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Glimmer of The Other

Glimmer of The Other by Heather G Harris

SPFBO8

I can tell when you’re lying. Every. Single. Time. I’m Jinx. As a private investigator, being a walking, talking lie detector is a useful skill – but let’s face it, it’s not normal. You’d think it would make my job way too easy, but even with my weird skills, I still haven’t been able to track down my parent’s killers. When I’m hired to find a missing university student, I hope to find her propped up at a bar – yet my gut tells me there’s more to this case than a party girl gone wild. Firstly, she’s a bookish soul who’s as likely to go off the rails as Mother Theresa. Secondly, I’m not the only one on her trail; she’s also being tracked by the implacable and oh-so-sexy Inspector Stone. Stone and I team up, and he shoves me into a realm where magic is real – a place where there are vampyrs and werewolves, dragons and trolls. And where my skills are more than just detecting lies… Oh, and my dog? He’s a freaking hellhound who can manipulate the magical realms themselves. I need to find the girl. I need to discover who killed my parents. And I need to find out more about the attractive but mysterious Zachary Stone…


Scribbles and Scrawls: A Short Story Collection

Scribbles and Scrawls: A Short Story Collection by Bethany Votaw

Bethany Votaw gives you sixteen short stories featuring the darkness and the monsters surrounding us. Experience the uncomfortable realities lurking beneath the surface. Meet a devil at a coffee shop, discover what the Night Man is really after, and stumble upon strange creatures and events lurking just beneath the surface. If you like supernatural horror, psychological thrills, and mind-bending twists, then you’ll love this debut short story collection by Bethany Votaw. Unlock Scribbles and Scrawls and begin the journey into madness.


When Shadows Fall

When Shadows Fall by Lindy Enns

SPFBO10

“Everything I hated and feared was outside that window. There was nothing between me and the night, nothing but a boy I didn’t know and shouldn’t trust.” Afflicted with debilitating panic attacks and constant anxiety, Ara Holstenner is the last person who would ever oppose the tyrant lord who subjugates her people. But when her sister is taken by shadow creatures, Ara must defy The Lord's edicts and brave the forbidden night world to save her. Can Ara overcome the fears that have defined her since childhood, or will she doom her sister—and herself—to a lifetime of torment?


The Dark Heart of Redemption

The Dark Heart of Redemption by Darran M Handshaw

SPFBO9 SPSFC 2024

"Some secrets are best left undiscovered." Pyramid, the great heart of Redemption, lies under siege by tribal invaders that threaten to destroy the very civilization that the Dominions have created. The Engineer, Actaeon, leads a force of Raedelleans from the south, where they pause to investigate the secrets of abandoned Travail in search of aid for the battle to come. At the same time, the new Princess of Raedelle, Eisandre, sails down the River of Arches with her Thyrian allies to attack from the Great Sea to the west. Travail's secrets are darker than expected, and the reason behind the Loresworn evacuation may soon spread to the rest of the city. Meanwhile, far to the north, Ajman and Shield fight over the lands of Czeryn, left desolate by an artifact that just might extinguish all life in the city at the hands of an unseen enemy known only as the Veiled One. In his quest to save Redemption, will Actaeon be able to overcome the old enmity between the Dominions to unite against these threats? Or will all civilization fall, just as the Ancients had ages ago? One thing is certain: in Redemption, everything comes with a cost.

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The Dark Heart of Redemption is Darran M Handshaw's second novel and is a standalone sequel to The Engineer (an SPFBO semi-finalist!).


Legacy of Flame

Legacy of Flame by Rebecca Bapaye

SPFBO7 Indie Recs Indie

A winter queen and prince of flame, bound together by fate. Following a deadly attack on a druid grove, Queen Elia Kolenikova of the Ice Realm is the first and only monarch to take a stand against the fire priest order, a reclusive band of sorcerers with unlimited power. Determined to find a way to protect druids from further violence, Elia turns to the annals of history, tracing her knowledge of fire priests back to a time when a previous Ice Queen was intimately tied to the rise of the order. There’s just one problem: what Elia reads in those accounts may not be true. To unravel the mystery, Elia needs more than an ally—she needs a fire priest. An immortal Ice Realm prince who’s been missing from the history books for centuries. Syllian, like his father before him, sacrificed his mortal body to be born again in flames. Two thousand years later, he’s hunted at every turn by fire priests seeking revenge for his betrayal of the order. The threat means little until a rumor reaches him: Queen Elia Kolenikova is asking questions. About fire priests, about druids, and most dangerously of all, about the truth. Emerging from the shadows could cost Syllian his life. But if he doesn’t, the lies and propaganda of the fire priest order will cost Elia hers first.


The Syren Stories: Meraki & Kairos

The Syren Stories: Meraki & Kairos by Naomi Kelly

MERAKI and KAIROS come together to form THE SYREN STORIES in a never-before-seen duology collection. In Meraki, seventeen-year-old Wren believes she has just swum away from the greatest threat in the sea. That's until she finds herself being hauled upon a warlord's boat. With her life at the mercy of a young, temperamental King, Wren must decide who is her ultimate enemy, and figure out what the Hel do the gods have planned? Syrens are bound to tell the truth, but that doesn’t mean their lives cannot be riddled with lies. And in Kairos her adventure continues. Having survived the battle against Kestrel, and with spring arriving, everything appears to be going swimmingly for Wren- that is until an arrow knocks her out of the sky. When the mortals she defeated last winter come seeking retribution, Wren learns that although these mere men are not immortal, they have no problem biding their time. Revenge, after all, is a dish best served cold. And forgiveness is a gift which can swiftly be retracted.


