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 authors newly published this month,
though some February 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. We have space opera, military science fiction,
science fiction romance, paranormal romance, fantasy romance, epic
fantasy, urban fantasy, horror, post-apocalyptic fiction, vampires,
wizards, demons, alien invasions, flying saucers, telepathic space
pirates, monstruous conspiracies, dead druids, magical wars, royal
bodyguards, gods in the modern world and much more.
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:
Ishtar’s Blade by Lisa Blackwood:
Warrior.
King’s confidant.
Avenging blade of the Goddess Ishtar.
Iltani asked to be none of these things. Yet fate does not ask permission when she weaves souls upon destiny’s loom.
On the day of Iltani’s birth, an assassin tried and nearly succeeded
in ending the line of the gryphon kings. Out of that bloodshed, an
unbreakable bond was forged between child-king and goddess-chosen
infant, and from that pivotal moment forward, Iltani was never farther
from King Ditanu than his shadow. Not until her training to become
Ishtar’s Blade required her to leave.
After four brutal years of training, Iltani now returns to court as
Ishtar’s Blade and takes up her role of king’s shadow—a dangerous
position in a court where the threat of another assassination is but a
blade’s width away. But for the chance to stand at the side of her
beloved king, she will endure the dangers of court intrigues, assassins,
and political maneuverings.
Lovers’ Lane by Cora Buhlert
1956. After a sock hop at the local high school gym, teenagers Betty
and Cody drive out to Lovers’ Lane together. Betty knows only too well
that good girls don’t go to Lovers’ Lane with boys. But Cody is her one
true love and besides, he swore that he’d love her forever or may he be
struck down where he stands. But then, an alien invasion shows Betty
just what Cody’s word is truly worth…
This is a story of “The Day the Saucers Came…”, a loosely connected
series of eyewitness accounts of a B-movie type alien invasion in 1956.
Caught in the Dream by Eva Chase:
Mateo Jimenez is haunted by the death of his first girlfriend, and
his fear of repeating past mistakes has cost him personal relationships
and now his job. While his colleagues protect L.A. from the demonic
Glowers, he’s been demoted to office work.
So when a Glower approaches him to negotiate a ceasefire, Mateo
agrees to listen, planning to gather information on the demons that will
prove his worth. He isn’t prepared to be so tempted by Kess, who uses
her supernatural talents to bring his most buried desires to life. As he
struggles to keep the upper hand, he discovers he can provoke human
emotions in the demon, but the more warmth and kindness Kess offers, the
more confused his own feelings become. No longer sure what’s an act and
what’s real, Mateo sees a chance to stop the Glowers for good. But
first he must decide whether trusting Kess is the key to succeeding or
the greatest betrayal he could ever commit.
The third book in
The Glower Chronicles, a steamy New Adult paranormal series.
Your Name, In Fire by Kera Emory:
Connor Black doesn’t believe in the supernatural, and that’s about to bite him in the ass.
Connor’s life gets interesting when a new writer joins his video game
studio. Sparks fly; Wendy is pretty, intelligent, and definitely into
Connor—but careful never to reveal much about herself.
And before long, Connor has his own secrets to worry about: a
tattooed stranger attacks and nearly kills him, giving no explanation.
Angry but mystified, Connor doesn’t tell anyone what happened, and tries
to put the attack behind him—and he tries to convince himself that the
weird little things he’s starting to notice about Wendy aren’t really
that weird. Stressed and sleep-deprived, with the looming deadline of a
multi-million-dollar video game launch weeks away, Connor just doesn’t
have time to deal with ‘weird’.
But when the evidence trail of an horrific crime begins to lead back
to Connor himself, Connor must seek out answers to the questions he’s
been avoiding, even if it means risking his own life and sanity—and the
lives of those around him.
Shadow Play by Domino Finn:
I’m Cisco Suarez, and a week ago I was dead.
Cursed into serving a clandestine shadow group, I have a lot of blood
on my hands. Good thing I also have a juvenile problem with authority.
I’m not taking orders anymore, and the first thing on my bucket list is
bringing them down.
If I’m good at anything, it’s looking in dark places. But I’ve got
shadows of my own. Horrific deeds coming back to haunt me, and not the
metaphorical kind of haunting, either. I’m talking ghosts, mages, and
that thing with the glowing red eyes.
Just goes to show you, it really is true what they say. What goes around comes around. I only hope to give more than I get.
