Weird and wild, this story is like no other I've read before. Historical fiction melds with horror in what may feel like a combo of Black magical realism and women's suffrage. The 1915 world of women struggling out on the range alone, trying to survive in a world that wants to kill them, is spot on. You can feel the desolation of their environment, along with the desire to survive. The book meanders just a bit toward the end, but the deeper meaning does come through. What is locked inside the trunk? You will have to read this book to find out!
Blue skies, empty land—and enough wide-open space to hide a horrifying secret. A woman with a past, a mysterious trunk, a town on the edge of nowhere, and an “absorbing, powerful” (BuzzFeed) new vision of the American West, from the award-winning author of The Changeling.
“Propulsive . . . LaValle combines chills with deep insights into our country’s divides.”—Los Angeles Times
ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2023: The New York Times, Time, Oprah Daily, Los Angeles Times, Esquire, Essence, Salon, Vulture, Reader’s Digest, The Root, LitHub, Paste, PopSugar, Chicago Review of Books, BookPage, Book Riot, Tordotcom, Crime Reads,…
I have always loved fantasy worlds and romantic stories, but in recent years I’ve found it harder to read stories with extreme violence or trauma. When I started writing fiction, I planned to write a fantasy romance with a kingdom and a battle, but I couldn’t do it—my characters organized a nonviolent revolution and formed a democratic system of governance instead. I reconsidered and decided to write what I call cozy fantasy romances. So many types of romance novels could be set in a fantasy world, such as an office romance or road trip comedy. I’ve been searching for these types of romance novels—fun, lighthearted romances set in a fantasy world—and am slowly finding them.
This series is set in a magical land that’s hidden and protected from the rest of the world. It’s filled with delightful villages that have festivals and games, where the locals work at their craft and then drink beer at the tavern in the evening—basically, the exact place I would design to live in.
In Brewed in Magic, Lilia is a brewer who travels the countryside with her mobile tavern. On the way to a festival, she camps out with another traveler and they hit it off—until he disappears in the morning. Turns out he has rushed to beat her to the festival and steal her spot with his own mobile tavern. They continue to spar but must team up when all the beer disappears.
That’s right: the level of conflict in this story is “if we can’t find the beer, the festival will be ruined.”
Lilia has always had a wanderer's heart. She spends her days on the road with her famous Traveling Tavern and only a dragon to keep her company. Despite longing for a deeper connection, she knows she's destined to wander the world alone.
When she meets a handsome stranger on her journey to the winter festival, she finally feels she's found a kindred spirit...until he vanishes in the early morning without so much as a goodbye.
Turns out, he rushed ahead to reach the festival first with his own traveling tavern. One he never mentioned. Now her would-be companion is her…
The dragons of Yuro have been hunted to extinction.
On a small, isolated island, in a reclusive forest, lives bandit leader Marani and her brother Jacks. With their outlaw band they rob from the rich to feed themselves, raiding carriages and dodging the occasional vindictive…
When I was very small, bedtime was the high point of the day; for that was when my parents read to me. My father favored adventure tales with knights and heroes, while my mother shared her own beloved Oz books with me. To this day, there is nothing so satisfying as finding a new story in which to be immersed. Although I enjoy reading many types of books, my first love remains fantasy; especially those stories with appealing characters and a defined world built from the author’s imagination. I hope these recommendations provide you with a gateway to discover new and enchanting reading experiences of your own.
From the time of Anne McCaffrey and her Pern books, people riding dragons have been a popular trope.
Part of the appeal of this book is that it reads more like historical fiction (although in a different world) than fantasy or even science fiction. The authors don’t spend a lot of time world-building, but drop the reader straight into the narrative where Trysten, a young girl, wants to follow in her father’s footsteps. Unfortunately, he is a dragonrider and, in her society, women cannot and do not ride dragons.
There are a few subtle hints of magic, but it seems to be a natural presence of the environment than obvious sorcery at work. It is obvious that dragons are intelligent, but they also remain something of an enigma to both their riders and the reader. For example, there are no long telepathic conversations between rider and dragon as there are…
As the only child of the dragoneer, Trysten has a strong connection to the dragons of the village weyr. When her father is injured and can no longer lead the dragons into battle, he must choose his successor. Trysten wants the job, but tradition forbids women from holding the title.
A new dragoneer must be named quickly. Winter is waning, and the mountain passes will soon open. On the other side, the kingdom's enemies wait with firebreath and bowstrings ready.
When Trysten's father chooses her childhood friend as the new dragoneer, Trysten sets aside her own ambitions in order to…
As a writer and performer, I’ve always loved live storytelling! Stories really come alive when performed and there’s an unexplained magic that bonds an audience with the storyteller and connects us to our collective past. Having performed countless times in plays, murder mysteries, and storytelling, the joy and excitement felt crackling in the air is like nothing else. I’ve plenty of fond memories of storytelling over the years, from terrifying ghost stories around the campfire of Camp Wing in America to the fantastical folktales of my stage play The Storyteller’s Apprentice at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. So, next time you’re sitting at a campfire, give it a go!
