It’s nearly that time – Spooktastic Reads starts on October 19 for thirteen days of your Wyrd and Wonder crew daring to venture into the darker side of fantasy. I’ve been revelling in tales of ghosts and curses since the summer, so what can you expect from my Spooktastic Reads?

I’ll definitely be reading and reviewing This Dreaming Isle, an unnerving anthology of stories rooted in the fears and folklore of Britain; and I’m planning to segue straight into reading the latest instalment of Juliet McKenna’s always-entertaining Green Man series, The Green Man’s Gift so watch out for a review of that by the end of the month.

I’ll also be doing my best to catch up with some reviews for on-theme recent reads – No God, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull is an urban fantasy of ancient conspiracies and social change as shifters reveal themselves to a shocked world; and The Dark Tome is an amazing audio serial by a jaw-dropping line up of authors exploring the adventures of a disaffected girl who gets her hands on a world-hopping grimoire. I thoroughly enjoyed both of these – now to marshal some words to talk about them!

For the first time in years, I might actually have read enough new books for some kind of spooktastic top ten next week (although I may come up with another themed dive into the weird and wonderful horrors of the world instead).

I had some other books lined up, but life is a bit hectic at the moment, so I shan’t be setting any stretch goals this year – but I can’t wait to see what everybody else is reading.

Spooktastic Reads is the most casual mini-event – no sign up, no reading challenges, no schedule – if you’d like to join the conversation just creep up to our fire by using #SpooktasticReads, tagging @wyrdandwonder on Twitter or Instagram, and/or linking back to one of your Wyrd and Wonderful co-hosts Annemieke, Ariana, Jorie or Lisa (or me – I’m taking a back seat on Spooktastic hosting duties this year, but I’ll still participate and will boost your signal if I see it).

If you’re feeling super spooky though, Annemieke has come up with a prompt challenge to get your creative juices flowing!