Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!!
You would expect me to know this particular niche of Fantasy a bit more than I do. I l have held a long affinity of wonder and joy for the oceans and oceanic life. Yet, when it boils down to reading stories set at sea or tucked into stories about creatures of the sea – I’m a bit limited in my wanderings. Ideally, I had hoped to gather a heap of lovelies from my local library during the chase-up weeks into the event this May. Less ideal of course was waiting to the very last golden hour to find everything. Of course, you know which route I took – the latter one of course!
As I revealled during #TheSundayPost – I needed something to distract me from falling ill and losing a week of work from both my jobs! The only hidden blessing was having some sick days to offset the absences a bit but it wasn’t completely covering all the lost hours. Except, my initial searches at my local library via their card catalogue proved futile. As I found a few titles – by few, less than five? And, I couldn’t sort out why that could be – as in past years during Wyrd And Wonder I have had such a bevy of enlightening choices to choose amongst that I nearly run out of hours to endeavour to chase into each and every story I’ve discovered! I decided this year might be different for me and that was just going to have to be okay!
Each May feels like a holiday for me (ie. a vacation) as I get to settle into adventuring into fantastical worlds and explore who lives there. It is such an uplift for me each May – even, if the last few years have been lean on books read vs books sampled, I have been having a heap of fun along the way towards finding #newtomeauthors and future beloved reads. One of the key reasons I love co-hosting Wyrd And Wonder is a continued celebration of a genre which bewitches me and a community of readers and the socially bookish who all mutually share a love for the same genre and kinds of stories I enjoy seeking out myself. It is one *big!* happy party every May – especially if you visit our blogs and find our posts – from discussions to lists to reviews to a bit of everything and anything you can think of which allows the blogger to discuss Fantasy.
Be on the lookout on my #bookstagram feeds via @joriestory3 where I will be posting more content (especially the bookish variety!) throughout the month! I will also be sharing content and images for our main @WyrdAndWonder Insta feeds, too. I have found my rhythm on #bookstagram at long last and am enjoying my journey on the social platform. I might not be able to post as regularly as some, but I take it at my own pace and post as it suits me to post inasmuch as finding ways to share my bookish and readerly life which compliment my blog.
→ After having a bit of a panic attack over nearly losing my blog on Tuesday due to a technical error on my part and not realising I made it – wells, let’s just say, that took HOURS to reset my heart – as I hadn’t even known my blog was down let alone in jeopardy of existing! I needed a way to avert my emotions and distract my mind – which is why I embarked on a second trip through my library’s card catalogue and found some rather extraordinary stories – ALL of which befit our theme this year and I was so shocked as I had looked previously and only found a handful?
Now, I can participate in a few more prompts from our challenge than I thought I could whilst happily having more fun with the original ones I elected to host on our main #WyrdAndWonder feeds via #bookstagram! I couldn’t believe my good fortune – especially as nearly all the lovelies I found are wickedly diverse reads and happily encompass Nautical Fantasy from a heap of lovely new angles of insight and entrance!
For those who might be eager to know which topics I’m focusing on ahead of time, they are as follows:
- Chart Your Course: ALL hosts are participating as it is our kick-off celebration & TBR
<Wyrd And Wonder’s Chart Your Course><Jorie’s Chart Your Course> - Under the Radar (Periscope up, underrated books the party should be looking for): 3 May
- Fantastic Voyages: (non-maritime journeys): 9 May
- Bite-Sized Islands (celebrating short form fiction or novels of shorter length): 10 May
- Watery Women (Mermaids, Selkies & Sirens): 14 May
- Current Read: 15 May
- Pirates: 28 May
- Deep Dive (set underwater, a story that pulls you in): 29 May
deep dive also refer to a Non-Nautical Fantasy novel that truly mesmorises you within the world-building and the story like a deep dive into the author’s vision in other words? - Safe Harbour: 31 May (favourite stories read this May)
Which of these prompts inspires you as well as reader!? Do you have any books or authors you’d like to recommend to me? I have been enjoying the discovery process as much as I’ve been enjoying re-finding the stories which befit the prompts, too.
And, here are the prompts I am going to see if I can work on outside of the official ones:
- #MapMonday: 5 May
- Sea Serpents: 7 May
- Foreign Climes: 22 May
- Standalone Isle: 23 May
I’m not sure if I can join these on the original days their scheduled but I’m going to give it a bit of a go and see how I can sneak in a few more of the prompts! I might have others I can participate with as well – I will have to see how May trudges along as I’m reading and what I’m finding in the stories! I have a full set of stories I picked to read this month alongside exploring our theme of choice, too.