As a child, I struggled with reading, but this changed when I opened the magical pages of this gem! Not only packed with adventure, magic, and monsters, it’s also part game. The reader chooses how the story unfolds, and I remember being amazed as I decided which path to take, which potion to buy, whether or not to open a treasure chest or to stand and fight the Minotaur by rolling dice or to flee in terror to live another day!
Packed with gorgeous black and white ink illustrations by Russ Nicholson, that drew me in, I would spend ages staring at a mad, crazed prisoner, a couple of ugly goblins playing cards, or a huge, majestic dragon, lost in the fantastic imagery.
FIGHTING FANTASY is the brilliant series of adventure gamebooks in which YOU are the hero! Decide which monsters to fight, which paths to take, who to trust and when to run. Can you survive the clutches of the hideous Bloodbeast, or defeat a noxious inhuman Orc? Deep in the caverns beneath Firetop Mountain lies an untold wealth of treasure, guarded by a powerful Warlock -or so the rumor goes. Several adventurers like yourself have set off for Firetop Mountain in search of the Warlock's hoard. None has ever returned. Do you dare follow them?
Worldbuilding is something I absolutely adore, and I have always wanted to see more fantasy in worlds created around a more modern thought process. Worlds that got away from the medieval and instead found inspiration in places like 1920s America or 1950s Mexico or anywhere with cars and motorcycles existing right alongside dragons. It’s what I try to write and its desperately what I want to read. Fantasy has so much more range than I think it is given credit for.
This book takes an extremely fascinating time period, the Rasputin era in Russia, and throws it in a blender with dark fantasy, gore and passion. I could not get enough of the characters because they are all morally gray and come at the central dilemma of a collapsing empire with their own ambitions. Also, one of the more unique takes I’ve seen on a vampire in ages!
Winter 1917. After years on the run from a dangerous cult, twenty-three-year-old Sasza and his father have established themselves among the Odonic Empire’s ruling class. But there’s a problem: Sasza is a vampire, and vampires aren’t supposed to get involved in human governance. What the aristocracy doesn’t know, after all, cannot hurt them.
Unfortunately, Sasza is far more involved than a stealth vampire should be. Not only does he work to quell the rumors of the vampires’ responsibility for an unsolved massacre, his lover is also the pro-proletariat Ilya, the Empire’s Finance Minister, who tries to recruit Sasza into the…
I was an avid reader growing up, but I never saw myself reflected unless it was a book about the Holocaust. Those are crucial stories to tell, but I wanted a Jewish girl going through a wardrobe to a secret land or having magical adventures. So, I decided to write those stories for women and combine them with steamy romance, because I love that, too. All my main characters are Jewish, and I draw from Judaism and Jewish folklore for my worldbuilding and magic systems. It's also important for me to showcase my diverse hometown of Vancouver. To that end, my characters are of varying ethnicities and sexual identities.
I love m/m romance and I love urban fantasy, but until now, that combination hadn’t grabbed me in a way that had me sit up in excitement. I tore through this series (currently and desperately awaiting the final book). Not only does Nash devise a fun and fascinating magic system with Dom’s playing cards, I shipped Dom and Kempthorne so hard. The obstacles they must overcome, both externally and with their inner demons, had me turning pages as fast as I could. It’s an absolute delight.
Something wicked is moving in the shadows of London...
In the underground world of glitzy illegal auctions, fast cars, and stolen magical artifacts, John "Dom" Domenici knows he's out of his depth. But he needs the job at Kempthorne & Co like he needs to breathe. The alternative-going back to the organized crime gangs of London's East End-is unthinkable.
So when Alexander Kempthorne, boss of Kempthorne & Co Artifact Retrieval Agency, wants him on a special case to track down an illegal artifact dealer, Dom can't say no.
It shouldn't matter that Kempthorne's world is full of deadly secrets. It…
Trapped in our world, the fae are dying from drugs, contaminants, and hopelessness. Kicked out of the dark fae court for tainting his body and magic, Riasg only wants one thing: to die a bit faster. It’s already the end of his world, after all.
I am all the characters in this and every book I have written. I grew up in Rome, teach Roman art and architectural history, and am a practicing architect. My books are suffused with the things I love, from culture to cuisine, pace of life, love of consort, affection for children and animals, to the adventures I have been so fortunate to enjoy through my fifties. Reading has been a big part of my education. I have many interests and loves to share. These five book recommendations are but the tip of the iceberg. I became an author so I could write what remains unwritten and read the stories I wish to tell.
