Co-hosting #WyrdAndWonder | Year Two – #EnterTheFantastic with Jorie as she devours an eclectic array of FANTASY whilst seeking out her next wicked good read!

Posted Wednesday, 1 May, 2019 by jorielov , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 10 Comments

Wyrd And Wonder banner created by Imyril. Image Credit: Dragon – by kasana86 from 123RF.com.
Wyrd And Wonder banner created by Imyril. Image Credit: Dragon – by kasana86 from 123RF.com.

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Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!

Welcome to *Wyrd & Wonder* – Imyril, Lisa and I have delightfully planned a wicked #awesomesauce month of FANTASY celebration for you! This marks our 2nd Year co-hosting #WyrdAndWonder and we couldn’t be happier knowing we have mor participants this 2nd Year as well as renewed interest in the events we’ve planned.

  • A book photo challenge which can be done daily, weekly and/or in any combination of exploration you can think of!
  • 2x Readalongs for those seeking community bookish discussions
  • A welcoming community of Fantasy appreciators across blogs | Twitter | #bookstagram & #booktube
  • Read our FULL Schedule & start where you feel led to join us

We have been dearly *excited!* about kicking off our 2nd annual *Wyrd & Wonder* as last year was a raving success inasmuch as our mini-event #SpooktasticReads – all the while able to generate (discussion) posts or other such lovelies which help us better understand what it is about this wondrously lovely genre which entices us to enter into its sweet folds of worlds & wonders!

I’ve been an appreciator of Fantasy since I was quite a young girl – in fact, there is a blurred line about what I first discovered – Science Fiction or Fantasy?

Do you remember how *excited!* you were about seeing “The Neverending Story” for the first time as much as the twentieth?

There is a certain layer of JOY bursting out of reading & watching stories of the fantastical – I personally, love seeing how the writers knit the world ‘behind’ the Quest, the Journey and the dramatic lives of the characters you are almost too excited to be ‘meeting’!

These are the worlds which dimensionally re-define what is plausible and second nature to our own world – whilst re-instill why we have a penchant for Science Fiction – because where Sci-Fi leaves off, Fantasy begins or rather, both sides of the Speculative realms can sometimes blur together, co-merge and re-bend how we feel about *Fiction!* overall!

The beauty of course, is in the possibilities – of finding the authors (such as the ones I previously listed on my landing page for our inaugural *Wyrd & Wonder*) and the stories which enrich our hearts & minds for what is fantastically able to be imagined. I love seeing writers ‘go further, pushing our minds to see what they see & endeavour us to consider possibilities far outside the norm’ as this is what entices all of us to read Fantasy.

Rainbow Digital Clip Art Washi Tape made by The Paper Pegasus. Purchased on Etsy by Jorie and used with permission.

Jorie’s #WyrdAndWonder 2019 Reading List:

This year, I did something quite unique – I participated in a twitterverse event called #ReviewPit – wherein authors and book bloggers could reach out to each other through an event similar to the pitches you see on Twitter for getting agents, publishers or other such services from within the publishing and writing community. What made this quite the special event for me earlier this Spring is being able to find a lot of diverse voices within Speculative Lit – most of which dip into the fantastical realms ahead of #WyrdAndWonder!

It was my goal to read and review the non-Speculative stories before May, however, as I had a rather adverse four months spilt between health issues and personal adversity, I had to shift everything into May. Thereby, by the conclusion of the month I’ll not only have the chance to read the stories from my backlogue but I’ll be championing the new authors I’ve recently discovered through #ReviewPit.

NOTE: Due to my 4x migraines I had to make choices about what I could honestly finish reading and reviewing during #WyrdAndWonder this May – therefore, there is a lot I had to strike out from this reading list. Some of the stories will work well to be pushed forward into #SpooktasticReads (our secondary event which is the last fortnight leading into Halloween) and some of these (especially the audiobooks) will work well to be reading in conjunction with my readings in June.

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#25PagePreview for WyrdAndwonder feat.

  • Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri
  • Adrift by Isabelle Adler
  • The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

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Speculative Anthologies & a dash of Steampunk Fantasy:

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Children’s Lit | Middle Grade and/or Young Adult Fantasy:

  • Anni Moon and the Elemental Artifact by Melanie Abed (Middle Grade Fantasy)
  • Shadow Shifts by J.M. Bogart (Middle Grade Fantasy)
  • Portals, Passages and Pathways by B.R. Maul (Young Adult Fantasy)
  • Heir to the Lamp by Michelle Lowry Combs (Young Adult Fantasy)
  • Soloman’s Bell by Michelle Lowry Combs (Young Adult Fantasy)
  • No More Goddesses by Kim Baccellia (Young Adult Fantasy)
  • The Red Sun by Alane Adams (Young Adult Fantasy)
  • The Fighter of Aldea by Kira Weston (Young Adult Fantasy)
  • Rune’s Folly by Garen Glazier (Young Adult Fantasy)
  • Amber & Dusk by Lyra Selene (Young Adult Fantasy)
  • The Sun and Moon Beneath the Stars by K. Parr (Upper YA Fantasy)

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Children’s Lit | Middle Grade and/or Young Adult Magical Realism:

  • The Beauty Thief by Rachael Ritchey (Young Adult Magical Realism)
  • Captive Hope by Rachael Ritchey (Young Adult Magical Realism)

as well as Adult Magical Realism:

  • The Dream Keeper’s Daughter by Emily Colin
  • The Library of Light and Shadow by M.J. Rose

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High Fantasy:

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Spirits / Ghosts / speculatively inclined:

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Paranormal Fantasy Suspense:

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Fairytale Fantasy &/or Mythologically Inclined Urban Fantasy:

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An #EqualityInLit Speculative Selection:

  • Failure to Communicate by Kaia Sonderby (Autistic Lead Character)

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Continuing the audiobooks I began in APRIL:

In April, I participated on the blog tour for The Forest People series by Maggie Lynch, however, I never had the proper chance to ‘hear’ the full series. Therefore, I am finishing the books this month instead. To take a look back at my journey into this innovative and thought provoking series, please visit my posts in the order they were released: Audiobook Spotlight w/ Notes for The Forest People | Audiobook Review of Book One: “The Awakening” | Audiobook Spotlight w/ Notes on “The Choosing”

  • The Forest People series | book two “The Choosing”
  • The Forest People series | book three “The Summoning”

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& the audiobooks by Jake Urry:

  • A Nest of Vipers by Richard Storry (Historical Fantasy Suspense)
  • The Tesla Gate by John D. Mimms (Paranormal Speculative Suspense)

Rainbow Digital Clip Art Washi Tape made by The Paper Pegasus. Purchased on Etsy by Jorie and used with permission.

what I read during #wyrdandwonder year one:

If you missed our first year of #WyrdAndWonder and/or if you weren’t able to make your rounds to all the lovely bloggers who were participating (myself included, as my visitations were quite random and limited last year!) – you can still look back and see what I was reading and discussing throughout May 2018. I’ll be more active this year – however, I am resuming my witching hour tweet fests in the early hours of the morn where I’ll find fellow bookish owls awake, reading or eager to tweet their fantastical observations! Look for the QOTD beginning this weekend!

When you do re-visit these lovelies, kindly leave me a note in the comments – I’d love to hear your thoughts, especially if these are new authors or publishers you’ve not yet discovered or if the genre(s) are of interest to you as well.

Liminal Lights by J.M. Bogart (Middle Grade Fantasy)

Frozen Fairy Tales (anthology) by World Weaver Press (Fantasy)

The Magic Cup by Howard Behar (short story)

The Breedling & the Trickster by Kimberlee Ann Bastian (Magical Realism)

Heroes Best Friend (anthology) by Seventh Star Press

Unspun: Anthology (focus on) Kaki Olsen (Re-told Fairy Tales)

Woven by Bree Moore (audiobook) (Fantasy)

Shifty (anthology) by Marian Allen (Fantasy)

← technically this was our #SpooktasticReads mini-event!

