#middle grade fantasy author

[haveyoureadthispoll]

This irresistible first novel tells the story of a quiet boy who embarks on a dangerous quest in order to fulfill his destiny—and find his father—in a strange world beneath New York City. When Gregor falls through a grate in the laundry room of his apartment building, he hurtles into the dark Underland, where spiders, rats, cockroaches coexist uneasily with humans. This world is on the brink of war, and Gregor's arrival is no accident. A prophecy foretells that Gregor has a role to play in the Underland's uncertain future. Gregor wants no part of it -- until he realizes it's the only way to solve the mystery of his father's disappearance. Reluctantly, Gregor embarks on a dangerous adventure that will change both him and the Underland forever.

[chronicallydragons]

There was a pitch party over on twitter earlier this week, #UnhingedPit, and I just felt like Writeblr might enjoy my contributions I just need to also point out that "behold, the phases of the pancake" IS a direct quote AND I'd already painted the phases of the pancake before the pitch event was announced. The vibes of the book and the vibes of the pitch party matched perfectly

[storytellertreehouse]

WHAAAT?! My middle grade fantasy novel won the Realm Makers Aurora Contest last night!! I’m still in shock!

It’s also crazy timing because I just released an illustrated collection of short stories set in the same world as the novel as a thank you for my newsletter subscribers, so I guess if you want a sneak peek at some of Juni and Smorloc’s adventures, you can check it out HERE.

I’m gonna be grinning like an idiot all week

-Rachel

[tychodorian]

I entered my Middle Grade Portal Fantasy One Pale Reflection into an indie award contest and it didn't make it to semi-finals. Boo. I'm sad, but I know it's a good book as it's won other awards! I'm trying to keep my spirits up, but it's hard getting rejected.

If you haven't read it yet, please consider purchasing the book to make me feel a little better about the loss (yes, this is absolutely a call to boost my ego lmao). If you like portal fantasy, mirror magic, and wizards, you'll love it! You can grab a signed copy or ebook on my Ko-fi or grab a copy from Amazon.

I'm currently offering 15% off on my Ko-Fi until September 8th, 2024, so if you want to grab a super cheap ebook and support an indie author at the same time, you should totally check it out.

[theultimatenonbinarynerd]

Top 5 Books I'm Excited To Get Off My TBR In 2024

Introduction

2023 was an absolutely amazing year as it was the first year of full reading after getting back into in the middle of 2022. It's going to be very hard to follow the wonderful stack of main + side reads I picked up last year but looking at my tbr this year I'm very helpful.

I've already had an amazing year so far with fabulous books like Different Not Less and The Rising Storm but I'm confident it will get even better as the year goes on. When I say my tbr is stacked I mean it's stacked. My tbr isn't just Marvel, Star Wars and Doctor Who there's some interesting both Nonfiction and Fiction novels but there are some I'm anticipating more eagerly than others, so I want to share some of the many novels on my tbr that I'm excited to get too this year if I can.

I'm praying that every novel lives up to my expectations.

5: Pageboy

When I heard Elliot Page was writing a memoir I put it on my tbr as speedy as possible and pre ordered it on release with amazon vouchers. I've not seen much of his work but have appreciated what I have seen. Elliot came out and fully affirmed himself around the time I was really struggling with my identity as a Nonbinary person and in denial about my girl hood but his journey really helped my own in a small way.

I don't know what to expect but from what I've been told from other trans people at my support group it's a good one. I'm so glad I got a copy when I did as there's always those books you need to read and I think this is one of those. Elliot has come so far and I'm really happy that he's able to share some of his journey in this novel. I've also heard that the structure goes against the typical binary of a novel and that's great. Plus I definitely think I'm in for a treat as its him that narrates the audio.

My prediction is that will either be a 4 star or 4.5 Star Read as despite my excitement the book is very short and I think the perfect Memoir should be around 300 pages. I've read a 400+ page Memoir and also understand that Memoirs can accidentally drag on. Different Not Less and The Princess Diarist worked so I might just be presumptionous but we'll see.

4: Welcome To St Hell

Another trans memoir but this time a graphic novel. I truly did not expect to add this to my tbr but as soon as I saw it on the Waterstones bookshelf I just felt this massive spark and new, new that it was meant to be mine. It's another book that calls to me and makes me feel like I need. I grew up very similar to Lewis uncomfortable in my own body and in a Catholic School where I couldn't really explore my identity and I think reading about their experience will help me come to terms with mine. Terfs review bombed it on the Waterstones website so that's how you know its worth picking up.

This will be the very first graphic novel I've read and Lewis Hancox definitely deserves that honour. Having seen his art style I have a strong feeling that it's gonna really help enhance his story. I also love the fact he's interviewed his family and got them involved in the process of the graphic novel. I'm just bursting to get it to it now but also understand that I've got to commit to my tbr and stick with the order. If I like it I definitely will be recommending it to my other friends trans and cis a like.

