Welcome to our New Release Roundup feature where we at Read Indie Fantasy will be posting a roundup at the start of every month of new indie and self-published SFFH books due to be released, as well as exciting new crowdfunds by indie and self-published authors launching in the month. Got a new release coming up? Submit your book!
Now, onto the books for this month:
25th September – The Synthetic Hunger by Sebastian Howarth
The PanTerran Nutritional Authority controls the food supply, and through it, the fate of every settled world. Its ships cross the galaxy carrying the nutrient gel that keeps billions alive, its officials regulate what can be grown, and its influence reaches into every colony, station and household. For most people, the Authority is unavoidable. For Captain Lorian Vance, it is simply an excellent target.
Aboard The Audacity, Vance and his mismatched crew make their living somewhere between legitimate courier work and carefully justified piracy. Their jobs are dangerous, their paperwork is questionable, and their survival usually depends on confidence, quick thinking and leaving before anyone notices what has gone missing.
But when a routine delivery takes them to an isolated mining colony, Vance begins noticing details that do not fit. Workers speak in half-finished warnings. Authority officials deny problems no one has publicly mentioned. Scientific readings remain perfectly normal, even as something increasingly unnatural begins spreading through the edges of civilization.
Soon, strange cargo is moving under sealed orders. Ships are found drifting silently between worlds. Familiar systems begin behaving as though guided by an intelligence of their own. People disappear, messages arrive from impossible places, and the Authority seems more interested in preserving control than uncovering the truth.
At the centre of it all is a name almost erased from the records, a missing scientist who may hold the only explanation for what is happening.
Drawn into a mystery far greater than any theft or smuggling run, Vance and his crew must follow a trail that leads beyond forgotten colonies, abandoned vessels and the hidden machinery of the Authority itself. Whatever is unfolding has already begun to spread, and it may know more about them than they know about it.
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6th October – Shattered City by T. L. Morgan (City of Silver #2)
Who are you, Cyrus Beldon?
Having fled the chaos he left in his hometown by exposing his family’s crimes, Cyrus Beldon finally has a chance to live as he pleases—miraculously with the man he loves.
Yet Cyrus and Lucien’s work is not done. As they travel across the province in search of a place to call home, they discover that the monstrous Wild vampires they faced in Chestervale are more widespread than they thought. When a particularly strange encounter leads them to the vampire-friendly city of Byronia, at first they think they’ve found a perfect new home, but within days it becomes clear that trouble lies beneath the idyllic surface. A strange cult, a vengeful alchemist, and suspicious disappearances all weave around one common thread: an alarming frequency of Wild vampires.
Cyrus and Lucien need a solution if they hope to settle safely in Byronia, and an elusive alchemist could have all the answers they need, but he too hides a sinister secret. The pair find themselves snared in a greater danger than before—one that will test their bond, threaten their future together, and beg the question: is it worth the risk of losing everything they’ve fought for?
Add Shattered City to your Goodreads | Preorder Online
6th October – The Modern Mythos Continuum by Juniper Lake Fitzgerald (The Modern Mythos #2)
“Sorrow’s reach forsakes the torrid solace of embrace…”
Python is restless.
A decade of domesticity, of shacking-up with his warlock partner Calysto and learning to bake, have turned the vampire soft. So, when Calysto plans an exciting trip to the hedonistic night city of Arcade, Python is eager for the change in scenery and a taste of the thrill of his former life.
But, little do they know, they aren’t the only supernatural beings who thrive in the neon-lit dark.
When Python vanishes on a routine blood-hunt, only to reappear with no memory of who Calysto is, it thrusts the shimmering facade of Arcade into a sinister shadow.
As the threat of a permanently regressed Python looms, Calysto must abandon their getaway to find the source of his partner’s missing memories, even if he has to drag an uncooperative Python by the scruff of the neck to do it.
Using every power at his disposal, Calysto employs the assistance of his increasingly-distant vampire hunter partner Aeris, and his innate, unpracticed ability to time travel, only to discover that the threat is intertwined with his life in ways he never anticipated.
This is an adult book with themes that are not suitable for minors. Content warnings are included before the title page, available for view within the sample.
Add The Modern Mythos Continuum to your Goodreads | Preorder Online
6th October – The Witch of the Wood by Alex Larkspur
There is a witch hiding in the trees of Hatwick Wood. They are a steward of the wood, caring for the alders, maples, and cedar within, watching over the home of the beasts and birds. The people who survive on the generosity of Hatwick Wood-every denizen from Farbreak at the south edge to Northpost on the opposite side-respects the witch. Everyone knows the witch is the forest caretaker, and if anything ever went wrong, they need to be found to mend it.
When Hatwick Wood is cursed, the witch must be found. It is up to Milo Ashton, an unremarkable member of the Ashton hunting clan, to venture into the cursed forest and find the witch. But soon, he is cursed himself. A mysterious hermit named Cam finds him and swears that he can help Milo lift the curse. Milo is torn between the magnetic draw he feels towards Cam and the certainty that Cam is hiding something from him.
Milo must find the witch, lift the curse, and reckon with his own feelings before he is consumed by the wood.
Add The Witch of the Wood to your Goodreads | Preorder Online
7th October – Quartz Storm by LE Draig
Safiya knows that this is no natural storm.
Her sister’s magic is unmistakable. And this time she is too late to save her…
Caught by the guards, Tasha is condemned to a fate worse than death: to produce powerful children in a marriage with the realm’s deadliest assassin.
Out of options, and desperate for help, Safiya is drawn deep into a web of coercion and betrayal. She must navigate a realm of dragons and elves, goblins and spies, and take down the ruling Mage Council…or she’ll lose her sister forever.
