The Book Bazaar 2026 is an exciting collaborative crowdfunding event on Backerkit of 39 indie authors who have come together to raise funds for their campaigns. In celebration, and to help promote these authors, we’ll be featuring spotlights through the fundraising period for you to check and out and support! Within The Book Bazaar, you’ll find a variety of genres, including fantasy, sci-fi, horror, queer, and romance, as well as a variety of formats such as novels, novellas, series, anthologies, and audiobooks. There’s something for everyone!
The fundraising period runs from October 29 – November 19. Back 3 or more projects to earn unique bookmarks, and 10 or more projects to receive an exclusive anthology. Want a taste of these projects? Check out the free sampler bundle on Itch.io!
Please welcome Echo Sight by Cian Verati in the spotlight!
Echo Sight is a high SFF/thriller novel about saving a city from xenomorphic fungal demons, justice, & finding the love you needed, not necessarily the one you were looking for. For everyone who ever felt out of place. Intrinsically queer & ND.
Enaka Lomawir has seen what the terrifying, fungal senka do to communities already; ten years ago, they not only survived an attack on their old base, but rescued two of their friends from a senka den in the jungle. Despite losing a leg to the incident, they’ve committed themselves to preventing that sort of thing from happening to anyone else.
Now they work as a Scorcher–a game warden, of sorts, whose primary job is eradicating sources of blight to prevent the senka from spreading. Their latest assignment takes them to Akert, a city in a foreign country semi-hostile to their species, but Enaka is undeterred. Whether the Akertans value Enaka or not, they don’t deserve to be colonized, eaten alive, or watch their community succumb to a sentient plague.
There’s just one problem; two, actually. The first is finding smuggled goods from Enaka’s people during a senka hunt. The second is a local archmage that Enaka’s pretty sure is toying with them, believing them a spy for their home country.
With no one to turn to for a job way bigger than first believed, Enaka could cut their losses and go back to Eiras, letting someone else handle it. But with a city on the brink of an outbreak, suspicious agents with their own agendas, and local bureaucracy leaving their citizens to fate, Enaka can’t leave in good conscience, even if it seems hopeless. As the Scorcher motto says: “singular mind, singular purpose.”
Besides, if Akert falls, the senka have an established site on the habitable side of the mountains. That’s bad news for everyone.
It’s either find a way to stop it now, or die trying.
The author is raising funds to support print copies of the book.
About the Author
Welcome! I’m Cian, and I turned to writing after years of trying to force myself into various 8-5pm roles that never seemed to fit. I’ve held my love of fantasy and sci-fi since childhood, and its refusal to be banished when I set it aside for years to be a traditional breadwinner has finally become too hard to ignore. So! While you’re here, please read my first chapter (which is free!), visit my Patreon, and take a look at my extras! I’ll continue to update this website as new projects become available!
Life is too short to stay miserable. I’ve decided to live my life fully to be there for my family and my passion, and that means publishing the novels I’ve always wanted to share with the world.
- Website: www.CianVerati.com
- Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/verati404.bsky.social
- Instagram: @verati404
- TikTok: @verati764
