About Us
Once upon a time Lilith was kind of bummed because ze couldn’t find anything good to read. There were plenty of dashing heros and brave damsels and talking starships. But the book world was decidedly lacking in black enby rulers of the solar system, polyamory romances with disabled characters (who aren’t that fond of romance, thank you very much), and re-incarnated goddesses with chips on their shoulder from millennia of dealing with patronizing All Powerful Deities.
With nothing better to do, Lilith started writing hir own stories, which at least filled the re-incarnated goddesses with chips on their shoulder niche. But ze still wanted something to read. So ze hooked up with a couple of other authors who were sick of being told ‘books with gay, disabled, people of color won’t sell, so go write something about buff white guys, kay?’
At first the small group acted as support and cheering section for each other, but Lilith kept thinking. “I want more books like this, and I can’t be the only one!” So ze pitched an idea—let’s start a new kind of publisher. One that writes about real people, facing real problems, and not just buff white guys who fight dragons and fly starships.
So they recruited a few Cuil folk to make Cuil Press a reality.
And here we are...
Making space in publishing for black enby rulers of the solar system and polyamory romance with disabled characters.
Why You Should Join Us
We're not like any other publisher out there. First of all, our Authors help us create an entirely new genre! Sensitivity Editing (the process of ensuring marginalized, vulnerable, and/or oppressed people are depicted authentically and with variability rather than insultingly and stereotypically) is a required step in our publishing process. And even the composition of our company is unique: we're all neurodivergent - several of us being autistic, specifically - most of us are queer and/or disabled, ignore what it's like to be impoverished and traumatized, and half of us are Black...quite a feat in an industry that's over 99.9% white!
Long have we called out and boosted the call for truly inclusive, original media. Long have we desired accurate and diverse representations of the aspects that are too often made out to be "scary" or "wrong". Long has the need gone unmet for possibility models created by those with the actual lived experience to weave a convincing and gripping tale.
More often than not, our first encounters with people who are variations of human that we are unfamiliar with is through media. Can you imagine how these depictions then shape our interactions with these people upon actually meeting them or when it comes time to allocate resources?
Cuil Press believes that human variation isn't terrifying, that those who have too often been discarded have inherent value, and that people of all kinds need to encounter themselves being compassionately depicted across all types of media.
Cuil Fiction isn't empty entertainment, though it is very entertaining. It is a cultural wave, one in which all kinds of humans matter - even if they show up as Others or Dragons or Aliens. Cuil Fiction is answering the hard questions of philosophy and ethics with enticing and hilarious thought experiments. It is showing how to build better communities and healthier relationships, while not shying away from exploring the darkness and the pain.
Where so much of media has become about grit, competition, or ennui, Cuil Fiction is about healing, creating, and magnificence.
Don't you want to help build that?
Then what are you waiting for? Become part of the Cuil Press Community, help us raise funds to raise awareness, and most of, help us find those hidden treasures - those stories you've never glimpsed but have thirsts for for so long.
Together, we can flip the world on its axis and create spaces and times that don't hack us into little pieces, creations that allow Dragons to spread their wings and breathe free.
A Big Thanks
With each new member and each additional book fully funded, you are demonstrating your belief in a different kind of publishing company - one that demands quality over quantity. Our gratitude is deep, because your support means our lives do matter. We thank you for journeying with us, as that means the world really can change...one cuil book at a time!
