Tag: the element encyclopedia of magical creatures

Whatcha Reading, Geekly: October 2026

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Happy Wednesday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here! Today, our writers share what they’ve been reading over the past month. Feel free to share what you’ve been reading over the past month, because we’re all part of the Geekly Gang. I’ll get things started by sharing what I’ve been reading over the past month.

Kyra’s Fiction

I read Brian Azzarello’s Joker for the first time this past month. It wasn’t what I was expecting. Honestly, I don’t know what to expect, so I guess I had no expectations. Joker was a wild read. Jonny Frost (one of The Joker’s henchmen) narrates the story. This was a bizarre choice for a point of view character. How many comic book stories have been told from the perspective of a super villain’s henchman? Harley Quinn doesn’t count. By this point, she’s become her own character. A no-name Joker henchman made for a fresh take on the character.

Because we’re not in Joker’s perspective or even Batman’s, Joker doesn’t dive too deep into its title character; Joker concerns itself with how The Joker affects Gotham City from an outside perspective. Jonny Frost is to The Joker what Nick Carraway was to Gatsby. We watch as Gotham defines itself by its most infamous criminal. We watch as The Joker seduces Jonny with his hedonistic lifestyle. Through Jonny’s point of view, we see the appeal of The Joker. We learn why someone would want to serve as one of The Joker’s henchmen. While I enjoyed the ideas presented in Joker, I’m glad the graphic novel didn’t last long. It ended when and how it should’ve. One shouldn’t spend too much time in The Joker’s world.

Author Ta-Nehisi Coates needs little introduction. Coates has received the MacArthur Fellowship a year before Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet was first released. Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet explores Wakanda’s identity, tensions, traditions, and where they fit in modern society while looking toward the future. This examination extends to the monarchy. Does Wakanda still need the Black Panther? These topics make sense, considering Coates is an American journalist and activist who often writes about cultural, social, and political issues, specifically African Americans and white supremacy. Coates authored “The Case for Reparations,” so a Wakandan story that examines its past while looking at how to move forward is something that Coates has immense experience.

Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet is a dense text. It deconstructs Black Panther as a character. It shows the Wakandan king step down as supreme leader, making way for Wakanda becoming a constitutional democracy with the Black Panther serving as a figure head. Think the English monarchy. T’Challa is still Black Panther. But Wakanda’s people are allowed to govern themselves. We’ve seen the MCU adopt some aspects of this story. I can’t help but think the MCU adapting A Nation Under Our Feet in a future Black Panther movie. Perhaps this storyline will inform Black Panther 3. I enjoyed my time with Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet and highly recommend the book, especially if you like the T’Challa and dive head first into Wakandan lore and politics.

It was only a matter of time before I started reading the sequel to TJ Klune’s The House in the Cerulean Sea. Love that book. I had to pick up the sequel, Somewhere Beyond the Sea. Quick Note: I love Klune’s dedication:

For the trans community the world over:
I see you, I hear you, I love you.
This story is for you.

Klune’s dedication rings true. While The House in the Cerulean Sea was more subversive with its queerness (the main character just happens to be gay), Somewhere Beyond the Sea has Arthur and Linus go to court and defend magical beings’ rights. With the dedication as context, Somewhere Beyond the Sea’s many scenes can be viewed through the lens of the trans community’s struggles for acceptance. The House in the Cerulean Sea did a lot the same things. Somewhere Beyond the Sea makes this a front and center discussion. I loved returning to these characters. Cozy romantasy has become one of my favorite genres, and The House in the Cerulean Sea is one of the reasons why.

We were teased David, a teenage yeti, during The House in the Cerulean Sea’s epilogue. Somewhere Beyond the Sea delivers on the first book’s promise. And David fits with this cast of characters. David’s viewpoint on the term “monster” recontextualizes Lucy’s relationship with Arthur and Linus. Great stuff. I love it when a new character can help us see a preexisting character in a new light. In short, Somewhere Beyond the Sea is charming. The magical children are wonderful. Each of them has a distinct personality. The world is lived in. Even the tertiary characters, like Marsyas Island’s ferryman Merle, has charm. I’ve read a lot of books since The House in the Cerulean Sea, but it took no time at all to go back into the world Klune created with Somewhere Beyond the Sea.

I can’t wait for the upcoming HBO Max animated series based on these novels, or the third novel in the series. Klune has released these novels every four years, so the third novel may release as soon as 2027, but realistically, in 2028. Guess I’ll have to wait. I read Somewhere Beyond the Sea at a slow pace. I wanted to savor the story. But I could reread the two novels. Hmm? These books are fantastic.

