Wyrd and Wonder 2022 Wrap Up

tree wolf image by chic2view on 123RF.com
Somehow, we’ve come to the end of another fantastic Wyrd and Wonder.
This year promised to be bigger and better than ever to celebrate five years of this fantastic feature – and it did not disappoint!
As ever, a huge thanks to our hosts Imyril, Lisa, Jorie, Ariana, and Annemieke for organising this extra special year.
I’d also like to thank all our contributors who joined in, who put up with my many links to Google Docs – thanks for making it fun Nils, Jonathan, Scarlett, Julia, Asha, Theo, Gray, Dorian, Shona, Hil, and Lucy.
So, how did we celebrate?
Nils, Scarlett and I took part in this year’s read along of Guy Gavriel Kay’s The Summer Tree
Week 1 | Week 2| Week 3 | Week 4
Every Monday, we brought you our five-star reads in five words, each week focussing on the following topics:
Since Last Time – our favourite reads since last year’s Wyrd and Wonder
Forest Fantasies – fantasy reads set in forests
Mascots – fantasy books featuring the Wyrd and Wonder mascots
Single-Serve – smaller fantasy reads
Subgenres – our favourite books from our favourite subgenres in fantasy
Every Thursday, Nils, Julia, and I looked back over five years’ worth of Wyrd and Wonder photo challenges
Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4
Our Tough Travels post for this month focused on the prompt of that day, Fantasy Landscapes
And Julia gave us an update of her favourite Self Published SFF books
Here’s what we read this month:
Stringers | by Chris Panatier | Deep’s End | by Kai Greenwood | |
Beautiful Star | by Yukio Mishima | Someone in Time | edited by Jonathan Strahan | |
December Park | by Ronald Malfi | Walking on Cowrie Shells | by Nana Nkweti | |
Meta: Game On | by Xander Black | Motherbridge: Seeds of Change | by George Mann and Aleta Vidal | |
The Hunger of the Gods | by John Gwynne |
And we even managed to squeeze in some interviews, guest posts and cover reveals:
Interview with Steve McHugh
The Kheld King Cover reveal
Magic Systems – a Guest Post with Rebecca Zahabi
An Excerpt of The Splendid City by Karen Hueler
Interview with E. G. Creel
Interview with J. Michael White
Nils was in charge of the Bingo again this year!
As we did so well last year, we thought we’d give it another shot this year!
Here were the rules:
- Read fantasy books! Hopefully some of them match some of the prompts 🙂
- Each read may only be used for a single prompt
- Novellas count (for any prompt)
- The read-along prompt can only be completed by The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay
- Post your completed bingo card on your blog or any social media channel at the end of the month and tag me so I can see how you got on and include you in the draw
- Completed bingo cards must be posted by end of day on June 1st
We thought with The Hive doing this as a team it would also be a good way to see how diversely we all read during Wyrd and Wonder, and give you a glimpse into what we all enjoyed reading this month. As you can see the fantasy genre does have such a huge variety to it, it’s not all wizards and dragons!
Here’re the Bingo Squares we managed to cross off:
We managed to smash it once again! I mean, it helps having a large team of compulsive readers…
Below is a list of the books we read for each prompt, and which one of us read them. We’ve even included a bonus book, if more than one of us read a different book which fitted the same prompt. Links to Goodreads pages so you can bump up your TBR!
Enchanted Woods
Motherbridge by George Mann. (Graphic Novel)
Read by Beth.
Award Nominee
Temporary Agency by Rachel Pollack.
Read by Jonathan Thornton.
Say it in Verse
The First Poems in English poetry collection.
Read by Asha.
Portal Fantasy
Wandering Inn by Piratebea.
Read by Julia.
Wolf
The Hunger of the Gods by John Gwynne.
Read by Nils.
Epic
Dragon Mage by M.L. Spencer.
Read by Dorian Hart.
Crow
Yesterday Crumb and the Storm in a Teacup by Andy Sagar.
Read by Asha.
Don’t Leave the Path
Dragon Storm: Ellis and Pathseeker by Alastair Chisholm.
Read by Asha.
Shapeshifters
Where Werewolves Fear to Tread by Alan Gordon.
Read by Julia.
Bonus
Kinship and Kindness by Kara Jorgensen.
Read by Asha
Bite-sized Delight
Walking on Cowrie Shells collection of short stories by Nana Nkweti
Read by Jonathan.
Pegasus
Misrule by Heather Walter.
Read by Asha.
Fae
Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher
Read by Julia.
Freebie
We Burn Together by Isabel Ibañez.
Read by Shona.
Fictional Language
Meta: Game On by Xander Black.
Read by Lucy.
Bonus
A Ritual of Flesh by Lee C Conley.
