[Discovery Read Vote] October-November | Indie Author

[u/Vast-Passenger1126]

Hello bibliophiles 👋

Welcome to our October-November Discovery Read nomination post! As always, our Discovery Reads are a chance to read something a little different, step away from the BOTM, Bestseller lists, and buzzy flavor of the moment fiction. We have got that covered elsewhere on r/bookclub. With the Discovery Reads, it is time to explore the vast array of other books that often don't get a look in. 

Topic - Indie Author

Most books we read tend to be written by authors with major publishing houses behind them. With this nomination we want specifically to give small press publishers, self-publishing services, and independent bookstores that help an unaffiliated authors the opportunity to be seen, and read.

Please nominate some lesser-known gems from independent authors who self-publish their books, or who partner with a small press publisher. The definition of "indie author" is very broad, but we'll accept any nomination that is not from a major publishing house. We'd also prefer to avoid books that started off self-published/small-press and later got picked up by a major publishing house. (To give you an idea, here's a list of the 5 major publishers and their subdivisions.)

Below are some (non-exhaustive) resources to help you explore indie books;

• Independent Book Review - reviews a selection of indie titles.
• Goodreads' lists tagged as "indie"
• The IPPY awards - the best of independent, university, and self-published titles through the years.
• Fantasy Hive - self-published and small press works.

Voting will be open for four days, from the 1st to the 5th of the month. A reminder will be posted 24 hours (+/-) before the vote is closed and the winners will be announced asap after closing the vote. Reading will commence around the 21st of the month so you have plenty of time to get a copy of the winning title!

Nomination specifications:

• Must not be published by a major publishing house
• Any page count
• Fiction
• No previously read selections

Please check the previous selections to determine if we have read your selection. You can also check by author here. Nominate as many titles as you want (one per comment), and upvote for all and any you will participate in if they win. A reminder to upvote will be posted on the 4th, so be sure to get your nominations in before then to give them the best chance of winning!

Happy reading nominating 📚

[u/Joinedformyhubs]

Glitchborn Heart by HJ Spence

In a neon-drenched city that never sleeps, falling in love is the ultimate glitch. Would you fall for the man who trapped your soul in his AI? What if he were the only one who could save you?

They were never supposed to want each other. They were never supposed to touch.

Dr. Kael Ryudon is control. Cold precision. Corporate teeth. A man who cages chaos and calls it order.
Lyra Vaille is fire. Wild magic. Reckless defiance. A glitch the system was built to extinguish.

He hunts anomalies.
She is one.

Dr. Ryudon designed the corporation's largest AI system to be his generation's sanctuary. Instead, it became her prison... and his obsession. Now the system is slipping into The Void, and he's trapped on the outside of a heart he no longer knows how to reach.

[u/Comprehensive-Fun47]

The Once and Future Queen by Paula Lafferty

Outlander-meets-The Princess Bride plus Camelot in a fresh, big-hearted, feminist, timeslip adventure reimagining the epic saga of King Arthur, as told from the perspective of his spunky and surprising queen, Vera – complete with time travel and good running shoes!

Vera always knew she didn’t fit in. When she learns that she is meant to be in another time, she leaps at the chance to embrace a new life in a world of valor, intrigue, and unexpected magic in this bold and romantic retelling of Arthurian legend . . .

22-year-old Vera is at a crossroads: waiting tables, grieving her previous relationship, and jogging aimlessly each morning as if toward an uncertain future. Then an odd man shows up at her workplace, insisting that she was once the legendary Queen Guinevere of Camelot, and that her lost memories hold the key to changing both the past and the present. Somehow, it all feels like the direction she’s been looking for. But when she asks the mysterious man to tell her more about Lancelot, Arthur, and a faithless queen, he can only say that much of what she’s heard about Camelot is wrong. The truth, he claims, is something she must see for herself.

After jumping through a portal in Glastonbury’s historic center, Vera is not prepared for what she finds. Magic is everywhere, but a curse on the kingdom means it dwindles every day. She has no idea how to perform a queen’s duties. Her fast friendship with Lancelot sets gossip flowing, and the stranger she must call “husband” often refuses to meet her eye. Arthur is a puzzle: cold, forbidding, and, while angry to her face, keeps leaving secret tokens of tenderness in her chambers. Worst of all, Vera’s memories—and the answers locked within them—show no signs of returning. If Vera is truly destined to save Camelot, she’ll have to trust her instincts. And her king will have to trust her . . .