Rainbow Digital Clip Art Washi Tape made by The Paper Pegasus. Purchased on Etsy by Jorie and used with permission.

library loan requests for #wyrdandwonder year two:

  • The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
  • ADRIFT by Isabelle Adler *my purchase request (#ReviewPit author)
  • Wicked Like Wildfire by Lana Popović
  • this space will expand by a few titles

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whilst finally reading #Octoberdaye for #Adayamonth RAL:

I’ve been a defunct co-host for the #ADayeAMonth RAL I’m co-hosting with @foxesfairytale due to my inability to find the focus I needed to read the first 4x novels of the series. I began Rosemary and Rue in January and since then, I’ve barely been able to read more than the first several chapters. At this point, I need to re-read the whole book as I can barely remember what it is about except for a few short details which staid with me! Therefore, I am hoping to average a book a week for the five weeks of MAY – whilst revealling my thoughts on each of the novels and picking up the book discussion threads Lou has been graciously giving us after each month’s reading.

  • Rosemary and Rue (book one)
  • A Local Habitation (book two)
  • An Artificial Night (book three)
  • Late Eclipses (book four)
  • One Salt Sea (book five)
  • modifying this as I’m having trouble getting the books back w/in May

Rainbow Digital Clip Art Washi Tape made by The Paper Pegasus. Purchased on Etsy by Jorie and used with permission.

As you might have noticed, there are quite a diversely eclectic selection of stories I’ve earmarked to read – either traditionally in print, happily in audio or in a variant of the craft – by novella or short.

You might even be curious why some of the stories are parlaying a bit into cross-over influences of Science Fiction, Mythological Adaptations and/or Speculative Lit without a specific genre declared – all will be revealled dear hearts, you’ll simply have to await each of the story’s arrival on Jorie Loves A Story – to find out what inspired the choice to be inclusive to my readings / listenings for #WyrdAndWonder – what made them fantastically intriguing and how their place on my reading shelf this month rounded out what I hoped to find during *Wyrd & Wonder* overall! In essence, we have a MONTH of BOOKISH discoveries – dear hearts, stay patient and have a fantastic adventure with me!

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I am also planning to host several guest author features throughout MAY alongside my reviews – plus a few blog tours which are happily integrated into the my wanderings of #SpecLit this month! The first blog tour is featuring a time travelling narrative where you slip through time anchoured between the past and the present in Gwedolyn Womack’s “The Time Collector”. This will mark my third reading of her novels and it is her third release as well. You can tuck into my thoughts on behalf of her last two time narratives: “The Memory Painter” and “The Fortune Teller”.

At the conclusion of MAY, I’ll be sharing my thoughts about ‘Flight of the Raven” which is the second story within the Ravenwood Saga – however, I’m hoping to share my thoughts about the first novel in the series “Mark of the Raven” before my stop on the blog tour arrives. I was introduced to this author when I hosted a fantastical Christmas blog tour series where you could become introduced to ‘new’ authors of Fantasy you might not have had a pleasure of knowing previously. I never had a chance to share my wrap-up post from December and will be inserting it during #WyrdAndWonder instead. However, to get a feeling for what inspired me to want to read the Ravenwood Saga be sure to check out my tour post!

After everything which transpired these past four months, I *knew!* I needed a holiday – time spent ‘away’ and the best holiday I could sort out to give myself is a month of reading FANTASY! As much as I love this genre, it is dearly under-read and under-appreciated – not just in my readerly life but here on Jorie Loves A Story! I wanted to become much more proactive this #WyrdAndWonder – not just in the frequency of my posts and the books I wanted to be reading but I wanted to visit the bloggers and engage more often on our feeds via Twitter as well. I was able to do the latter pretty frequently last May but in regards to visiting our participants and their content for the event, I dearly fell short. I also have a lot of carry-over stories from last year – it will just be nice to disappear into each of these stories and share my thoughts with you all once I’ve concluded them.

I am wicked thrilled to bits I can finally lay heart and mind onto the Fantasy series by Julie E. Czerneda as well – I’ve been distracted over the past few years – as the end of 2016 and the whole of 2017 was my Dad’s walk in health recovery whilst 2018 marked a 10 month health affliction for me. As I move into May, I am finding myself with a reprieve from my chronic migraines and a joyful focus on intention of giving myself the joyfulness of emerging into these stories and seeing where the worlds their authors wrote lead me as I know they are going to be an imaginative journey!

