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694 books | 2,425 friends

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2026 Reading Challenge

2026

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J.S. Watts has read 10 of 20 books.

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J.S. Watts

Goodreads Author

Born

in London, The United Kingdom

Website

https://www.jswatts.co.uk

Genre

Poetry, Fantasy, Science Fiction

Member Since

March 2013

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J.S. Watts is a British poet, novelist and short story writer.

Born in London, she now lives and writes in East Anglia. In between, she read English at Somerville College, Oxford and spent many years working in the UK education sector.

Her poetry, short stories and non-fiction appear in publications in Britain, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the States and have been broadcast on BBC and independent Radio. She has edited assorted magazines and anthologies.

Her poetry collections, "Cats and Other Myths", "Years Ago You Coloured Me" and "Underword", plus the multi-award nominated poetry pamphlet, "Songs of Steelyard Sue" are published by Lapwing Publications. Her poetry pamphlet, "The Submerged Sea", is published by Dempsey & Windl ...more

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Combine Editions
J.S. Watts’s books

Average rating: 4.29 · 242 ratings · 72 reviews · 30 distinct works • Similar authors

	Witchlight 4.16 avg rating — 44 ratings — published 2015 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ink Stains, Volume 6 by J.S. Watts (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Christopher Locke (Contributor), Monica Carter (Contributor) 4.63 avg rating — 16 ratings — published 2017 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Darker Moon 4.43 avg rating — 14 ratings — published 2012 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Old Light 4.50 avg rating — 8 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Submerged Sea 4.57 avg rating — 7 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Elderlight it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 4 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Songs of Steelyard Sue 4.67 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 2012	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Cats and Other Myths it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2011	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Years Ago You Coloured Me it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Underword it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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141 posts
J.S. Watts's Blog

Telling Stories

Telling Stories is a short fantasy story by yours truly. It was first published in The Lorelei Signal in July of last year. Now it's available again and you can listen to it as an audio podcast, with thanks to Tall Tale TV.

https://talltaletv.com/telling-stories/

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Published on July 11, 2026 02:38 • Tags: audio-story, fantasy, short-story, telling-stories

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J.S. is Currently Reading

J.S. Watts is currently reading

Boneland (Tales of Alderley, #3)

by Alan Garner

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Jul 25, 2026 07:30AM

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J.S.’s Recent Updates

J.S. Watts started reading Boneland (Tales of Alderley, #3) by Alan Garner	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 25, 2026 07:30AM · like
J.S. Watts rated a book liked it Lake Wobegon Days by Garrison Keillor	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 25, 2026 07:29AM · like
J.S. Watts rated a book it was amazing Photographs of Emily and Other Stories by Annalisa Crawford (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 19, 2026 03:10AM · like
J.S. Watts rated a book really liked it Emotional Support Horse by Claudine Toutoungi	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Witty and stylish
Jul 02, 2026 10:17AM · like · see review
J.S. Watts is starting Emotional Support Horse Emotional Support Horse by Claudine Toutoungi progress:	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 02, 2026 10:16AM · like · see status
J.S. Watts made a comment in the group Paranormal Romance & Urban Fantasy — Similar Books topic " Urban fantasy with a late 30s protagonist? I don't mean to self-publicise inappropriately, but you are describing my Witchlight Series. [image] Wi ...more "
Jun 14, 2026 04:54AM
J.S. Watts made a comment in the group Paranormal Romance & Urban Fantasy — Does Psychic Romance Classify as Paranormal Romance? topic " Terice wrote: "Would you class a romance with a psychic as a Paranormal Romance? Book below for reference The Seer: Psychic Highlander Series: Book 1" Ho ...more "
Jun 14, 2026 04:50AM
J.S. Watts made a comment in the group Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy Addicts — Where do you live? topic " Another one living in Cambridgeshire, UK. "
Jun 14, 2026 04:45AM
J.S. Watts is currently reading Lake Wobegon Days by Garrison Keillor	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 30, 2026 01:50AM · like
J.S. Watts is currently reading Emotional Support Horse by Claudine Toutoungi	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 30, 2026 01:45AM · like

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Quotes by J.S. Watts (?)

“What you cannot lay to rest
Must therefore be laid aside”
― J.S. Watts, Cats and Other Myths

tags: endings, laying-to-rest, moors-child, poetry, poetry-quotations, poetry-quote, resignation

3 likes

“These are amongst the last memories I shall relinquish to the page, though I am hanging onto them for now and for as long as I can. When they are gone, will there be anything left of me? Am I nothing but memory?”
― J.S. Watts, A Darker Moon

tags: dark-fantasy

2 likes

“Holly girl, you are all too human, I can assure you. Prickly and awkward and human, because that's what witches are - human, that is, not necessarily the prickly and annoying bit. That's just you.”
― J.S. Watts, Witchlight

tags: human-nature, humour, witch, witchcraft, witches

2 likes

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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Goodreads Authors...: * Author List	7906	21768	Jul 25, 2026 06:26AM