Is resurrection overrated or what?
Destroyer by Chris Fox:
Mankind’s outer colonies are disappearing. Without warning. Without a
trace. Fleet command chalks the attacks up to pirates, but Captain
Dryker of the UFC Johnston isn’t buying it.
Defying command, he leads his misfit crew into hostile territory in
search of answers. They encounter the mythical Void Wraith, an
unstoppable legend whispered by the first race. After 26,000 years the
Void Wraith have returned to begin the next Eradication. Their
technology is superior, their motives unclear.
Humanity cannot stop them. Not without help. Captain Dryker’s only
hope is to forge an alliance with mankind’s greatest enemy, the savage
Tigris.
One maverick captain, an unlikely crew, and an aging vessel are all that stand between humanity and the Eradication.
The Wizard’s War by Angela Holder:
For the first time in its history, Tevenar is at war. The Matriarch
of Ramunna, furious with the wizards she believes betrayed her, has sent
the Armada to conquer and destroy. Armed with a secret weapon that
makes them the unchallenged terror of the seas, the ships of the Armada
descend on vulnerable Tevenar.
Elkan and Josiah, along with the rest of the Wizard’s Guild, scramble
to rally the people of Tevenar to defend their home. The Mother’s power
gives them a chance to stand against their foes, but alone it’s not
enough.
To defeat the Ramunnans, they must find a way to duplicate their
enemies’ weapons. Josiah believes they can, because they’ve encountered
a similar explosive before. But only one person in Tevenar knows how to
make and use the deadly blasting powder—Meira, the woman Elkan once
loved and rejected.
Pirate Bound by Carysa Locke:
A desperate gamble…
Sanah would do anything to protect her little sister, even if it
means taking refuge with ruthless pirates. But the psychically Talented
pirates terrorizing Commonwealth space are not quite the monsters she
has been led to believe. When Sanah’s empathic gift shows her the truth
behind the stories, she is no longer certain who the villains are in her
world.
A race on the verge of extinction…
Dem’s only goal is to protect his people, especially since a deadly
bio-weapon decimated their population. Only a handful of women survived,
and every day is a fight to rebuild. With Sanah’s empathy and her
sister’s rare ability to heal, they could be the salvation Dem and his
people have been looking for.
A dangerous secret that could destroy everything…
But how can Sanah trust Dem with her life? Especially when he’d kill her if he knew the truth.
Dead Druid by Salvador Mercer:
A thousand years ago, on the world of Claire-Agon, a war raged
between men and dragons, destroying both the creatures and the land’s
many civilizations.
Targon Terrel accepts his fate as a Ranger, a servant of the Mother
and Defender of the Arnen. Having protected his fellow countrymen, he
continues his battle against the sinister Kesh wizards, but he does not
fight alone. Aided by unlikely allies, he presses his attacks to
liberate Ulatha and its people.
The Kesh continue to dominate the realms of Agon, enslaving those of
neighboring realms and seeking to obtain the one artifact that will
ensure their perpetual domination of Agon forever.
Meanwhile, ancient evils stir from their long slumbers, moving to
ensnare all within their reach as Dor Akun, Father Death approaches.
Evil prepares to cover the land and only one thing stands in its way, a simple Ulathan family that goes by the name of Terrel.
Ghost of the Navigator by Tommy Muncie:
Three years on from the birthday party that left him crippled for
life, Shadow is well on the way to wrecking what’s left of himself. When
stealing morphine from a hospital almost lands him in prison, his
family give him one more chance to clean up, and he takes it. By his
21st birthday, he’s six months sober and settling for a simple and
honest life. Then an unexpected visitor turns up at Shadow’s home, with a
new idea about how to get his body restored.
Everything comes at a price though, and the elusive Blake Stanford’s
price is going to be more than Shadow wants to pay. Despite his loyalty
to both Shadow’s family and the Talent Council, Blake has dangerous
ideas. The kind that can either make history or get people put in
prisons that don’t officially exist. If they live long enough to reach
them.
The Serious Crimes Office are hot on the tail of Blake and his new
protegé, and Shadow has made enemies out of people high up in the
world’s most powerful organisation: The Seekers’ Council, known for
making unpredictable people disappear without trace. A nosy journalist
won’t stay out of Shadow’s personal life, and a crime boss who wants
Shadow for her own plans will stop at nothing to own his allegiance. Is
anyone truly his ally? The good doctor Kit Calloway still is, but
keeping Shadow alive might just cost him more than his career this time.
