Wild, Witchy, Wonderful Writing for Fireside Reading Season

photo by reader Molly, of "a perfect winter book"

It's the first fall after publication of The Grove of Thorismud! This enchanted-apple-orchard-based medieval fantasy is as spicy, hot, steamy, and sweet as a mug of mulled cider... or the diabolical Thirst-Wine used as an entertaining weapon of love and war in The Grove. It's also the first whole autumn since the release of Leirah and the Wild Man, a cultish costume party of a historical thriller, which has proven itself an excellent cozy fireside read. And, because fall is a big new release season, the Magic Nutshell Bookshop is stocked with a fresh harvest of fall reads ready to be plucked off the shelf!

The beautiful young Queen Bellynda in The Grove of Thorismud wields her magic with strategic elegance, but age always comes first in the realms of ancient wisdom, as Bellynda learns when she meets Yulonna, an elder in the land that Bellynda has conquered and begun to colonize. The older woman certainly terrifies Bellynda's hulking husband, King Gustav.

Yulonna leaned over a twisted black cane, clutching a knob studded with brass and colored stone. Her eyes caught sparks of light beneath the brim of her black lambskin cap, and pearls glimmered at her wrists--the costume of the rune-scratchers of the Old Days.

King Gustav searched her fingers for rings, and the last thing he had seen as a boy before his curse flashed before his eyes: a Knower's fist, raised in anger, her ivory ring sparking with furious magic.

But nothing adorned Yulonna's swollen knuckles. 

...

Still, the old barbarian priestess frightened him like no one else, despite the helplessness of her rotted, dwindling teeth and deaf ears and slow limbs like rusted hinges.

Not everyone sees Yulonna as a scary witch. The little deposed Princess Rosemary, whose eyesight is not sharp, isn't horrified by the striking appearance of Yulonna nor the rituals she practices in the dark, wild woods.

"The forest helps us forget," Yulonna said. "We forget why we came here. We forget what we cannot do and why not." 

Rosemary was used to being unable to see, so everything she saw in the dark woods surprised her--leaves and twigs silvered with rainy starlight and the delicate tapestries of spiders. She recognized the branches of the rowans, the night turning their berries more black than red against their flame-yellow leaves. 

She heard the click-clack-scratches of the Angels as she felt her way over crunching leaves, spongy earth, and the bony ropes of the roots that stitched together the loamy hillside.

The Angels' spines hung down like the prayer beads that children draped across branches to ward off nightmares. Their striped bodies were tight-packed bundles of crumpled paper stuffed in cages of human ribs. Their skulls hung down on their chests, grinning at the earth. Rosemary shivered without fear. It was only the cold she felt, and the wet, as if the little drops of rain penetrated her, as if she herself were made of paper and bone.

Leirah is also a cozy, spooky fall and winter read. Instead of magic and curses, Leirah's chills and thrills originate from a source that is scarier to some, the predatory cruelty of the broken human soul. There are no literal monsters, but there are people who dress and act the part. There is no magic, but there are nasty tricks. There is no dangerous infestation of unicorns, but that doesn't mean the woods are safe for a young girl walking alone...

Leirah is a teen runaway, and the Wild Man, Iren, is a sort of cult leader who keeps Leirah under the spell of a toxic romance. This story is a great spooky season read for those who enjoy magic shows, Robin Hood themes, crime capers, psychological and domestic thrillers, and suspense. 

When Iren gets up in the middle of the night, I pretend to sleep. I can tell that he is watching me and listening to my breath before he gets very carefully out of bed. He thinks he is so sneaky. He thinks he is the only one who has control over his secrets, but I can lie here and breathe peacefully while I am screaming inside.

It doesn't take him long to pull on his boots and cloak and tiptoe out. I count to 30, my heart punching against my ribs, and then I do the same.

I know the way to the church so well that I don't need a light, and I can let my mind burn with rage the whole way down.

Or so I think.

When I enter the trees beyond the vineyard where the road to town begins, I hear someone following me. I spin around, sure that it is Iren, but when I see the silhouette against the starry sky, a scream catches in my throat. It is a tall, lanky, crooked man in ragged clothes, with gnarled hands. The man lunges at me.

My hindquarters bunch like a cat's, and I spring back at the man, letting out my strangled scream, my shoulder aiming for his waist. After many weeks of combat training with Iren, I am strong and skilled.

Whether you prefer a dark fairy tale, a thriller based on the dangers of misplaced trust in men of ordinary flesh and blood, a lighthearted ghost story, or a book of beautiful and useful incantations for healing or humor, there is a splendid selection of bewitching books to be found at your local bookstore this season. 

If you prefer to shop online, you can still support local shops with your purchases by using Bookshop.org. I have curated lists of personal recommendations at my affiliate link, the Magic Nutshell Bookshop. Happy spooky season shopping!