Reading Fantasy Rocks

 

Reading About Dragons is a piece of digital artwork by Daniel Eskridge

Hello Sup readers! It's 2021, and my plan for you this year is to post, every month, something to lift the spirits. Let's make this a wondrous New Year, every way we can!

With that in mind, today I want to highlight the benefits of reading Fantasy Fiction and share a few titles on my TBR list.

If you read regularly, you already know some of the perks: quiet time with yourself and your own thoughts. The joys and sorrows of imagined worlds. The feeling of accomplishment, of being part of a larger community...

And there is more! Check out these amazing benefits:

1) Reading Makes you Smarter - Research shows that reading enhances fluid intelligence. That means it helps build new neuro-pathways in your brain, neurons that are available for smart decision making in the future. There is also an increase in emotional intelligence and empathy toward others. You make more creative decisions about yourself and those around you.

2) Reading Makes Life Better -  Readers are less stressed and less depressed. They sleep better and have lower blood pressure, steadier heart rhythms. Higher levels of self-esteem are reported by readers and, compared with non-readers, they also report feeling close to friends and their community, with more awareness of social issues and cultural diversity.

3) Readers Age Better - Reading keeps your mind active and engaged while improving memory as you grow older. One study showed that those who read more than 3 1/2 hours every week were 23% more likely to live longer than non-readers. 

4) Joy - All studies aside, reading brings us joy as we escape into the metaphorical spaces of the mind, and engage in the ancient and time-honoured experience of storytelling. 

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In the spirit of more reading for everyone, here are some books on my TBR list I'd like to recommend. Please feel free to jump into the comments and offer up some of your own!

And Sup Authors, here is your chance to let us know about your next, upcoming release!

Image by @littlebookelf92

The Once And Future Witches by Alex E. Harrow, is set in In 1893, a time when there's no such thing as witches. 

There used to be, in the wild, dark days before the burnings began, but now witching is nothing but tidy charms and nursery rhymes. If the modern woman wants any measure of power, she must find it at the ballot box.

When the Eastwood sisters--James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrice Belladonna--join the suffragists of New Salem, they begin to pursue the forgotten words and ways that might turn the women's movement into the witch's movement. Stalked by shadows and sickness, hunted by forces who will not suffer a witch to vote-and perhaps not even to live-the sisters will need to delve into the oldest magics, draw new alliances, and heal the bond between them if they want to survive.

There's no such thing as witches. But there will be.

I'm reading this now!

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Image by @abookwormwriter

Another on my TBR is Wicked Saints (Something Dark and Holy #1) by Emily A. Duncan. I know a few people who loved it! Here's the blurb:

A girl who can speak to gods must save her people without destroying herself.

A prince in danger must decide who to trust.

A boy with a monstrous secret waits in the wings.

Together, they must assassinate the king and stop the war.

In a centuries-long war where beauty and brutality meet, their three paths entwine in a shadowy world of spilled blood and mysterious saints, where a forbidden romance threatens to tip the scales between dark and light. Wicked Saints is the thrilling start to Emily A. Duncan’s devastatingly Gothic Something Dark and Holy trilogy.

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Image by @obscure.pages

The Angel of the Crows comes highly recommended by a reader and editor I trust. It's on my TBR for sure! Here is the blurb:

This is not the story you think it is. These are not the characters you think they are. This is not the book you are expecting.

In an alternate 1880s London, angels inhabit every public building, and vampires and werewolves walk the streets with human beings under a well-regulated truce. A fantastic utopia, except for a few things: Angels can Fall, and that Fall is like a nuclear bomb in both the physical and metaphysical worlds. And human beings remain human, with all their kindness and greed and passions and murderous intent.

Jack the Ripper stalks the streets of this London too. But this London has an Angel. The Angel of the Crows.

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Image by @tyffany.h

Black Sun by Rebecca Roahhorse is another I am excited to read. Some of my Insta friends are raving about it.

A god will return

When the earth and sky converge

Under the black sun

In the holy city of Tova, the winter solstice is usually a time for celebration and renewal, but this year it coincides with a solar eclipse, a rare celestial event proscribed by the Sun Priest as an unbalancing of the world.

Meanwhile, a ship launches from a distant city bound for Tova and set to arrive on the solstice. The captain of the ship, Xiala, is a disgraced Teek whose song can calm the waters around her as easily as it can warp a man’s mind. Her ship carries one passenger. Described as harmless, the passenger, Serapio, is a young man, blind, scarred, and cloaked in destiny. As Xiala well knows, when a man is described as harmless, he usually ends up being a villain.

Crafted with unforgettable characters, Rebecca Roanhorse has created an epic adventure exploring the decadence of power amidst the weight of history and the struggle of individuals swimming against the confines of society and their broken pasts in the most original series debut of the decade.

Now it's your turn. What are you going to read next? 

