I’ve been a fan of dystopian novels ever since I read The Handmaid’s Tale as a teenager. That was over twenty years ago. Back then, reading dystopian meant picking up the old classics like 1984 and Brave New World. But in recent times, books like The Hunger Games have sparked …
This post should really be titled, “Books I intend to prioritise reading in 2018 but probably won’t get through more than half of, if I’m lucky.” But that’s not a very catchy title! As I was making this list, more and more things I wanted to read kept catching my …
At the beginning of the year, I made some reading challenges for 2017. I had a general challenge of 80 Goodreads books, and a specific list of 38 books that I wanted to read. During the year, I decided that 80 books was going to be too easy so I …
What is Young Adult Fantasy? Young Adult (YA) Fantasy is a subset of fantasy fiction aimed at a teenage audience. Fantasy is a wide genre and includes stories about made-up worlds, mythical creatures, and magic. Not all these elements have to be present to make a book fantasy, but a …
A few weeks ago I took a visit to Bath. My main purpose in going was to see the Here Be Dragons exhibition, which I definitely recommend, but while I was there on my own, I decided to pay a visit to the Jane Austen museum. Now, I do normally …
My young adult fantasy book, Where Carpets Fly, is influenced by some Arabian and Middle-Eastern elements: flying carpets, Persian architecture, and Mediterranean food and climate. I’ve been looking for other fantasy books that use similar themes and created a Goodreads list and bookshelf for Arabian-style fantasy, and also a Facebook …
I love looking at different magic systems and learning about how they work. I’ve even written a blog post or two about developing magic systems. When it came to writing my own fantasy novel, the worldbuilding was one of my favourite parts. So, today, I’m going to share a few …
