THE READING ROOM
Notes from
other worlds.
Book recommendations, mythology, science fiction, favorite tropes, and occasional dispatches from behind the stories.
FEATURED READING
Merman Books: Where Are All the Male Mermaids?
Mermaids & Ocean Fantasy · Mermen
Found any male mermaids lately? Try this. Search “mermaid books” and you will drown in results. Lists, subgenres, entire BookTok shelves, gorgeous covers with iridescent tails and hair […]
LATEST FROM MSK
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Choose a doorway: deep water, distant planets, beloved tropes, or the stories behind the stories.
Tropes & Worldbuilding
The Anti-Hero: Falling in Love With Your Villains
While the path of the anti-hero may be well-trodden in adult fiction, it’s a road less traveled in the YA […]
Tropes & Worldbuilding
Fire Meet Gasoline: The Dynamics of Adversarial Team-ups in YA Fantasy
In the realm of Young Adult fiction, the whisper of magic winds intertwine with the raw essence of burgeoning self-awareness, […]
Shifter Fantasy · Tropes & Worldbuilding
Body Positivity and the Shapeshifter Dilemma: A Deeper Dive into Fantasy’s Thorny Paradox
Shapeshifters are those metamorphic maestros in fantasy literature that defy biology and gravity to morph from scrawny mortals into fire-breathing […]
Fantasy Deep Dives
From Bullet Journals to Spell Books: YA Protagonists and their Relationship with Analog Tools in a Digital World
Let’s face it, we live in an era where technology is so pervasive that even our grandparents are fluent in […]
Fantasy Deep Dives
If Holden Caulfield Were a Vampire Slayer
Ah, The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger's magnum opus. A pilgrimage of teenage angst, alienation, and a profound dislike […]
Tropes & Worldbuilding
Wizards and Witches – A Trope Gone Tired?
Today, we're diving into an interesting topic that's been debated in cozy reading nooks and heated online forums alike: Have […]
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