Celeste at A Literary Escape tagged me and since I’m totally procrastinating on the things I should be doing, why not answer some questions about my fantasy reading? Please consider yourself tagged if you’d like to do this too.

What is your fantasy origin story?

A long, long time ago, in a tiny Scottish village, a small girl called Ellie was handed a book entitled Meg and Mog. The rest is history.

It was always meant to be. When I was a bit older I loved The Worst Witch books but I also really liked pony books…and I didn’t move on to grown up fantasy until much later in life, by way of Terry Pratchett and Kelley Armstrong. I’m not sure I really got into fantasy big time until I read Bitten. The Women of the Otherworld series was just what I needed at the time.

If you could be the hero/heroine in a fantasy novel, who would be the author and what’s one trope you’d insist be in the story?

I don’t really want anything too awful happening to me, maybe Seanan McGuire can write me into an October Daye spin-off, where I just hang out in the Court of Cats. Though I’d probably get thrown out for being a dog person. For trope, I’d like to borrow from the Gothic and inherit a big country house, with many hidden passages of course, from a mysterious benefactor. There I can hide out from the cats… Hang on, have I just made myself the villain of this story?

What is a fantasy you’ve read this year, that you want more people to read?

I’m not sure I’ve read that much under the radar fantasy this year. I just finished The Monsters We Defy by Leslye Penelope, and I hadn’t really known much about the Harlem Renaissance, so it’s always good to learn about history while also getting my dose of fantasy. I love that Clara was a real person, even if she didn’t get justice through magic.

What is your favorite fantasy subgenre? What subgenre have you not read much from?

Tough question. Recently I’ve really been drawn to historical fantasy, set in our own past but with magical elements. I am not a big fan of grimdark, there’s enough misery in the real world, thanks.

Who is one of your auto-buy fantasy authors?

S.A. Chakraborty, I’m so looking forward to her Sinbad inspired new series.

How do you typically find fantasy recommendations?

By osmosis. I guess I just pick them up from Twitter, bloggers, publishing peeps (even though they’re biased) and the Goodreads challenge groups I hang out in. I am old and uncool so am not really into video format for book reviews. I never have any trouble finding books to read, if anything there’s just too many!

What is an upcoming fantasy release you’re excited for?

The Whispering Dark by Kelly Andrew (which I have a NetGalley of so I don’t have to wait). It’s dark academia, which I love, about a deaf student, by a deaf author, and a school that teaches how to slip between parallel worlds.