My prediction is that I'll love this graphic novel and that it's gonna be a wonderful experience. I seriously think it's gonna be either a 4.5 Star or a 5 Star Read. I haven't even read the graphic novel yet but I just have that strong feeling its gonna be a good one. My only negative is that the art is all in black and white but it can't be helped if it was nesscary for publishing and printing. We'll have to see how it goes but my excitement is building as it gets further up the list.

3: Cinderella Is Dead

Trying my best to read diversely and this is one of the novels that I have been dying to read as I'm in love with the concept. Every concept Kaylnn Bayron has fascinated to the point I want to buy nearly all of her novels. I love fantasy and I'm really excited to read a fantasy with some great black and queer representation. I hope it'll be an informative read but also a good stories that shows the damage of a heteronormative society as well as media soley representing straight people.

I'm really excited to follow Sophia's journey and route for her to escape. The cover art looks great and shows how the story is gonna be. Although Star Wars is in a galaxy far far away along time ago, most books I read are set in modern day so it'll be nice to read something in the past for once. Looking at my stats so far science fiction is definitely going to dominate so it's nice to get some fantasy in there. Kaylnn Bayron is really popular so I hope at least some of her books are good. Although I'm also gonna hopefully get to This Poison Heart I'm more excited for Cinderella Is Dead as I kill for a spooky world where we shun the powers above.

My prediction is that this will be a 4 star or a 4.5 star read. Don't get me wrong I'm sure it'll be great but reading other reviews im not sure it'll be 5 star worthy even if it's good. Sophia has a crush on her best friend and the feelings are unrequited. Problem is regardless of gender this trope is so common and annoying that it has to be done right. I feel like in the context of Cinderella Dead it won't work and YouTuber Jesse who I trust said that they didn't like how closted people were shamed in the book and as a partially closeted person that does put me off a bit. However I'm still really excited for this novel and curious about how it'll all play out.

2: Star Wars: Lost Stars

Claudia Gray is an author who I've adored. I've picked up nearly all of her novels and loved all of them with Leia Princess Of Alderaan being one of my favourites. I love the High Republic but Claudia Gray has become one of my favourite authors so I'm excited to read any Star Wars book by her. Talking about romance tropes I like I love Forbidden Love Stories and Enemies To Lovers and this book seems to be it. I'm also just incredibly excited to see perspectives outside of our core main cast in the original trilogy. Since it is Claudia Grays first Star Wars novel it'll also be super interesting to see how Grays writing has developed and changed. I've also been aching for a long read as it's fun to have a variety in my stats more.

One thing that does have me super hopeful is the fact that novel is over 500+ pages long, whilst still not much time to cover the events of the whole original trilogy it's still a fair enough amount of time. Lots of other novels would only be given 400 pages at least. With a story like Lost Stars it's nesscary to be able to stretch out your story over a period of time and I'm super glad that Claudia was given that chance. It also has my favourite romance dynamic mainly dominated by Obitine where you have to put duty over your own happiness. This story has a lot of potential and I'm excited to see how it lives up to that. I hope that by the end of the book we might be routing for Ciena and Thane. A cool theory from Star Wars Lawyer is that the couple in this novel are Finns parents which if the case is sad but also cool.

As I've had a lot of enjoyment from Claudia Gray novels my prediction is undeniably for this to be 4.5 Stars or 5 Stars. It might not be perfect due to how much story it has to tell but I still think its gonna be a really enjoyable read. Its a love story that's never really been done before in Star Wars so I definitely think it has a lot of potential but we'll have to see what happens. I've mostly heard positive things about this novel though and even had some Star Wars fans recommended it to me so I don't have a bad feeling about this I have a great feeling.

1: Jamie

And my number 1 most anticipated read for 2024 is Jamie By L.D Lapinski. It might sound silly for a middle grade book to be my most anticipated read but it's again like some of the other books on this list for deep and personal reasons. Jamie from the moment it was announced by the author is something I knew I needed to pick up. I'm not reading Jamie for me I'm reading it for my inner child who gotten beaten up and bombarded with Gender Norms. I'm a person who will pick up a book regardless of age rating (apart from picture books) as to me the most important aspect of a novel is its story and themes, not the target demographic. Some people might want to only read YA or Adult and that's perfectly valid but to me I'm here for the story and messages. I also got bullied my whole life for liking "childish" things so after getting my autism diagnosis I frankly don't get a damn about other people's opinions.

