Editor’s Note
Important notice: the Newsletter will be fortnightly from now on, due to other commitments. The current issue is a little shorter than usual, but the usual features will return next time.
Calling all writers, reviewers and supporters of indie books! New releases, pre-orders, reviews and news are all wanted for future issues. Please click here for submissions via Google Forms. Read the T&Cs before you submit. All reviewers will get a Featured Promotion at the top of the Newsletter for themselves or someone they nominate.
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New Releases
The Birthday of Eternity (Comfort & Company Book 2) by A D Price
L.A. private investigators Kit and Henry become entangled in the city's robust post-WWII occult trade when they're hired to track down Lillian, the estranged wife of a prominent physician, and her spellbinding "spirit" lover Tashin. Fresh from her training in judo and “dirty fighting,” Kit poses as an eager recruit at a Hollywood cult run by the ambitious Reverend, while Henry takes on the city's séance circuit, which has reinvented itself in the wake of war. Assisting them are Kit's psychiatrist lover Luca and her combat veteran brother Stanley, who offer their own brand of expertise in unraveling the tricks of the conmen. Plunged into the strange and deadly world of mediums and gurus, Kit and Henry soon discover that surviving the spirit trade will take all of their cunning and a whole lot of luck.
Mending Bones (Leicester Trilogy Book 3) by Merlina Garance
Claire, a Detective Inspector in her late forties, has known and worked with Estelle for many years. Ever since they met, it felt like there could have been something more there: Estelle's gentle flirting and compliments have been a constant in Claire's life, but her self confidence never allowed her to truly believe the other woman meant anything by it.
Until one day, Claire breaks her leg and finds out soon after that Estelle has decided to retire from the police, at only 56. Something doesn't feel right there, but before Claire can begin to ask more questions, Estelle offers to take her away to her seaside cottage for a week. After all, with Claire on sick leave and Estelle retired, they both have the time.
Surely a week of lazy mornings, too much food and wine, and walks through the countryside aren't enough to make Claire fall when she’s resisted for so long?
The Trials of Ildarwood: Cinders in the Snow by S C Selvyn
She was cursed by winter's frost. He was scarred by spectral flames.
When Dasia Dulane and Tannus Ambers are lured into an ancient forest by long-lost friends, they quickly discover why so few children their age are able to survive the Trials within. Confronted by soul-stealing hunters at every turn, they must shatter the shackles of their past and unlock their elemental gifts to evade a fate worse than death.
Immerse yourself in a riveting tale of transformation and self-discovery. Join Dasia and Tannus as they fight to start their lives anew. And decide where your allegiance truly lies once all their secrets come to light…
The Trials of Ildarwood is an award-winning young adult fantasy series set in a dark yet magical world. This novella includes breathtaking illustrations, a hand-drawn map, and three additional chapters of lore. It can be read before or after any book in the series, or entirely on its own.
The Rest to the Gods by Joshua Walker
On the peak of the Mountain Pass, the Four-Front War takes its final breaths.
The walls are closing in.
The allies are dwindling.
The last front is on its knees.
The Rest to the Gods is a prequel novella in The Song of the Sleepers, an epic fantasy series by Australian fantasy author Joshua Walker.
Pre-Order Now
Breaker of Fates: Broken Song Verse 1 by Vaela Denarr and Micah Iannandrea, release date January 31st
Perilous quests give rise to heroes. And broken songs call for Chosen Ones to be mended.
Roderick and Keeva, once friends, now orphaned by a dragon’s wrath that fractured the harmony between the great clans, spend their days locked in battle… until they are reunited, realizing that they’re both dating the same guy: Mateo, whose overdue transformation into a dragon is complicated by feelings of self doubt after the disastrous attempt to broker peace.
Choosing to get along is one thing, but forgiving one another—or themselves—for the hurt they’ve inflicted is another. Keeva keeps seeing the face of her dead best friend in her dreams, and Roderick’s suspicion and distrust keep him up at night. Soon, though, a great threat unites them against a common foe.
Someone has stolen a song from the gods, disrupting the tenuously rebuilt harmony of their homeland, and the very beast that tore them apart threatens to be set loose. True heroes of Koor Kosma are required to serve as vessels for the other four godly songs and reforge the divine harmony.
Neither Roderick nor Keeva are such heroes, but unless they can unite the divine and broken songs, unless harmony brings the shattered clans together, all will burn.
They are not chosen.
They are not the heroes of this story.
They are broken.
And they must be forgiven.
Free Book
The Grifter’s Daughter by Duane Lindsay
Free on Amazon US and UK at the time of composing this edition of the Newsletter.
The Indie Books & Authors Newsletter is compiled and edited by N S Ford, indie author and book blogger.