This week is Non-Binary Awareness Week and kicks off today with Non-Binary People’s Day, a celebration of all things non-binary! It began in 2012 by Katje Van Loon to celebrate people whose gender falls outside the binary of male and female. Naturally, on Read Indie Fantasy, we want to celebrate indie and self-published authors under the non-binary umbrella!
Want to discover more queer and unique indie books? Here are fifteen SFF books by non-binary authors (because I couldn’t limit myself to just ten!), but please feel free to comment with your own recommendations below!
A Designer Magick by Fox. N. Locke
An Art Deco fantasy where fashion is the highest form of power and mages rule the roost.
Vlyn Adare is an illegal magick user hiding in plain sight, a seamstress going nowhere fast.
When she’s not dreaming of being Vlyn’s beau, socialite Shirley Hollister fantasises about being a fashion designer but is stuck in a rut as a receptionist.
To escape his fundamentalist family, Ellory Miller begrudgingly becomes a mage, even if he only wants to make magickal couture.
Rejected by both the mages and gender critical witches, Niven is forced to become a freelancer, hunting rogue magickal users to avoid arrest themself.
Lien Bassett, a trans journalist living stealth, has been trying for decades in vain to hold the mage Tower to account.
All five are brought together after Ellory blows the whistle on the Head Mage’s criminal activity. Hidden prisons, protests, dramatic magick battles, and plenty of fabulous fashion await them.
Unashamedly queer – and built around a slow burn F/F romance – A Designer Magick investigates mental health, gender, and freedom of speech in an evocative 1920s style setting.
For fans of V.E. Schwab and C.L. Polk.
Bound by Blood by A. M. Boone
The night he was bound to me was the first night of my reinvention.
I always wanted a quiet life. But when my sire becomes one of the highest ranked vampire nobles, she gives me a “gift.” A criminal bound to me as a so-called bodyguard.
Charles Mae Kenova. Sociopath. Low-blood. A cult leader who was stupid enough to get caught.
Everything I should hate as a high-blood.
Even so, he rouses my blood for the first time in decades…
Bound together by a ring and collar which give him double any wounds I take, so he won’t instantly kill me and skip town, we’re forced together into an uneasy existence.
But even though he can’t hurt me, doesn’t mean he can’t make my life a living hell. He trashes my apartment, tries to kill my proselyte, and wants nothing more for me to see the sun for the first time in over eighty years.
The feeling’s mutual.
But after my powers start spiraling out of control, and he’s the only person who can stop them, I’m forced to trust him with my magic and my second life—even though he might become my undoing.
Bound by Blood is a dark paranormal romance between a stuck up NB vampire noble and their so-called bodyguard. This book takes place in the same universe as the Call Your Name Quartet and the Fallen Justice Trilogy, but can be read as a standalone. Please check the CWs on my site if need be.
Dirt-Stained Hands, Thorn-Pierced Skin by Tabitha O’Connell
A queer, Beauty-and-the-Beast-inspired novella
Heron thought ey wanted to be with handsome, charming Tiel—but the relationship hasn’t quite lived up to eir expectations. With Tiel’s confidence comes a tendency to be overbearing, and now he wants Heron to leave eir farm life behind and move to town with him. And Heron can’t figure out how to explain to him that ey doesn’t want that.
When an accident strands Heron’s mother at a castle rumored to belong to a family of mages, Heron rushes off to make sure she’s all right—only to find the castle occupied by a single man who isn’t a mage at all. Prone to hiding behind his long mess of hair, the mysterious Theomer possesses a long-neglected, semi-magical garden. A job tending it is Heron’s perfect opportunity for some time away from Tiel while ey decides what to tell him.
Heron did not plan to be drawn in by Theomer’s attentive gaze and understated sense of humor. But as an undeniable bond forms between them, ey’s soon going to have a much bigger choice to make…
Everything Is Wonderful Now by Shane Blackheart
When Dark is good and Light is evil…
Ten-year-old Sera is isolated and depressed; bullied at school and at home by her father. Her mind gives her no respite, suffering from a panic disorder and a second voice in her head that forces violent, intrusive thoughts.
