This week is Self-Published Authors Appreciation Week, an entire week dedicated to appreciating self-published authors! This special week is taking place between July 21st to July 27th and was started by Jodie over at the Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub blog. You can find out more about SPAAW on Jodie’s blog, as well as ways to take part.
Naturally, at Read Indie Fantasy, we’re big fans of self-published authors and so we couldn’t help but get involved! Every day this week, Nils and Trudie will be making a spotlight post (like this one!) to highlight a classic self-published author’s book as well as a new author or book we think needs the spotlight across SFF genres and book types.
Want to take part? You can support self-published authors by leaving a book review or shouting about your favourite self-published books on social media. Don’t forget these hashtags: SPAAW #SelfPublishedAuthorsAppreciationWeek
Here are Tru’s picks for today’s themed spotlight on science-fiction:
A Classic Book Spotlight for… Stellar Instinct
Mission: Impossible meets The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet in this fun and fast-paced spy-fi adventure series featuring a tough yet conflicted secret agent, cloak and dagger intrigue, and a charming cast of alien characters.
When galactic danger calls, Agent Lilline Renault answers.
Strange signals pulse from an icy planet in a remote star system. Enter Lilline Renault, GAM-OPs secret agent extraordinaire. To ordinary citizens she’s Keely Larkin, an adventure company guide with a flair for the daring and a penchant for writing trite poetry.
When a terrifying link between high-tech entertainment and ancient cosmic forces rises, Lilline leaps into action. Verses flow as she rockets through space, dons cunning disguises, and infiltrates enemy territory with an arsenal of secret gadgets. To solve the mystery behind a dastardly plan means beating a mastermind at his own game. Lilline will need her best weapon to stand a fighting chance: her instinct.
Stellar Instinct by Jonathan Nevair is an action-packed sci-fi thriller for those who love spies… in space!
About the Author
Jonathan Nevair is an award-winning science fiction writer and educator originally from Long Island, NY. After two decades in the classroom, he finally got up the nerve to write fiction.
His character-driven space operas and spy-fi thrillers have been nominated for, and won, multiple awards. To Spy a Star is the 2024 National Fantasy Fan Federation Laureate Award winner for Best Novel and Stellar Instinct was awarded 2nd Place in this year’s Valorious Awards (2024). Nominations include: the NF3 Laureate Award (Stellar Instinct) and the Indie Ink Awards (Wind Tide). Jati’s Wager was the 2022 Indie Ink Awards runner-up for the category, Writing the Future We Need: Non-Binary Representation.
His short fiction is published in sci-fi journals, including Simultaneous Times and Eldritch Science.
Jonathan lives in southeastern PA with his wife and rambunctious mountain feist, Cricket. When not writing and teaching, he spends his time chasing his dog through the woods and stargazing with dreams of walking in space.
- Website: www.JonathanNevair.com
- Instagram: @jnevair
- Bluesky: jnevair.bsky.social
- Facebook: facebook.com/jnevair
A New Book Spotlight for… Loyalty to the Max
Max Dupont stars in his own adventure in the second installment of the Broken Union series, taking place one year after Ancient as the Stars.
Captain Maxine Dupont of the Earth Union is a rogue. A maverick. A clear-headed arbitrator of right and wrong– rules be damned.
But even Max stumbles when he encounters his latest challenge. The Union is collaborating with former enemy Mars to fix the collapse of interstellar travel, but at the cost of vulnerable citizens. Max has to figure out where his loyalties lie–and if treason is a price he’s willing to pay for doing the right thing.
Meanwhile…
Lieutenant Ren Yilmaz has finally found a crew. A home. A rewarding career, on the ESS Knight.
But Ren gets drawn into a web of espionage. Her captain, Max, has shady dealings with anti-Union rebel groups and assigns her shipmates off-the-books tasks. It’s Ren’s duty as an officer to investigate. Snooping can be disastrous. Not only would she be betraying her newfound family, but Ren has secrets too–and if she digs too far, her own past as a spy could get spectacularly exposed.
As tensions mount, the choices Max and Ren make will test their loyalty not only to the Union, but to each other–and the crew they call family.
Loyalty to the Max by Maya Darjani released earlier this year and is a space opera adventure set one year after the events of Ancient as the Stars, though looking at some of the recommended reviews, you may be able to read this one as a standalone! This series is perfect for fans of Lower Decks and The Expanse.
About the Author
Maya Darjani is a writer and photographer from the heartland of America who writes genre-bending fiction about badass women, dual loyalty, and the false promise of patriotism.
- Website: MayaDarjani.com
- Instagram: @mayadarjani
- Bluesky: mayadarjani.bsky.social