Especially if the world’s most powerful Seekers discover Shadow’s
true identity. Or the three tubes of Liquid Talent he once buried deep
in a forest, and promised never to dig up unless lives depended on the
secrets inside them…
That Which Dwells Beneath by Andrew Nicolle:
Detective Elliot Winter believes an innocent man may hang, framed for
murders he didn’t commit. He’s convinced the condemned knows too much,
and even if the man escapes the hangman’s noose, powerful people want
him dead.
On the grounds of the abbey at the edge of town, the catacombs
conceal terrible secrets. There are whispers of murder, ritual
sacrifice, and worse. Winter cannot abide a world where such crimes are
allowed to go unpunished.
In a race against time, Detective Winter risks his life and sanity to
unravel a conspiracy concealing something far more sinister than even
he can imagine.
Engineering Murder by T.S. Paul:
Ensign Athena Lee has finally been rescued. The galaxy has changed
over the last fifteen years. She finds herself arrested, her rights
taken away, and tortured. Political corruption has taken over. Now
someone is out to kill her. With assassins and bounty hunters at every
corner what is an Engineer to do? Use the right tool for the right job
and Fix it!
Freemont by P.J. Post:
This romance brought to you by the end of the world…
Freemont’s River Walk is romantic, exciting and has the best cafes
and restaurants in the county. And the residents intend to keep it that
way. They opened up the armory, fueled the World War II trucks and even
got the ancient generators working. They turned on the lights.
To improve the security of the townspeople, they put up a fence,
manned by the good soldiers from Crayton Industries, selflessly
protecting the refugees, and the nurses and doctors that care for them
in their selectively policed triage units.
Freemont is a beacon for the survivors of the War.
Come to Freemont: you’ll be fed, you’ll be warm, you’ll be safe…
And now Lane’s here.
And somewhere among all of those River Walk cafes and restaurants,
the pretty church steeples and the good intentions, the snow covered
maple trees and the street lights along Main, among the Cart People and
the Button Eye plague…
Sam is too.
The Girl Who Twisted Fate’s Arm by George Saoulidis:
The gods are back in town. Skyscrapers pop out of nowhere all around
Athens. Corporations rename themselves as Greek gods. It all started
with the Greek crisis of 2009 and it will forever change the world as we
know it. Some say that CEO’s have gone mad. Others, that they know damn
well what they are doing. That there is something solid amongst the
myth. In the day of inter-connectivity and social media admiration, can
the myths come back to life?
When the daughter of Greece’s premier singer fails to sing as
expected, she finds out about a biker group of women. But will she
manage to find the elusive Orosa, the bikers’ motovlogger, when all she
has to go on are random street-sightings of criminal behaviour, when her
family is opposed to her following this path and when her dad’s
employer wants to keep her as she was for marketing purposes?
SURE by Hollis Shiloh:
Pete has a pretty good life these days: a job he likes, friends, and a
boyfriend who accepts him as he is. But despite all this, life isn’t
without its challenges — and dangers.
a Men of the ESRB novel
takes place after “KEEP” and contains the same characters
gay paranormal fiction
66,000 words
The Extra Sensory Regulatory Bureau rates talented individuals like
empaths and clairvoyants. They have special gifts — and often some extra
burdens that go along with them. The ESRB takes care of its own, but
these guys still have a lot to figure out about life — and love. Stay
tuned for more tales from the men of the ESRB.
Bound by Magic by Jasmine Walt:
With the silver murders solved and her training as a mage underway,
Sunaya figured her life would get easier. But between the Chief Mage’s
packed schedule and the grunt work demanded of her as an apprentice
mage, magic lessons are few and far between. Worse, her apprenticeship
leaves little time for her job as an Enforcer, and without bounties
Sunaya’s money pouch is drying up — fast.
Even so, when Shiftertown Inspector Boon Lakin asks for Sunaya’s help
digging deeper into the murder of a fellow Enforcer, Sunaya has no
trouble making room in her life to help him. The trail leads them to a
series of crimes victimizing shifters for the entertainment of vicious
humans. Sunaya and her friends race to identify the perpetrators and
free the survivors, and the stakes are heightened when she discovers one
of the victims has a connection to her. But if Sunaya is not careful,
she may end up a very dead shifter herself…
