Whilst happily celebrating my 9th Blog Birthday for #JLASblog today!🥳Of the years I've been blogging, I found 2022 the hardest by far and I'm grateful after a rough start to Summer, I can start to return to both #amreading & #amblogging!😁💜🦝 pic.twitter.com/cWfvrp25wc
— Jorie, the bookish #WyrdAndWonder elf 📖🧝 (@joriestory) August 6, 2022
Wyrd And Wonder banner created by Imyril. Image Credit: Dragon – by kasana86 from 123RF.com.
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
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.
Five years ago, in 2013 I created Jorie Loves A Story in March; launched my blog LIVE to the book blogosphere by August and took a leap of faith to join the twitterverse right before the year closed in November. And, guess what that meant? It meant my first Sci Fi November was in 2013 – the year it began!
All these years later, my admiration for this sci fi geekery community has grown to be one of my favourites which happily resides this year next to the community Lisa & Imyril and I are growing with #WyrdAndWonder.
When it comes to November, Jorie’s favourite bookish month out of the year (save May & July, since 2018) – the cosy comfort of returning back inside a devouring period of Science Fiction (esp Hard SciFi) is one of tremendous JOY & curates a lightness in my spirit. I truly love travelling through hyperspace seeking my next beloved #mustread selection! Brownie points to the extreme if a favourite hugs itself into the niche of #SpaceOpera!
Which is why for the month of NOVEMBER, I shall be treating my readers & visitors with a gush fest of love for #ScienceFiction & Speculative worlds which inter-knit themselves through a lens of Science. Predominately focused on Fiction with a few insertions of Non-Fiction to keep things interesting!
Each November, I attempt to right the short-comings of the prior year – I’ve had a few interesting Novembers celebrating #RRSciFiMonth (@SciFiMonth) but the hardest of all was not getting into the books I’m about to reference on this post. These are top priority this year as I would love to finally say, I not only read them but I could finally articulate my ruminations on their behalf! Giving me a clean slate for Sci Fi November, 2019!
It is part of my overall goal of removing my *backlogue* of reviews before I move into my sixth year as a book blogger in March, 2019.
This year, I also wanted to have light duties officially as I love doing something behind the scenes to assist our lovely hostesses: Lisa (@deergeekplace) + Imyril (@imyril) who give us wicked good celebrations through the years as we all come together to champion the stories of Science Fiction (and their sub-genres/niches) which happily alight in our lives. We’re always reading similar stories – either together in tandem (such as we are this year with our RAL/readalong “The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet”) or on opposite years.
A lot of us DISCOVER new authors by browsing through the feeds on Twitter on our tag: #RRSciFiMonth (or jumping into convo on #smallangryplanet) – sometimes we host themed chats like last year’s #SpaceOpera discussion (one of two we had in 2017). I admit, I love hosting the Twitter chats as I do love being bubbly chatty and the joy of connecting with like-minded readers is true bliss.
I am also participating with a special round robin guest interview series Lisa is putting together this year. In the past, I have responded to essay questions by Sci Fi November hosts and this year, I equally will be overjoyed to see the results once I submit my responses.Read More
Each of us who joyfully blogs about books will find at times, even our best laid plans to host concurrent blog events can sometimes become a bit hard to juggle when our personal lives intercede on the time we had scheduled to devout to the events themselves. I found myself in this particular pickle last Sci Fi November, but this year, I felt I had shifted a few things around to where I had more hours to give and thereby could redeem myself from what I could not put together last year. Suffice to say, a few unexpected issues arose the least of which were a knock-out of my internet connection by a severe lightning storm and a broken toe of which looked far worse than the injury itself yet gave me enough wincing pain to forestall my blogging.
