The Indie Books & Authors Newsletter #59
New indie releases, book review, news and link to a free book!
Editor’s Note
Important notice: the Newsletter is now fortnightly, due to other commitments.
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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Featured Promotion
Indie Visible is an author services team which promotes indie books.
Volunteers are needed to help spread the word about indie authors, including reviewing books for Instagram tours. Visit Hayley Anderton’s linktree for a link to the team sign-up form!
New Releases
Undine's Blessing: A Lunis Aquaria Story by Tessa Hastjarjanto
A dutiful daughter, a mystical archipelago, and a hidden power waiting to command the tides...
Marella spends her days caring for her sick mother and selling her father's fish. Bound by duty and love, she dreams little of adventure. But when her mother must travel to the city for treatment, her father takes her out to sea, despite her fear of water.
A storm steers them to Emberrain, home to a tribe of magical nymphs and a place of secrets, where Marella discovers a startling truth: her father is a frequent visitor to these mysterious islands. Soon she learns that Emberrain isn't the only secret he had kept from her.
Marella has the power to control water and communicate with aquatic animals.
Overwhelmed by the magical but dangerous islands, and the secrets of her father, Marella must learn to harness her powers to save herself and her new aquatic friend before they are separated from their parents forever.
Imago: A Dystopian Gothic by Matthew Zakharuk
Forsake the world that hates you. Embrace its monster.
Tresor Institute accepts only the worthy, and Ada Călinescu is anything but. Intractable, mannish, a child of convicted terrorists, she can at best hope to be overlooked. Yet somehow the Institute accepts her application for transfer. Her ticket to the polar town of Heilung, home of the Institute, arrives free of charge.
Her only chance to forge a brighter future.
Except Heilung welcomes Ada with news of a brutal murder. Militiamen stalk the town, keen to fill their arrest quotas—and Ada knows she could make an easy scapegoat. At every turn the bloody conspiracy follows her, from the halls of Tresor to the arms of a stranger she yearns to make hers. What starts as a dalliance risks putting Ada at odds with the Bureau itself.
And then expulsion will be the least of her concerns.
The Bloodline Curse (Dark Magic Book 1) by Jamie Lee Fry - audiobook now available
Magic. Witches. Curses.
They Aren't Real. . . Right?
Izzy Beswick is a typical high school senior. Well, except for the incident with Sondra and the fact that Izzy doesn’t remember exactly what happened. Luckily, Izzy and her dad inherit a house from Izzy's Gran-gran in East Gate, Connecticut. The timing seems perfect. Plus, her childhood crush lives in East Gate, so how bad could it be?
Soon after moving, strange things happen, and Izzy learns of rumors surrounding her late relative. Nearly everyone in town believes Gran-gran was a cursed witch, including her new friends: Jessa, Tahlia, and Margo. Eager to find out more about these tales, the three girls insert themselves into Izzy's life, controlling her every move. To make matters worse, her crush is ghosting her. Does he simply not remember her, or does he believe the rumors?
After the girls discover a spellbook, they become mixed up with dangerous forces, proving Izzy is not only a witch, but a witch with a three-century old curse. Willingly, they perform a magical spell that comes with a heavy warning, hoping to undo the curse.
When the spell goes awry and enemies intervene, Izzy must save the people she cares about—including her crush—before it’s too late.
Pre-Order Now
Hall of Hauntings: Spooky Stories by N S Ford, release date March 8th
Do you dare to read these six spooky stories of the supernatural? Feel the chills running down your spine and your pulse pounding with fear as you encounter…
The reality show in a haunted mansion where the ghosts aren’t real… are they?
Murder and mayhem at a bakery… who is the evil man in the corner?
A terrifying ancient mummy, but how is it linked to a beautiful portrait?
The old piano with a horrible history... are you afraid to play upon it?
A mysterious glowing figure with a secret to die for… what is hidden in the attic?
The deathly stillness of a barricaded library, but are the hauntings inside, or outside?
A must-read collection of creepy tales from N S Ford, author of A Strange Belief, After the Burning, They Lie Here and We Watch You.
News Round-Up
Submissions are open for Not Marriage Material, an anthology of non-fiction pieces and poetry. For more details visit Sue Bavey’s website.
Book Bloggers’ Novel of the Year Award 2024 is now open for panellists and author sign-ups! The award is hosted and judged by book bloggers.
The finalists of the Speculative Fiction Indie Novella Championship (SFINCS) have been announced.
Book Review
Where Do You Go To, My Lovely? by Kim Evans, reviewed by N S Ford
Set in a village in the Welsh valleys, this intriguing novella is part psychological thriller, part family drama and part science fiction. Two strange people offer Marie the chance to back in time to be a little girl again, in return for bringing back some items from the household. She travels from the present to the 70s. She has a marvellous time experiencing her childhood from an adult’s perspective and being with her parents again. At the same time, something dark is going on with the real purpose of the journeys and the conflicting motives of the people involved. It seems quite odd that an orange teddy bear is the most coveted item, but it does become clear later on. The book does leave some questions unanswered about the science fiction element and whether it’s set in our own present or a parallel one, but I do like mysteries. The book might also get you thinking about your own childhood and whether you’d take up the chance to revisit it.
Free Book
Ink & Incantation by Various Authors
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.