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 June 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, sword and sorcery, fantasy romance, paranormal romance, paranormal mystery, science fiction romance, space opera, military science fiction, weird western, horror, wizards, werewolves, domens, elves, fox shifters, Greek mythology, alien invasions, space marines, space pirates, space cops, crime-busting witches, haunted streetcars 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:
The Princess Paradigm by Lindsay Buroker:
Elven princesses aren’t supposed to fall for brutish human warriors, especially not warriors from an empire of ferocious conquerers.
But when the tattooed Colonel Mrothgar stalks into the elven court, claiming to be there on a diplomatic mission, Princess Hysithea has to learn more about him.
Not because he’s handsome and his smile makes her insides melt. As a princess, it’s her duty to protect her people, and she needs to find out if the colonel is a threat to them.
But what if the answer is yes? And what if her heart leads her astray?
She can’t protect her people if she falls in love with the man who wants to conquer them.
Corsairs: Mathiras by Ruby Dixon:
Someone is illegally stealing humans from their home world and cloning them.
For months, we’ve been hunting this ring of criminals and the end is in sight. I’m separating from my brothers and taking my ship to track down the bad guys.
One small problem — Helen insists upon joining me on this dangerous mission.
Helen herself is a clone, created to be an object of beauty. She’s not safe if she goes with me, as her kind are coveted all across the universe. But she’s not interested in staying safe. She’s interested in staying at my side…and tempting me to kiss her.
And kef me, is it ever a temptation.
Am I really going to run headlong into danger with the universe’s most beguiling female at my side? Am I going to be able to resist her charms?
(I think we all know the answers to those questions.)
Underworld Elements by Rachel Ford:
They say the only guarantees in life are death and taxes, but they forget crime.
Not Space Station Frontera’s Marshal Kalandri, though. Crime is her business. And on Frontera, a port truly on the frontier of inhabited space? Well, job security is never a worry.
When a station-wide power outage enables a brazen heist, Kalandri is tasked with finding the culprits and retrieving the stolen goods. She knows just who is behind it, too.
Dani “Dusty” Agincourt: the beautiful underworld queen who always seems to be one step ahead of the law.
Proving it is going another thing altogether, though – because Dusty has covered her tracks, and covered them well.
When the privateer ship Black Flag pulls into port with the parts needed to fix the power system – and an unexpected stowaway – things go from bad to worse. Because that’s when the killings start.
To stop a ruthless assassin, the lawwoman and the underworld queen are going to have to strike a truce. It’s a risky business, and Kalandri knows she’ll regret it.
If she lives that long, anyway.
Space Station Frontera is an all-new space opera series in the Black Flag world. It features new characters and new adventures, and can be read independently of the Black Flag series.
Judas Kiss by Rachel Ford:
Mercy is weakness. Forgiveness is blasphemy. Sin is crime.
Agata and Father Edlin have made a new life on a colony of outcasts and fugitives far beyond the tyranny of the Union. He practices his heretical faith in freedom, without fear of prosecution, and she and her little ship supply their colony. Life is good.
And then an old friend – and sometimes enemy – arrives, with a desperate plea for help. Soon, they find themselves back in the Union, racing against time to unravel a terrible conspiracy.
A conspiracy that might blow the Union apart at the seams and ignite an intergalactic holy war in the process.
A holy war that will destroy them and any hope of a new life.
Witch at the End of the Tunnel by Lily Harper Hart:
Vanity is the one thing Hali Waverly has never understood. That’s about to become a weakness.
Life at the Salty Cauldron is going well…right up until a body washes onto the beach. The dead woman, who is forty years younger than her husband, had a run-in with Hali in her tiki bar the previous day. Authorities assume it was an accidental drowning, but a mark on the dead woman’s neck gives Hali pause.
Grayson Hunter finds himself in a pickle when the identity of the body becomes public. Seems he was the one hired by the victim’s husband to investigate her extra-curricular activities. Surprisingly enough, it turns out she wasn’t having an affair. That doesn’t mean she wasn’t up to something nefarious.
Crossing paths has Hali and Gray partnering up for a second time, and as tense as things are between them, things are worse when they enter the world of Selfie Planet, the victim’s place of business.
Vanity goes by many names, has many faces. The one Gray and Hali find themselves facing off with is dark and menacing. There’s more going on than selfies and rampant narcissism, however. There’s also a mirror monster and several soulless individuals walking around making things worse.
