Category: Featured Reads

What makes a novel a fairy tale retelling? Some faithfully recast characters that we know well in modern-day settings, like the characters in Helen Oyeyemi's Gingerbread, who live in present-day England and use toxic gingerbread to travel to a distant, mystical land. Other retellings are set in the past and use the fairy tale as […]

At the start of this tale, one Smoky Barnable sets off to marry Daily Alice—but first, he has to find her. Edgewood is off the beaten path, much like Little, Big itself—no ordinary dwelling place. The upstate New York mansion has three hundred and sixty-five stairs, seven chimneys, fifty-two doors, twelve (“twelve what? There must […]

Why are we so afraid of witches? What does it mean to be a witch? How does one get started with witchcraft? This list is geared towards answering these questions. If you’re ready to look deeper into witchcraft--it's history, society's relationship with it, practical tips--take a look at these fascinating nonfiction musings from a few […]

Do you love epic stories about gods and goddesses, but want a contemporary twist to the telling? One glance at this lineup of modern mythological fiction, and you'll notice that most of them have a couple things in common: they're written by women, about women. Maybe that's because mythology needs a female-centric recasting, a feminine […]

Well, maybe that wasn't the Association of Writers & Writing Program's exact claim in their recent virtual panel discussion, but they did explore the connections between writing and divination (i.e. Tarot and other practices that seek to reveal the future. So...magic, essentially.) Magic and writing have a lot in common. They’re both acts of manifestation. […]

The work of Ursula K. Le Guin resonates across time and cultures. From the rich traditions of the Hainish universe to the vast islands of Earthsea, Le Guin’s novels are some of the most detailed and transformative in the history of the genre. In her lifetime, Le Guin published nearly 50 novels, novellas, children’s books, […]