May has always held a special joy for me as a book blogger and social reader. I am wicked thankful that our community of Wyrd And Wonder continues to grow and encompass so many different routes of exploring the genre of Fantasy and celebrating what gives us such a fantastical presence in our lives. From books to films to games to music and everything else in-between.
Are you ready to start the fantastical celebration?
What do you want to do this Wyrd And Wonder? And, will you join us?!
Fantasy truly is much more than a genre – it is an exploration of hidden worlds & themes which are universally appealling to a wide audience – crossing through all boundaries and uniting everyone together who finds a niche of Fantasy their jam. This is why we wanted to create a happy space to celebrate this wicked wonderful section of Speculative Fiction – to find the joy in what others are finding for themselves & uniting together to highlight every which way to Sunday Fantasy gives us a burst of #randomJOY and lifts our souls!
Welcome to *Wyrd & Wonder*
Wyrd and Wonder is an annual celebration of the fantasy genre. Sign up to join the party as we explore worlds of myth and magic, re-imagine traditional tales, cheer on heroes (prefer villains? Sure, we won’t judge you) and discover the secret doors that lead from familiar streets to adjacent realms where a discourtesy or a misstep may land you in hot water. We’ll be reading books, watching movies, playing games and sharing our thoughts online through blog posts and social media with as many like-minded adventurers as care to join us – there’s always room by the fire for a newcomer with a tale to share. (official 2022 blurb)
This marks our 8th Year co-hosting #WyrdAndWonder (Imyril, Lisa, Annemieke, Ariana and I) and we’re celebrating Nautical Fantasy wherein however you interpret that definition to be explored is open game this #WyrdAndWonder. We have several options of exploring our theme this year – from the Prompt Challenge (see the topics to respond to below – this can be used on #bookstagram, BlueSky or other social channels) as well as a blog post guide – if you wanted to tackle different prompts and write discussion posts about the stories which fit within the prompts themselves. It could be a wicked crazy reading list or it can become any ‘other’ thing you can think it could be because it is happily open to interpretation by you!
Likewise, we have our Wyrd And Wonder Nautical Fantasy Bingo Card for this year as well!
I’m not sure about you – but when it comes to Bookish & Readerly Bingo – it is a bit rare when I can fill in the spaces with stories I am reading. I love the concept of Bingo, and I love attempting Bingo Cards for reading adventures but at the end of the day, I must admit, I’m not the most successful at filling out the cards!! Perhaps you’ll find stories which suit this Bingo Card brilliantly! And, if so, I send you an early congratulations! I am hopeful to fill in some of the spaces myself this year.
- (snag our lovely graphics & use the attributions to show your participation!)
You’ll have to let me know if you’re participating this year with us
during #WyrdAndWonder in the comments below this post!
For those who want to let us know officially their joining us – fill out this form.
The beauty of #WyrdAndWonder itself- is being able to escape into the realms of Fantasy and seek out the fantastical – however which way that might personally appeal to the reader and the seeker! Let us help you adventure with us whilst seeing what you’ve decided to read, listen or watch throughout May! I hope some of the authors I’ve read and reviewed over the years have sparked a curiosity in you to seek out yourself and likewise, I know I’ve been wicked inspired throughout the years to seek out new authors myself.
Whether this is your seventh year or your first, we welcome you to #WyrdAndWonder! Join us as we dip our bookish hearts into this region of Speculative Fiction which gets us wickedly giddy with expectations and imaginative blissitudes!
For those who want to tackle prompted discussions on a weekly basis this May, look no further than the Fantastic Fives! You can do these in order of the Sundays this month OR you can take these topics out of order – you can post on a different day than Sunday and/OR you can choose how you’d like to discuss the topics listed. If you’re unsure how to respond to the prompts (like I am myself) – you can always await to see how others are approaching their topics and discussions and use that as a jumping off point yourself!
For those of you who want to participate and read our dedicated RAL (ie. readalong) this year, you’ll find us discussing “The Voyage of the Damned” via our Discord channel for it. We also have several other bookish options for those who want a more relaxed and causal RAL experience this year – again, all are located on our Discord.
Whilst of course – if you want to find a buddy to read a book with – don’t hesitate to reach out to someone too! I attempted to find someone to buddy read “The Forever Sea” until I realised most of our community has already read the book. Thankfully, Ari a fellow co-host and I are going to spend time discussing the sequel – of which I am hopefully able to get into before the end of the month!
Whatever you plan to do this Wyrd And Wonder – make it your OWN. Set your sails and join our brigade of fantastical adventurers and let’s see what we can undercover from the depths of Nautical Fantasy!