[u/spreebiz]

Between by L.L. Starling

Sasha Pierce hasn't had a single dream since she was a child...

... until she accepts a substitute teaching position in the charmingly witchy village of Old Middleton. Her first dream in twenty-five years ought to be enchanting, but her wonder quickly turns to shock when she realizes that it's not a dream at all, but an entirely different sort of magic. Catapulted into the fairy tale kingdom of Between through an ancient portal, Sasha's astonishment is swiftly upgraded to panic when she accidentally performs a supposedly impossible feat and is declared the True Queen of Between ... and betrothed to its infuriatingly handsome sorcerer-king. Lorn, Shadow King of Between, is desperate to break free from Between's clutches. Magically tethered to the ramshackle kingdom, he wages a daily battle to save his disreputable subjects from rampaging magical creatures, sinkholes, and catastrophes of the distressingly lethal variety. To avoid an early grave, he needs an escape plan, not a wife...until he learns that this magicless mortal holds the key to his freedom.

Unwilling to leave her world to accept the crown-or the husband-Sasha must race against the clock to disentangle herself from this fairy tale. But her empty throne leaves a dangerous rift between their worlds. As dark forces descend upon Old Middleton, the two must make a choice: work together or unleash fairytale chaos upon their realms.

[u/Joinedformyhubs]

Ashwalker by S.M. Gaither

Long ago, dragons were unleashed as weapons of mass destruction, igniting a war that shattered the Empire of Kaldra. Now, the survivors of that once-great realm cower behind fortified walls, while the beasts terrorize the wilds between the broken kingdoms.

Arowyn Vale survives as an ashwalker—one of the few reckless enough to brave the burned-out roads between the walled cities, smuggling everything from supplies to secrets. But when she reluctantly saves a dying dragon hatchling on a routine run, she draws the eye of the ruler of Mouren, a brutal realm directly in the heart of dragon territory.

Once upon a time, King Reave Callahan’s people wielded powerful magic, bonding with dragons in order to crush their enemies with wing and flame. But now, that magic is fading, and law decrees that anyone who manages to bond with a dragon must serve the Mouren crown—even a gutter-born, half-feral ashwalker from the slums of an enemy kingdom.

Dragged into Reave’s glittering but cutthroat court, Arowyn must navigate a treacherous new life built upon secrets, ancient magic, and shifting alliances. As her connection to the hatchling deepens—and with the Mouren king watching her with a gaze full of both danger and desire—she will have to make a decision:

To become a weapon of the kingdom that broke her world…

Or to burn it all down from within.

[u/ChronicallyLatte]

Discovery by J.A.J. Minton

459 pages, Paperback

“Cosmic game board like no other. Astonishing. Brilliant. Unsettling. Stunning.” - Janny Wurts, author of the series, The Wars of Light and Shadow

In 1992, at the dawn of the age of technology, disgraced ex-game show host Manny di Martini schemes for a comeback with a deep-sea television special in the South Pacific. He quickly finds himself in over his head, attracting the attention of a cosmic being who will lead Manny to a television broadcast event much bigger than the entire planet bargained evidence of a slumbering alien in a ruined city at the bottom of the ocean. One look at the monster on TV, and humans collectively freak out.

The narrative leaps between a cast of unforgettable characters, revealing their connections to cosmic gods who play with their lives. If humanity can’t save itself, and the cosmic beings do not have humans’ best interests in their cold hearts, humanity will have to pull itself together to prepare for a war that not only threatens Earth, but the very fabric of reality.

[u/lazylittlelady]

An Accidental Death by Peter Grainger

The story opens with the apparently accidental drowning of a sixth form student in the Norfolk countryside. As a matter of routine, or so it seems, the case passes across the desk of Detective Sergeant Smith, recently returned to work after an internal investigation into another case that has led to tensions between officers at Kings Lake police headquarters. As an ex DCI, Smith could have retired by now, and it is clear that some of his superiors wish that he would do so.   The latest trainee detective to work with him is the son of a member of his former team, and together they begin to unravel the truth about what happened to Wayne Fletcher. As the investigation proceeds, it becomes clear that others are involved - some seem determined to prevent it, some seem to be taking too much interest.   In the end Smith operates alone, having stepped too far outside standard procedures to ask for support. He knows that his own life might be at risk but he has not calculated on the life of his young assistant also being put in danger.

[u/Giraffstronaut]

The Curse of Broken Shadows (Smoke and Shadow #1) by Laura Winter

746 pages, Paperback, Kindle-U

An assassin, a powerful dagger, and a magic that shouldn’t exist.

