Here at Read Indie Fantasy, we’re no stranger to indie book competitions! Both Nils and I (Trudie!) were judges for the first Speculative Fiction Indie Novella Championship or SFINCS and had a great time reading through some of the best SFF novellas. Naturally, we couldn’t resist signing up again for the second competition, and this one promises to be even bigger and better.
But what is SFINCS?
SFINCS (pronounced sphinx) is an annual competition to celebrate novella books in all areas of speculative fiction, including fantasy, sci-fi, and horror as written by indie authors. What counts as a novella? These are shorter books between 15,000 to 40,000 words. I personally appreciate reading novellas as they are quicker to read, meaning I can read more of them, which is fantastic for my Goodreads challenge. Competitions like SFINCS also provide an opportunity to discover new authors and books, and you know Nils and I love giving back to the community where we can.
As with the first year, there are 100 novella-sized books split between five teams. To find out more about the competition, teams, and books that have been entered this year, please visit the official SFINCS website.
The competition has now officially started as of the beginning of September! Unfortunately, Nils and I are on different teams this time (to keep it fair and fresh!) so I wanted to introduce the books that are part of my team, Team Swordsworn. These are the books I will personally reading and judging through the competition. Nils may also post about the books allocated to his team separately.
Team Swordsworn’s Books
Our team has been allocated twenty novellas covering an interesting range of genres. We’ll be aiming to read every book by at least two judges, though my personal goal is to also read every book. From these twenty books, the team judges will nominate five semi-finalists before moving onto the finalist stage.
Here are all twenty of our books:
Obviously the judges will all have their own tastes when it comes to reading, which can be very subjective. I consider myself open to new reading experiences and can’t wait to get stuck into these! I’m going to list each of these books below and share my first impressions based on the blurb and cover. As the competition progresses, I aim to post reviews for every book I read with my honest thoughts. So let’s meet the books!
A Ballad of Hate and Hope by Kaylea Prime
Hope has no beginning, and no end.
As a Lantíé with both antlers and wings, and a Storyteller able to recall stories from the past, Nensola has always felt like an anomaly. Dark shadows of her peryton ancestors prowl the peripheries of her soul, threatening to consume her if she loses control. When her mom is murdered by pirates to harvest the magic in her wings, Nensola struggles to lead with hope.
Sailing the West Indies in 1715, Kit is determined not to let his pirate stepfather die to claim a prize for the device he stole. He has always felt unanchored between Spanish and English cultures, harbouring hate for his parents’ deaths. When Kit falls through a maelstrom portal into the world of Arwé and meets Nensola, his anchor begins to lower.
While hope burgeons in Nensola and Kit’s hearts, hate festers on the borders. Just when Kit finally feels he belongs, he is cast adrift, faced with the prospect of returning to Earth. With her home and people threatened by a sinister force, and her trust in Kit uncertain, Nensola fears hate’s grip on her heart is stronger than the clinging droplet of hope.
But even a droplet can create ripples. And all it takes is a ripple to change the world.
A Ballad of Hate and Hope is a prequel novella taking place almost two hundred years before the events in A Spark From Embers – volume one in the fantasy series, Tears of Flame.
We’re starting out strong with an absolutely gorgeous cover. To me, this cover is very nautical and immediately speaks mermaids, but based on the blurb I don’t think that’s the case. The blurb has a lot of description of characters that are described in a way like I should know them, which makes sense as this is a prequel novella. Sometimes prequel novellas don’t work for me if I’m not familiar with the series (which I’m not, in this case) as they can be written with the expectation that you know what’s going on from the start. But hopefully this one will introduce me to its world and entice me into reading more of the series!
After the Syzygy by J.D. Sanderson
Will We Find Them?In 1977, humans placed the Golden Record on the Voyager spacecraft with the hope it would be found by an alien civilization in the future.
In 2036, the alien equivalent arrived on Earth.
When the news leaks to the press, a global wave of fear, panic, and disinformation leaves people to wonder if the damage can ever be undone. In an attempt to quell unrest, several world governments begin an open exchange of ideas and information, hoping to understand the alien signal. As decades and centuries pass, humanity works together to answer one question.