She meets the fallen angel Byleth one night while wanting to end her life. He isn’t a fan of kids and intends to leave immediately, but Sera’s aura catches his eye. It’s dark, and it isn’t from her trauma that pulls at his heartstrings. It’s also attracted a corrupt angel who wants to rid the world of another Hellspawn child.
Sera has a lot on her plate, but as she ages and transitions to Sean, a disabled trans man with C-PTSD, he not only meets more spirit guides from Hell, he realizes that his biggest threat has always been the ‘other’ that dwells in his own head.
How to Bite Your Neighbor and Win a Wager by D.N. Bryn
“I WANT YOU TO BITE ME.”
Vincent Barnes has suffered four years as a vampire, and they’ve been the most miserable years of his pathetic life. Too poor for black market blood, he feeds from sleeping humans to survive. He tries to never intrude on the same prey twice, but after a single delicious taste of a long-lost childhood neighbor, he can’t help returning for seconds.
Wesley Garcia has been waking up with fang marks. Lucky for him, he needs a vampire—to use as bait. He’s certain Vitalis-Barron Pharmaceutical killed his mother, but to gain access to their covert research labs, he has to bring them a bloodsucker for their experiments.
Step one, a dramatic offer: Stay, and you can bite me.
Vincent leaps at the chance to gobble Wesley up.
Wes’s plan is perfect. He’ll befriend the vampire, then trick him into coming to the lab. No fighting, no fuss. But Vincent is more than Wesley has bargained for: sweet and shy, with intoxicating fangs that awaken new desires in Wes. As the two bond, Vincent believes he might have finally found someone worth putting his trust in… and Wes fears neither of them will survive the betrayal he has planned.
How to Bite Your Neighbor and Win and Wager is a slow-burn paranormal mm romance full of laughter, angst, and thirsty pining. It is perfect for fans of fangs and scientific interpretations of vampirism, with a medium spice level that heats up further in the free bonus content. Content includes bite kink, bleeding (non-kinky), medical experimentation (not experienced by the point of view characters), one particular lesbian BFF who should be reported to HR, and the use of “bodice-ripping” as a verb.
Jack of Thorns by A. K. Faulkner
Laurence Riley might be able to see the future, but he can’t see a way to fix his messed-up life. He can’t control anything—not his supernatural talents, not his drug addiction, and not his violent ex-boyfriend. Laurence needs help and he knows it. A lifelong pagan, he turns to his god… and he gets Jack. Jack can help Laurence tame his powers and take control of his life. But it comes at a price: Laurence will need to keep him fed with regular offerings of sex. For the old Laurence, that would’ve been a pleasure. Problem is, Laurence has met Quentin.
Quentin is devastatingly handsome, way out of Laurence’s league (like British nobility levels of out-of-his-league), and unbearably chaste. If that weren’t enough to keep Laurence away, Quentin’s wild telekinesis is even more uncontrollable than Laurence’s precognition. But Laurence doesn’t want anyone else, and Jack is getting hungry.
Then Laurence foresees a glimpse of Jack’s true plan. It will leave a trail of death across San Diego–and Laurence has been helping him do it. The past has taught him that the future can’t be changed. But if Laurence and Quentin can’t stop Jack, there won’t be any future at all.
Jack of Thorns is the first book in a dark urban fantasy series where X-Men meets The Magicians.
Manipulator’s War by Elise Carlson
All roads lead to war.
Tarlah’s first nonbinary heir, Ruarnon, is determined to prove their worth to Tarlah’s perfect King. But when Ruarnon’s parents are abducted, they’re left ruling Tarlah alone, in the shadow of impending war, with absent allies.
Neighbouring King Kyura has no intention of invading. But his warmongering subjects long for the glory of expansion. When Kyura rejects their calls for war, assassins threaten his family and mutiny threatens his reign.
Across the ocean, lost Aussie and feisty history-nerd Linh seizes her only chance to get home; sailing with Ruarnon’s allies.