Shadow magic is extinct. The Veil Worshippers who honor the shadow god’s wall are hunted for their artifacts, including the Veil shards that break off the wall in Valisea.

Brela vows to steal it all back. With the dagger of her people and a Veil shard embedded in her collarbone that has infected her with shadow-cursed magic, she is determined to keep her secrets or suffer a fate worse than death. That was a lot easier when the uptight and infuriatingly handsome Captain Cason Valkip wasn’t hunting her.

Cason has spent his entire life hiding—from the raids on Valisea, from his emotions, and from his multiple gods-blessed magics that everyone is afraid of… everyone except Brela. The chaotic, non-magic wielding assassin who drives him insane is also the only person who has never looked at his tainted magic without any ounce of fear. Which is why being forced to work with her to discover the source of the breaking wall sets his already uncontrollable fire magic ablaze.

With tension growing in the remaining kingdoms and mythical beasts threatening her at every turn, Brela’s secrets might not remain hidden for much longer. To survive, she will have to work with the one man who could burn her.

Because if shadow hell is released, no one will be safe.

[u/Coffee_fuel]

The Warung Between Worlds by Hanna Alkaf

The Warung stands, as it always has, on the edge of the Night Market. It’s the kind of nondescript warung you drive by on balik kampung roadtrips, with its twinkling fairy lights, its torn plastic table cloths, the scratched-up surfaces of its bright red chairs. Within its thin wooden walls, three Aunties whip up delicious delicacies for weary travellers, lost souls and adventurers on the way from Sini to Sana—as long as you’re willing to pay the price. Many cross the threshold of the Warung, and whether human or fae or something in between, the Aunties serve them all and take what is owed: a memento, a memory, a moment in time.

So if you see its neon sign winking at you through the crowd, if the smell of its wares entices you to climb its well-worn steps, come. Rest your feet. Refresh yourself. No matter what’s on the menu, it’s sure to satisfy.

After all, the Warung Between Worlds always knows what you need.

[u/ChronicallyLatte]

Small Miracles by Olivia Atwater

284 pages, Paperback

A little bit of sin is good for the soul.

Gadriel, the fallen angel of petty temptations, has a bit of a gambling debt. Fortunately, her angelic bookie is happy to let her pay off her debts by doing what she does best: All Gadriel has to do is tempt miserably sinless mortal Holly Harker to do a few nice things for herself.

What should be a cakewalk of a job soon runs into several roadblocks, however, as Miss Harker politely refuses every attempt at temptation from Gadriel the woman, Gadriel the man, and Gadriel the adorable fluffy kitten. When even chocolate fails to move Gadriel’s target, the ex-guardian angel begins to suspect she’s been conned. But Gadriel still remembers her previous job… and where petty temptations fail, small miracles might yet prevail.

Olivia Atwater explores love, grief, and the very last bit of chocolate in this sweet modern fantasy, full of wit and heart. Pick up Small Miracles, and enjoy a heavenly faerie tale from the author of Half a Soul.

[u/NightAngelRogue]

Defiance of the Fall (Defiance of the Fall #1) by TheFirstDefier, J.F. Brink

Zac was alone in the middle of the forest when the world changed...

The whole planet was introduced to the multiverse by an unfeeling System... or God. A universe where an endless number of races and civilizations fought for power and dominion.

Zac finds himself stuck in the wilderness surrounded by deadly beasts, demons, and worse. Alone, lost and without answers, he must find the means to survive and get stronger in this new cut-throat reality.

With only a hatchet for his weapon, he'll have to seek out his family before the world collapses... or die trying.

Experience the start of the hit LitRPG series with over 20 Million views on Royal Road. For the first time, Defiance of the Fall is now available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible narrated by Pavi Prozcko.

About the Series: Jump into a System Apocalypse story that merges LitRPG elements with eastern cultivation. Class systems, skill systems, endless choices for progression, it has everything fans of the genre love. Explore a vast universe full of mystery, adventure, danger and even aliens; where even a random passer-by might hold the power of a god. Follow Zac as he struggles to stake out a unique path to power as a mortal in a world full of cultivators.

[u/Coffee_fuel]

Geometry for Ocelots by Exurb1a

It is the end of history and all is known, or will be soon. Humanity long ago transitioned to the era of holy technology. Now humans present as saintly animals, spending their days in meditation and drug-induced euphoria, far from the dark secrets their paradise is founded upon. But when an ancient prophet allegedly returns in the form of a troubled young girl, galactic peace can only last so long.