The whole story of Jamie hits super hard for me because even though I didn't know the words Nonbinary and Trans I still felt really out of place with the other girls so half of my friends were boys and because of that stupid heteronormativity every boy I was friends with had to be my "boyfriend." . Even worst we always split into boys vs girls for sports day, games in the playground and in pe. I hated it, it made me super uncomfortable but I never knew why so believe me when I say I relate to Jamie's struggle. The thought of an all boys and girls school may sound nice but as someone who's grown up Mormon let's just say it's very awkward. I wish there were novels like Jamie around in my youth as it would have helped me come to terms with all my confusing emotions a lot faster.

High expectations and I definitely think this book is either gonna be or a 4.5 star or 5 stars. Anything less would be impossible. I know how to pick my reads and am often quite generous when it comes to rating novels. The Ever After High Books I've read have never been rated below 4 stars. So I definitely can get into middle grade books. We'll have to see what happens but judged on the synopsis alone and how short books like Here And Queer and The Evolving Truth Of Ever-Stronger Will have been good and I've connected with them I don't think Jamie will disappoint. Mama G a popular drag queen storyteller has also been hyping it up so I definitely have high hopes.

Honourable Mentions

And here we have our two honourable mentions that I might not even be able to get to this year as they're so further down the list but with how my reading was ignoring the side reads I do have faith. It all depends as I'm going to be studying creative writing at university so I'll be even more clogged down but I still have huge faith and am hoping for the best. For my 5th reading year I will have to do something special but we'll see as I'm only on my third reading year currently.

So as put above the first of my honourable mentions is How To Be Ace By Rebecca Burgess. Another graphic novel this one focuses on Rebecca's journey growing up as an asexual person trying to discover and accept her identity. I'm very excited for this short graphic novel as an Ace person as it'll be nice to read about another Asexual person's experience and what's its like to grow up unsure of your identity. Currently us Asexuals are starved of content so it's really nice to get representation like this. I definitely think despite its short length its gonna be another 5 star read but we'll see.

My second honourable mention has to go to Tempest Runner By Cavan Scott. Im not sure if I'll get to it this year but it all depends. After reading the Rising Storm I'm very excited to listen and read this full cast audio drama script even better it focuses on Lourna Dee. I love Lourna she's one of my favourite Nihil and I'm glad there's a piece of media focusing on her. I'm really buzzed as I loved Cavan Scott's writing in The Rising Storm as it proved how capable he is. I honestly don't know what the star rating might be and that's the exciting part. I've never read an audio drama script before but if I like it I might check others out like Dooku Jedi Lost and Doctor Aphra.

Conclusion

Overall I'm very excited for 2024 reading and think it's full of potential. I've already enjoyed most of my reads this year with only Fazbear Frights 1:35 AM majorly disappointing me. The prospects are looking good as I truly believe I know how to pick my reads. All I'm hoping is that I can try my best to avoid having all my main reads be just Star Wars books. I really am trying to go beyond my Autistic brain and read diversely but do believe I'm making baby steps.

One thing I'm happy about is that I've made and am making more of an effort to include Nonfiction on my tbr as I truly do find it laughable that I only picked up one Nonfiction book this year and I just knew that had to change for my own sake as I truly believe there's a lot to learn and engage with from nonfiction. It's a commitment I'm sticking with and I'll keep you all updated how it's gonna through my 2024 Reading Wrap Up and my monthly ones.

There's alot of tbr I didn't mention so despite not being on the list I'd like to shout them out in a similar way people mention they're pateron subscribers. So a big shout out too...

Brotherhood By Mike Chen, The Cabin At The End Of The World By Paul Tremblay, Against The Tide By J.Elle, Jedi Battle Scars By Sam Maggs, Race To Crashpoint Tower By Daniel José Older, A Test Of Courage By Justina Ireland, The War Of The Worlds By H.G. Wells, The Deviant Strain By Justin Richards, The Evolving Truth Of Ever-Stronger Will By Maya MacGregor, Prisoner Of The Daleks By Trevor Baxendale, This Poison Heart By Kaylnn Bayron, The Legend Of Shadow High By Shannon Hale and Dean Hale, Out Of The Shadows By Justina Ireland, Wings Of Fury By Brittney Morris, Jurassic Park By Michael Crichton, Unmasking Autism By Devon Price, The Courage To Be Disliked By Fumitake Koga And Ichiro Kishimi, The Courage To Be Happy Bu Fumitake Koga And Ichiro Kishimi and Verily A New Hope By Ian Doescher.

To 2024 and a hopefully good reading year.

-Melody-

They/Them

[multifandomgirl2008]

Not even started this book and I already love it :)

[samanthajonesauthor]

The cover for my upcoming queer middle grade fantasy book The Secret of the Arboretum is here!