The first sci-fi book on my list! I don’t read much sci-fi but I quite enjoyed the sci-fi novellas I read in the last SFINCS. This cover is obviously of a solar system, but the blurb definitely has me interested as I love films based on first contact.
Awakenings by Claudie Arseneault
Innkeep, hunter, blacksmith, nurse—Horace has apprenticed for every clan in the domed city of Trenaze, and they’ve all rejected em. Too hare-brained. Too talkative. Too slow. Ever the optimist, e has joined Trenaze’s guards to be mentored. Horace has high hopes to earn eir place during eir trial at the Great Market. That is, until the glowing shards haunting the world break through the city’s protective dome, fused together in a single, monstrous amalgam of Fragments.
Armed with a sword, a shield, and far too little training, Horace doubts eir ability to defend the market-goers. But eir last stand is interrupted by a mysterious elven figure who can dissipate the Fragments with a single, strange sentence: your story is my story.
From the moment it is uttered, Horace knows the sentences holds true for em, too—and when the elf collapses in the middle of the market, e carries them to safety, to recover away from the panicked crowd and inevitable questions from eir fellow guards. It could cost em eir apprenticeship—eir last chance to find eir place in eir home city—but Horace cannot resist the pull of this mystery elf and the call of a new friend.
Aliyah has but one desire: to leave Trenaze’s safe boundaries and find the forest that haunts their dreams. After an afternoon of board games in their quiet, sharp-witted company, Horace is ready to follow, confronting Fragments and other dangers of the road to understand what happened that day, hear Aliyah’s laugh again and finally feel like e belongs.
This has a beautifully illustrated cover that already has me intrigued for what this world has to offer. The blurb has a lot going on for it, and it’s rare that I read a blurb with specific pronouns mentioned for the characters, which intrigues me more. I’m already familiar with the author’s books, and know they write queer and asexual characters, but I haven’t yet read any so I’m looking forward to the opportunity!
Baby Bird by Travis M. Riddle
Someone is trying to get into Chloe’s house
They left something inside
What they left is waking up.A new home invasion/body horror novella in the world of The Narrows.
The cover with an insect on automatically screams horror, which the blurb happily confirms. It’s a very short and sweet blurb, though it tells me exactly what I need to know. However, I’m not familiar with The Narrows, so we’ll see if I need knowledge of that to understand this story!
Bloodwitch by Timandra Whitecastle
They say blood is thicker than water. They’re wrong.
An ancient priesthood recruited Jan from the parlours of Babuk. They said it was because she had talent at waterwielding.
They’ll live to regret it.
Jan survived something she shouldn’t have. But she doesn’t remember it clearly. Now they pry into her mind, and she cannot stop them.
Yet.
Jan must learn how to control her own waterwielding gift, to defend herself from those who would reach within her and steal her very name and memories, and she must make a choice …
Who is she, really?
Acolyte
Watermage
Bloodwitch
That cover is absolutely amazing! The subtitle implies this may be another prequel or perhaps a side story, but hopefully it will standalone. The blurb sounds quite intense, and I’m interested in seeing some water bending!
Callista’s Adventures: Tartarus and the Sword by Joharra Harper
With Callista and Joan fighting about religion, the couple must return to Athens for a mission from Hera, to find her sacred scepter and return it to her in one piece. But when Hercules has other plans, the two finds themselves in Tartarus with an evil enchanted sword out to destroy them and the world. Can they get past their troubles and come together to save the world and themselves? When both is willing to sacrifice themselves for the other, will they be able to survive this time? Or is this the time that will finally destroy them beyond repair?
I always love a cover with a sword. You can’t go wrong. The blurb doesn’t really explain who Callista and Joan are, but this sounds like a fun-packed Greek adventure.
Centaur and Sensibility by Quenby Olson
Miss Mary Clegg does not want to marry.
No, Miss Mary Clegg does not want to marry someone who lacks such important features as wit, intelligence, and a fine jawline. So what other option is there for her but to run away from home?
It’s a simple enough plan, to begin with. But a shortcut through a magic forest (well, she didn’t know it was magic at the time) and a chance meeting with an exasperating centaur provide a plethora of complications.
And what about love? Well, that might be the most challenging complication of all.