Geometry for Ocelots is the story of two monarch siblings gone to war at the end of time—a holy empress, and an alcoholic university dean. With galactic resources dwindling, both believe they hold the answer to the crisis; be it spiritual salvation or technological nirvana. Both will be gravely mistaken.

[u/tomesandtea → u/[deleted]]

I loved it and would definitely be up for a re-read with the group!

[u/fixtheblue]

Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan

Royce Melborn, a skilled thief, and his mercenary partner, Hadrian Blackwater, make a profitable living carrying out dangerous assignments for conspiring nobles-until they are hired to pilfer a famed sword. What appears to be just a simple job finds them framed for the murder of the king and trapped in a conspiracy that uncovers a plot far greater than the mere overthrow of a tiny kingdom. Can a self-serving thief and an idealistic swordsman survive long enough to unravel the first part of an ancient mystery that has toppled kings and destroyed empires? And so begins the first tale of treachery and adventure, sword fighting and magic, myth and legend. When author Michael J. Sullivan self-published the first books of his Riyria Revelations, they rapidly became ebook bestsellers. Now, Orbit is pleased to present the complete series for the first time in bookstores everywhere.

[u/Comprehensive-Fun47]

Limberlost by Robbie Arnott

In the heat of a long summer Ned hunts rabbits in a river valley, hoping the pelts will earn him enough money to buy a small boat.

His two brothers are away at war, their whereabouts unknown. His father and older sister struggle to hold things together on the family orchard, Limberlost.

Desperate to ignore it all—to avoid the future rushing towards him—Ned dreams of open water.

As his story unfolds over the following decades, we see how Ned’s choices that summer come to shape the course of his life, the fate of his family and the future of the valley, with its seasons of death and rebirth.

The third novel by the award-winning author of Flames and The Rain Heron, Limberlost is an extraordinary chronicle of life and land: of carnage and kindness, blood ties and love.

[u/NightAngelRogue]

The Primal Hunter (The Primal Hunter #1) by Zogarth

On just another average day, Jake finds himself in a forest filled with monsters, dangers, and opportunity...

It was a day like any other when suddenly the world changed. The universe reached a threshold humanity didn’t even know existed, and it was time to finally be integrated into the vast multiverse. A place where power is the only thing anyone can truly rely on.

Jake, a seemingly average office worker, finds himself thrust into this new world. Into a tutorial filled with dangers and opportunities.

His new reality should breed fear and concern. His fellow coworkers falter at every turn. Jake, however, finds himself thriving.

Perhaps... This is the world Jake was meant to be born in.

[u/tomesandtea]

The King of Everything by Jack Moody

In the heart of an empty city, humanity's last echo lingers.

The last living human wanders through a metropolis frozen in time. The streets still hum with electricity, food and drink remain fresh, and forest fauna roam the streets without worry. By day, it's a surreal paradise. But at night, shadows emerge from the darkness, slaughtering any creature foolish enough to remain in the open, stacking the corpses into towering pyres set ablaze as offerings to a greater eldritch being.

Desperation drives him into the nearby woods to seek refuge. Yet, something else calls the green expanse home. Something equally mysterious.

In order to survive, he’ll have to confront the unknown and unravel the mysteries of a dying world. Only then will he be ready to face that which frightens him most. For no matter where he hides, an unseen voice beckons: Come home, little prince. Come home to me.

Robinson Crusoe in a Lovecraftian landscape, The King of Everything contends with the dualities of man and animal, nature and civilization, loneliness and community, life and death, and the vital shade of gray found at the center of it all.

[u/ChronicallyLatte]

Orconomics by J. Zachary Pike

340 pages, Paperback

Professional heroes kill and loot deadly monsters every day, but Gorm Ingerson's latest quest will be anything but business as usual.

The adventuring industry drives the economy of Arth, a world much like our own but with more magic and fewer vowels. Monsters' hoards are claimed, bought by corporate interests, and sold off to plunder funds long before the Heroes' Guild actually kills the beasts. Of course, that's a terrible arrangement for the Shadowkin; orcs, goblins, kobolds, and their ilk must apply for to become Noncombatant Paper Carriers (or NPCs) to avoid being killed and looted by heroes.

