Inglenook Blog

Bright ideas, inspiring stories, and thought-provoking articles to spark your creativity and stoke your inner fire.

The Best Speculative Fiction - 2025

June 30, 2025
Though most associate magic with fantasy books (i.e. dragons, spell-casting, witches, and vampires), magic can also be found in novels about the mundane, everyday world. This is the foundation for magical realism and speculative fiction. This post won't get into the technical or craft considerations for these two genres, but know that there are some. […]
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The Best Books About the Magic of Nature - Nonfiction Edition

June 25, 2025
If there was any silver lining to 2020’s lockdowns, it was the rediscovery of nature. There's something uniquely rejuvenating about being outside, feeling bare feet on grass, touching bark, tasting ocean spray. Whatever your preferred landscape, the books in this list will inspire and reinvigorate, intertwining drama and self-discovery with the howling call of the […]
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Top Fantasy and Romance Books for 2025

June 18, 2025
This year in literature is proof that we're living in a romance and fantasy heyday. As we hit the halfway mark in 2025, readers are already settled in for wild, heart-tugging rides that open our imaginations and awaken our pining. Which reads count as the top fantasy and romance books of 2025? Here's a peek […]
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The Spell Lives On: 5 Memoirs About Witches and Magic

June 6, 2025
Over the years, many witches have told their tales of awakening in memoir form. While the backgrounds and settings of these narratives are all richly unique, what they share is a theme of reclaiming one's power by embarking on an underworld journey that ultimately releases them to eschew cultural pressures and tap into their own […]
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Witch Herbalism Book: Review of "Womb Witch"

March 24, 2025
Five hundred years ago, midwives were the leaders in reproductive health. Many of these healers were wise in the ways of plants and herbs, wombs and childbearing, and some were targeted as witches (Ehrenreich and English). Though these “witches” were the ones who understood bones, muscles, herbs, and drugs at a time when physicians “were […]
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Are Fairies Real? The Best Books About Fairies 2025

February 27, 2025
Have you always wondered about fairies (faeries, or "the fae")? Were you one of those kids who played in the backyard or the woods, talking to imaginary friends, and collecting treasures from nature as if they were gold? These book recommendations are for the brave souls who step off beaten paths and walk the margins […]
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  • Craft Corner

    Stack of books

    Some favorite reads for honing manuscripts, magic(k), and minds

  • Take your imagination on a date with these translated mini-essays about children and storytelling. The Grammar of Fantasy by Gianni Rodari will loosen writer's block and cultivate child-like wonder and playfulness (with a healthy side of potty humor).
  • The Wonder Book Jeff VanderMeer
    Wacky and wonderful, this inspiring craft (comic? cabinet of curiosities? I Spy?) book will not only give you helpful tips for writing fabulist fiction, it will also give your weary brain a needed break from it.
  • Stories need not follow the pyramidal rise-and-fall of Freytag's story arc to be compelling. Jane Alison's Meander, Spiral, Explode opens minds and manuscripts with its survey of shapes found in both nature and literature.
  • New witches and witch-curious readers will appreciate this mind-body approach to magick. Its authentic tone and easy-to-follow guide will appeal to those looking to cultivate a witchy meditation practice and to see their magickal efforts manifest in the real world.
  • Six Ways by Aidan Wachter is an easy-to-read primer on "chaos magic:" tips and how-to's for building a magickal toolbox that doesn't ascribe to any particular school of thought. The book covers sigils, petitions, animism, trance, and more. Its likable narrator and magickal content will inspire writers and magicians alike.
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