I’m not normally one for regency settings or stories, but this sounds like a hoot. I’ve already read another of the author’s short stories, so I’m expecting to have a lot of fun with this one.
Distant Thunder: An Exile War Novella by Bowen Greenwood
Once, telepaths almost wiped out humankind. Centuries later, a brotherhood called the Gentle Hand lives to keep it from happening again.
At 22, Langston Wheeler chomps at the bit to graduate and join their ranks. But when he finds a fellow student murdered in Servants’ Yard, his last few months in school take a mysterious turn, and the hunt for the killer borders on impossible.
Cleo Sable cuts short a meteoric career in the field to return to the Yard and teach others her craft. When Wheeler turns to her for help solving the murder, her comfortable post as a professor plunges into dangerous waters. Wheeler and Sable must catch the killer before a terrifying secret from the past brings the whole order down, and that may be the least of their worries. Every Gentle Hand lives under strict rules to control the gene for telepathy: who they serve, who they obey, and who they are allowed to love.
Bringing a murderer to justice draws Lang and Cleo inexorably together, but the system won’t be satisfied until they’re apart. A killer stalks Servants’ Yard, and an ancient evil stands ready to rise again. If they fail, any hope Lang and Cleo have for happiness could be lost, and Human Space plunged into the thunder of interstellar war.
That cover is very action packed, and based on the blurb, this sounds like it could be a military fantasy with some supernatural powers going on, but also a murder mystery? Now I’m intrigued!
Don’t Bloody the Black Flag by James Lloyd Dulin
The fight for peace is often a war.
To end nearly a century of war plaguing Ennea, a clan of nomads plans to bring leaders from the four nations together. They task a young water dancer named Isála to deliver a missive to a northern general, her estranged mother, and convince her to join the conclave. However, there are those who would do anything to defend their war from the threat of peace. After living a life sheltered from the violence, Isála will have to choose between her principles and shedding blood for the good of her people.
Don’t Bloody the Black Flag is a novella set in the world of the Malitu series. It takes place more than 200 years before the events of No Heart for a Thief.
The cover has a lovely painterly illustrated quality to it. This is another prequel story, however it’s set so far in the past compared to the main series that it may work well as a standalone. Oddly, it’s the second book on this list featuring water-based magic!
Eagles Fall by L. R. Schulz
Light has triumphed, the great war is won.
Yet shadows linger in the darkness, and in the hidden corners of men’s hearts.
Granted the ability to wield Zur’s Light, Gallion’s Eagles are a symbol of justice. People can look to the skies and know they are protected. But without a common enemy, resentment has begun to fester.
With civil war looming, Ward finds himself caught between warring factions. Unwilling to choose between love and duty, will Ward be able to stop things before they go too far? Or will his world come crashing down in a clash of tooth and talon?
Serving as a prequel to L. R. Schulz’s Bonds of Kin series, Eagles Fall serves as an introduction to Zapour. This standalone story portrays the events that lead to the structure of the world in A King’s Radiance, and can be read either before or after the main series, with some nice little easter eggs for returning readers.
That’s a dragon, not an eagle! Oh ho ho I amuse myself. The cover is lovely – who doesn’t love a good dragon? This is another prequel story, however I appreciate that the author has included a description of when this can be read in relation to the series, and that it will hopefully stand on its own. Based on the cover and blurb, I’m expecting dragon riding and some fantasy battles.
I’m In Love With My Possessed Demon Sword by Jon Auerbach
Mati was a typical blacksmith’s apprentice, until the fateful day he discovered a long-lost demon sword hidden in a cave near his village.
To make matters more complicated, inside the sword is the trapped soul of a girl named Lyra from hundreds of years ago.
Despite having never left his valley and barely able to lift the smith’s hammer, Mati vows to help gather the eight crystals needed to free Lyra.
Now, many years later, the duo are near the end of their journey, and Mati has rather inconveniently fallen in love with the disembodied voice of the girl he has never met.
But with the fateful day approaching, will Mati be able to muster up the courage to not only secure the last crystal, but also confess his true feelings to Lyra?
