Introducing The Enchanted Forest - July 2023
Enchanting Substack links from June, and a call to nominate posts for next month
Dear Friends,
Another summer day, another strange flower in the Enchanted in America garden.
Today, I want to let you know about a new feature on my home page. It’s called The Enchanted Forest, and I’m delighted to invite you to bring your camping gear, a spell book or camera, and a cast iron pot for brewing potions. Stay as long as you like. The bats don’t tweet or bite.
Think of the Enchanted Forest as a monthly digest of reposted wonder, inspiration, and amusement. The purpose is to facilitate connections between writers and artists who share an interest in enchantment and who write (or produce art) enchantingly.
Here’s how it will operate:
By the fifth day of each month, I’ll make a post called “The Enchanted Forest - [Month-Year].” Each number will include links to no more than 10 posts from around Substack, published in the preceding month. I plan to both link the post and tag the person who nominated it. If the nominator would like to provide a brief recommendation, that will be included, too.
At present there are no plans for Chats or Zooms; the gathering place is purely asynchronous and virtual, consisting of things people have already posted elsewhere in the Stackiverse. If there is interest, we can add original work later. Let’s start small.
Where you come in - Important:
A gathering place is only valuable if people want to gather. If this idea is a good one, I’ll need your assistance throughout the month to collect nominations.
When you see a post that enchants you at any time, Restack the post in Notes and tag
(@ Tara Penry) or . Mention that you are nominating the post for The Enchanted Forest. If you like, say a bit about why you think it’s a great addition. Featured posts should be free, so all viewers can enjoy them, but we can add tags for paywalled material. (See how features and short tags are structured in the sample below.)Self-nominations are welcome and encouraged, though nominations by others provide proof of enchantment. ;-)
Little hopes:
We can all spread the word about every featured artist by restacking and sharing whole Enchanted Forest numbers. I hope this leads to some new eyeballs for everyone.
If you are nominated and featured and would like to do so, I invite you to go back to your original post and add a line at the top saying “Recommended by The Enchanted Forest magazine [link] as an Enchanting Read on Substack for June 2023.” Be sure to link the magazine issue with your work in it!
Et cetera:
All subjects (visual art, poetry, essays, etc.) are welcome, as long as they enchant someone.
Monthly posts will remain accessible through a named tab on my home page.
With luck, The Enchanted Forest will become a place to meet fellow magicians who cast lyrical and visual spells and write with wonder.
Continue scrolling to the first (short) issue.
The Enchanted Forest - July 2023
Eight Enchanting Reads from June 2023
M. E. Rothwell’s stirring travel Notes caused me to look up his posts on Cosmographia. He provides a multi-genre immersion in global places, this time Fiji. He has also just launched
, where he invites submissions!Anna Brones’s 5-day illustrated solstice retreat at the Isles of Curiosity and Wonder was the Substack equivalent of a refreshing swim with dolphins across a bay.
Candace Rose Rardon’s hand-lettered
was chosen last month as a Featured Substack and then, immediately afterward, the essay linked above, “Home is a Softball Field,” was chosen for Substack Reads. Candace’s loving prose-poem-essay about an international, expatriate softball game in a soccer country simply enchants.Laura Pashby’s Small Story for free subscribers in June is a short, poetic meditation on three generations of family inheritance, with a background scent of roses.
S. E. Reid’s serial novella, Ivy & Ixos, will post part 5 of 12 this week. Subscribe now to enjoy the story serially. The droop and drip of the Pacific Northwest is lush and authentic, and the mystery captivating.
We are almost out of room for this month’s email, so I’ll add three short links:
Among my posts for June, I self-nominate “Stumps.”
At Along the Hudson,
’s 50-word story for June lands sweetly: “Times Change but the Song Remains the Same.”And from
, a June 1 musical post (“Something Wonderful Twofer”) features two songs from the group Playing for Change. Musicians around the world are edited into a single performance of a song. Both songs are worth a listen. Friend Switter has enchanting taste.And so it begins. If this is a project you’d like to support, please restack and nominate posts for July in Notes at any time. (Remember to tag me.) I look forward to seeing you back here in a month!
Ciao ~ ~ Tara
P.S. If you’ve got an enchanting story to tell about a book, I hope you’ve seen the contest guidelines for Enchanted by the Book, open for entries through July 13th.
P.P.S. What drew me to enchantment? I answer that here.
Tara this is brilliant.
very excited to follow this project, and to be nominated for the August issue!