I was able to jump dive into the #RRSciFiMonth chat at the very tail-end of the conversation, whereupon I happily enjoyed speaking with Ms. Czerneda, Asti, Ana, and Rachel Noel (@Silelda & Purple Owl Reviews)! It was during this part of the convo, I expressed my desire to carry forward into December the posts I was unable to contribute during the last fortnight of SFN: 2014! I was happily surprised to find others were in agreement; November for whichever reason had become a bit of a quagmire for a lot of us, and I was not the only one wanting to extend the celebrations!
*I received a bit of a surprise whilst getting the link for Rachel Noel’s blog! (read: 2014 Thanks) I have always appreciated the randomness to my conversations with Rachel Noel on Twitter & I had always meant to expand our connection by visiting her blog. To see my name listed as a part of a note of gratitude of whom gave her the most joy and support in 2014 was simply an unexpected blessing to discover. Our lives touch each other in ways we do not always realise have an impact that gives us all a boost when we need it most. I can attest the same in return!Read More
I have always had a strong passion for the world of Indies (book shoppes & authors), yet despite all my best efforts to seek out stories published through alternative publishing platforms such as: Independent Publishers & Presses, Self-Published routes (such as POD or otherwise) or even Hybrid Publishing Platforms I found the availability of where they are adverted and spoken about to be a bit limiting prior to becoming a book blogger who became active in the book blogosphere, the book culture in the twitterverse, and a hostess for blog book tours via blog book touring firms and companies.
I had the the pleasure of seeing other bookish bloggers and writers take up the quest to host book spotlights and author features on their blogs leading up to Autumn 2014. I was partially inspired to host my own event as much as shine a light on the fact I read an incredible amount of Indie fiction on a regular basis now! I am always humbled and blessed to have my path cross with authors whose stories not only enchant my mind but they endear my soul. I love the diversity of the stories themselves as much as the love of the craft knitted into their pages.
I cannot wait to share all the lovely posts I am writing which will highlight all the lovely books on my Riffle List which compliments this event! Be sure to watch my Twitter Feeds for announcements & reading tweets whilst I walk through November with a thankfulness of Indie Fiction!
JLAS Features in Conjunction to #IndieWriterMonth:
#IndieWriterMonth Bingo Card Challenge for an Indie Reader
This ChocLit Girl has a ChocLit Next Reads List | Why I love Reading ChocLitUK novels
Upcoming 2015 Indie New Releases Wicked Happy About
Top Indie Children’s Lit: the stories for young readers & young adults
Top Indie Speculative Fiction: stories within science fiction, fantasy, & horror
Top 10 Favourite Indie Sci-Fi & Fantasy Novels & Writers
Top Indie Historical Fiction: stories brought forward out of time itself
Top 20 Under-appreciated Indie Novelists
Top Favourite Indie Publishers & Presses
Next Indie Books to Read on my Bookshelf
Next Indie Books to Read via my local library
Indie Novels I am Reviewing in December
Stories Seeking Love from Readers: the Indie novels spotlight
Surprises still to come! :)
| Calendar of Book Reviews & Author Guest Features |
(16 Nov) Book Review “Category 5” by Paul Mark Tag (Science Fiction based on Science Fact Thriller)
(23 Nov) Book Review “Prophecy” by Paul Mark Tag (Science Fiction based on Science Fact Thriller)
(30 Nov) Book Review “White Thaw: The Helheim Conspiracy” by Paul Mark Tag
(Science Fiction based on Science Fact Thriller)
In recognition of my participation in the reading challenge:
This post kicks off my event on behalf of:
Reader Interactive Question:
Share your thoughts on Indie Pub | Press; Self Pub and Hybrid published authors of whom you’ve felt such a strong connection to you wish you could find more readers to share in the joy of the stories which captured your imagination & your heart.
{SOURCES: Poster for #IndieWriterMonth on Jorie Loves A Story created by Jorie in Canva. Badge for #IndieWriterMonth (November & December) on Jorie Loves A Story created by Jorie in Canva. Post dividers badge by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Riffle List embedded due to codes provided by Riffle.}
