The Indie Books & Authors Newsletter #42
New releases, book review, news round-up, link to a free book, and more!
Editor’s Note
New content is always welcome! Please click here for submissions via Google Forms. Read the T&Cs before you submit. New releases, pre-orders, reviews, news and free books are all wanted. Authors, remember to state the title of your book and/or share a link to it on the form :)
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Featured Promotion
Rachel Bowdler is a writer of romance, including the Love in St Agnes (pictured) and Romancing the Stones series. She is co-host of the Swords & Sapphics podcast.
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New Releases
Your Blood and Bones by J Patricia Anderson
Kill the monsters when they’re found.
No matter who they used to be.
The girl with secret feathers in her skin and strange bones jutting out beneath her clothes is resigned to her fate. Her deformities mark her a monster and the stories say monsters must die.
When her family finds out and turns on her, a village boy saves her and leads her on a frantic escape. The girl believes her death has merely been delayed—until he mentions a cure.
With the world against them and the monstrous change progressing, they must cross water, forest, and field to chase the rumor that fuels their desperate hope. But is hope enough to keep them going?
Echoes of the Past by Ashley Packard
Anna Wilson is faced with the prospect of starting her first job out of university. She worked hard for this coveted position not for the prestige, but because it fit her life plan, would make her parents proud, and most importantly, the location was close to her grandmother, her only remaining family.
Accepting this job was a seal of fate according to Anna's grandmother, who grappled with the guilt that Anna planned her life around her.
After graduating from university, Anna's world gets turned upside down when she receives the devastating news her grandmother passed away, leaving behind an unexpected inheritance, a chest full of old postcards, and tickets for a trip her grandmother planned leaving in a few weeks.
Anna battles the difficult decision - to stay with the job she accepted, or embark on a journey to uncover the truths about herself and her grandmother's past.
The Other Euclid by Mick Scott
When Cornelius Pye inherits a rare book with supposedly magic properties, he finds it highly amusing. But soon after, the book is stolen, he is kidnapped and, to make matters worse, someone is threatening his girlfriend.
The book, the first English translation of Euclid’s Elements, was once owned by Elizabethan magician and mathematician Doctor John Dee. An enigmatic letter from Cornelius’s uncle explains that it has been passed down through his family for hundreds of years and holds a great lost secret .
Cornelius discovers that the book hosts a sarcastic, invisible alien, who calls himself Euclid - his real name being unpronounceable by humans. He is one half of a symbiotic pair, the other half being a humanoid alien called Tald. Being invisible, Euclid relies on Tald to provide contact with the real world.
Almost 450 years ago they were on their way to meet Dr Dee when they were ambushed by other aliens and crash landed on Earth. Tald was injured but managed to find his way to Dee’s house, where he somehow became Edward Kelley, a noted scholar of the time. Unfortunately, after the crash, Tald lost his connection to Euclid, who was forced to take refuge in the book. Tald went to the continent with Dee and never came back.
Euclid helps Cornelius to escape his kidnappers by enabling him to jump instantaneously to another location. Once free, Cornelius finds that his problems are multiplying. Whoever ordered Cornelius to be kidnapped in the first place believes that the book contains the key to immense wealth and will stop at nothing to possess its secrets.
On top of which, Euclid would quite like to find his other half and go home!
How to Fell a Foe (Enlil & Aris Book 3) by Rebecca Crunden
It’s been centuries since Enlil last saw his brother and Aris swore revenge for what was done to them both. But the years have provided no answers, only dead witches, and now Enlil’s brother is back. Worse, finding out his twin’s name and solving the mystery of Rose’s death are only the start of their problems as it soon becomes clear that the man they are hunting has a singular fixation – Aris.
Pre-Order Now
Open Wound (Requiem Series Book 2) by Shane Blackheart, release date October 22nd
A queer adult horror novel - trailer, purchase links and content warnings here.
After the angel that threatened his life, Sean faced his frightening alter, Vexis, who haunted his dreams. With the help of Byleth, Zagan, and Darokin, he thinks his troubles are finally behind him. Little does he know that PTSD is a beast lying dormant in waiting to emerge. It ends up influencing everything, including the way he perceives reality.
Vexis was the reason Sean remained in a trauma loop for so long, but something changes within them as they decide to finally work with him; they want to help him heal from trauma after years of prolonging it. Being a sadist who is unable to feel love, it results in a twisted and sexual masochistic relationship that Sean becomes addicted to.
As Vexis takes Sean through various liminal space voids and dark memories — theirs included — they reveal that they are something much more frightening and ancient than an angel or a demon.
Can Vexis really be trusted? Or are they opening Sean's wounds to let something sinister slip inside...
News Round-Up
The first annual SFINCS contest for indie novellas is now in progress (round 1). For more information visit the website.
Brigids Gate Press have announced a new imprint, Lady Mantis Books, specialising in erotic horror, which is currently accepting submissions.
TheWriteReads has recently had a cover reveal for Harpyness is Only Skin Deep by D H Williamson, which is now available as an audiobook.
Book Review
The Flourishing by Merlina Garance, reviewed by Rachel Bowdler
This is the type of book whose characters quickly worm their ways into your heart and live there forever and ever. The MC, Andy, felt SO real to me. She wasn’t a character at all. She was an authentic person who I could viscerally imagine sitting beside me. She is now my favourite book girlfriend.
With romance and suspense woven together, I loved every nail biting and heart-melting moment. I felt every single word right in my stomach. Merlina Garance knows words; knows how to pack a punch in the subtlest but most beautiful of ways.
I was in awe from beginning to end. I’m so looking forward to falling in love with more books by this author.
Free Book
Between a Fox and a Hard Place (Fox Family Book 1) by Mary Frame
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.