Wyrd & Wonder is a month-long celebration of the fantastic hosted by imyril @ There’s Always Room for One More, Lisa @ Dear Geek Place and Jorie @ Jorie Loves a Story. Get involved here!

Wyrd & Wonder is back! Woohoo!

I had so much fun taking part in Wyrd & Wonder last year, so you can bet I’m taking part again this year.

I already have a few discussion posts scheduled, so look out for those, and my hope is to review a lot of fantasy this month – I’ve been saving up reviews for some fantasy books I read earlier this year, and there are quite a few fantasy books I’ve received via NetGalley that I’d like to try and get through!

First, though, there’s a little project I’d like to give myself this month!

My 2020 Hugo Awards Challenge

Last August, the day before the winners of the 2019 Hugo Awards were announced, I spent the evening reading the shortlisted short stories and novelettes and I really enjoyed it! In fact one of the novelettes, The Last Banquet of Temporal Confections by Tina Connolly, ended up being one of my favourite reads of 2019.

This year I decided I’d do the same again, because I’m rubbish at remembering to check out all the amazing short work that’s published every year and the majority of it is free to read online – so what’s stopping me from enjoying it?

Novelettes

• The Archronology of Love by Caroline M. Yoachim
• Away With the Wolves by Sarah Gailey
• The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye by Sarah Pinsker
• Emergency Skin by N. K. Jemisin
• For He Can Creep by Siobhan Carroll
• Omphalos by Ted Chiang

Of the above stories, Emergency Skin and Omphalos are the only ones that aren’t available to read online for free! Omphalos is also the only one here that I might not get to as it’s part of a short story collection that I’m not sure I want to buy. Emergency Skin is available to buy on its own for £1, though, which is ideal!

Short Stories

• “And Now His Lordship Is Laughing” by Shiv Ramdas (Strange Horizons, 9 September 2019)
• “As the Last I May Know” by S.L. Huang (Tor.com, 23 October 2019)
• “Blood Is Another Word for Hunger” by Rivers Solomon (Tor.com, 24 July 2019)
• “A Catalog of Storms” by Fran Wilde (Uncanny Magazine, January/February 2019)
• “Do Not Look Back, My Lion” by Alix E. Harrow (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, January 2019)
• “Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island” by Nibedita Sen (Nightmare Magazine, May 2019)

These short stories are all available to read online for free, and I’m looking forward to checking them all out! I loved Alix E. Harrow’s Hugo Award-winning short story last year, but I’m also very intrigued by that final horror story. I actually have kindle subscriptions to Uncanny Magazine and Nightmare Magazine, so I should be able to find some of these short stories on my kindle.

I like to support short fiction magazines with my money where I can, but I should really actually read the magazines, too!

My aim is to read all of these during this year’s Wyrd & Wonder and come back to you with a wrap-up post where I talk about my favourites.

My Wyrd & Wonder NetGalley TBR

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang // Incendiary by Zoraida Córdova

Both of these are on my spring TBR and my Medieval-A-Thon TBR, and they’re both books I’m excited to cross off my TBR, so I’d like to get to them soon!

The Scapegracers by Hannah Abigail Clarke // The Age of Witches by Louisa Morgan

I started The Scapegracers back in March and then got distracted by the OWLs Readathon but I’ve loved what I’ve read so far, so I’d like to finish it up soon, and I’ve heard so many good things about Louisa Morgan’s books that I’m looking forward to trying this one.

Weave the Lightning by Corry L. Lee // Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth

Any book with the tagline ‘Empire. Revolution. Magic.’ is one I want to try, so I’m looking forward to reading Weave the Lightning, and I’m very excited to try Veronica Roth’s adult debut. I love stories that focus on what happens to chosen ones after they’ve done what they were chosen for, so I’m hoping to love this one.

Conjure Women by Afia Atakora // The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass by Adan Jerreat-Poole

Conjure Women is another one that’s on my spring TBR and sounds like the kind of book I’d love. I haven’t seen very good reviews for The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass, but it’s about witches and I’m witch trash so I’m going to try it.

Shorefall by Robert Jackson Bennett // The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison

I loved Foundryside so I’m very excited to return to this Italian-inspired world and this gang in the sequel! I was thrilled to be approved for Katherine Addison’s new novel, The Angel of the Crows, so I’ll be picking it up very soon.

Love Bites by Ry Herman // The Immortal Conquistador by Carrie Vaughn

Vampires! I mentioned that I wanted 2020 to be the Year of the Vampire earlier this year, so as soon as I saw Love Bites on NetGalley I requested it because I want more queer women in vampire stories. I requested The Immortal Conquistador not realising that it’s about a character from a much longer series, but I believe I can read and enjoy this one on its own. In any case it’s not even 200 pages long, so it should be a quick one to read and review.

The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter // David Mogo, Godhunter by Suyi Davies Okungbowa

African-inspired fantasy is something I haven’t been reading a lot of at all, which is ridiculous when I love fantasy and I tend to love novels set in Nigeria, so I’d love to get to both of these if I can.

The Girl Who Reads on the Métro by Christine Féret-Fleury // Or What You Will by Jo Walton

The Girl Who Reads on the Métro is another short one that, with any luck, I should be able to get through fairly quickly – who doesn’t want to read about an enchanted bookshop? I love the sound of Or What You Will, but I haven’t loved Walton’s work in the past so it’ll be interesting to see what I think of this one.

I know for a fact I won’t get through all of these in May, but I’d love to read and review as many of them as I can – I’d really like to get my feedback ratio on NetGalley to 80% this year!

What are you reading for Wyrd and Wonder? Are you planning to read any of the Hugo Award finalists this year?