Monsters at sea threaten everyone. Linh’s learnings could save Kyura’s people and clear her homeward path of them. If she risks her life aiding Ruarnon.
But to secure peace with Kyura’s unruly subjects, Ruarnon’s ultimate test as heir risks betrayal and Tarlah’s bloody defeat.
Name Her Holy by Aubrey Ennis
Where the weave between worlds thins, a long buried shadow rises from its grave among the stars and seeks vengeance on the Vale.
A Herald has been named to mark its ascension— a woman resurrected by The Seeker’s hand and placed in the pious care of the Vigil Order. A once disgraced daughter of her noble house, Kye Liatris is crowned a living saint, one tasked with stopping the coming cataclysm. Kye has lived on borrowed time since, aiding the Vigil while quietly enduring worsening ailments.
When a strange blight brings death to the valley of Jude Arendell’s home village, she finds herself swept up in the Vigil’s fight. But in taking up her mother’s sword, Jude learns that her family legacy was not as it seemed.
As stars extinguish and the threads that bind the Vale swiftly unravel, so do the long trusted stories of history past. Now Kye and Jude must decide whether to follow their divine callings or scorn the gods and place their trust in each other.
Quill & Still by Aaron Sofaer
The beloved slice-of-queer-life debut which reviewers described as “Like opening up a pulp fiction novel and getting Milton’s paradise lost” with “a nearly Neil Gaiman approach to mythology” set in a deep, complex world you’ll wish you could live in.
Sophie Nadash once yearned to understand life and chemistry. Now a disillusioned scientist approaching middle age, she yearns to set aside pipettes and polymerase forever.
A chance encounter with the Goddess Artemis sets her on the path to becoming the Alchemist for the rural Shemmai village of Kibosh, where the rat race gives way to peace and the quiet life. Freed from the hustle of Earth, she can relax, make friends, and rediscover her love for chemistry through its mystical precursor… and come to grips with the Jewish faith she left behind as a child.
Aaron crafts an interesting, vibrant world to explore. A slow life fantasy about civics, science, and a city above a dungeon. -Casualfarmer, author of Beware of Chicken
This is the story I never knew I’d always wanted to read, in a world I never knew I’d always wanted to inhabit. Among high-concept fantasy conceits, ‘what if a society was built to maximize decency’ sounds almost banal to describe, until you see it actually executed well and realize just how subversive that idea is. You deserve to read Quill & Still. -D. D. Webb, author of The Gods are Bastards
A perfect read for lovers of cozy, slice-of-life fiction in the vein of Becky Chambers’s “Records of a Spaceborn Few” or Jo Walton’s “Lifelode”. Don’t miss out on this rich and colorful tapestry that weaves together civics, chemistry, magic, and an off-the-path Judaism to form Sophie’s first entry into a new world.
Shades and Silver by Dax Murray
The birthright of every Ástfríður is to know each metal in the earth, command it, bend it to their desires. To hear metal singing, some of it waiting just beneath the surface, so much of it deeper in the earth. If they wanted, they knew they could pluck that metal from the earth, melt it with a thought, and shape it as they pleased with a breath of air and their will.
Each Ástfríður must choose which metal they would wear upon their heads, denoting the path they would walk. They craft beautiful horns to wear on their brow, forged with the metal they wish to identify with.
But Britt does not know if they can choose the path they want, if they can overcome a past which has stolen their identity. The day has come for them to choose and they have no idea if they have any right to even try to.
And Astrid has never felt the pull of the metal at all. Wearing a forged circlet and horn, they try to navigate a world that they feel has rejected them, all the while fearing someone will learn their secret.
The Veil of the Ástfríður has kept them hidden from the world, and safe from intruders. Yet Britt and Astrid feel they are imposters in their own homes.
Afterimages is a duology about identity, doubt, and acceptance.
Synthetic Sea by Franklyn S. Newton
In the distant future of planet cracking , VR distraction, and corporate greed, grieving private detective Ryoma LeBeau takes what seems to be a simple job on the opulent casino planetoid of Scylla.