Let's share our ideas and make for a better year, by reading more books!

xxKim

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Kim Falconer, currently writing as A K Wilder, has just released Crown of Bones, a YA Epic Fantasy.

She can be found on  Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. 

Or pop over to throw the bones or Raise Your Phantom on the AKWilder.com site

See you there!

5 Reasons to Read Fantasy

Art by Catherine Chauloux

In times of isolation and hunkering down at home, reading is on the increase. Some genres are actually skyrocketing as people find diverse ways to entertain themselves and their family while staying put. 

Catherine Chauloux

Although the circumstances are unfortunate, the results are beneficial. Reading has its perks beyond the obvious one of entertainment.

Benefit #1  - Mental Stimulation 

Researchers using MRI scans to measure the effect of reading a novel on the brain made some exciting discoveries. As subjects read, more and more areas of the brain lit up with activity. The scans showed that brain connectivity is increased by reading, especially in the part of the brain that responds to physical sensations like movement and pain.

Benefit #2 - Reduces Risk of Heart Disease

Reading immersive fiction is shown to have a relaxing effect on the body, lowering blood pressure and protecting to cardiovascular system. Even when the story dives and plunges, rushing us to the edge of our seat, the beneficial effects are there.

Benefit #3 - Bye Bye Stress

Research at the University of Sussex shows that reading is a great way to re-energize. Their work provides evidence of how effective just six minutes of reading can be to reduce stress levels by more than two thirds. (And you know you're going to read for more than six minutes!) "Losing yourself in a book is the ultimate relaxation,” said David Lewis, MD, who lead the study.

Benefit #4 - Love and Connection

According to social and media psychologists, the companionship experienced with fictional characters can be very real. The phenomenon is called parasocial interactions, one-sided relationships with celebrities or fictional characters. Don't laugh! The research is showing that these relationships, even though one-sided, can offer the mental and emotional benefits of camaraderie, community and sense of belonging, essential states for our health and well being. 

Peintre Contemporal - Catherine Chauloux

Benefit #5  - Boosts Self-Confidence

While the heroes in our stories strive to do better, accomplish goals, fight off villains, harsh environments, injury and disease, we are doing so too, right along side them. Reading about their triumphs over adversity, how they win love and saving the day makes us feel like we can, too, and that helps us feel a little better about ourselves.

Characters also show us that our “flaws” can be made into gifts, if we perceive them in a new way.

If that's not enough to convenience you, here are three books you may not have read yet that could spark your interest. (I have a reviewer friend who scouts the best page turners and sends them to me! You can follow her on Twitter here.)

Let me know what you are reading right now. Love to hear from you,

     

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Kim Falconer's New YA Fantasy Series is out January 5, 2020 - Crown of Bones. (Writing asr A.K. Wilder) 

Also, check her urban fantasy  - The Blood in the Beginning - an Ava Sykes Novel and the SFF Quantum Enchantment Series. 

You can find Kim on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Or pop over and throw the bones on the AKWilder.com site.

Get Caught Reading

Get Caught Reading 

Welcome everyone, to lovely May, the Get Caught Reading Month.

Get Caught Reading is a nationwide push inspired by the Association of American Publishers. The aim is to remind people in this time of isolation and crisis how much fun it is to read.

But we don't need reminding, right? If you're part of the Supernatural Underground party, reading is a given.

Still, it helps to throw our hands in the air and celebrate the joy of books! Let's do that now by recounting some of the awesome things reading does for you.

Women Get Caught Reading

1) First up, reading is entertaining and good for your health. Not only does allow us to immerse in story worlds, but it also reinforces neurotransmitters in the brain, keeping the mind sharp and firing.

2) Some studies show that reading reduces stress by up to 65%. That's a lot of stress to let go of!

Note: I'm not sure that the actual writing of books reduces stress, but that's a topic for another day. :)

Anime Characters Reading

3) It may surprise you to learn that reading fiction, or even non-fiction, helps us do MORE in the world. Studies show that if we read about other people's adventures, we are more likely to have adventures ourselves. It gets the brain moving, which means the body is more likely to follow suit.

Reading Romance

4) I've talked about rereading and social surrogacy before. Basically, when we read, we make connections to fictional characters in the same ways to do ‘real’ people.

Psychologists call it parasocial interactions because they are one-sided, but the fact remains, these relationships offer us all the mental and emotional benefits of camaraderie, community, romance and a sense of belonging, essential states for our health and well being.

If the brain is imagining it, physiologically, it's happening!

So, tell me what you are reading this month to celebrate the joy of books! I'd love to hear why reading is good for you.

See you in the comments!

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Kim Falconer's New YA Fantasy Series is out August 4, 2020 - Crown of Bones. (Writing under A.K. Wilder) 

Also, check her urban fantasy  - The Blood in the Beginning - and Ava Sykes Novel and the SFF Quantum Enchantment Series. 

You can find Kim on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Or pop over and throw the bones on the AKWilder.com site.