentionally unsettled by its parallels to our own. The foreword does an excellent job setting the stage of both this dystopia and its characters. Framed chronologically as the lifetime experiences of one particular activist, it covers a range of social and personal events and their resolutions. The tone of the poems changes appropriately throughout these phases too, each section bearing its own particular flavor and style.

The seed beetles, their concept, and their personification were one of my favorite parts of this book, as was the first section about one of Nebula’s mother’s experiences working with the beetles. I have a fondness for sci-fi poetry, and this collection blends a cool idea with a positive message of hope, humanity, and restoration.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.