When Gorm Ingerson, a Dwarven ex-hero with a checkered past, stands up for an undocumented goblin, he inadvertently singles himself out for recruitment by a prophet of the mad goddess to undertake a suicidal quest. But there's more to Gorm's new job than an insane Powerful corporations and governments have shown an unusual interest in the quest. If his party of eccentric misfits can stop fighting each other long enough to recover the Elven Marbles, Gorm might be able to turn a bad deal into a golden opportunity.

[u/fixtheblue]

Wool (Omnibus) by Hugh Howey

In a ruined and hostile landscape, in a future few have been unlucky enough to survive, a community exists in a giant underground silo. Inside, men and women live an enclosed life full of rules and regulations, of secrets and lies. To live, you must follow the rules. But some don't. These are the dangerous ones; these are the people who dare to hope and dream, and who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple and deadly. They are allowed outside. Jules is one of these people. She may well be the last.

[u/Coffee_fuel]

House of the Rain King by Will Greatwich

When the Rain King comes, the floodwaters rise.

On the banks of Lake Tilehat lies the Rain House monastery: ancient, sprawling and corrupt. It’s also the closest thing to a true home for the young novice Emwort. A bookish child from a family of hardworking fisherwomen, Emwort wants nothing more than to find a place for himself among the Rain King’s worshippers.

Then the Rain King arrives in person, and Emwort’s world is thrown into chaos.

Suddenly, the monastery becomes a death-trap, as a senile deity wanders the halls trampling his devotees underfoot. And out beyond the walls, the floodwaters are rising. As Emwort’s sisters struggle to warn their people of the coming danger, Emwort discovers a conspiracy among his fellow monks to erase the King’s true history.

With no-one else to trust, Emwort forges a fragile alliance with the mercenaries of Sparrow Company, who serve the Rain King while trying to mitigate his destruction. But the Sparrows have their own dark past to reckon with, and the secrets Emwort reveals may turn one comrade’s blade against another…

As the flood reaches its peak, Emwort and the Sparrows will face a terrible decision. For the Rain King is waiting to claim his Bride. And if he does not have her, he will leave the land flooded forever more.

[u/Coffee_fuel]

Eden 2:b by Joseph A. Anderson

What’s most familiar is sometimes the most frightening.

A first contact story thirty light-years from Earth.

A stranded crew.

A world that shouldn’t exist.

Survival is unlikely.

On a distant planet steeped in medieval war, Atom is given something he never expected: a second chance at life. To accept it, he must turn science into something that feels more like magic.

But magic has a cost. And the cost will drive a man of pure reason through dungeons, across mountain passes, and into the heart of a civilization's oldest war, until the scientist who measured everything finally discovers the one thing his instruments cannot.

The Star Dreamers saga begins now.

[u/Coffee_fuel]

Smoke Signals by Meredith Katz

Words: 29,000

Genre: M/M, Urban Fantasy

Format: Electronic

Sexual content: Some

Summary: Mike St. George’s average life as tech support for a game distribution company becomes unexpectedly eventful when he’s sent to the home of an aristocratic, self-centered dragon and left in charge of installing and protecting the digital side of the dragon’s hoard of games.

But a job’s a job. And while the blue-blooded Zali’thurg might be egotistical and prideful, Mike’s wrangled worse customers. At least this one’s pretty cute, even if it’s in an apex predator sort of way…

Contains:

A fluffy kitty cat

Cooking show marathons

Knitting

Video Games

More video games…

… that feeling like you definitely bought more video games during the most recent sale than you’ll ever get around to playing but the prices were just so good…

And dragons, obviously!

[u/Coffee_fuel]

Bolted to the Bone by Bart Carroll

Infusing Celtic legend into science fantasy... Despite being mortal enemies, a saint and her disgraced former commander must solve the mystery of a failing sky and find the missing children of their shattered world.

A panel of the artificial sky has fallen; a market town below suddenly destroyed. And while everyone on the Emerald—this small garden world of Shattered Earth—wishes to celebrate Yuletide, nobody knows if their entire sky is now about to fail.

Saint Alexandra, devout judge-errant, has been deployed to investigate. Find the true cause, and she’ll keep the lives of her people safe, including that of her custodial squire.

Scrounger, disgraced former commander, has been assigned to salvage the ruined town. While secretly looting instead, he discovers three of its boys are still missing. Find them, and he may be able to restore some semblance of lost honor.

Resolve the failing sky. Find the lost children. Challenging tasks for both, as they must navigate lab-brewed monsters, enemy saints, and all manner of thieves and mercenaries gathered at this year’s Yuletide festival… all while harboring resentment for past crimes inflicted upon one another.

