It’s that time of the month again, time for “Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month”.
So what is “Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month”? It’s a round-up of speculative fiction by indie and small press authors newly published this month, though some March books I missed the last time around snuck in as well. The books are arranged in alphabetical order by author. So far, most links only go to Amazon.com, though I may add other retailers for future editions.
Once again, we have new releases covering the whole broad spectrum of speculative fiction. This month, we have urban fantasy, epic fantasy, dark fantasy, historical fantasy, YA fantasy, fantasy mystery, paranormal mystery, space opera, military science fiction, post-apocalyptic romance, science fiction romance, science fiction horror, body horror, horror, pulp adventure, dragons, mages, space fleets, ancient aliens, elf assassins, murderous succubi, killer asteroids, haunted amausement parks, crime-busting witches and much more.
Don’t forget that Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month is also crossposted to the Speculative Fiction Showcase, a group blog run by Jessica Rydill and myself, which features new release spotlights, guest posts, interviews and link round-ups regarding all things speculative fiction several times per week.
As always, I know the authors at least vaguely, but I haven’t read all of the books, so Caveat emptor.
And now on to the books without further ado:
Endless Chaos by Odette C. Bell:
When the Coalition is swept up in a deadly game, only one cadet can save them.
Ga-Lax is an ex-spiral player. No one knows that – no one’s ever heard of them. Normal from the outside, she has a mind honed to play the most brutal game of all – Death Spiral. Trained and deadly, she escaped the game ring and joined the Coalition Academy. Now she’s just Sharon – the distant cadet who never smiles.
Cadet Birim’s the best recruit the Coalition has seen in years. He’s perfect in every way – except for one fatal flaw. He’s a bully. When Sharon becomes his next target, he has no clue it’ll end in a fight. For everything.
When shadowy forces initiate Death Spiral on Academy grounds, only Sharon can save them. To do that, she’ll have to defeat – and save – Birim.
Falling for him isn’t part of the game, but this time, she’ll be playing for everything.
Matti Puletasi finally has the chance to confront those who kidnapped her parents, and she’ll do it with Sarrlevi, the elf assassin she’s come to love, at her side.
But now that they know great and powerful dragons are involved with the organization, they may be in over their heads. Their opponents aren’t just kidnappers. They’re on the verge of enacting a plan they’ve been working on for decades, one that could cut off Earth from the rest of the Cosmic Realms and bring humanity to its knees.
All Matti ever wanted was to find her parents, but it may be up to her to save the world.
The Edge of Life by Lena Gibson:
To cope with everyday life, neurodivergent Kat is a secret binge drinker, and jilted Ryan is a workaholic. Disillusioned, neither does more than go through the motions of living—then comes the asteroid.
Warned that a planet-killing asteroid is on a collision course with Earth, acquaintances Kat and Ryan join forces in an effort to survive. Mere hours before impact, they race toward the safety of Ryan's inherited South Dakota bunker, encountering chaos. A last-ditch effort to nuke the asteroid only manages to fragment it into chunks causing multiple strikes.
Earthquakes, fire, and volcanic ashfall assail Kat and Ryan, who turn to each other for solace. Kat finds someone kind who values her differences and Ryan finds himself falling for Kat's pluck and quick-thinking. Though jaded, they learn to trust and rely on one another.
Attempting to survive the onslaught of their new world, Kat and Ryan must reach the bunker before imminent food shortages and catastrophic climate change cause society to further unravel.
The Edge of Life shows that survival can include falling in love. With steamy romance and non-stop action, this is one thrilling apocalypse road trip you shouldn't miss.
The Hexhibitionist by Lily Harper Hart:
Ofelia Archer’s life is looking up. Her father is in the hospital getting the help he needs, her mother is seemingly distracted with some new walking group, and her brother is finally opening his own bar. Things couldn’t be better … until a body is found.
Shawn Dawson was just out to have a good time. He drank late into the night and somehow ended up dead in an alley. It wasn’t a normal death either. He was drained of everything fluid he possessed, which points to something paranormal.
There’s a succubus on the loose in the French Quarter, and even though she’s newly turned, she has ties to the area. When Ofelia interrupts her feeding schedule, she becomes the creature’s enemy … and the new target is Zach Sully, Ofelia’s fiancé.
