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 […]
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Choose a doorway: deep water, distant planets, beloved tropes, or the stories behind the stories.
Fantasy Deep Dives · Uncategorized
YA Fantasy Meets Real-World Ritual: Finding Magic in the Familiar
Lately I’ve been thinking about rituals. Not the spell-slinging, tower-shaking, lightning-crack-across-the-sky kind. I still love those, obviously. But I’ve been […]
Fantasy Deep Dives
Spellwork & Ethics: When Does Magic Cross the Line?
Let’s play a little game. Imagine you’ve got magic at your fingertips. Real, usable, no-wand-required magic. You can read minds, […]
Shifter Fantasy
Pack Dynamics IRL: What Real Animal Hierarchies Teach YA Shifter Fiction
Let’s talk about werewolves, shall we? Or shifters, if you prefer the broader umbrella. Whether it's wolf packs howling at […]
Fantasy Deep Dives
Map It Out: How Fantasy Geography Shapes Storytelling
There’s something magical about a good map. Even before we meet the hero or learn what terrible thing is about […]
Fantasy Deep Dives
Magic Systems 101: Soft, Hard, or Just Right?
I’ve been thinking about magical systems a lot lately as I mull over a new book, Leprechauns and Magic, Oh […]
Shifter Fantasy
Alpha, Beta, Chaos: Why Shifter Hierarchies Are More Than a Trope
People love to talk about alpha males in shifter fiction like it’s all ripped torsos and growly dominance, but if […]
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