And, *drumroll!* if this is your first visit to Jorie Loves A Story and you’d like to visit how I’ve celebrated Wyrd And Wonder these past years – let me introduce you to the stories & authors I’ve had the pleasure of reading – especially as each one was an adventure of its own & opened my eyes to new worlds & new visions of what Fantasy can represent:
Year One : Wyrd And Wonder:
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!
Year Two : Wyrd And Wonder:
#25PagePreview for WyrdAndwonder feat.
Empire of Sand (The Books of Ambha, Book One) by Tasha Suri (Epic Fantasy)
Adrift (Staying Afloat, Book One) by Isabelle Adler (Space Opera)
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon (Dragon Fiction)
Nebula Awards Showcase 2016 (edited by) Mercedes Lackey (Speculative Fiction Anthology)
Heir to the Lamp by Michelle Lowry Combs (YA Fantasy, Stories of the Jinn)
The Sun and Moon Beneath the Stars by K. Parr (Upper YA Fantasy)
Mark of the Raven & Flight of the Raven by Morgan L. Busse (High Fantasy, INSPY)
Lost on the Water by D.G. Driver (Fantasy, Ghost Story, YA Fantasy)
The Haunting of Hillwood Farm by Kathryn Knight (see also my Notes)
To Court a Queen by H.L. Burke (Fantasy Romance)
Tiger Lily by Wendy Dikec (aka Abigail Drake) (Urban Fantasy, Fantasy Romance)
Sea of Lost Souls by Emerald Dodge (Urban Fantasy, Mythological Fantasy)
The Magical Midway series by Leanne Leeds: (Cosy Mystery, Urban Fantasy)
Witchiest Witch On Earth (book one)
Life on the Lion (book two)
Unbearable Magic (book three)
library loan requests for #wyrdandwonder year two:
ADRIFT by Isabelle Adler *my purchase request (#ReviewPit author) (Space Opera)
Year Three: Wyrd And Wonder:
The Monster Apprentice by Felicity Banks (Middle Grade Fantasy)
Ultra Squad: Adventures Under the Strangebow by Julia Devillers (Graphic Novel)
Solomon’s Bell by Michelle Lowery Combs (YA Fantasy, Stories of the Jinn)
Ariella and the Curse of Dawnhaven by Owen Crane (Middle Grade Fantasy)
Cycles of Norse Mythology (Cycle One) by Glenn Searfoss (Norse Mythos)
Esme’s Wish by Elizabeth Foster (Middle Grade Fantasy)
Year Four: Wyrd And Wonder:
Dalya and the Magic Ink Bottle by J.M. Everson (Middle Grade Fantasy, Stories of the Jinn)
The Marvelwood Magicians by Diane Zahler and (Narrator) Sarah Zimmerman
(Middle Grade Fantasy, Circus) (audiobook)
The One Great Gnome by Jeff Dinardo and (Narrator) Simone Stevens (audiobook)
Cassandra by Kathryn Gossow (Mythological Retelling Fantasy)
Tree Magic by Harriet Springbett (Mythological Fantasy, Earth centred Fantasy)
Bel Nemeton by Jon Black (Arthurian Legend and Mythological Fantasy)
The Fighter of Aldea by Kira Weston (Alternate Future Fantasy, Low Fantasy)
The Princess and the Pirate by Felicity Banks (Middle Grade Fantasy)
Magical Neighbours by Mary Ellen Spencer and (Narrator) Rosemary Benson
(Middle Grade Fantasy)(audiobook)
Mean Spirit by E. Chris Garrison (Urban Fantasy)
Year Five: Wyrd And Wonder:
My #TopFiveSaturday posts for 2022:
+ The Power of Five Share a Grab-Bag
+ The Power of Five Share the Road Less Travelled
+ The Power of Five from the Past Five Wyrd And Wonder Years
+ Get Ready for our Fifth Wyrd And Wonder Year
My FantasticFives posts for 2022:
+ Jorie’s Top Five Stories of Wyrd And Wonder
+
Harlequin’s Riddle by Rachel Nightingale (Upper YA Fantasy, Magical Realism)
Wyrd And Wonder Romance Tuesdays: Druid’s Moon by Deniz Bevan (Supernatural Fantasy, Wereswolves)
The Shadow of the Skytree by K.J. Taylor (Upper YA Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Horror-Lite)
SIRENS (edited by) Rhonda Parrish (Fantasy Short Story/Novella anthology) by World Weaver Press
Wyrd And Wonder Romance Tuesdays: Heart of Sherwood by Edale Lane
(Gender-bent Robin Hood, Historical Fantasy, LGBTQ Romance)
Witchy Wednesdays: The Ghosts of Wonky Inn by Jeannie Wycherley (Witchy Fiction, Paranormal Fantasy)
EQUUS (edited by Rhonda Parrish (Fantasy Short Story/Novella anthology) by World Weaver Press
Exploring Forest Fantasy (theme of year): The Namer of Spirits by Todd Mitchell
(Middle Grade Fantasy, Enviromental Fantasy)
Exploring Desert Fantasy: Speechless in Achten Tan by Debbie Iancu-Haddad
(Upper YA Fantasy, Desert Fantasy, Weird Fantasy)
Year Six: Wyrd And Wonder:
Attempted to Read the RAL: Howl’s Moving Castle by Dianna Wynne Jones
both in PRINT and AUDIO (narrator: Jenny Sterlin)
Let’s just say my YEAR 6 of Wyrd And Wonder was spent on #bookstagram – creating content and answering the prompts during May for our main threads on @WyrdAndWonder. I had recently relocated last Spring and to be honest, my heart wasn’t into reading or sorting out Wyrd And Wonder as the move itself had taken everything I had to give at that time. I truly enjoyed what I created for #bookstagram and it was my way of participating during a year where I couldn’t settle into a story to save me. It was wonderful to celebrate the stories I had already read and loved – whilst encouraging others to try to see if those stories would be a good fit for them as well.
