We LOVE challenging each other during #WyrdAndWonder with prompts which inspire responses which can be taken literally by the words of the prompt itself or become explored more creatively by what sparks a response from the reader, blogger or social Fantasy lover to share with us during the month of May. This year, I’ve decided to post complimentary discussions featuring the prompts I am responding to via Instagram on our @WyrdAndWonder feeds. As it was a goal of mine last year but not one that I could fulfil properly.
Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!
You might be wondering if you’ve travelled back in time to May, and fear not, you have! Or, at least via the portal of my blog – as I’ve decided to finally reveal the lovely prompts, I answered this year during #WyrdAndWonder in a more comprehensive manner of exploration! I meant to release these alongside the prompts as they went live on #bookstagram, however, May clocked off faster than I could type and alas, I felt it was more fitting to re-explore the prompts as a chase-up to our lovely Autumnal event: #SpooktasticReads!
For those of you who are unfamiliar with our lovely mini-event – we host 13 days every October to devour and read as much spookified reads we can lock eyes and hands upon which give us a bit of a chillingly fantastical read within the pages of Paranormal Fantasy, Cosy Horror intermixed with Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, stories of the Fae which might prove to be more Unseelie than Seelie as well as any darker corridor of Fantasy realms which might celebrate the darker veils of Autumn. It is a time to get our spook on and walk alongside witches and familiars as well as explore the stories which befit the season of changes as Summer’s wrath has led into a lovely respite of cooler weather!
Thereby, this is the first #WyrdAndWonder Wednesday post I’ll be sharing which discusses the books on my radar to read betwixt and between 2025’s Wyrd And Wonder as I discovered them during 2024’s #WyrdAndWonder and/or am celebrating having read them in previous years. Let’s see which stories I’m settling into might entice and encourage you to read as well. If you’ve previously read any of the lovely stories yourself – kindly drop me notes in the comments and let me know your takeaways and reactions, too! Especially if you think I’ll share a similar reaction after I’ve concluded the stories myself. Happy to visit you if you have a link to a post on your blog as well. Whilst more details about #SpooktasticReads will be in the footer of this post!
And, now, without further adieu: On the fourteenth day, I took a different path – I wanted to research the prompt fully and find out if there were ANY stories I had previously become aware of which were truly ‘Cosy Fantasy’ and thereby, curate my own Cosy Cottage in the process OR if this was one part of the genre I haven’t yet explored. My initial reaction to the prompt was of the thought this was meant to celebrate the Cosier side of Cosy Mysteries fitting into the world of Fantasy – such as the stories I love to devour by Jeannie Wycherley (as mentioned on my #WitchyWednesdays post).
Yet, whilst I was researching the term ‘Cosy Fantasy’ – no one was broaching the idea of Cosy Fantasy Mysteries but rather, tucking closer to the mindset of having the following inclusive of the stories:
* Found Families
* Slice of Life
* Centred on Community or Family
* No Violence or Overt Tension or Strife
Which of course takes you a different pursuit altogether! Of the stories I discovered through all my cross-referenced research, only a few stories bubbled to the top of those recommendations which weren’t previously known to me. I was quite gobsmacked to realise that quite a number of my own #nextreads fit into this category selection and that made me wicked happy for the discovery! I simply never knew they held this designation.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- #WyrdAndWonder
