Welcome to The Wood Between the Worlds, your go-to source for joyful and discerning cultural commentary. We seek out the best speculative fiction written by this generation’s Inklings to spare you the trouble of slogging through the vast and mucky sea of modern fantasy and sci fi in search of rare gems.
Along the way, we’re asking one question: which speculative fiction books belong in the canon? What’s good, and what’s better chucked at the wall?
Join us as we:
Introduce you to today's most exciting writers; and
Gather some of the best storytellers and cultural critics of our time to build a proper canon for the literature of the fantastical.
Find your people
Join a community of readers who share your love for speculative fiction in the tradition of the Inklings. We love to hear from you in the comments, and we welcome your support with a paid subscription that gives you access to our live interviews.
A note on our name
In the Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis describes a mystical forest containing portals to other worlds. This forest is the wood between the worlds.
Portals to worlds of stories is what we, very brazenly, hope to be for readers of fantastical literature. We invite you to escape into a new world and experience that curious, joyful sensation of entering the strange and finding that you have come home.
Who’s behind the Substack?
The Wood Between the Worlds was created by
, award-winning epic fantasy author, Dean of , lover of Slavic fairy tales, choir conductor, and GRAMMY-nominated vocalist who resides with his wife and four children in cow-country New York.
By definition, creating a canon can only be done in community. That’s why we’re inviting some of the best storytellers and cultural critics to join us in podcast interviews and guest posts to help us find the best books of our time.
And it’s also why we want you to join us as we ask which books resonate deeply.
Subscribe to get full access to our posts, podcast, and publication archives.
