Welcome to Day One of our Indie Fantasy Advent Calendar! We’re featuring an underrated indie author every day this holiday season to spread a little festive joy and promote authors we think deserve more love. Read our introduction to find out more.
Let’s open day five and see what book lies behind…
Today, on December 5th, we’re opening our calendar to The Delve by Dani Finn.
The sword wants what it wants.
The Maer have been on the brink of war with the humans for years. When five brightstone mines go dark on the same day, it can’t be a coincidence. Without a steady supply of the stone, the Maer’s gauntlets and automatons are useless. The Maer are about to be blasted back to the Time Before.
Yglind just got his shiny new Forever Blade and is itching to stick it into something. Getting sent on a Delve to find out what happened to the Deepfold is the chance of a lifetime. With the help of his trusted partner Ardo and a prickly mage named Aene, he’s going to get his five kills and bring glory to his family name.
Ardo has never seen Yglind like this. He’s always been hot for a fight, but the darkness in his eyes when he looks upon his Forever Blade can’t easily be kissed away.
Inside the Deepfold, they are plunged into a world of bloodshed and chaos. Unknown foes have slaughtered many of the miners, and a gruesome dragon stalks the dark tunnels. While taking refuge in the mine’s impregnable keep, Yglind and Ardo take comfort in each other’s arms and find the courage to face the cruel forces arrayed against them.
With their civilization hanging in the balance, they strike out against the invaders as their quest hurtles toward its bloody end.
The Delve is a fast-paced spicy romantic fantasy featuring a variety of LGBTQ characters and relationships. It’s the first in the Time Before trio of linked standalones, set 2,000 years before the Maer Cycle trilogy and the Weirdwater Confluence duology. The series are independent and can be read in any order.
Author’s note: this book contains explicit, consensual sex scenes, violence, gore, and death, and is not intended for readers under the age of eighteen.
The Delve is an adult romantic fantasy combining Dungeons and Dragons-style adventures with spicy romance! This is a standalone novel within Dani’s Maer Cycle series and can be read without needing to read those, however I do recommend checking out the authors back catalogue of books.
If you’ve been in the writing community on either Twitter or Bluesky in the past few years, then chances are you’ve met Dani! They’re a bright spark in the community who promotes and supports indie authors, especially those in the LGBTQ+ community. They’re one of the first to shout out about marginalised authors and spread love for queer and trans books. Over time, their books have also explored queer and trans identities, which is beautifully represented within the colours of these books. It’s no coincidence they represent the trans flag!
I’m a big admirer of Dani, and can honestly say they’ve inspired me to look at my own gender and how I represent queerness in my own works. Dani’s books absolutely need more love! If you’re interested in sword-free fantasy exploring queer relationships, then I definitely recommend you take a look at The World Within, Unpainted, and Wings so Soft.
Until then, here’s where you can find The Delve:
About the Author
Dani Finn (they/them) is a nonbinary fantasy romance author who occasionally writes fantasy without romance as well.
They favor high-steam love stories that crisscross the gender spectrum, from swords and sorcery to sword-free fantasy with meditation magic and everything in between.
- Author’s Linktree: @DaniFinn
[…] 5th December: The Delve by Dani Finn […]