Separately, Hali and Gray are forces to be reckoned with. Together, they can handle almost anything…except maybe this.
Worlds are about to collide, and nothing will ever be the same again.
Harmony and Disharmony by Bill Hiatt:
Orpheus is not interested in inheriting his father's throne. He wants nothing more than to use music to bring joy to his fellow mortals. Jason believes that nothing is more important than wresting his father's throne from a usurper. He wants to perform heroic feats that will earn him as much glory as possible. Under ordinary circumstances, Orpheus and Jason would probably never have met. Certainly, they would never have been allies. But scheming gods plunge them into adventures greater than either of them has ever imagined. Both of them want to achieve their respective dreams. But facing hostile armies, monsters, and even conflicts among the gods will force them into horrible dilemmas. Will they sacrifice their dreams, or will they die trying to preserve them?
Invasion by Joshua James:
THEY INVADED.
THEY CONQUERED.
THEY UNDERESTIMATED.
The War of the Worlds gets turbocharged in this nonstop action-packed thriller about a group of survivors thrust into extraordinary circumstances.
When aliens arrive on Earth, the tiny town of Little Creek isn't any more prepared than the rest of the planet.
Without warning or provocation, the otherworldly creatures begin to lay waste to everything.
In the chaos that follows, an unlikely group bands together:
A beauty queen with something to prove...
A shopkeeper with something to hide...
A shellshocked teenager set on revenge...
And a world-weary veteran desperate to save them all.
As time runs out, this ragtag crew must find a way to fight back against the alien forces massing around them.
What are they? What do they want? How can they be stopped?
If they fail, it won't just be Little Creek that is lost.
It will be all of humanity.
A Book of Blades, edited by Matt John and L.D. Whitney:
Within this tome are buried the blades of warriors, thieves, and wizards. Tales of their deeds, glories, and triumphs shall ring throughout the ages.
Rogues in the House Podcast has gathered the best tales of Sword & Sorcery from across the community.
Here, brave adventurers will find stories lovingly crafted from Heroic Fantasy greats such as Howard Andrew Jones, John R. Fultz, and John C. Hocking. At their side are up and coming genre authors Chuck Clark, T.A. Markitan, Cora Buhlert, and many more.
Includes artwork from various artists, including Morgan King, director of Spine of the Night, and Sara Frazetta, granddaughter of the Legend himself!
Witch Is the Word by Amanda M. Lee:
Hadley Hunter is finally getting a handle on life as a witch. Island living isn’t always beautiful sunsets and fruity cocktails, but things have never been better…until a body washes up on the beach during a private picnic with her boyfriend Galen Blackwood.
The body belongs to a local business manager, who just happens to be married to the daughter of one of the richest men on the island. Unfortunately for their victim, nobody – including his wife and daughters – seems to care that he’s gone. The deeper they dig, the more dirt they come up with on the victim … and the clues lead them straight to the isolated coven on the far side of the island.
Hadley doesn’t know a lot about witches, including herself, but what she learns doesn’t leave her with warm and fuzzy feelings. These witches mean business, and they’re intent on keeping their secrets from seeing the light of day.
When more bodies start dropping, all coven members, Hadley realizes something very big is about to happen. What, though?
With Galen and their friends at her side, Hadley is ready to engage in a new type of battle. This one is bigger than witches because it leads right through the heart of the island’s government body, the terrifying DDA.
Hadley thought she was adjusting but things are about to change. The question is, when the dust settles, who will be left standing and what side will they be on?
Sinister Magic by N.P. Martin:
A Dead Witch. A Dark Elf. An Avenging Wizard
The name’s Corvin Chance, and though I was born with magical abilities, I’d rather be playing my guitar in one of my local pubs than running around flashing my magic.
Until someone murdered my mother that is.
Now I’m slinging magic around the streets of Dublin as I try to find out who killed her. A gangster elf who crowned himself the king of the south is my main suspect. But besides being powerful and sociopathic, the elf is also part of a murderous cabal that includes a bloodthirsty vampire prince. I'm good, but not that good.
Luckily, I have my two best friends: Dalia, a sardonic Demi-Fae who could scare the bejeezus out of Lucifer himself; and Monty, a wise-cracking street magician and YouTube star with a gift for cybermancy and conjuring.
Together we will enter a dangerous Dublin underbelly populated by dark elves, vampires, goblins, and orcs to discover just who killed my mother and why… if we don’t die ourselves first, that is.
