Every new book I picked up in my teens was about going from this world to another. I didn’t seek them out, they found me. And then I began exploring the possibility of portals in the real world, studying the history and mythology of such things. As I grew, so did the science of quantum physics, which added to my interest on top of the mystery of magic doorways. This has been a passion of mine since I was a child, and I love reading about it and writing about it.
I didn’t realize it until I was nearly an adult, but almost every new book I picked up was about going from one world to another. Usually, from our world to a fantasy world. But this book, the first of the sort I found and read in middle school, reversed that formula. It’s about a boy who comes to our world from a place where people are peaceful. Our world is terrifying, and he wants to get home. This was an awakening for me, thinking that our reality might be the scary place, and we can be the frightening monsters. But I’ve learned, this isn’t far from the truth.
“Well written fantasy with strong character emphasis and empathy” from the author of the sci-fi classic Escape to Witch Mountain (Kirkus Reviews).
At night, Little Jon’s people go out to watch the stars. Mesmerized by a meteor shower, he forgets to watch his step and falls through a moss-covered door to another land: America. He awakes hurt, his memory gone, sure only that he does not belong here. Captured by a hunter, Jon escapes by leaping six feet over a barbed-wire fence. Hungry and alone, he staggers through the darkness and is about to be caught when he is rescued…
What more of a dream does a kid have than to find a secret door that takes you to a magical land? And this book has been allowing readers to do that for more than half a century. I read the entire series before I began creating worlds, tearing through them to find all the strange, new lands inside. But it also showed the misery that came with escaping your life, and the responsibility for others that came with adventure. This was a foundation of what I’d eventually write, allowing me to (if I may say) get my foot in the door.
Lucy steps into the Professor's wardrobe - but steps out again into a snowy forest. She's stumbled upon the magical world of Narnia, land of unicorns, centaurs, fauns... and the wicked White Witch, who terrorises all. Lucy soon realises that Narnia, and in particular Aslan, the great Lion, needs her help if the country's creatures are ever going to be free again...
I’m cheating a little here and mentioning a series. It was the first real novel-length books that I picked up in middle school. And different novels in this pun-packed project show how the magical land of Xanth is partially populated by people purloined from our plane. OK, these books are just fun, but have a more serious theme hidden deep inside. I also loved how the author continued the books through the descendants of the original characters. It’s like getting a brand new story, but still having familiar things in the books.
BEST NOVEL OF THE YEAR, BRITISH FANTASY SOCIETY • Discover the magical beginning of Piers Anthony’s enthralling Xanth series
Xanth was the enchanted land where magic ruled—where every citizen had a special spell only he could cast. It was a land of centaurs and dragons and basilisks.
For Bink of North Village, however, Xanth was no fairy tale. He alone had no magic. And unless he got some—and got some fast!—he would be exiled. Forever. But the Good Magician Humfrey was convinced that Bink did indeed have magic. In fact, both Beauregard the genie and the magic wall chart insisted…
Oh, this series was a struggle for me. Such a wonderful concept, with such an unlikeable main character. But I loved the idea of saving a fantasy world, while dying in this one. I can’t just mention one, but instead mention the first omnibus, (including Lord Foul’s Bane, The Illearth War, and The Power That Preserves). The beginning of the 1980s didn’t allow for tremendously long books, though that did come by the end of the decade, this story was an epic fantasy broken down to three easily (relatively speaking) digestible books. And it showed how something mundane from our world could wield great power in another.
In 1977, with the publication of THE CHRONICLES OF THOMAS COVENANT THE UNBELIEVER, Stephen Donaldson created a true phenomenon: an epic fantasy instant bestseller that has now sold millions and millions of copies across the world.
Thomas Covenant is mysteriously struck down by a disease believed eradicated; abandoned by his wife and young son, he becomes a pariah. Alone, despairing, Covenant falls - and is drawn into a mysterious new world where gentle people work magic and the earth itself brings healing. He is welcomed as the reincarnation of a legendary saviour, but…
Straight up, Dungeons and Dragons players pulled into the fantasy world they were playing the game in! Considering I was playing D&D multiple times a week when I found these books (and this book includes the first three of the series, The Sleeping Dragon, The Sword and Chain, and The Silver Crown), I was entranced! Then the author did a few things I’d never thought of. He brought in a guy in a wheelchair who entered a body of his character who could walk. He also later introduced gunpowder, and guns that used magic to fire bullets. The ideas were new and fresh to my teenage mind, and I was fascinated!
Seven college students meet for another night of role-playing games, where they will be cast as wizard, warrior, cleric, or thief. However, their conniving gamemaster has something entirely new planned for them. The seven gamers are cast into an alternate world of magic, fire-breathing dragons – and a quasi-medieval culture with slavery. The only way back to Earth is through a dragon-guarded Gate Between Worlds, about which little is known.
The five men and two women face tough challenges – simple survival in a harsh environment as well as finding the mysterious Gate to bring them home. Publishers Weekly praised…
Three people die, only to awaken in different bodies in a different world. But they still have the skills and memories of the previous inhabitants, and have to face down a threat to a world of magic, elves, and dragons. But they can’t do that if they can’t even face their own inner demons, and learn to get along with one another.
I’ve adored reading a good snarky first-person story since I first read Bloodlist, so long as the snark doesn’t go too far and become total unlikeable jerk… It can be a fine line!I hope I stay on the right side of it, but having read it enough and written in it for years with my Blood Rights Series, I feel qualified to say I’m a…snark connoisseur. (If you ask my family, this is how my own internal/life narrator speaks! My mother says that my character Dakota is me if I “said everything aloud that I think in my head.” She’s probably right, and I’m okay with that.)
Bad Blood is paranormal suspense in First Person Snark, so if you like sarcastic, strong female characters set in a world where the preternatural is run amok (i.e., legal citizens in the United States), then this book and series are for you.
Follow Sadie Stanton–"poster girl for the preternatural"–as she deals with all sorts of messes and sets up her business while being a vampire in a new day...or night, really.
I’m Sadie Stanton, and I don’t know why everyone makes such a big deal out of me. I’m just like everyone else—I’m trying to start a business, not spending much time on my social life, and dealing with an obnoxious roommate...
Oh, and being a vampire. There’s that. But it’s okay, because we’re all legal now.
But believe me, that doesn’t make life easy. In fact, it might be harder now than ever before, but I did it to myself… And now vampires are attacking people seemingly at random and not even trying to feed. Everyone…