Debut novel ‘Quartz Storm’ is an epic fantasy that explores themes of power, betrayal, family, and sacrifice. Featuring a queer lead and supporting characters, the story is set in a patriarchal society where magical power is everything – unless you’re a woman.
Add Quartz Storm to your Goodreads | Preorder Online
October 8th – Her Borrowed Grave by Vanessa Knipe
Ancient Stories Collide with Modern Crime.
Legends should stay in books, along with magic and fairytales.
But, on a storm-washed road outside York, teacher Caroline Walters nearly runs over a man; one who bears an uncanny resemblance to the knight in the tapestry she is weaving, based on an unfinished Dark Age poem.
Elsewhere, arts & antiquities reporter George Maskell is drawn into a mystery when his dog sniffs out the first in a series of baffling deaths. Each body is linked to an ancient rune-carved stone sarcophagus, unearthed from beneath York’s flood defences.
Then another body turns up, and this one is definitely murder.
Warriors and monsters awaken from the verses of the ancient poem and stalk through York’s streets. They hunt a collection of rings; rings that are carbon copies of a signet that has been in George’s family since before the Conquest.
The poem has waited over a thousand years for its ending.
Add Her Borrowed Grave to your Goodreads | Preorder Online
13th October – The Ghost of Hightower Pond by Alice J. Ryan
THE GHOST OF HIGHTOWER POND is a 40,000-word Gothic horror novella pitched as Chuck Palahniuk’s Haunted meets Silvia Moreno Garcia’s Mexican Gothic meets Bocaccio’s The Decameron in Victorian England.
Cordelia Delacroix has only been in London for a season when plague strikes. Desperate to escape both the plague and her declining financial situation, she accepts a mysterious invitation to join a party of pleasure at Hightower Castle with six other young guests—including Henry Ashford, a wealthy young man who could form all her ideas of both love and a fortune if she can only catch his heart.
At first, the strange party and its mysterious host are a welcome diversion from the doldrums of plague as the seven people engage in parties, galas, and telling stories about the legendary Ghost of Hightower Pond. That is, until strange things start happening in the castle: winds that shutter all the candles, mysterious rooms with magical texts, disembodied screams, and finally, one of their number dying in the night. When they try to escape, they’re sealed in, as though by magic.
Desperate to escape, the guests must battle the supernatural happenings in the castle and their own growing madness and fear as they search for a way out. Because it’s becoming increasingly clear that they were each invited here for a reason—and if they can’t figure that out, any of them could be next to die.
CW: suicide, homicide, child death (off page)
Add The Ghost of Hightower Pond to your Gooreads | Preorder Online
13th October – “Wake up…” by Kip Manley
The 20th anniversary hardcover edition of the acclaimed urban fantasy serial, City of Roses.
City of Roses is a serialized epic firmly set in Portland, Oregon, only with more sword fights: a wicked concoction of urban pastoral and incantatory fantastic, where aspirants are knighted in Forest Park, and the Devil keeps a morgue in an abandoned big-box store.
Add “Wake up…” to your Goodreads | Preorder Online
15th October – Song of the Wren by Glenn Quigley
In the summer of 1986, burly witch Dara and his boyfriend, Lorcan, return to Ireland to celebrate their clairvoyant friend’s wedding. But when Dara accidentally summons a ghost, he feels compelled to investigate and uncovers a tangled web of family secrets.
While Lorcan loves his new life on the road, reconnecting with old friends has him feeling homesick, and a generous offer to stay could prove too tempting to refuse.And with a growing list of disasters in the run-up to the wedding, could someone — or something — be trying to ruin it?
Return to the world of HEART OF THE WREN in this paranormal tale of gays, ghosts, and gowns!
Add Song of the Wren to your Goodreads | Preorder Online
15th October – The Death of a Universe by JD Rivers (Otar’s Universe #3)
The war against the Darkness is in full swing, and Otar grapples with his own role in it. Feeling useless and at a dead end with his research, a message from the Lord Commander reaches him dangling a new puzzle in the form of a remote ruin in front of him.
As he senses parallels to the Wayfinders and the demise of the Dragons, Otar sets out to uncover the secrets entombed in the ruins’ soil. What he uncovers there sets him on a new deseperate quest through the Origin Nebula in a search to end the thread of the rising Darkness as it feeds on world after world.
With secrets revealed and shifting alliances, will he be able to find the truth in time, or will the Deaths finally consume all?
The conclusion to Otar’s thrilling adventure has arrived! Join our traumatized space Indiana Jones as he seeks to safe the universe one clue afte the other.
Add The Death of a Universe to your Storygraph | Preorder Online
19th October – A Little Death Among Friends by Ben Schenkman (The Devil You Know #4)
Everyone deserves a vacation. But for Death, going on holiday has dire consequences.
After Nick’s brush with the afterlife, the agency is operating in full swing and things are finally calming down. Their short peace is interrupted by a rumor from “upstairs” that Death has gone missing. Unable to say no to a friend in need, Nick is on the case. When he sits in Death’s chair it leaves him with an unwanted promotion, threatening to separate him from his humanity.
Rob has his own problems, with his dad suffering from a terminal diagnosis and fights against old impulses when Nick’s misfortune presents an irresistible opportunity to save his father’s life. To help Nick solve his problem, Amy risks tangling with an old friend of Mel’s that may cost her more than she bargained for.
This might be the end of the road for the intrepid trio if they can’t find a solution to Nick’s unintended death wish.
Add A Little Death Among Friends to your Goodreads | Preorder Online
Do any of these new releases catch your eye? Let us know in the comments which books you’re playing to pick up this month!
