Jolly Genre Jubilee Tag

Hello people! How are you all doing? Today I’m doing yet another tag, this one stolen from Kenzie. It’s the Jolly Genre Jubilee Tag, and it is so much fun to do, basically because genres are fun and rambling about my favourite genres and just maybe giving you a little taste of one of my latest plot bunnies and my NaNoWriMo 2021 prospect.

Ok, let’s get into it!

What is your favorite genre of fiction to write?

Hands down, historical fantasy. But I also really love writing dark fantasy, and by that I mean fantasy that is aesthetically dark, not necessarily thematically or content dark. Fantasy that takes place in winter, at night, with the wild fae out roaming the hills, and relying heavily on old Celtic/British mythology and folklore. I eat that stuff up.

What genre would you NEVER get caught writing? . . .EVER.

A proper, true blue romance novel, Harlequin books style. You will never catch me writing that, or Christian historical romance. I would rather do almost anything than write those. Not that there’s anything wrong with them, per se, I just can’t stand anything vaguely romance-y as a genre. Bring on the romance in other genres (or don’t, that’s also perfectly fine) but I could never write proper genre romances.

Mid Year Book Freak-Out Tag

At this point, its kind of an unspoken tradition in the Book Blogging circles to do the Mid Year Book Freak-Out Tag whenever June/July rolls around. Other tags die sad and lonely deaths, forgotten by all, but the Freak-Out Tag pops up every mid year, proving that it will probably never die, and will in fact, be still lurking when the last of the book blogs inevitably gasps its final breath.

Anyway, all that to say I’m here doing this fun little book tag to get you all up to speed on what I’ve been reading this year! There’s a few versions of this tag running around, but I’m doing Paper Fury’s version, because her questions are so much fun. Let’s get into it!

1. HOW MUCH HAVE YOU READ?

Currently I’ve read 52 books out of my goal of 80, which I think is pretty good. I’ve currently got four on the go which I hope to finish soon.

2. WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN READING?

I’ve been mainly reading non-fiction this year, actually! I tend to flipflop between non-fiction and fiction years and this year has been a NF year, which has been pretty fun. I love challenging my mind with lots of different topics and I’ve discovered some absolute gems which I hope to put into a blog post very soon.

Other than non-fiction, I’ve been reading a lot of adult! Usually I stick to YA with a sprinkling of MG, but lately I’ve been digging into some adult fiction and really enjoying it. It’s like I’ve discovered a whole new world of different tropes and cliches and genres. It’s been really good. I’ve particularly been enjoying some adult mystery/thrillers, and some adult fantasy.

The Fandom Tag

Hello all! Here I am, posting for the third week in a row, which I am incredibly proud of! How are you all doing?

Today, we’re going to be taking a look at some of my favourite fandoms. I’ve never really considered myself a fandom type of person, mainly because I’m not at all interested in the activity that makes up 95% of fandom interaction, ie shipping (and writing fanfiction about that ship). If that’s your thing, I don’t mind at all (I got my writing start by writing fanfiction, though not of the shipping kind, so I’m not biased against fanfic writers at all!) but its not my thing so I’ve never really interacted with a fandom before.

However, that does not mean at all that I don’t adore certain stories, so that’s what we’re going to be talking about today! My favourite fandoms, authors, characters and stories! What could be better?

01. What’s the first fandom you remember becoming a part of?

Narnia probably, or Black Beauty (does Black Beauty have a fandom?). Mum has been reading the Narnia books to us kids over and over again for years, and when I got old enough I started reading them myself and I’m just obsessed. I loved them as a kid and I still love them now. Black Beauty was the first novel I read by myself and I have always adored it. It’s a beautiful and moving story and it definitely ignited my passion for animals at a very young age. I have also never found a movie adaption that followed the book faithfully, or was anything other than some sentimental middle grade horse fantasy *insert derogatory word of your choice here* and I am mad. Give me some Victorian animal justice movies written by an awesome but chronically ill and disabled author please.

Also, I began listening to the How To Train Your Dragon audiobooks (read by David Tennant) when I was a wee lass and I absolutely freaking adored them, and I still do now. The movies are good, but the books are AMAZING. And there’s Cressida’s new series as well, which wasn’t published I until I was an adult, but they still feel like they were part of my childhood.

02. What’s the newest fandom you’ve come to enjoy?

I don’t know at all! Hunger Games? But I’ve enjoyed that for a few years now, have I truly joined no new fandoms since then? Harry Potter? But I wouldn’t really describe myself as in the HP fandom, I’m just obsessed with The Prisoner of Azkaban. Maybe Star Wars? I’m also not really in the fandom for that, but I really like talking about Star Wars things in an academic tone, which is pretty much my bar for entering a fandom.

The Thirty Song Tag

Hello! I’m not sure if you remember me, but I’m the little shadow of a human being who runs this blog. And yes, I’ve been absent for some time. I’m hoping to do a life update post soon to give you a rundown of this hectic life I lead. However, I recently had to renew my blog subscription and pay actual hard earned money to keep this blog going, which has been the kick up the backside I needed to get back into blogging. Spending money will do that to you. So I’m hoping to be more active here. Fingers crossed.

Anyway, to get me back into blogging I’ve got a really easy tag that was a lot of fun to write! It’s all about music and I adore music so much. Megan kind of tagged everyone, so go check out her blog.

1. Your Favourite Song

I literally cannot choose. It is impossible, so I’m going to cheat and list a few of my favourite songs. I promise though, I will keep to the rules for the rest of the post and only mention one song (or maybe two, if I’m feeling particularly indecisive).

“The Blessing” by Kari Jobe

“God Help The Outcasts” from The Hunchback of Notre Dame

“The Tale of Cu Chulainn” by Miracle of Sound (Irish folk rock/metal. Could there be a better combination?)

“Lothlorien” from The Lord of the Rings musical

“Wonder” from the same musical

“Into The West” by Annie Lennox

“Now and For Always”

“Anne Bonney” by Karliene

“I See Fire” by Ed Sheeran

“Castle on the Hill” by Ed Sheeran

“Nancy Mulligan” by Ed Sheeran (Also check out this British Sign Language version, it is awesome!)

This list is so incomplete, but you’ll see more of my favourites as we go through this tag!

2. Your Least Favourite Song

This one is actually so easy. Out of all the songs I’ve heard, the one I’ve hated the most is Shape of You by Ed Sheeran, which is sad, because for years I refused to listen to any of his other songs because of this one, and I was really missing out on some quality music. But I hate this song so much. I know there’s a lot of songs that objectify women, but for me, this one just represents them all, and for some reason, people adore it??? I do not like it.

Rant over. Let’s continue.

3. A Song That Makes You Happy

“The Wellerman” is a such a fun song and I’m so very glad it came to the attention of whoever started the TikTok trend. It’s such a jaunty song and it makes me so happy to listen to! For the record, my favourite versions are Alina Gingertail’s version, The Hound and the Fox’s version, and Nathan Evans’s version.