Ofelia would do anything to protect the man who stole her heart, but her options seem limited. That means a fight … and it’s going to have to be between the women alone, because the succubus has a special power over the men.
Ofelia might have sympathy for the succubus’s plight, but that won’t stop her from doing what she has to do to protect those she loves.
It’s a fight to the finish, and only one woman will come out victorious.
Little Mutilations by Jess Landry, Sofia Ajram and Nadia Bulkin:
Three Body Horror novellas by three Powerhouses of Horror.
“The Night Belongs to Us” by Jess Landry: When Laura arrives in an unfamiliar city in search of her missing mother, Mary, the last thing she expects to find is trouble—but after countless trips to different places to bring her addict mother home, she should expect nothing less. After being attacked by a group of disfigured women, Laura discovers an unlikely saviour in Cee, a haunted woman that the residents of the city streets fear. Meeting Laura unlocks the softer side of Cee, and in Cee sparks a hope that she can escape her current arrangement—being the right-hand of a revered spectre who created a community of lost women called the Underground...a creature with the face of a woman lovingly referred to as Mother. As Laura and Cee come together to find Mary and get out of town, Mother catches wind of their plan and devises one of her own—to sway Laura in her favour. After Laura realizes that Mary is the Underground, and that Cee's been lying to her, it doesn't take long before the thought of becoming a resident of the Underground pulls Laura in. Can Cee save Laura before it's too late? Or does Mother already have her claws in too deep?
“Acid Bath” by Sofia Ajram: Best friends Priya and Luca strike it lucky when they are both found eligible to be healthy human subjects in a high-paying clinical trial. It ain't their first time at the rodeo, and sure, while this study might be more dangerous and unpredictable than those they've done before—the bigger they are, the better they pay, and no dish is ever seasoned without the spice of risk. While Priya aspires to make enough money in the trial to pay her way into a prestigious filmmaking program, finances mean nothing to Luca who only hopes the study can be the seed of his creative inspiration.
But as the weeks pass, bizarre side effects begin to kick in, and the two friends find themselves unable to reach the trial doctors. Worse yet, gruesome and deranged deaths are cropping up on the news featuring participants they recognize from the same trial. As rivalries and resentments bubble up, Priya and Luca must discover if there is something sinister lurking within the medication they've been taking that will tear their friendship apart before it all spirals out of control.
“Your Next Best American Girl” by Nadia Bulkin: All Veronica’s ever wanted is to be crowned Miss Americana. When she wakes up with three strange sores on her arm, she thinks it’s a problem for her dermatologist. But when the sores keep getting worse—deeper, bigger, all over—she realizes she’s being sabotaged. Now Veronica needs to figure out who’s responsible before she misses her shot at the crown or her body falls apart completely—whichever happens first.
This anthology of body horror novellas is perfect for fans of Cronenberg, Kathe Koja, Eric LaRocca, Hailey Piper, Gwendolyn Kiste, SP Miskowski, Gemma Files, Nadia Bulkin, Megan Abbott, Mona Awad, and Alissa Nutting. And of course dark social satire, flawed protagonists, and of course, horror books.
Proudly represented by Crystal Lake Publishing—Tales from the Darkest Depths.
Monster Mayhem by Amanda M. Lee:
Welcome to the Cathedral!
Luna Thorn’s past is a mystery … even to herself.
She arrived in Detroit amidst a swirl of lights and magic. She had no memory of where she came from. No idea why she was there.
Years later, she’s established herself as a force to be reckoned with on the Detroit magical scene. She ingratiated herself with the local reapers. She set up a community called the Cathedral to help those who had been displaced from their homes and families, declaring that nobody would fall through the cracks.
Still, doubt remains. Luna is determined to figure out why she’s in Detroit. She needs to know what she’s supposed to accomplish within the city’s crumbling boundaries. Her story is nowhere near finished.
When a body shows up on the grounds of the Cathedral, her quest kicks into overdrive. Ritual murders aren’t her forte, but this one is going to haunt Luna. Also haunting her is Jesse Wilder, a young detective who has been paired with an old friend. He has specific beliefs about what’s happening. Luna’s opinion doesn’t match up in the least.
