Welcome to A Month of Rain and Reads, a celebration of self-published and indie SFF throughout the entire month of November. To find out how you can take part and view the whole list of content, visit our introduction post.
Today we’re celebrating the release of Riyati Ripple by Kai Zeal, the third book in the Riyati series of dark urban fantasy featuring reincarnations, time travel, and magical girl anime vibes.
Come back later today for our interview with Kai Zeal!
Every act of defiance steers you into the person you were always been meant to become.
After Nimaka’s death and the older selves returning to their own time, Kylie ran from all she’d known and grown up with at North Opal Pines, but she soon learns she can’t run far or fast enough.
She thought she could leave it all go back to being a normal high school student, make new friends, keep her grades up and her mother happy. But Nimaka’s death has only rallied the two other, and now they’ve stalked Kylie to her new school. Even worse, they have a mysterious new leader who no longer seeks to just kill Kylie but all those she knows and loves…. and the body count is rising.
Kylie can’t get by on “just surviving” to protect herself — let alone those around her — she must become as strong and cunning as Siani was, or she’ll not only become trapped in the incarnation cycle but everyone she’s ever known and loved will die with her.
Riyati Ripple is the third book in a new adult/adult contemporary, low dark fantasy series that seeks to explore themes of identity, legacy, generational trauma, and finding your own path in life. Riyati is set in the modern day fictional Southern US town of Opal Pines and includes multiple first person perspectives with characters across a range of queer, neurodiverse, and socioeconomic statuses.
Riyati Ripple by Kai Zeal is out now! For more information, including content warnings, and to read the first chapter for free, head to the author’s website.
About the Author
Kai Zeal got her start writing fanfiction as a child, creating an awareness of tropes, characterization, and the importance of retellings. From there, she refined her analytical skills both in academia and through fandom with critical analysis of media to gain a better understanding of how the parts of a work come together to form its whole.
She has degrees in psychology, writing, higher education administration, and is pursuing a PhD with a research focus on critical disability studies through a queer lens. In her free time, she’s a lifelong gamer, particularly of JRPGs, many of which have shaped her storytelling strategies and love of media.
- Website: Kai-Zeal.com
- Bluesky: kaizeal.aquakatpublishing.com
- Instagram: @kai_zeal
- Threads: @kai_zeal
