Recs if you like The Cautious Traveller's Guide to the Wastelands...

Book that have an element you’ll miss out on if you read as an audiobook, whether it’s fun formatting or illustrations

books that fracture, remake, and defy the rules of time, space, memory, and idea.

Chill-fueled journeys through frostbitten kingdoms, forbidden wards, and legends carved in ice. Perfect for readers craving grand myths wrapped in winter magic.

dreamy, surreal, reflective texts 🤍 composed of fiction, poetry, non-fiction, and memoirs

complex characters that feel real. so human it hurts your heart a little, but you get it. crafted by authors who understand people, psychologies, and what it means to be human

Books where nature itself fights back against colonization, or has themes of resistance, conservation and indigenous identity. Full disclosure, I haven't read most of these but the topic interests me, and I didn't see a list for it. I will take recommendations in the comments!

Is it fantasy? Horror? Magical realism? Sci-fi? Litfic? It's best not to ask questions.

books centering on characters obsessed with a certain thing, ambition, or goal! one of my favorite types of characters… you could say I’m obsessed with them

Cozy, Horror, Mystery, Adventure, Romance. As long as the book has shrooms as a major plot point, there is a place for it in this list.

fantasy/scifi/whatever that does something I find exciting and at least a bit unfamiliar (in various age categories). Doesn’t need to be a perfect story, just one that takes a stab in an interesting direction.

Fantasy that is not set in the US or the UK

A syllabus of fabricated expertise; (un)required reading for fictional studies. A list of Guides, Research and Case Studies from imagined worlds.

Books with immersive settings!

Sci-fi, Fantasy, and some Horror (not all) where fungal and botanical contagion threatens our protagonists with ominous powers or foreboding new changes. (More than botanical horror.)

required reading—I mean, recommendations—for my sci-fi/fantasy-loving partner. (maybe yours too?) (most i’ve added because i think you’ll love them, but a couple are just to indulge me hehe)

Longlist for the Goldsboro Glass Bell Award for 2025. The Glass Bell Award honours novels that combine brilliant characterisation, a distinctive voice, and stories that truly connect with readers. Unique in the UK literary landscape, the prize is open to all genres, from literary fiction and crime to fantasy, horror, and speculative fiction.

A collection of novels with titles that imply they’re educational, but they’re not. Multi-genre. Recs welcome!!

Are you a train person? Here are some books where trains are present in more than just a passing scene.

Speculative fiction stories that heavily feature trains. It's almost become its own subgenre, and there was no list for it; I thought there should be one. Happy to take recs in the comments! (I haven't read all of these. If you think a book doesn't belong on this list, leave a comment!)

Every pick from Goldsboro's monthly Premier subscription, across all genres. Signed & numbered limited first editions, usually with unique designs.