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 August 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, historical fantasy, YA fantasy, paranormal mysteries, science fantasy, space opera, military science fiction, science fiction horror, undead marines, space dragons, intergalactic royalty, crime-busting witches and much more.
Don’t forget that Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month is also crossposted to the Speculative Fiction Showcase, a group blog run by Jessica Rydill and myself, which features new release spotlights, guest posts, interviews and link round-ups regarding all things speculative fiction several times per week.
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 Great and the Small by A.T. Balsara:
Ananda is a troubled teen who feels like a misfit at home and at her new school, and her unusual ability to connect with animals makes her feel like even more of an outsider. Still raw from the death of her grandmother, Ananda’s dreams are haunted by a long-buried memory that causes her to push people away.
Fin is a Tunnel rat who lives in the passages beneath the city, in the dark places humans overlook or despise. Orphaned as a pup, he is the nephew of the Tunnel’s charismatic leader, the Beloved Chairman, and is willing to do anything to please his uncle, including becoming his lead henchman.
The worlds of humans and rats suddenly collide when Ananda protects Fin during a chance encounter in the market. Neither can foresee how their lives will forever be inextricably linked, but as the Chairman launches a plague war against the humans, both Fin and Ananda wrestle with secrets so terrible that they threaten their very existence.
Told as mirroring narratives that reverberate with the effects of buried trauma, and informed by historical accounts of plague and dictatorship, this stunning tale examines what it takes to grasp for light in the darkness and survive the threats both beyond us and within us.
Undead Marine: Mission Creep by Jonathan P. Brazee and J.B. Chaney:
As more and more special operators are resurrected with their mycelia and joining the Undead, the powers that be begin to “borrow” the Marines for missions beyond their stated scope.
Particularly galling to Sergeant Paxton Alejo is when they’re assigned a mission against supposed human traitors, especially when the reek of politics belies the integrity of the missions.
He might be uneasy, but all of this is above his paygrade, so Pax marches on, doing his duty.
There are continuing rumors of “androids” in the press that seems to focus on the Undead, so the Marines in the brigade are surprised when they’re tasked to train Internal Security Agency operators to conduct joint military ops. The ISA’s mission is to ferret out internal threats to the League of Humanity.
How can the Undead maintain their secrecy while working so closely with them?
Meanwhile, there’s that small issue of a galaxy wide war with the alien Tucanans, and the Tucs seem to be closing the net around the Undead.
All Hell breaks loose when the enemy strikes, and the Undead, along with the still untrained ISA operators, have no live ammunition to fight back with.
As the Tucanans close in on them, loss feels inevitable. The Undead experiment could be over, and all of Humanity could follow and shatter.
But a Marine never gives up.
Especially a dead one.
Of Sands and Tides: The Chronicles of Captain Georgianna Forsythe by Jan Edwards:
When the old god Nyarlathotep lures Captain ‘Georgi’ Forsythe – special agent for the Ministry of the Arcane — to the Valley of the Kings, the battle for her place in this world begins. Eight thrilling adventures packed into one volume, taking us from ancient Luxor to the Loch Ness of 1932. Conflicting pantheons of myth and legend plunge Captain Georgi into cosmic battles beyond wildest imagining. Will she remain a force for good or be lured into the world of chaos? The choice is hers!
The Salted Sceptre by Helen Harper:
All my dreams are coming true. But some nightmares continue to lurk in the shadows.
I should be celebrating. Hell, I should be the happiest elf in the world. Unfortunately, I can’t revel in my successes when there’s a foul fiend who is relentlessly trying to lure me to his side. He won’t leave me in peace and he seems determined to plunge the country into chaos to get what he wants, using bloodshed, fear and malevolent magic.
Still, I’m no stranger to stubbornness. If I can turn the tables and become the hunter instead of the hunted, I might have a chance. The odds are stacked against me but I’m not alone in this fight – and I refuse to be anyone’s puppet.
Hocus Focus by Lily Harper Hart:
A day at the beach turns into potential tragedy when Quinn and Rowan Gray-Davenport witness a boat going down in the cove. A quick swim helps them save a father, twin girls, and a set of pouty grandparents, but then things take a turn.