J.S.’s Quotes

“The heart's optimism always
conquers reality”
― J.S. Watts, Songs of Steelyard Sue

tags: morning-song-poetry

2 likes

tags: dark-fantasy

2 likes

“You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.”
― Ray Bradbury

tags: culture, reading

11769 likes

“I am the dreamer and not the dream”
― J.S. Watts, Cats and Other Myths

tags: poetry

2 likes

“Literature is a textually transmitted disease, normally contracted in childhood.”
― Jane Yolen, Touch Magic: Fantasy, Faerie & Folklore in the Literature of Childhood

tags: childhood, disease, literature

2604 likes

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J.S.’s Groups

Poetry Readers Challenge — 641 members — last activity Jan 08, 2026 06:18AM
Let's talk about poetry books. This group's members read poetry collections, with the goal of reviewing twenty in a year. C'mon. Do it. It's good for ...more

Literary Horror — 2136 members — last activity Jul 19, 2026 08:40PM
A group for fans of literary horror. We will be discussing all things horrible and literary but especially those horrible volumes that either aspire t ...more

Literary Darkness — 4822 members — last activity 6 hours, 2 min ago
This group is dedicated to an appreciation of important works of literature, both classic and contemporary... that happen to fall into the category of ...more

Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy Addicts — 14624 members — last activity 13 hours, 5 min ago
The Best Place for PNR & UF Junkies ► A group for everyone who loves paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and related sub-genres like vampires, dragon ...more

Paranormal Romance & Urban Fantasy — 24559 members — last activity Jul 17, 2026 10:37PM
Welcome to Paranormal Romance! This group is for the discussion and recommendation of paranormal romances and paranormal erotic romance, along with ur ...more

Constant Reader — 6035 members — last activity 2 hours, 42 min ago
A forum for friendly discussion of classics, literary fiction, nonfiction, poetry and short stories. We also love movies and art. Don't ask to join th ...more

Goodreads Authors/Readers — 57210 members — last activity 1 hour, 39 min ago
This group is dedicated to connecting readers with Goodreads authors. It is divided by genres, and includes folders for writing resources, book websit ...more

¡ POETRY ! — 22510 members — last activity Jul 17, 2026 05:50PM
No pretensions: just poetry. Stop by, recommend books, offer up poems (excerpted), tempt us, taunt us, tell us what to read and where to go (to read No pretensions: just poetry. Stop by, recommend books, offer up poems (excerpted), tempt us, taunt us, tell us what to read and where to go (to read it!) Goodreads honors wordsmiths: poets and poetry promoted and prompted here. ~~~ "Poetry is the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits." -- Carl Sandburg “God has a brown voice, as soft and full as beer.” —Anne Sexton On Clouds – “…what primitive tastes the ancients must have had if their poets were inspired by those absurd, untidy clumps of mist, idiotically jostling one another about…” —Yevgeny Zamyatin “If the poet wants to be a poet, the poet must force the poet to revise. If the poet doesn’t wish to revise, let the poet abandon poetry and take up stamp-collecting or real estate.” —Donald Hall “Poetry is a rich, full-bodied whistle, cracked ice crunching in pails, the night that numbs the leaf, the duel of two nightingales, the sweet pea that has run wild, Creation’s tears in shoulder blades.” —Boris Pasternak “Wanted: a needle swift enough to sew this poem into a blanket.” —Charles Simic “Language is a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to, while all the time we long to move the stars to pity.” —Gustave Flaubert “Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It’s that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that’s what the poet does.” —Allen Ginsberg. ~~~~~ Amy King, Moderator Amy King is the recipient of the 2015 Winner of the WNBA Award (Women’s National Book Association). Her latest collection, The Missing Museum, is a winner of the 2015 Tarpaulin Sky Book Prize. She serves on the executive board of VIDA: Women in Literary Arts and is co-editing with Heidi Lynn Staples the anthology, Big Energy Poets of the Anthropocene: When Ecopoets Think Climate Change. She is also co-editing the anthology, Bettering American Poetry 2015, and is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at SUNY Nassau Community College. ...more

Into the Forest — 2150 members — last activity Jul 25, 2026 08:23AM
A group to discuss the fairy and folk tales, world mythologies, mythic fiction, magical realism fiction, and monsters. Of course, we also discuss rete ...more

Goodreads Librarians Group — 332646 members — last activity 2 minutes ago
Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog. The Goodreads Libra ...more

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J.S.’s Friend Comments

Comments (showing 1-2) post a comment »

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message 2: by J.S.

Aug 15, 2014 11:21AM

Over on The Cult of Me blogspot, J S Watts provides this week's Friday Poem entitled 'Musing on Mushrooms'. You can discover the poem and why she wrote it below.

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

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message 1: by J.S.

Jul 05, 2014 11:16AM

Technically, M.R. James Collected Ghost Stories is a re-read, as I have read it many years ago, but it is the monthly read for the Literary Horror Group and I can never resist the opportunity to pick up up a good book again.

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