This month I’m recommending a neglected Fantasy Classic – George MacDonald’s extraordinary novel Lilith. This Scottish author is still fondly remembered for his Fantasy fiction for children such as The Princess and the Goblins and The Light Princess (see Fantasy Reads January 2013) but his two adult Fantasy novels Phantastes (1858) and Lilith (1895) are… Continue reading
This month I’m recommending a Fantasy Heist novel inspired by Welsh mythology and folklore – The Drowned Woods by Emily Lloyd-Jones. I’m guessing from her name that this American author is of Welsh descent. The book was published in 2022 and is now available in all the usual formats. I have to admit that the… Continue reading
This month I’m recommending the most recent novel by captivating Mexican-born author Sylvia Moreno-Garcia who lives in Canada. Silver Nitrate was published in 2023. It is currently available in hardback, ebook and Audio editions and a paperback will be out soon. When I tell you that this story is set in the Movie and Television… Continue reading
For my first book choice of 2024 I’m returning to one of the most versatile of Fantasy Writers – Garth Nix. I recommended Clariel, one of his gripping Old Kingdom series, back in September 2015 but the Old Kingdom is just one of this Australian author’s invented worlds. Now I’m recommending Sir Hereward and Mister… Continue reading
Each December I like to write about a Classic Fantasy for children and this year I have chosen The Rose and the Ring by William Makepiece Thackeray (1811-1863), who is best known as the author of Vanity Fair. The fact that The Rose and the Ring is a Victorian Christmas book may lead you to… Continue reading
This month I’m returning to one of my favourite genres – Epic Fantasy. Long and complex books which require a considerable investment of time and effort from the reader are standard in this genre. If you want to be sure that your investment will pay off you need to look for authors of high quality… Continue reading
October is Ghost Month on Fantasy Reads. This year I’ve chosen to celebrate the ghostly fiction of one of my heroines – author, suffragist and Egyptologist Amelia B. Edwards (1831-1892). Edwards has become so famous as an intrepid traveller and the Godmother of British Egyptology (see her bestselling A Thousand Miles Up the Nile 1877)… Continue reading
Depending on where you live, your summer has probably been either too hot or too wet so let me take you somewhere wintery instead. Canadian author Heather Fawcett’s recent novel Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries (2023) is set in Ljosland, an invented northern country not unlike Norway. This book is available in most of the… Continue reading
Did you know that there is now a whole sub-genre of Cosy Fantasy? Or Cozy Fantasy, if you are American, which somehow sounds better. This month I’m recommending a charming example of Cozy Fantasy by American author and audiobook narrator, Travis Baldree. Legends & Lattes was published in 2022 and is available in print with… Continue reading
This month I’m recommending a Hugo Award-winning series of novellas – The Singing Hills Cycle by American author Nghi Vo. The first to be published was The Empress of Salt and Fortune (2020), followed in the same year by When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain. Don’t those titles immediately make you want to read… Continue reading