Winter Clark is an average middle school boy—or so it seems. When he and his new friend Val find the key to an abandoned arboretum, they are drawn into a world of magic, danger, and self discovery. They go on a quest through the arboretum to defeat a being that is haunting Winter’s dreams, and by the end Winter’s identity will have changed forever.

[vaugarde]

book haul from today :)

[dashiellqvverty]

it feels so lame and cringe that the thing that got me back into reading is the avatar book series but theyre literally SO fucking good. like other YA i’ve tried to read recently i’d felt Talked Down To as a reader (like, obviously im an Adult so its not For Me but as proven by books like these you can write for younger audiences without treating them like idiots) and just couldnt get into things i was even nominally interested in but when i finally finished the first kyoshi book i was like... oh yeah.. books are GOOD. and listened to the audiobook of the second one and like i stalled a bit in between bc i read the first one before my senior year of college and didn’t listen to the next until after and then was so exhausted by work i wasn’t reading/listening much BUT it made me WANT to read again and im finally starting to again now

[blacknerdscreate]

#WizardTeam is a Black magical podcast for Black magical stories. Listen to a new episode every Wednesday as we discuss Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston!

Black Magical Stories #Fantasy #Black Authors #Podcasts #Black Podcasts

[fastepp]

i need YA to be better written and I need full grown adults to stop recommending me YA. these two things are related.

[haveyoureadthispoll]

It’s wintertime at Greenglass House. The creaky smuggler’s inn is always quiet during this season, and twelve-year-old Milo, the innkeepers’ adopted son, plans to spend his holidays relaxing. But on the first icy night of vacation, out of nowhere, the guest bell rings. Then rings again. And again. Soon Milo’s home is bursting with odd, secretive guests, each one bearing a strange story that is somehow connected to the rambling old house. As objects go missing and tempers flare, Milo and Meddy, the cook’s daughter, must decipher clues and untangle the web of deepening mysteries to discover the truth about Greenglass House—and themselves.

[ellaurashoop]

ɴᴏᴡ ᴀᴠᴀɪʟᴀʙʟᴇ ꜰᴏʀ ᴘʀᴇorder ᴏɴ ᴀᴍᴀᴢᴏɴ~

Purchase your presale ebook copy of 𝕋𝕣𝕒𝕚𝕝𝕖𝕣 ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕜 ℂ𝕒𝕥𝕤 now so that you can start reading it the day it's released! Paperback release date TBD

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYMG4WGK

🄵🅄🅁🅃🄷🄴🅁 🄽🄴🅆🅂...

This fun, adventurous middle grade novel (the prequel to Escape From Kitty City released last year) is perfect for cat lovers. As for the rest of my middle grade animal fantasy series, The Meer and Pride, will be put on hold for the time being. I will continue to write the series, not to worry, but as of right now my focus must be placed on other projects. I just wanted to let my followers know. Thank you so much for your support and I hope you enjoy this newest cat-tastic read 💞💞

[alec-in-the-otherlands-official]

And it begins "Alec in the Otherlands: Helping with the Queen of Hearts" is the first installment of a 5-book spinoff to the original Alice novels. Alec, descendant of Alice, falls into Wonderland like Alice before him. However...things are quite different from what he knew. For exclusive, behind-the-scenes content, as well as character drawings and other perks, please help support the presale of the first book! The link is below, and if you can't support financially, please spread the word to educators, students and parents. Alec in the Otherlands is an exciting fantasy story expanding on a weird and wonderful world. Thank you for all the support! Link: https://stormcloud-quill.presale.manuscripts.com/

[tychodorian]

In an incredible turn of events, One Pale Reflection has jumped into the top 1000 books on Amazon (I think for a moment it was in the top 500), and was NUMBER 1 in three categories! Woo hoo!

Thank you to the hundreds of people who downloaded the book. You all are making dreams come true.

The book is available for $5.99 on Amazon if anyone wants to check it out - or for free if you have Kindle Unlimited! - and I would be so honored to get a few more reviews on the book.

Thanks everyone, without you I wouldn't be able to do what I do.

[bookstagramofmine]

BBNYA Semi-Finalist Spotlight Tour ~ Emma and the Minotaur by Jon Herrera

BBNYA Semi-Finalist Spotlight Tour ~ Emma and the Minotaur by Jon Herrera @Foliosociety @BBNYA_Official @The_WriteReads #BookBlog #BookTour #Spotlight #BBNYA #BBNYASemiFinalist #SemiFinalist #IndieAuthor

BBNYA Semi-Finalist Spotlight Tour This is my first year on the BBNYA Panel and I’m so excited to also be part of the Semi-Finalist Spotlight Tour! Even though you’ve probably seen all our posts on joining the Panel, you haven’t seen much else! That’s because we don’t want to tell anyone which books we’re reading and how we liked them! We do that to keep things fair because it’s interesting to…