I love the main character, the strongest woman in literature, who, in late Paleolithic times, literally invents the modern world. She is strong but thinks herself weak. She is beautiful but thinks herself ugly. She circumvents and overcomes every instance of adversity thrown her way. I want to be her, and the book permits me to wear her shoes.
I have been highly influenced by Jean Auel’s storytelling, especially the graphic scenes of Ayla’s loss of innocence, growth into sexuality, and descriptions of lust, love, and completion.
This book is not erotica, yet the love scenes are the best I’ve ever read and are a roadmap to create tension and heat in my writing. With her influence, my audience laughs, cries, and cheers their way through my books.
This unforgettable odyssey into the distant past carries us back to the awesome mysteries of the exotic, primeval world of The Clan of the Cave Bear, and to Ayla, now grown into a beautiful and courageous young woman.
Cruelly cast out by the new leader of the ancient Clan that adopted her as a child, Ayla leaves those she loves behind and travels alone through a stark, open land filled with dangerous animals but few people, searching for the Others, tall and fair like herself. The short summer gives her little time to look, and when she finds a sheltered…
As a stage combat choreographer myself, fight sequences are always important to me: they have to be believable but exciting, they have to keep up the pace so the reader is experiencing the action at the same speed as the characters—but most importantly, they have to tell a story. Action just for the sake of action always feels empty, but great fight scenes that are both exhilarating and bound to the forward momentum of the plot and emotion will stay with me for a long time. Here’s some that I still remember long after I finished the book.
I picked the third book in the Greatcoats series as it contains the fight sequence I remember the most, but every entry in this series has some incredible swordplay and memorable action. The Greatcoats take all the swashbuckling bravado of the Three Musketeers but thrown into a far more dangerous world with black magic and angry deities. There’s a cavalier joy to every sword fight, which often details the specific strategies to the point where you feel like you’re learning how to fight for yourself. There’s tons of honor and bravery in the face of a brutal, bleak world, and worth every page.
'High energy, highly unique, swashbuckling-cop-epic-noir story. Buy it. BUY IT NOW' Sam Sykes
The Greatcoats are back - and this time it's personal.
How do you kill a Saint? Falcio, Brasti and Kest are about to find out, as someone is doing just that, and they've started with a friend.
The Dukes were already looking for ways to weasel out of their promise to put Aline on her father's throne - but with Saints turning up dead, and Church Inquistitors pushing for control - rumours are spreading that the Gods themselves oppose her ascension.
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.
This author has just started on his writing journey and has produced two parts to his trilogy. This debut story takes on high adventure within a Fantasy/Steampunk-esk world. This tale has marvellous characters and exciting settings and takes the reader on a journey through hidden pasts, unknown evils, and surprising twists of fate.
On the world of Tellus there are two ways of doing things: the Old Way and the New Way. In the city of Portis-Montis, these two ways and their worlds collide.
Hugh Geber is the alchemist at the University of Science and Progression. In a world where everyone follows the family career, he has found himself the last in line to carry the torch.
When a meeting with Chancellor Robert James Smithson leaves him with an impossible deadline and a mysterious package, Hugh is left with no choice but to try…
An interdimensional mixer with angels and other beings brings unexpected trouble for Malachi and his friends in this smart and uniquely funny second book about the squad of teens from hell.
When an angel comes to his home to deliver a message, Malachi immediately knows what’s going on. The seraph…
I’ve always been a lover of enchanted items—particularly brooms. Maybe this is because my grandfather used to handmake his own brooms (I can still remember that magical and musty smell of his workshop). It took me a long time to write my own “broom book,” with something different and distinctive to say. The books on my list are some that inspired me along my journey. In addition to being a writer, I teach creative writing and art therapy, which means I’ve logged many hours leading lit circles with kids. I feel it has given me a pretty good handle (pardon the pun) on what makes a child’s imagination soar.
Following Kokiri, she shyly mounted her broom and kicked off the ground. Instantly, her body grew light—she was floating!
This is the classic book that inspired the beloved film of the same name. Thirteen-year-old Kiki sets off, in the tradition of witches, to find a town to serve for a year. When she arrives at the seaside town of Koriko, she starts her own business—delivering parcels by broomstick. At first, she assumes it will be easy—hey, she’s Kiki!—but she soon discovers that winning over the locals of Koriko is not so easy. Thankfully, she’s got her wise-cracking cat Jiji on her side . . . as well as her magical broom. This book is absolutely charming!
Soar into this modern Japanese classic about a young witch and her clever cat with this new translation by Emily Balistrieri which will delight fans of the beloved Studio Ghibli animated movie as well as new readers.
'A magical, joyous read, brought to life by the most beautiful illustrations' - Harriet Muncaster, author of Isadora Moon
'A charming and beautifully written story' - Laura Ellen Anderson, author of Amelia Fang
Kiki is a trainee witch. On her thirteenth birthday she must follow tradition and leave home to find a new village. She knows she has to use only her powers…