The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures Book Cover

Kyra’s Nonfiction

I’ve talked about The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures in the past. This book is loaded with fantasy/magical creatures from various points of origin. While some of the creatures in this book will be familiar, I like the ones I know little to nothing about. But the surprise entries I’ve found in this book are real world creatures. The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures includes many real world animals and what those animals mean to various cultures and religions. This book is fascinating. I said this six or seven months ago, but I will finish The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures.

Those are the books I’ve been reading this past month, and it looks like Season and Skye are taking this week off. What have you been reading, Geekly Gang? Let us know in the comments. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Whatcha Reading, Geekly: December 2025

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Happy Wednesday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here. During today’s post, our writers share what they’ve been reading over the past month. Feel free to share what you’ve been reading, too. We’re all part of the Geekly Gang. I’ll kick things off with what I’ve been reading over this past month.

Kyra’s Reads

It’s the holidays. Naturally, I was out shopping for others, but that doesn’t mean I can’t pick up something relatively cheap for myself. I picked up Ornithography for under $5. Bird lore and symbolism sounded interesting, and Ornithography hasn’t disappointed. Each bird entry includes an illustration of the bird, its scientific name, and a brief legend about it. To say Ornithography is a quick read is an understatement. Just look at this sample page.

I figured Orinithography would yield some writing ideas, and it has shaken some things loose there. The only issue I’ve found is that the bird write-ups can contradict each other. One culture may view a bird as lucky and another unlucky. But that’s part of the fun.

Keeping my trend of quick to read and illustrated alive, my next entry is Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style. At one point, I read The Elements of Style once a year. It’s a writing style handbook and well worth the read. We can’t depend on AI to catch every mistake. This past month marks the first time I’ve read The Elements of Style in over two years. Yikes! I may need to get back into the habit of reading this must-read for any writer.

Yes. Style has changed somewhat, but most of what Strunk and White (and that’s E.B. White, the author of Charlotte’s Web) holds up today. And I love the gentle humor the two manage to give the subject. Writing style books can be a chore to get through. Strunk and White make it enjoyable.

The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures makes one of these lists again. I won’t go into too much detail. As the title suggests, this encyclopedia chronicles magical and mythical creatures. Entries in this book mirror Ornithography’s. I had a book type this month.

That’s all I have for this month’s Watcha Reading. Let’s see what Season’s been reading.

Season’s Read

I participated in the Black Friday/Cyber Monday boycott this year, only purchasing essentials. This boycott also extended to streaming services. I rewatched my DVD box set of Death Note on my computer with a USB disc reader and remembered I’d picked up a copy of Death Note Short Stories. Death Note Short Stories is a collection written by the author of the main Death Note series (with the same artist), so I consider all of these stories canon.

I’m not a fan of the Taro Kagami story since it includes a “death eraser,” which brings people back to life if they haven’t been cremated. In Japan, there isn’t enough land mass to bury the dead, so people are cremated, with their crematory bits kept separate from their memorial site. I’d assume the same logic would apply to someone whose body is in pieces. That’d make for a weird zombie.

The first story was interesting. It’s set nine years after the end of Death Note, and features Donald Trump buying the “power of Kira (Death Note)” from a mysterious seller in Japan (Minoru Tanaka). Death Note is a fantastical series, but this is the most realistic story in the franchise. No notes.

The last couple of stories feature background information on L, such as his upbringing and daily life. This man tumbles in a human-sized washing machine every day as his “shower” because physically taking a shower is too bothersome. I mean, I don’t always want to shower, but a washing machine? That’s definitely a choice.

Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here again. That’s all we have for Whatcha Reading this week. Let us know what you’ve been reading in the comments. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Whatcha Reading, Geekly? July 2025

Published on by Kyra1 Comment

Happy Wednesday, Geekly Gang! For this week’s Whatcha series, our writers will share which books they’ve been reading over the past month. Yes. It’s Whatcha Reading, Geekly? for July 2025. Wait. I checked with Season and Skye, and they don’t have any selections for this month. Uh oh! Looks like I’m flying solo this week. I’m sure our other writers will have plenty to share in August. Let’s get to our list.

Kyra’s Non-Fiction Books

Beyond the Gender Binary is a reread for me this past month, but I’m still counting it as a book I read. I attended Alok Vaid-Menon’s Omaha show (June 24, 2025) during their Hairy Situation Tour, and they signed my well-worn copy of Beyond the Gender Binary. Yay! This book is a short read, like a really short read, at about 50 pages. Beyond the Gender Binary is small enough to fit inside your pocket; this is the hook of every book within the Pocket Change Collective.