Rowan’s daughter Lana shows the family photos of the rescue later, and everybody they just saved has a death omen hanging over them. Save for one person, the grandmother. That means that death isn’t done with the family, and it’s up to Rowan and her merry band of paranormal hunters to find the answers necessary to save everybody involved.
It seems this isn’t the first time tragedy has befallen the family. The twins’ mother disappeared months before, abandoning her family and leaving a messy situation behind. As Rowan begins to dig, she realizes there might be more to the story than she ever imagined.
The victims have a lot of money—and it’s old money, so they’re insulated from scandal—but it appears something in their past is threatening their future.
It’s going to take everybody working together to save them. And even then, some ghosts don’t die. They can never be forgotten either.
It’s a race to the finish. Who will be left standing?
Emperor Hazard is Dead!
When the Teddy Bears ambush the ship carrying Emperor Hazard to a peace conference in the Zenkarr system, Britannia once again finds itself at war.
The Teddy Bears have a plan, but Gathii Kong, now in command of the Imperial Force, doesn’t take the bait. He follows Hazard’s last order to fight smart and foils the Zenkarr Intelligence Minister’s plan to destroy Britannia’s fleet by not charging deeper into the system. But now Kong has the lion by the tail—he can’t follow the enemy fleet into the gravity well, nor can he let them out to terrorize the nearby systems.
Back at Brittania, nine-year-old Edward becomes emperor, with his mother Hiroko acting as empress regent, and what’s left of Team Hazard rallies to support the wife and son of their friend. With the empire at a crossroads, Hiroko orders Julie Adams to the front with simple orders: end the Zenkarr problem. While Julie agrees to the mission, she wonders if she can complete it. To do so, she’ll have to live up to the Hero’s Legacy.
A fisherwoman finds a dead man on a tiny offshore island, with no clue about how the man got there.
A camel driver deep in the northern desert rescues a man who speaks no known language, but is clearly well-educated.
An ancient sect that was considered close to extinct sucks in all the land’s young people and creates tension that may well lead to a civil war.
And the old astrologer to the court, a weaselly and much-maligned relic of old times, might have hidden, for twenty years, evidence that those things are connected.
An epic saga of magic-turned-technology, power and discovery.
Two Birds, One Crone by Amanda M. Lee:
Scout Randall thought she had things well in hand. Then a loa landed in her lap and life exploded.
Baron Samedi does what he wants, when he wants. Right now he wants to learn as much as he can about the new pixie apex…and the lamia apex who is gunning for her. He doesn’t care who he annoys as he gathers his information.
Scout’s plan is to ignore him—after all, she has ghouls and random fires to deal with and he’s up to mischief one town over—but it becomes apparent quickly that the loa is in town for more than just a spying mission.
It seems Bonnie is no longer in danger of dying. She’s mastered her new reality and now she has a plan. If she can’t stop the inevitable big battle, she’s going to figure out a way to remove Scout from the equation altogether. If that happens, not only will Scout be gone, but nobody will remember her.
Scout wants to win but is she ready for the sort of battle that requires the ultimate sacrifice? She’s about to find out.
And it’s not going to be pretty.
The Old Guard by Glyn Stewart:
At the heart of humanity
At the beginning of everything
Hope can be born… or destroyed
For months, Princess Lorraine Adamant has fled from star system to star system in a desperate attempt to evade the minions of her uncle, the man who murdered her entire family to seize power in the Star Kingdom of Adamant.
Thanks to the crew of her ship and her loyal bodyguard, Vigo Jarret, Lorraine has finally reached her goal: the homeworld, Earth. There, she plans to lay her case before the United Worlds, the oldest and greatest of humanity’s nations.
But to an ancient democracy, the trials of an obscure kingdom are hardly relevant. Lorraine must turn her mind from war to diplomacy, to convince the homeworld to honor its oaths and save her Kingdom.
One way… or another.
Dragon Guardian by James David Victor:
A Science Fiction adventure with aliens, an all-powerful galactic empire, and space dragons from #1 Bestselling author James David Victor.
Dragon Guardian is the sixth book in the Star Dragon series. If you like incredible stories that are part space opera, part military sci-fi adventure, and full of non-stop action, be sure to check out the Star Dragon series today. Oh, and don’t forget about the space dragons.
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