 Strong Fort Spathi

Strong Fort Spathi by Heather C. Wright

Sinikka is returning home after a late meeting, but never makes it. Her best friend, Jordan, discovers she’s missing. Before Jordan and his werewolf pack can begin looking for her, he finds himself host to Andrew Farkas. Andrew hopes to gain the support of Jordan’s pack in his bid to become the leader of all the American packs. When Andrew’s ward, Tyler, disappears as well, the entire situation becomes even more complicated. Will Jordan and Andrew be able to find Sinikka and Tyler? Will they be in time?


The Wolf in Me: Survive

The Wolf in Me: Survive by Alex Smith

The 23rd century is nearing its end. Having been treated as subhuman (and worse) for over 300 years, the Wolves - a race of wolf-human hybrids - have reached their breaking point. With a clear threat of war rising daily, the US Military devises a plan to destroy the beasts they helped create. However, utilizing their intelligence and raw bestial instincts, the Wolves hatch a plan of their own: plunge the entire world into a war to end all wars! In the aftermath of a deadly airship crash, Percy - a six-year-old human boy - finds himself behind enemy lines; in the claws of the creatures he's been taught to fear his entire life. Xander - a twenty-eight-year-old elite black ops Wolf, finds himself with a very difficult choice to make; kill the innocent child he has found, or be ostracized by his own kind and protect the boy? What is a small, frail, boy to do when surrounded by beasts fighting to end his very existence? Survive!


The World-Maker Parable

The World-Maker Parable by Luke Tarzian

SFINCS

Guilt will always call you back... Rhona is a faithful servant of the country Jémoon and a woman in love. Everything changes when her beloved sets the ravenous Vulture goddess loose upon the land. Forced to execute the woman she loves for committing treason, Rhona discovers a profound correlation between morality and truth. A connection that might save her people or annihilate them all. You are a lie... Varésh Lúm-talé is many things, most of all a genocidal liar. A falsity searching for the Phoenix goddess whom he believes can help him rectify his atrocities. Such an undertaking is an arduous one for a man with missing memories and a conscience set on rending him from inside out. A man whose journey leads to Hang-Dead Forest and a meeting with a Vulture goddess who is not entirely as she seems.


The Price of Power

The Price of Power by Michael Michel

SPFBO9

Prince Barodane could not hold back the darkness. Not even in himself. He laid an innocent city in its grave and then died a hero. In his absence, war whispers across the land. Power-hungry highborn dispatch spies and assassins to the shadows as they maneuver for the throne, while an even greater threat rises in the South. Monsters and cultists flock to the banners of a mad prophet determined to control reality…and then shatter it. Destiny stalks three to the brink of oblivion. A dead prince that isn’t actually dead. Barodane buried his shameful past in a stupor of drugs, drink, and crime, and now, he’d rather watch the world fall apart than wear a crown again. An orphan with hero’s blood who is forced to make a harrowing choice: betray her country or sacrifice her first love. And a powerful seer who has no choice at all–her grandson must die. If any of them fails to pay the price… The cost will be the world’s complete annihilation. "This book feels like a worthy successor to some of the greats of fiction, including Malazan, A Song of Ice and Fire, and Wheel of Time." - Andy Peloquin, Amazon #1 bestseller of the Darkblade series.


Of Stars and Lightning

Of Stars and Lightning by Melanie Mar

“Destiny wasn’t meant to be tested. Then again, neither was she.” Sol Yarrow didn't ask for much. A nice day for hunting. A peaceful shift at her gods-awful job. A steaming bowl of her Aunt's famous stew. Easy. Simple. But after twenty-five years of simplicity, everything she thought to be true was rewritten when four strangers came to her town of Yavenharrow to take her back to a shielded land known to be inhabited by ruthless Elemental Magic Wielders, a land only known by rumors and bedtime stories. A kingdom where her Mother had been the Queen. A kingdom that, by order of succession, now belonged to her. But what would a human with no magic and a short temper have to offer the Wielders? Sol didn't think much. Her Court thought otherwise.


Dreamer

Dreamer by Amy Campbell

Their dream of freedom will turn into a nightmare unless these outlaws can stack the deck in their favor. Safely back in his chosen home, Breaker mage Blaise should only have to worry about his bakery and his complicated relationship with Jefferson. But the lies that shaped his life continue to haunt him, and he sets out to reconcile with his mother—only to discover that a band of magical desperadoes has taken her. With old friends at his side, Blaise sets off across the frontier, chasing down leads and unaware that his new foes hope to snare the Breaker, too. Meanwhile, Jefferson balances guiding his fledgling homeland to nationhood while concealing magic he’s not supposed to possess. The demands of his ambassadorship send him to a faraway country where he’s embroiled in a web of intrigue between a shadowy cabal planning to use him and malicious politicians who want to see him—and the new nation—fall. As Blaise closes in and Jefferson navigates the dangerous political waters, they realize their circumstances are once again linked. Will their combined magic be the ace in the hole that wins it all, or will they fold in the final showdown?


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