If your a new visitor to my blog, you might not realise how much I heart Ms Czerneda’s world-building and characters – I dare you to back-read all my posts regarding The Clan Chronicles (which you’ll find in order in my Story Vault) as you’ll see in repetitive order just how much she impacted my bookish life with the Clan! This #WyrdAndWonder I get to soak inside her fantastical vision ahead of her newest Fantasy release (a one-off) which is “The Gossamer Mage” arriving this Summer, 2019.

Honestly,.. I am so dearly excited it is hard to contain myself!

Let us all rock out May with a fantastical retreat inside a genre we all find ourselves mutually passionate about exploring and discussing! Rock on, dear hearts and may this month be full of wicked awesomesauce memories and explorations!

Rainbow Digital Clip Art Washi Tape made by The Paper Pegasus. Purchased on Etsy by Jorie and used with permission.

Kindly visit my co-hosts:

Lisa + Imyril

Be sure to keep a watchful eye on our @WyrdAndWonder feeds for the content we’ll be sharing our event has encouraged to be developed for the month! We are happily ready to start visiting blogs & start the Fantastical conversations which we know will be enjoyed by all who LOVE Fantasy!

Wyrd And Wonder banner created by Imyril. Image Credit: Magical book by Jakub Gojda from 123RF.com.
Wyrd And Wonder banner created by Imyril. Image Credit: Magical book by Jakub Gojda from 123RF.com.

Rainbow Digital Clip Art Washi Tape made by The Paper Pegasus. Purchased on Etsy by Jorie and used with permission.

{SOURCES: Wyrd And Wonder banner created by Imyril. Image Credit: Dragon – by kasana86 from 123RF.com and is used with permission. Wyrd And Wonder banner created by Imyril. Image Credit: Magical book by Jakub Gojda from 123RF.com and is used with permission. Tweets were able to be embedded by the codes provided by Twitter. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Rainbow Digital Clip Art Washi Tape made by The Paper Pegasus. Purchased on Etsy by Jorie and used with permission.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2019.

I’m a social reader | I tweet as I read

About jorielov

I am self-educated through local libraries and alternative education opportunities. I am a writer by trade and I cured a ten-year writer’s block by the discovery of Nanowrimo in November 2008. The event changed my life by re-establishing my muse and solidifying my path. Five years later whilst exploring the bookish blogosphere I decided to become a book blogger. I am a champion of wordsmiths who evoke a visceral experience in narrative. I write comprehensive book showcases electing to get into the heart of my reading observations. I dance through genres seeking literary enlightenment and enchantment. Starting in Autumn 2013 I became a blog book tour hostess featuring books and authors. I joined The Classics Club in January 2014 to seek out appreciators of the timeless works of literature whose breadth of scope and voice resonate with us all.

"I write my heart out and own my writing after it has spilt out of the pen." - self quote (Jorie of Jorie Loves A Story)

read more >> | Visit my Story Vault of Book Reviews | Policies & Review Requests | Contact Jorie

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Posted Wednesday, 1 May, 2019 by jorielov in #WyrdAndWonder, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blogosphere Events & Happenings, Fantasy Fiction, Jorie Loves A Story, Twitterland & Twitterverse Event




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10 responses to “Co-hosting #WyrdAndWonder | Year Two – #EnterTheFantastic with Jorie as she devours an eclectic array of FANTASY whilst seeking out her next wicked good read!

  1. Yay! So exciting, I loved visiting this event last year and as I’m already reading epic fantasy, I’m definitely going to participate as much as I can this year :D Thanks so much for hosting and spreading the #fantasylove. It’s my favorite genre for many reasons, and I’m always glad for an excuse to devour more. Happy reading!

    • Hallo, Hallo Ms Silverwood,

      I feel like *this!* week I’m starting to hit my stride – I have a lot of reviews and different posts coming up over the weekend which will start to flutter into my blog’s archives – I lost traction a bit with that horrid wreck of a migraine which all but derailed me this #WyrdAndWonder! :( Wednesday was blessedly the turning point for me – where I could find myself putting distance between it and noticing I was more ‘me’ than I was being done in by the migraine. This led to revealling my thoughts about TIGER LILY and I’m quite excited about the next series of posts forthcoming — I LOVE this event and like you said, any reason to start drawing people together to CELEBRATE the genre itself is a wicked brilliant idea!

