Alan's Summer Reading Round-Up

I just wanted to start by thanking everyone for such a fun, helpful and productive summer! This was my first Summer Camp and I'm hooked, so you'll all be seeing more of me whether you like it or not. Here's to many more years of writing and great community work!
I've decided to format my summer reading article into two categories: favourite articles and favourite new worlds. While I certainly have my favourite ongoing worlds and enjoy every new article from them, part of the fun of Summer Camp has also been getting introduced to new and passionate members to the community, so I wanted to give them a shout-out too.
Anyway. Let's get at it, shall we?

Favourite Articles of Summer 2024

by Mochimanoban
I’m a biologist who reads a lot of sci-fi, so suffice it to say I enjoy xenobiology. Mochi’s world doesn’t disappoint. The Yonderverse not only has a lot of width and depth to its biology, Mochi also does a great job capturing the work actual scientists do exploring and protecting it, which is equally important in any narrative.

by AmélieIS
I just adore the idea of working with, rather than against, the natural behavior of wildlife when developing human infrastructure. This is a beautifully-formatted example. The behaviour of corvids and their interactions with humans is endlessly fascinating to me, and I feel Amélie would agree.

---

by NimrodialLibrary
Just a very good, original fantasy story that swept me along and gave me a tantalizing taste of the wider dramatis personae. NimrodialLibrary is talented writer that paced the story perfectly, letting the narrative breathe without overstaying its welcome. Plus: hand-crafted art! Great.

by Those2Nerds
Everything I look for in a sci-fi story: mystery combined with a scientific longing to understand combined with the emotional complexity that comes as the understanding dawns on you. The excerpt with the epidemiologist at the end is [chef’s kiss]. Beautifully formatted too of course.

---

by Hanhula
The first thing I’ll say it I love Han’s taste in names. Jurisaudra just really rolls off the tongue. Jurisaudra, Jurisaudra. Anyway, if you aren’t already familiar with Istralar you should be. It’s a thoroughly well-realized world with nice crisp writing and the confidence to write low-fantasy, capturing the color of everyday drama underneath all the magic and dragons.

by Demongrey
A beautiful little bit of worldbuilding that weaves the power of song directly into the lives of individuals and their loved ones. The concept is both subtle yet intuitive to understand. I want to see more from the Inngirtut!

---

by Haly the Moonlight Bard
One of my earliest experiences interacting with the wider WA community was having Avalon jump right out of the page at me. The town has all the high relief of a Rockwell painting or a Munro short story. And I’m just a sucker for magic realism / metarealism and the interactions between the living and dead. Anxiously awaiting more from Avalon.

by Thereasonwhy
Another excellent little bit of worldbuilding that does a great job focusing on the mood & atmosphere while sprinkling little bits of the wider setting in in ways that don’t feel overly forced. Sometimes the best thing a narrative needs is to stop and smell the coffee for a bit, basking in what you’ve achieved.

---

by Chrispy_0
Wow. I remember when Chrispy_0 first shared the map of Izi and I was blown away. This article really captures the feeling of true frontier exploration with a nice genre-bending twist. I love the video game-esque dialogue boxes and will absolutely steal the idea. Extremely cool stuff.

by AsterVela
Actual recipes! I adore this. And the dishes are genuinely well-chosen for a fantasy adventurer. Even just a little exposition on things like this adds so much colour to a setting or narrative.

---

... Whew! For this next section, I’ll post articles from the Summer Camp competition so the chosen can still be included in the Readers’ Choice list, but this section is to summarize new-ish worlds that have caught my attention recently and I’ve been enjoying exploring.

Favourite New Worlds of Summer 2024

Islands on the Cloudy Sea
by PanthersEye
An extremely cool, original concept that blends my love of fractured worlds with the richness of Chinese history. And what beautiful formatting! Great work, PanthersEye.

NOVATURE
by Willwritten
This setting only became public recently, but already I can tell we’re looking at some really solid sci-fi writing here. If you’re a fan of the genre, check it out!

---

The Chronicles of Hysal
Worldwildbuilder
The depth of Worldwildbuilder’s conception of the Second Kavasian War really drew me in, and so far the rest of the setting hasn’t disappointed me either.

Terramora
by Jeffrey Lebowski
I'm a sucker for comfy, forested setting grounded in traditional fantsy, and Terramora has been scratching that itch. Check it out if you're the same!

---

Ysteria
by CoolG1319
In addition to his rad pixel art, CoolG has already made great leaps in her writing and formatting for Ysteria. Looking forward to what the future brings!

Flimflam
by ButNoCigar
I LOVE Roaring 20's fantasy and I think it's severely under-utilized. Enter ButNoCigar with Flimflam and their very interesting Vault dimension and I'm hooked!