Captivated by a chance meeting with a Synth musician, Guin, he finds himself drawn to the smoky anachronistic lounge bar where they perform, weaving their music around his heart.
It seems there’s a lot more to both Guin and to this case and Ryoma can’t help but pull at the threads of mystery leading him to the depths of conspiracy and memory.
The Elysium Proposal by A. E. Bross
Kyle Talos, adventurer, privateer, and captain of The Stargazer, wanted to have the perfect romantic evening with the love of her life. Good food, better wine, and then maybe, just maybe, a marriage proposal.
Except nothing ever goes as planned.
Instead, she received a nighttime chase across rooftops, her ship commandeered, and threats that forced her into sailing herself, her not-yet-fiancé, and the invading enemy towards certain doom. All of this in pursuit of the myth of a spring that could grant eternal life. This otherworldly prize was rumored to be located on the Elysium Cove, a small island far out to sea.
An island surrounded by storms so powerful that no vessel has sailed in and returned to tell the tale. More than one fool has tried. None of them survived.
Kyle must now keep herself and those she loves safe, but will she be able to change course before the relentless search for eternal life leads them all to their deaths?
The Reanimator’s Heart by Kara Jorgensen
A reluctant necromancer, a man killed before his time, and the crime that brings them together.
Felipe Galvan’s life as an investigator for the Paranormal Society has been spent running into danger. Returning home from his latest case, Felipe struggles with the sudden quiet of his life until a mysterious death puts him in the path of the enigmatic Oliver Barlow.
Oliver has two secrets. One, he has been in love with the charming Felipe Galvan for years. Two, he is a necromancer, but to keep the sensible life he’s built as a medical examiner, he must hide his powers. That is until Oliver finds Felipe murdered and accidentally brings him back from the dead.
But Felipe refuses to die again until he and Oliver catch his killer. Together, Felipe and Oliver embark on an investigation to uncover a plot centuries in the making. As they close in on his killer, one thing is certain: if they don’t stop them, Felipe won’t be the last to die.
They of the West by Dani Finn
Dralen never could leave well enough alone.
He knows better than to go near the canyons. That’s where the Logans live, wild men of the hills said to devour lone travelers in frenzied midnight feasts.
But the mysterious cloaked figure he saw down by the canyons had to be there for a reason. And he can’t get his Urpa’s poem out of his head: something about “They of the West” and “Treasures buried in memory’s mine.”
Folks used to mine for topaz in the canyons, and other stones too. Magical ones, some said. But the Logans and the cave-in put an end to all that.
Dralen knows he’ll get in trouble if he goes after the cloaked figure, and he’s doubly sure he doesn’t care. Maybe They know something everyone else has forgotten in this little nothing town. Dralen is called to follow Them, but the closer he gets to unraveling the mystery, the more it seems his own journey is just beginning…
They of the West is a fantasy novella set in a brand-new world, a coming-of-age story about friendship, family, and self-discovery. It is the first book in The Scrublands, a planned trio of novellas. It is appropriate for older young adult and adult audiences; content warnings include hunting/butchery, smoking, drinking, cursing, and brief references to sexual topics.
Wherever the Stars Call by S. Jean
Living within the Galactic Federation of the Solar System isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Laurel got sold into strict federation schooling where if she doesn’t shape up, they’ll scramble her mind until she’s no longer herself and build the perfect citizen out of her.
Juniper got fitted with invasive cybernetics to augment the human experience at the tender age of eight and if they act up, the feds can turn them off–effectively killing them.
So, the two of them decide to run away together. All they need is to get past Jupiter where the fed’s hold isn’t as tight. There, Laurel can figure out what she wants in life free from fed control and Juniper can figure out how to stop their cybernetics from ruining their life.
Easy, right?
Not when they find a busted federation ship on the way with a vampire on board who might need their help with a severed head the federation is after, or perhaps, he just wants their blood. One of the two.
Know an indie or self-published SFF author to recommend? Drop us a comment!