      Hopefully by the time all the posts run on Jorie Loves A Story – everyone will find something to be their cuppa and they can take a chance on a #newtomeauthor – especially as I’m predominately featuring #IndieAuthors this #WyrdAndWonder!!

  2. Thank you for hosting Wyrd and Wonder. I loved participating in ScifiNovember and I am sure this will be equally fun. That’s a very huge TBR you have. Have a great reading month and looking forward for the readalongs.

    • Hallo, Hallo Avada!

      Just swung round your lovely TBR post for #WyrdAndWonder!! :) Happily getting back into the feeds and digging into the posts – my head finally stopped thundering from its supernova state – honestly, after having a two month reprieve from migraines, I definitely felt blindsided this weekend! :( Grr!! Blessedly the coffee I had tonight helped me re-align and feel the tentacles of its reach lessening. I love Sci Fi November myself and happily, I was able to co-host #WyrdAndWonder with Lisa and Imyril as the three of us discussed last year how awesomesauce it would be to have an anchouring event which celebrated the other half of our hearts in SpecLit which is Fantasy!!

      lol Yes, it is quite a large TBR to be sure, but its the stories I most desire to be reading this year,…

      Thanks for the cheerful note of joy and I return the sentiment back to you – may the stories your reading this Wyrd and Wonder become the enchanting joys of Spring!

    • Hallo, Hallo Deanna,

      I do, however, its a holiday for me! :) I’ve had such an adverse past six months, I felt disappearing into Fantasy would be a lovely way to give me a bookish holiday of JOY. Honestly – half of these were meant to be read last #WyrdAndWonder as their part of my backlogue – however, last year, between the migraines & the pollen allergies I was quite undone. This year, I’m thankfully (*knock on wood*) migraine-free right now and although the pollen is kicking me in the head, the levels of attacks are less than they were a year ago — giving me the perfect month to spend disappearing into the crafting of Fantasy and being a more proactive hostess for you guys!!

      Sometimes it is just lovely when you can map out a sequence of stories you really desire to read and know you can physically handle the load for one of the first times in *years!* :) I hope I’ll inspire you to seek one of these lovelies out! Here’s to May and rockin’ our reads for #WyrdAndWonder! Blessed you’ve dropped by – I am about to come round your blog today!

    • Hallo, Hallo Brittany,

      I’m thrilled to bits you’ve found my post – I released it overnight and haven’t had the proper chance to promote it too much as our storms are starting to arrive now that Summer is round the corner! lol I’m delighted knowing there are stories on my list which are enticing to you to seek out! You’ll have to let me know which ones you’ve decided to read and/or which ones caught your attention the most if your going to try reading them after the event! In either case, I hope you’ll swing back round once my reviews of the stories go live!

      Have a lovely first weekend of #WyrdAndWonder!

  3. So many books on your list! I haven’t heard of most to be honest with the exception of Failure to Communicate which I have on my kindle app.. But I hope you will change that ;) May May be a great month. :D

    • Hallo, Hallo Annemieke,

      This is wonderfully wicked news!! :) I love finding out the stories I am reading are ‘new’ to other readers/bloggers as it is champion whenever one of us can seek out the stories which might not have as much attention on them as the others. I will say – most of the stories I am reading this year are Indie Pub and/or are from Self Published authors – as I regularly support both routes to publishing on my blog. I love finding stories which took an alternative route to being published and some of my most cherished reads these past six years fall into this category of selection. I am also reading traditional press, of course, as I move between markets and routes to publish; the beauty of which is having a wider net of choices to read!! :)

      Are you going to be reading Failure to Communicate? Or are you waiting to see what I share about it? You had me curious!

      Thank you for the encouraging words and I cannot wait to start sharing my reviews this month! I’m going to have a few extra posts sprinkled throughout the month as well – but mostly, I wanted to dive straight into reading the stories I’ve been curious about — they keep nudging me and winking at me on my shelf and this is the year I can finally say “I see you, I’m reading you!” Bookish joy extended to you through #WyrdAndWonder, I’ll be visiting with you soon!

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