I did make some enroads into Howl’s Moving Castle but unfortunately, May concluded and I was still in the opening bits of the novel itself. The narrator is smashing though and I might re-attempt to see if I can get further along with it this year leading into Year 7. Either way you slice it – Year 6 for me was a bit of a washout year aside from my pursuits on Insta. It was the JOY I had during that month creating those features for Insta that led me to feel encouraged to join Insta myself. And, why that is now my main socially bookish presence online aside from my blog, of course! It in effect has replaced where I was socially bookish on Twitter.
I only posted two blogs during Year 6:
#FlashbackFriday : Celebrating the Tipsy Fairy Tale trilogy
#WWWednesday : Diving back into #WyrdAndWonder (or otherwise known as ‘best intentions’)
Year Seven: Wyrd And Wonder:
Attempted to Read the RAL: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
both in PRINT and AUDIO (narrator: Jim Dale)
Announcement for Y7 Wyrd And Wonder and our theme COMFORT ZONES
Jorie’s Short Stack for Wyrd And Wonder
Prompt Challenge: Swept Away Straits
Exploring Witchy Fiction Jorie Loves: Witchy Reads
→ the following were started in MAY but posted in OCTOBER:
Prompt Challenge: Cosy Cottage
Prompt Challenge: Hidden Schools and Universities
There were four more prompt challenges I was working on finishing in October but simply ran out of the hours to complete. It was my intention to work on them before May this year, and then, run them during May as a fond sendoff of last year’s happy discoveries within each of the prompts themselves. Each time I tackled a prompt with Wyrd And Wonder, I would select stories to discover – audiobooks became a bit of a mainstay of my journey in (2024) during May and October. I didn’t get the chance to finish any stories in May sadly but what I sampled, heard and journeyed inside remain some of my top memories of what I did accomplish last year. I also happily participated on the Insta side of the event – wherein my graphics ran on Wyrd And Wonder’s main threads on Insta whilst I tried to have some of them also cross-appear on my own feeds, too.
Overall, it was a bit of a slim year of posts and participation but somehow for me – it felt fuller somehow. Almost as if I had done far more than the posts can show and reflect to an outside viewer. And, that was part of what I took away from my #BestBooksof2024 post, too. Sometimes the years you do less than you realise are the years you do far more than what can be quantified.
and, now dear hearts,
I shall leave you with an invitation
to Kindly visit my co-hosts:
These link to their individual announcements!
Lisa + Imyril + Annemieke + Ariana
via Insta: @deargeekplace + @joriestory3
+ @inlinewithannemieke + @booknookreview
Be sure to keep a watchful eye on our @WyrdAndWonder BlueSKy feeds for the content we’ll be sharing inasmuch as our @WyrdAndWonder Insta; expect monthly engagements from the Power of Five – across social channels & our blogs. We are happily ready to start visiting blogs & start the Fantastical conversations which we know will be enjoyed by all who LOVE Fantasy! Join us for our 8th Year and let it be fantastically engaging for everyone who joins us on this adventure.
{SOURCES: Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Wyrd And Wonder 2025 banners, Fantastic Fives graphic, Wyrd And Wonder Bingo Card, Wyrd And Wonder Prompt Challenge graphic and badges created by Imyril (Image Credit: mermaid image by Yuri Arcurs Photography on 123RF.com) and are used with permission. Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: Wyrd And Wonder: Theme Nautical Fantasy graphic and the Comment Box Banner.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2025.
I am socially bookish via BlueSky and Instagram. Kindly share my posts on those channels and @ me so I know to favourite those announcements. For Insta, here is the announcement I made.
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