Join me and my oddball motley crew as we attempt to solve a murder, exact justice and just maybe… get a pint of the black stuff afterwards.
Last Car to Annwn Station by Michael Merriam:
One week to save the child, bargain with Death and get the girl…
Child Protective Services Attorney Maeve Malveaux is sure that Chrysandra Arneson needs to be rescued from her rich, powerful and abusive family. But how? Her boss won’t listen to her and neither will the judge. But after she gets taken off the case and sent on involuntary leave to get her out of the way, she’s determined to find out what’s going on.
She’s not counting on joining forces with Jill, the gorgeous law librarian from work, and a mismatched collection of fairy folk. Or getting the ghostly assistance of the long-defunct Minneapolis streetcar system. And, perhaps, even a hand from Death himself. Mae and Jill are about to be caught up in a supernatural power struggle that will take them on an adventure from the Uptown neighborhood in Minneapolis into faery realms and beyond. All they need is a dime for the streetcar fare and a little help from their new allies to be on their way. But will it be enough to save a little girl and get them where they need to go? They’ve only got a week to find out…
I Have Asked To Be Where No Storms Come by Gwendolyn N. Nix:
The demons are coming, and Hell's coming with them.
A weird west alternate history horror novel set in Hell. “…like Stephen King and Cormac McCarthy teaming up to reboot Dante’s Inferno as a Western.”—Michael Pogach
The facts of Domino Bluepoint's afterlife are simple in this horror adventure: he's a half-breed witch from a people without a name, and no one wants to be stuck in Hell with witch blood.
When a demon bounty-hunter comes calling, Domino pairs up with his mother, who died too young and carries the witch lineage in her veins, to survive. Soon the two of them are Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid running from whatever torture awaits them and whoever wants to harvest their magic.
Yet, Domino doesn't know that his brother, Wicasah, is behind this and is desperate to resurrect Domino out of long-lasting guilt and a sensation of belonging to no place and no one.
As Wicasah dives deeper into darker magic that ends in an ill-made deal, Domino must overcome addiction, depression, and hone his own brand of witch-magic to help save his brother—and the world—from an ancient god.
I Have Asked to be Where No Storms Come is perfect for fans of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series, supernatural fiction, dark fantasy, adult horror books.
Proudly represented by Crystal Lake Publishing—Tales from the Darkest Depth.
Fox Heart by Hollis Shiloh:
There are too many cops in my life. First there's Ken, the guy I've been seeing. I've been his secret for far too long. Now he wants to join the Shifters and Partners organization—with me as his partner.
I'm not convinced. There's also this wolf hanging around now. Eli works with the cops, and he's awfully easy to get a rise out of. But he's also kind of my friend now. And he's...hot?
Fox shifters and wolf shifters don't mix. Everybody knows that. But this situation is starting to get tricky for my poor heart.
What am I supposed to do when love is always just around the corner—for somebody else, but not for me?
Discretion by Glynn Stewart:
A crew, scattered across enemy lines
A father, separated from his daughter
A daughter who will not wait for rescue
The bounty for bringing down a major crime syndicate may have removed Captain Evridiki “EB” Bardacki’s immediate financial needs, but no freighter captain wants to fly empty between the stars.
A cargo mission to run a blockade seems within his crew’s unique mix of talents, and he agrees to supply weapons to one side of a stalemated civil war in the Estutmost star system.
The sudden collapse of the stalemate puts EB on the wrong side of the front lines from his adopted daughter.
He took down a crime syndicate to protect her once—what’s a planetary military or two?
Breaker Marine by James David Victor:
As a breaker, she was destined to live a hard life serving the whims of galactic corporations. As an Earth Alliance Marine, she has a chance to change the balance of power in the galaxy.
Holly Cropper grew up as a Breaker, mining the outer reaches of space. Now, she’s an up-and-coming lieutenant in the Earth Alliance Marines. Her mission: keep the peace and help humanity survive in the endless darkness of space. When a distress call comes in from a large mining vessel, her orderly world gets turned upside down. What starts with a simple pirate takeover turns into a hostile alien invasion. This Breaker Marine and her small team might be the only thing standing between humanity and annihilation at the hands of ancient aliens.
Breaker Marine is the first book in the Star Breaker series. If you like fast-paced space adventures with interesting characters who battle aliens, evil corporations, and space pirates, Holly Cropper and her team of Marines are ready to share their epic adventure with you.
