New York, New York - BookTok star Zoranne Host sat down with TAG24 to dish on the hottest trends in fantasy and share how she's helping to blaze a new trail in the genre.

With over 130,000 followers on TikTok, Host is one of the most prominent figures in the platform's literary-centric corner, collectively known as BookTok.

As her online following continued to grow in 2022, Host launched the Fantasy & Frens book club on Fable, which has grown to become one of the largest communities on the platform.

"Our primary focus is to read fantasy and sci-fi books," she told TAG24. "The books we read are always community-nominated."

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In June 2023, Host was approached by Bindery Books, a new online membership platform that allows influencers, known on the site as tastemakers, to mobilize their online communities and uplift authors and stories they believe in. Tastemakers with large enough platforms are given the opportunity to create their own imprints: micro-publishing presses under which they can select a manuscript to publish.

Bindery allowed Host to take her Fantasy & Frens book club to the next level by creating an imprint under the same name, a move that also has given her the chance to challenge the biases that persist in traditional publishing.

"I wanted [the imprint] to be entertaining and enjoyable from either side of the reading spectrum, but I knew that I wanted to also focus on bringing more diverse titles to the forefront," she said. "The books that are published each year are predominantly white, straight authors, so adding more diversity and inclusion is always a positive for me."

Along with being able to spotlight underrepresented authors, the imprint has proven that Host has her finger on the pulse of the biggest trends that are shaking up the well-loved genre.

While fantasy has been a consistent favorite in online book circles, its many subgenres have experienced rather chaotic cycles of popularity.

As for what might be the next big thing, Host believes the (recent) past will soon come back into favor.

"We're going to see more paranormal fantasy this year," she said. "I think we're going to see a renaissance of paranormal romance, paranormal fantasy, and people going back to their roots of vampires."

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The classic creatures were famously a mainstay of the 2000s and early 2010s thanks to the popularity of novels like Twilight and Vampire Academy, but they've fallen to the wayside in the current era of dragons and fairies galore.

Through her collaboration with Bindery, Host is taking the future of fantasy into her own hands after selecting the first manuscript her imprint will bring through the publishing process.

"It was a very nerve-wracking process because I was constantly going through the thought cycles like, "Okay, is this the one? Is this the one?" she said. "Even though I'm enjoying this book right now, do I think my community will enjoy it? Do I think the readers at large will enjoy it?"

Despite her fears, it's clear that Host has found the next big thing with And The Sky Bled by S. Hati.

The novel, which Host describes as a "climate fantasy," features three point-of-view characters living in the city of Tejomaya.

When the region is hit with a six-month drought that leaves them without a magical fossil fuel called calor, the trio's paths collide as they attempt to unearth a hidden source.

"It was the first manuscript submission I had received, and so after going through all the submissions and just constantly going back to And The Sky Bled, it was just a really cool full circle moment," Host said.

Host joins fellow bookish influencers Kevin Norman, Meg Hood, Kathryn Budig, and Jaysen Headley as a Bindery tastemaker.