In September 2020, Eita! Magazine opened for submissions for the very first time. As a brand new online zine, we never expected to receive 230 submissions, but alas, we did. However, we only had four slots for Issue #0, which would be released later that year. To say that hard decisions were made is an understatement: there’s just so much diversity in narratives coming from Brazil—maybe because we are a population of 192 million people living in the fifth largest country in the world—and we couldn’t possibly fit everything our writers have to tell in one inaugural issue.
So we made a second one.
Don’t get me wrong—it’s still not enough to showcase everything we want to present to you, but it’s double what we initially intended to have from that first submission window. We still had to make a ton of hard choices, but we believe we have a strong selection of stories for your enjoyment. On this issue we also selected a special something, a piece of Brazilian proto-science fiction by renowned author Lima Barreto (1881-1922), a black writer with enormous influence in Brazil and whose works were always filled with social criticism. The Panplanetary Congress—his story on this issue—isn’t any different, and we hope to bring you a special something about this story through our bi-weekly newsletter, Newsletra, so if you’re still not subscribed, go ahead and do it. I promise, it’s worth it, there’s some amazing content being created especially for you over there.
If diversity in SFF writing is something that resonates with you and that you think is important, consider supporting us on Patreon. Our initial tier is $1 and you’ll only be charged per issue. At this point in time, 100% of the money raised there is being used to pay our authors. Our amazing team of editors, PR and social media managers, translators, copy editors, artists, webmasters, and collaborators is still working voluntarily to make all of this happen. It’s a bunch of Brazilian professionals scattered all over the country—and the world!— who deeply believe in this project to propel our voices out to the world.
I’d like to thank our core team, composed of André Colabelli, Larissa Picchioni, Lucas Ferraz, Natalle Moura, Raphael Andrade, and Vanessa Guedes for all their hard work and willingness to go through with this project, even when it felt like too much. I’d also like to thank our team of highly skilled professionals who volunteered to work with us knowing we can’t (yet) afford to pay for their incredible job: Amanda Pavani, Diogo Ramos, Felipe Melo, Francine Emilia Costa, Júlia Serrano, Luiza Anselmi Cantoni, Lígia Colares, Maria Anna Leal Martins, and Renata Torres. Thank you all!
Now is the time that all of the hard work pays off: when you dive into the stories. So go ahead, turn these virtual pages, and journey down these tales told by Brazilian voices.
Iana A.
Editor-in-Chief
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