Books like Firestone — picked by fans

I've had many professions over the years: theatrical stage technician, stage manager, scenic artist, teacher, writer, driver, husband, and father. I've always had a love for horror and fantasy stretching from the classic Gothic to the incredible worlds of Tolkien, Pratchett, and many more. I never set out to write, but I love the escapism and freedom that both reading and writing allows. I was a military child and having followed my father across Europe, I settled in the beautiful cathedral city of Lincoln, UK, which itself has its horror, hauntings, and history. Fantasy writing seemed to be the next stage of my development, combining macabre with the fascinating task of creating a fantastical world.

I've had many professions over the years: theatrical stage technician, stage manager, scenic artist, teacher, writer, driver, husband, and father. I've always had a love for horror and fantasy stretching from the classic Gothic to the incredible worlds of Tolkien, Pratchett, and many more. I never set out to write, but I love the escapism and freedom that both reading and writing allows. I was a military child and having followed my father across Europe, I settled in the beautiful cathedral city of Lincoln, UK, which itself has its horror, hauntings, and history. Fantasy writing seemed to be the next stage of my development, combining macabre with the fascinating task of creating a fantastical world.

I've had many professions over the years: theatrical stage technician, stage manager, scenic artist, teacher, writer, driver, husband, and father. I've always had a love for horror and fantasy stretching from the classic Gothic to the incredible worlds of Tolkien, Pratchett, and many more. I never set out to write, but I love the escapism and freedom that both reading and writing allows. I was a military child and having followed my father across Europe, I settled in the beautiful cathedral city of Lincoln, UK, which itself has its horror, hauntings, and history. Fantasy writing seemed to be the next stage of my development, combining macabre with the fascinating task of creating a fantastical world.

I've had many professions over the years: theatrical stage technician, stage manager, scenic artist, teacher, writer, driver, husband, and father. I've always had a love for horror and fantasy stretching from the classic Gothic to the incredible worlds of Tolkien, Pratchett, and many more. I never set out to write, but I love the escapism and freedom that both reading and writing allows. I was a military child and having followed my father across Europe, I settled in the beautiful cathedral city of Lincoln, UK, which itself has its horror, hauntings, and history. Fantasy writing seemed to be the next stage of my development, combining macabre with the fascinating task of creating a fantastical world.

As a practicing Hedge Witch, I’m fascinated by the marriage of science and the mystical. Now, I’m alchemizing confidence, coherence, and clarity for soulful writers to pursue the books of their dreams. I am the author, illustrator, and designer of Mama Bear Says™ and the Book Witch of planners and journals for your sacred words. I live at the edge of the wild woods and love to graze on wild berries, sit by a cozy hearth, and watch the magic of the animals who meander through these lands. The magic of the natural world and the healing power of Mother Earth sits as a priority in my life. These are the books on my magickal bookshelf.

A while ago I lived with the extraordinary spiritual Findhorn community in Scotland and that experience opened my eyes to the mysteries that we are and that surround us. Subsequently, I became a professional travel guide writer and as I visited churches and megaliths, it gradually occurred to me that the ancients may have recorded information useful to us if only we could work out how to interpret it. Twenty years ago I settled in France, a country densely packed with extraordinary places. Here, I have been able to deepen my understanding of the universal, greater reality of which we are part.  

I've always loved stories. After years of observing the importance of stories, and their role in creating our reality, the determination to write my own clicked into place. Storytelling is very much at the heart of my first novel, Strange Gods. Strange Gods features a multiverse of powerful gods, but humans still stand out for their ability to tell self-defining stories. From the inciting incident where Carcass kidnaps Spooky to be his storyteller, to the decisions she makes along her journey, the stories Spooky tells others and herself determine her outcomes. I hope the books on this list inspire you to reflect on the power of any stories you tell, as they've inspired me. 

I’ve been fascinated by paranormal stories for years. One of the first books I truly loved was A Wrinkle in Time. I loved the Dragons of Pern, as well. As a girl, I read more stories featuring witches and magical creatures than one ought. But I also loved mysteries—Nancy Drew, as well as all the Agatha Christie books. At present, I’m working on my fifth Fairy Garden Mystery, and I recently completed a mystery novella featuring an elf. To round out the experience, I have personally crafted over fifty fairy gardens. I’m pretty certain a fairy spirit had something to do with my obsession... or perhaps it all started when I kissed the Blarney Stone.

I’m Mary Sisson, award-winning writer blah-blah-blah, and when I need to pry myself off the feeds before my head explodes, I reach for a particular sort of book: story-driven with a lot of adventure, a dash of humor, another of romance, and set in a well-developed, immersive fictional world. While all of these titles can be read alone (I hate books that were clearly written to sell a sequel—600 pages of filler ending with a cliffhanger? No thank you!) they all also form parts of series, because when my head is about to shoot right off my neck, it helps me to know that I have the remedy at hand. Enjoy!

I've been making messes with paint, string, and words, as well as in love, mothering, and in virtually every other way imaginable my whole life. Eventually, an expertise began to grow, and the confusion in my life began to make sense through my creations, while at the same time, the seemingly irrelevant words and textures I was making started to tell me something about my life. Eventually, my lived experience and training in the Expressive Arts Therapies have led me to the roles of teacher, educator, and contemplative artist. If we pay attention to what we express and how we express things, we can find our way through any mess we find ourselves in.