The title for this one gave me a chuckle, and I’m going in expecting there to be some fantasy shenanigans and humour. The blurb makes me wonder if this is also a LitRPG fantasy, but I won’t know until I start reading.
Nameless by Alexander Way-B
Nameless – Born in a dusty workhouse, a mere product of his oppressive environment, that is until he discovers that there’s another world beyond the shelves & windows of his toil – But who is he, & does he have the right to freedom?
The cover is giving me mystery sci-fi vibes. The blurb is quite short, but also hits on those notes, and honestly, I love those kind of tropes. Hidden society and dystopian sci-fi make up some of my favourite films, so I’m curious to read more.
The Compound by E.K. Frances
Each year, every teenager disappears from the compound. They don’t disappear in a puff of smoke, they are definitely taken. Taken by the men with dogs. Loaded onto trucks. But where are they taken, and why?
Trapped within the confines of the compound, Alex and his friends have enjoyed life, foraging for food, and going on adventures. But things are about to change.
Far from the haven it once was, the compound becomes a place of eerie disappearances, unexplained deaths, and chilling stories.
Are the men who patrol the compound protecting the teenagers or are they up to something far more sinister? Are there really creatures hidden in the depths of the dense forests? And what happens to the teenagers when they leave the compound … do they go to a new life or is there a much darker fate awaiting them?
Alex is determined not to find out. He has an escape plan …
The cover for this clearly states I’m going to be reading a dark dystopian, and the grunge style is on point! Similar to Nameless above, this also sounds like a mystery dystopia with secrets waiting to be uncovered, so I’m looking forward to finding out more.
The Maw by Seann Barbour
From the author of The Last Day comes a new piece of kafkaesque weird horror…
On the side of an old abandoned building, in an old abandoned shopping center, there is a Mouth.
It’s a human mouth; and one that’s big enough to drive a car through. It stands open and unmoving, teeth and tongue exposed to the world.
The first people to find it are a bunch of teenagers, among them the Dowel Freddie and Simon. They’re just kids, and the thing about kids is that they’re curious and they’re reckless. It’s not long before the brothers find themselves in the center of a terrible tragedy.
Word spreads. Tempers flare. Fingers are pointed and bonds are broken. In the wake of an awful loss, a community grows sick, and Simon’s life begins to crumble apart.
And through it all, the Mouth remains open and unmoving, hungry and waiting. It calls, and one day soon, it will be answered.
The cover screams both horror and humour, and based on the blurb, that sounds accurate! One book I enjoyed in the last SFINCS contest was based on weird horror crossing the mundane, and this sounds like it’s going to give me the same vibe!
The Shadow Dancers of Brixton Hill by Nicole Willson
In 1937, American circuses are trying to recoup the losses they incurred during the Great Depression while competing with newer forms of entertainment like movie theaters. Kate Montgomery travels to the small town of Brixton Hill to scout a new act for her father’s struggling circus. Lewis Oswald, a trainer and friend of Kate’s family, introduces her to the Shadow Dancers, three young girls who can make their shadows dance independently of their bodies. While the act would revive her family’s circus, Kate is horrified by the young women’s dismal training and living conditions. She wants to help them escape their dreadful situation, but when the Shadow Dancers take matters into their own hands, she’ll have to save herself.
The cover immediately got my attention with its old-timey art style. This one definitely reads like a horror. Normally I don’t enjoy stories about circuses because clowns are scary, but I’m intrigued by the shadow dancers and I’m excited to give this a read.
The Whisper that Replaced God by Timothy Wolff
Murder is just, so long as it serves the crown.
Hidden behind a mask and with a dagger in his sheath, Mute serves the crown with pride. A fair life, if not a monotonous one. But his next contract nicks too close, for murder within a brothel is always nasty business, especially the one which Mute frequents. The brothel his Dorothy works, his Dorothy who awaits Mute and only Mute. Surely none would dare touch her, for if they did, royalty or not, they would fall to Lord Mute, the Silent God’s chosen one. They would scream…
And not a sound would be heard.
That’s a beautiful, if slightly disturbing cover, but I am instantly drawn in by this incredibly well written blurb. The first line has me hooked! This sounds like its going to be a DARK dark fantasy, and I can’t wait.
