Have you ever walking into a library or bookstore and had the first book you see on entering the doorway grab you by the throat and demand you take it home and read it?
Yeah, that happened to me the other day. I needed some new reading material, so I went to the library to see what I could find. As soon as the elevator door opened, “Strange Animals” by Jarod K. Anderson (note: this is an affiliate link to my newly created affiliate page on Bookshop.org) was staring me in the eye from the top of the “New Releases” shelf. I recognized the author’s name from his poetry social media work under The CryptoNaturalist, but hadn’t heard that he’d published a book recently, and was intrigued. So, I picked it up and read the synopsis blurb. Or started to. I read the first couple of sentences and knew I needed to read this book.
I finished it in 2 days and, when we have the money again, will be buying a copy of my own so I can read it over and over again.
It’s mythic fiction in company with things like Terri Windling’s “The Wood Wife” and Charles de Lint’s “Spiritwalk”. In other words, it’s exactly the sort of story that my brain needs like oxygen. The timing on finding it is also perfect. The direction my YouTube channel wants to go is that route and thus I need all the immersion in that kind of world as I can get to prime the proverbial well pump of my own creativity.
It was exactly the answer to one of the requests I made of Trickster, and I am delighted.
If you like mythic fiction, cryptids that aren’t the usual tired examples, and that sort of thing, definitely go check it out.