He’s a “by the rules” guy. Luna likes to fly by the seat of her pants. She’s never met a problem she didn’t want to improvise.
It’s going to take both of them to solve this case. Even then, it will only be the beginning of their tale.
Settle in for excitement. Luna Thorn is about to change everything you know about the magical world.
There’s no going back … for any of them.
The Secret's in the Sauce by Amanda M. Lee:
Stormy Morgan’s life took a rocky turn, but things are looking up. Sure, she’s a new witch living in her childhood hometown but she’s looking forward to the future. That includes her boyfriend Hunter Ryan moving in with her so they can save up to buy Stormy’s dream house in the spring. Things are going as planned … until a scream interrupts moving day.
It’s chaos on the street, and all that Stormy and Hunter can ascertain is that Edmund, the neighborhood Lothario, is dead, and four of the many women he was screwing around with are standing over his body.
All claim ignorance regarding what happened, but there’s an air of unease rippling through the group and it makes Stormy jittery. Things only go from bad to worse when the dead man’s soul decides he wants a new body … and Hunter’s will do.
If that wasn’t bad enough, there’s a new man in town … and he has Stormy and her magic in his sights. He also seems to be communicating with her cat after dark. That’s not suspicious at all, right?
Stormy might be new to magic but she’s relentless when it comes to protecting the people she loves most. She’ll do whatever it takes to make sure Hunter is safe, and as for that cat? The truth is about to come out.
So, sit back, because it’s going to be a bumpy ride.
The Dark That Ignites by Steve Pantazis:
Miko craves power and he believes the only way to get it is to become a mage. But his decision will set him on a dark path, one he may not be able to come back from.
Miko is determined to become a mage, to one day be a leader among men, and a true warrior. To do that, however, he will have to face off against Deven, a fellow student, and rival. Vying for the attention of the same girl, their once friendly competition quickly turns into a fierce rivalry.
But there can only be one master of the dark arts and young Miko won’t give up easily. Pushed to his limits, he is forced to use his newfound ability to defend himself, with devastating consequences.
His fate seemingly sealed, will Miko be punished for his crimes? Or has destiny got other plans for him?
THE DARK THAT IGNITES is the prequel to THE LIGHT OF DARKNESS series. The powers of light and dark battle for domination, and war will decide the fate of the world and the gods themselves. Find out who will reign supreme in this unforgettable series.
The Ziggurat of Doom by Dave Robinson:
Ancient Aliens in Mesopotamia!
When the Christmas ball they are attending is thrown into chaos by the attack of power-armored Nazis, Doc and the team find themselves thrown into an adventure that will rewrite everything they know about human origins. Everything leads to the Great Ziggurat of Ur, where a column of fire reaches all the way to space. Will they find the answer before the world is destroyed?
Sharks in the desert, winged aliens, robot skeletons, and biblical spaceships! It's all there in the sixth Doc Vandal adventure--The Ziggurat of Doom!
Death By Silver by Melissa Scott and Amy Griswold:
Mystery, Murder and Magic…
When his nemesis from schoolboy days hires metaphysician Ned Mathey to investigate his father’s murder, Ned turns to his friend and sometime lover, detective Julian Lynes, for help. Together, they must navigate a maze of deceit, danger, their painful past and, perhaps, a chance at a future together, in an Edwardian London as full of peril as it is with magic. Can they solve the mystery at the heart of the murder to forge a new kind of partnership or will the past and society’s disapproval send them off on separate paths?
Winner of a Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ SF/F/Horror.
The Merry Dredgers by Jeremy C. Shipp:
Seraphina Ramon will stop at nothing to find out the truth about why her sister Eff is in a coma after a very suspicious "accident." Even if it means infiltrating the last place Seraphina knows Eff was alive: a once-abandoned amusement park now populated by a community of cultists. Follow Seraphina through the mouth of the Goblin: To the right, a wolf-themed roller coaster rests on the blackened earth, curled up like a dead snake. To the left, an animatronic Humpty Dumpty falls off a concrete castle and shatters on the ground, only to reform itself moments later. Up ahead, cultists giggle as they meditate in a hall of mirrors. This is the last place in the world Seraphina wants to be, but the best way to investigate this bizarre cult, is to join them.