Alok fills the pages of this book with a new perspective on the gender binary and what lies beyond it. Beyond the Gender Binary is a hug for anyone questioning their gender identity. Their personal stories speak to me. I’ve loaned my copy of Beyond the Gender Binary to many people who wanted to learn more about individuals who identify as non-binary, gender queer, and/or gender fluid. I may need to purchase a second copy after Alok signed my current copy of Beyond the Gender Binary. No book–no matter how big or small–can capture every aspect of gender non-conforming people, but despite its small size, Beyond the Gender Binary serves as a fantastic introduction.

I love the Pocket Change Collective. I’ve read at least half of the books pictured above, and I may have to hunt for the ones I have yet to read. I highly recommend this book series. It’s easy to read in one sitting, and each one in the series may broaden your perspective.

Speaking of broadening one’s perspective, I’ve been reading The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures, making note of mythical creatures that interest me and ones I’d like to research further. I like the magical creatures that haven’t been done to death (in fantasy stories), and love the ones from cultures I know less about. What started as research on fantasy creatures has morphed into a cultural study. What’s not to love?

Kyra’s Poetry

A writer’s history shouldn’t factor into their work, but Arthur Rimbaud may be one of the few exceptions. He rose to prominence quickly. Illuminations, Rimbaud’s poetry collection I read this past month, was his last major poetic work, written when he was twenty years old. After he finished–or rather abandoned–this poetry collection, Rimbaud traveled the world, taking odd jobs, and never wrote again. Over the years, Rimbaud deserted his Dutch military post in Java (Indonesia) and sneaked back to France, ultimately spending the majority of his remaining days in Ethiopia. He died at 37 of bone cancer. Illuminations was published in 1886 without Rimbaud’s knowledge. The publishers referred to him as the late, great Rimbaud, even though he hadn’t yet died.

Illuminations has inspired many artists (Jim Morrison of The Doors, Bob Dylan, and Patty Smith, to name a few) as well as artistic movements like Dadaism and Surrealism. We don’t know which order these dozens of prose poems are supposed to have gone in because Rimbaud had abandoned the project before their publication. The poems range in topic. They’re a window into Rimbaud’s struggles to find steady employment in the United Kingdom and later Germany, while living with Paul Verlaine. The couple often fought. Their breakup may have prompted Rimbaud to travel the world.

As a result of these influences, Illuminations mingles gorgeous images with dread and the unknown. Check out this paragraph from “Mystical”: The flowery sweetness of stars and sky and the rest descends opposite the embankment, like a basket, against our face, and creates the flowering and blue abyss down there.

Illuminations will follow up an awe-inspiring pastoral scene with a garotte around your neck. It’s a mind-bending, singular work of poetry deserving of its cult-like following. Illuminations is one of those poetry collections you could read and reread dozens of times and find something new and exciting. I read the John Ashbery translation (pictured above this segment). It stays faithful to the original text and even provides the original French beside its English translation.

Kyra’s Fiction Books

Eric Raglin is yet another queer author to make my reading list this past month. It’s like June was Pride month or something. Kidding aside, I had to include a local (Nebraska) writer in this month’s mix. Raglin’s Nightmare Yearnings is a phenomenal horror short story collection with only a few hints of queerness thrown in for good measure, and I love the variety in this collection. While each story is bizarre and tackles some darker truth of the human condition, the stories serve as a horror anthology like The Twilight Zone or Black Mirror.

I love how “Under the Roof, Upon the Horns” explores toxic masculinity. This story boils down to a son attempting to please his father and shows how men are the only ones who care how masculine other men behave. Masculinity is a trap. Resist! Nightmare Yearnings also includes goofy stories like “Top 5 Ghosts Caught on Camera” to prevent it from getting too preachy. But one of my favorite stories in this collection is “My Better Half.” It’s a body horror short story where a woman splits her bisexual man lover into two halves: the gay and the straight side. The gay half ends up in the closet. Ugh! This is such a good story, and it speaks to me as someone who’s pansexual. I could discuss more of Nightmare Yearnings’ offerings–there are plenty of fantastic stories in this collection–but I’ll leave the rest for you to discover.

Nightmare Yearnings includes author notes. These notes provide a little insight into what Eric Raglin was thinking while writing each short story. This is also a great way to pick and choose stories. It’s a preview of what to expect or a little peek behind the veil after you’ve read a story. I wish more short story collections included author notes by the author.

That’s all I have for this month’s Whatcha Reading. What did you read this past month? Let us know in the comments. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.