To Catch a Witch by E.L. Montague
Caught in a scandal with Lord Arle that draws the attention of King Harald’s Inquisition, Shenagh is forced to flee her home into the Dark Wood. The young hedge witch, pursued by Master Macon den Lough and his henchman, Cobb, is tested by the forest’s rugged terrain, dangerous predators, and legendary monsters.
Oh this cover is my favourite one yet! This sounds like a dark fantasy. The blurb tells me just enough that I need to know, and it reminds me of another book in last year’s SFINCS that I enjoyed featuring monsters running through a forest, though of course, the real monster is societal expectations. I’m on the side of the witch.
Unburnt: a speculative firefighter novella by A.M. Weald
A different kind of superhero story…
After emerging unscathed from the house fire that killed his father, Ed Stoneman had recurring dreams about rescuing himself as a boy, sitting amongst the flames, unburnt. The dream stopped once he became a firefighter, later earning the nickname of “Dodge” by surviving a lethal flashover fire. Dodge embraced his supernatural imperviousness to the heat of fire by going in when no one should, breaking the rules of rescue because he had to, because he could. With the Wyoming steppe becoming increasingly arid and fires igniting every few days, his ‘talent’ is needed now more than ever.
On his 50th birthday, Dodge dreams of the boy not on fire for the first time in over 30 years. Chalking it up to stress, he thinks nothing of it. With retirement from active fire duty in his near future, he’s depressed and aimless. Other than firefighting, what purpose does he have? Twice divorced and childless, believing himself to be infertile in exchange for his superpower of unknown origin, he has no one to confide in but his cat, and he daydreams of walking into a wildfire just to see if he’d finally burn. But when he answers an emergency call about a local house fire, renewed purpose greets him in the flames, making him question everything he once believed.
Okay so I wasn’t expecting a fantasy fire fighting story! The cover is fantastic, and I was expecting a superhero type story… But the blurb has really drawn me in. There aren’t as many stories featuring older protagonists, and I really want to learn more about this firefighter on the brink of retirement.
War of the Hounds by David Hopkins
A gripping tale set in the world of The Dryad’s Crown
Bren Caius is a living legend, the greatest warrior of her age. But much of her legacy is a lie, fabricated by those in desperate need of a champion.
The cover and the blurb doesn’t leave me with much. As I’m not familiar with The Dryad’s Crown, I’m not entirely sure what this book will entail, but hopefully it will stand alone enough for me to get my bearings.
Wedding of the Torn Rose by Brian A. Mendonça
As torn petals of a rose fall, a hero must rise in a race against destiny.
What starts as a fairy tale rescue spirals into an intricate web of dark fantasy laced with intrigue and magic. After the downtrodden merchant Kaine saves the runaway Princess Lydia from an unexpected monster, he feels inexplicably drawn to her. Lydia’s uncanny knowledge of his deepest secrets looms over him, suggesting she knows more about him than he has revealed.
However, there is little time to investigate this mystery. The princess is betrothed to the magic wielding Throatian Kingdom, and Lydia’s father has rewarded Kaine with a job offer he cannot refuse.
As the rehearsal dinner for Lydia’s arranged wedding unfolds, tension simmers amidst foreign customs and whispered conversations. The Throatian Royal family, draped in magic, is keen to forge an alliance with the Darian Kingdom. Meanwhile, Lydia, now fully aware of her royal responsibilities, summons Kaine for a private meeting in the chilling stillness of the graveyard. Her impending wedding signifies more than a pact of sword and sorcery, and something else—dark and twisted—stirs in the shadows.
With time dwindling short, and the ceremony happening the next day, will Kaine unshackle himself from his past to embrace the guardian he is destined to become? Or will the ties binding him to Lydia be torn apart like petals in the wind?
Journey with Kaine and Lydia as they attempt to prevent a war and save a kingdom in the first volume of the Symphony of Crowns and Gods series.
More swords on covers! This appears to be the first in a series instead of a prequel, so I’m wondering if this will serve as an introduction or act as a standalone. The blurb sounds like an interesting blend of fairy tale worldbuilding and dark fantasy.
Are you as excited for the next SFINCS as I? Have any of these novellas caught your interest? Let me know in the comments!