The star system of Apollo has fallen!
Her fleets are scattered and her enemies victorious.
Apollo’s last hope: an exile mercenary coming home at last!
Ace pilot Kira Demirci fled her home system of Apollo five years ago. Betrayed by her own government and one step ahead of enemy assassins, she smuggled a squadron of star fighters into the Outer Rim and forged a mercenary fleet of old friends and new alike.
Many of the aces of Apollo’s war against Brisingr weren’t as lucky.
Kira has a new home, but a scheme hatched by her enemies has brought her to the edge of her old stomping grounds. This close to Apollo, she’s one of the first to hear the devastating news: Brisingr has achieved its ultimate victory and captured her home. To take a star system should be impossible, but the reality is clear.
With family, friends and old comrades in the hands of the Brisingr Kaiserreich, Kira mobilizes her mercenary fleet to seek out the scattered remains of Apollo’s fleets and allies.
Even if she can manage the merely difficult and bring the broken factions together, the hard truth remains: Brisingr's victory was impossible. To undo it, Kira will have to duplicate it...
A storm is coming…
In 1993 New Mexico, Black Magic and High Tech find common ground in Medusa Engineering's Project Dragonfire?and for one endless October night, a fissure opens between here and Elsewhere...
Live Wire, a horror thriller for science fiction fans, begins with four people sequestered in a desert filling station during a freak thunderstorm. Outside, one-hundred-foot electrical towers?miles and miles of them?uproot and stalk the desert. In tandem arrives The Signal, a dissonant machine language that subverts the human mind...harvesting old guilt, shame, and trauma.
Fifty miles down the road at the Very Large Array, the Medusa Engineering Corporation unleashes Project Dragonfire, a bold technological effort that has summoned a ravenous entity from the very fabric of creation—perhaps unwittingly, perhaps not.
Our ensemble includes Pale Brody and his son Caleb, en route to Austin to start a new life; Ken Lightfeather, an Apache trucker with a .44 on his hip; Kwik Gas proprietor Otis Thompson, who assumes the freak electrical storm has spawned the wandering giants; and fast-thinking Nikki Barlowe, who suspects a parallel, sinister operation?led by shadowy Medusa Engineering executive Armand Jenks?is in play.
High stakes and high octane fuel the incendiary action?mass murder and suicide, AC-130 Spectre gunships engaging the VLA in a brutal firefight, electrical towers pulverizing anything in their path, a massive gridwork of steel and feral energy blocking the only route of escape. Old ghosts and unresolved conflicts plague our characters as the signal interferes with their only task: surviving the onslaught.
The night wears on everyone as the electrical towers converge on the Kwik Gas, and only the end of the circuit reveals the nexus of their power. At dawn on Route 60, a final showdown pits human resolve against brute force and inner horror. Will an ancient, shadowless terror find dominion on Earth?
Live Wire is a tight, electrifying novel filled with action at a massive scale, terrors at the intimate level, and revelations of the Universal. If you like your fire hot, your blood red, and your metal mean, then this horror/science fiction hybrid is for you.
Proudly represented by Crystal Lake Publishing—Tales from the Darkest Depths.
To Etch a Promise in Bone by Atley Wykes:
Generations ago, an army of dark elves swept across the land, stealing the power of the other magical races until they were only remnants of their former selves. For centuries they've ruled, subjugating the conquered peoples without mercy, crushing any hint of a rebellion in the desert city and beyond.
Until now.
Kael is a survivor who knows better than to trust anyone, instead keeping her head down as she tries to survive the sand-covered streets of Adraedor. But when Theron, the disgraced Lord Marshal with a secret agenda, arrives in the city, Kael's world is turned upside down.
The man who stole everything from her.
As the rebel forces grow stronger and the empire's grip tightens, Kael and Theron find themselves caught in a dangerous game of cat and mouse. With Kael's thirst for revenge driving her every move, and Theron's own hidden motives threatening to derail her plans, the stakes couldn't be higher. As they navigate the treacherous landscape of the city, Kael and Theron must confront their own demons and make difficult choices that could mean the difference between life and death. But as they draw closer to their ultimate goals, they realize that nothing is as it seems, and betrayal lurks around every corner.