Read by Julia.
Mythic
Mischief Acts by Zoe Gilbert.
Read by Beth.
Book within a Book
The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah.
Read by Scarlett.
Forest Guardian
The Dark Between the Trees by Fiona Barnett.
Read by Lucy.
(Grim) Dark
Ordinary Monsters by J.M. Miro.
Read by Nils.
Phoenix
The Phoenix and the Carpet by Edith Nesbit.
Read by Asha
Reread
Dogs of War By Adrian Tchaikovsky.
Read by Lucy.
Bonus
Sacred Cat Island by Harmon Cooper.
Read by Gray.
Readalong
The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay.
Read by Beth, Nils and Scarlett.
Urban Fantasy
Sin Du Jour series by Matt Wallace.
Read by Gray.
Bonus
One Foot in the Fade by Luke Arnold.
Read by Asha
Dragon
How to Love Your Elf by Kerrelyn Sparks.
Read by Asha.
Talking Animals
Swashbucklers by Dan Hanks.
Read by Shona.
Nature Spirit
Silver in the Woods by Emily Tesh.
Read by Julia.
And finally, it wouldn’t be Wyrd and Wonder without their photo challenge. We love taking part in this every year!
You can find all of Jonathan and Scarlett’s posts on their Instagram, and there may be some from the rest of us I’ve missed, so you can check our pages here:
Jonathan | Nils | Julia | Scarlett | Beth | Wyrd And Wonder
Day 1 – Best Laid Plans
What were we planning on reading for the month ahead?
Day 2 – Can’t Wait to Read
Day 3 – #Trope Tuesday – Enchanted Wood
This year, Tuesdays were all about tropes!
Day 4 – Woodland Creatures
Day 5 – 5-star Fantasy Reads
Day 6 – Mythic
Time to celebrate a subgenre – whether it’s a retelling or a secondary world that has that mythic feel
Day 7 – Say What?
A book featuring a fictional language (or languages)
Day 8 – Undergods
Small-fry deities, demi-gods and divine helpers who steal the limelight and deserve more love
Day 9 – #MapMonday
Day 10 – #TropeTuesday – Don’t Leave the Path
Whether you need to cross Mirkwood or navigate the lands of the Fae, straying from a woodland path can be a dangerous excursion in fantasy realms… was the hero of your story wise enough to heed the warning?
Day 11 – Weapon of Choice
Day 12 – Step into Another’s Shoes
If you could swap lives with a fantasy character, who would you want to be and why?
Day 13 – Epic
Time to celebrate a subgenre – the big one (in scope and page count)
Day 14 – A Book within a Book
Day 15 – #ShelfieSunday
Day 16 – Current Read
Day 17 – #TropeTuesday – Spirit of Nature
Nature spirits and deities (feel free to extend beyond forests)
Day 18 – Fantasy Landscapes
Day 19 – More Than Meets the Eye
Shapeshifters! Werewolves, yokai, rogarou, Fae – illusion or physical shifters are all fair game
Day 20 – Dark
Time to celebrate a subgenre – choose your path wisely, whether you love grimdark, dark fantasy or horror
Day 21 – #StackSaturday
Day 22 – Bite-size Delight
Short stories and novellas
Day 23 – Book Rainbow
Day 24 – #TropeTuesday Forest Guardian
The witch, the woodsman, the (were)wolf pack, the green man – there’s many types of guardian, which will you celebrate?
Day 25 – Love it or Loathe it
What cover art themes / tropes instantly make you pick up a book – or put you off it? [We went with covers/tropes we love]
Day 26 – #ThrowbackThursday
Celebrate the backlist – or midlist – or a classic – or just something you haven’t talked about for a year or two
[Beth went with previous Wyrd and Wonder reads, and Julia went with a title she hasn’t read in a while!]
Day 27 – Portal Fantasy
Time to celebrate a subgenre – visiting other worlds (especially ones with woods in them!)
Day 28 – Imaginary Verse
A favourite fantasy poem or song (from a book or written as stand-alone speculative poetry)
Day 29 – Spine Poetry
Make your own poem or story from the titles of books on your shelf
- Once upon a Winter, The clockwork girl, collarbound, Torn shadows of ivory, Uprooted the key in the lock, (becoming) the bone shard emperor
- gardens of the moon, grass for his pillow, forest of the pygmies, dreamers pool
- ordinary monsters, shadows of self, a time of courage, last wish the kingdom of copper
Day 30 – Wyrd and Wonderful
A book that you were introduced to during (this or a previous) Wyrd and Wonder
[Julia went with books she’s bought this WW]
Day 31 – Fave W&W Read
That’s it for this year’s Wyrd & Wonder!
Thank you to everyone who followed our posts, we hope you enjoyed!