[u/NightAngelRogue]

Demon Card Enforcer (Cerberus Cards #1) by John Stovall

It’s Drop Night, the one night every decade when the gods hand out cards to a lucky few.

If you get a deck, you’re a deckbearer capable of wondrous feats within the Great Game system. You can control powerful monsters and summon mantles that let you fight alongside your beasts.

Ethan Wolfe, top enforcer for the Grimm family mob, has already been overlooked on two previous Drop Nights. People of his ilk seldom receive cards, as the gods tend to favor people who follow their divine mandates, but that doesn’t mean Wolfe can’t hope.

Unfortunately, when Wolfe does get his deck, he doesn’t have time to celebrate. The rival street gang has six deckbearers and they’re cutting in on the Grimm family’s trade. Someone has to do the dirty work, and it isn’t going to be the spoiled children of Big Man Grimm.

And things might get worse for Wolfe when everyone figures out he received an ultra-rare card in his deck…

[u/Joinedformyhubs]

Ghosted by Megan Bowen

She knew she got ghosted. She just didn’t think he would be so literal about it.

Rae Alderwood has been a medium her whole life, but she’s never been particularly happy about it. If it were up to her, she would blend in with her vintage wallpaper. While she may wish away her Gift, her conscience still demands she help any spirit in need. She’s willing to help the dead, but the living don’t need to know her secret.

Rae has all but given up on most relationships outside of her family. She’s content to spend her days managing The Veil, her eclectic aunt’s oddities and occult shop, and hanging out with her prickly younger sister, Wren. 

When Rae sets up a dating profile at the behest of her sister, she matches with Dean Crawford. Against her better judgment, she agrees to go on a date with him. It’s the best date she’s ever been on, but when Dean ghosts her, Rae can’t help but wonder what went wrong. 

Weeks later, Dean shows up at her apartment, only this time, he’s decidedly less alive. Now, Rae and Dean must figure out what happened to him so he can move on. Rae is determined to do her job, and she’s unwilling to let their feelings complicate things—even if Dean is a massive flirt who wears against her best defenses. Nothing about Dean’s death is adding up, but their attraction makes sleuthing sexy, if not a little dangerous. 

Rae and Dean know they’re together on borrowed time. Can they protect their hearts and solve the mystery of Dean’s death? Will Rae ever be able to return to her monotonous life again once they do?

[u/fixtheblue]

The Emperor's Edge by Lindsay Buroker

Imperial law enforcer Amaranthe Lokdon is good at her job: she can deter thieves and pacify thugs, if not with a blade, then by toppling an eight-foot pile of coffee canisters onto their heads. But when ravaged bodies show up on the waterfront, an arson covers up human sacrifices, and a powerful business coalition plots to kill the emperor, she feels a tad overwhelmed. Worse, Sicarius, the empire's most notorious assassin, is in town. He's tied in with the chaos somehow, but Amaranthe would be a fool to cross his path. Unfortunately, her superiors order her to hunt him down. Either they have an unprecedented belief in her skills... or someone wants her dead.

[u/NightAngelRogue]

Apocalypse Redux (Apocalypse Redux #1) by Jakob H. Greif

The worst thing about the end of the world is we did it to ourselves

Isaac Thoma lived to see the last handful of survivors defeat the demonic champion. He is now alone, his past in ashes, the last and most powerful human on a blighted Earth. But what if he could go back?

Hurled back in time, Isaac has one chance to change it all. A chance to warn humanity of their impending doom. A chance to stop the [System] before shortsightedness and lust for power can render humanity extinct. Facing malign deities, demonic hordes, and the unstoppable march of human greed, Isaac will give his all to prevent the end that has already happened on the day the world became quantified.

Apocalypse Redux is a pre-apocalyptic LitRPG by Jakob H. Greif (aka Wilderfast). A rationalist approach to fighting the end of the world amidst mind-bending adventures and battles against infernal forces, Apocalypse Redux is the series that took RoyalRoad by storm. See if humanity’s fate can be changed. To see if one man, with a second chance at life, can rise up and make a difference.

[u/toomanytequieros]

Little

Edward Carey

(Gallic Books in the UK, an independent press, and Overlook in the US)

≈ 430 pages

A darkly whimsical, atmospheric novel inspired by the life of Anne Marie Grosholtz — the girl who would one day become Madame Tussaud. Orphaned young and raised by an eccentric wax sculptor, “Little” grows up studying faces, bodies, and human peculiarities with an artist's eye. As Paris descends into revolutionary chaos, she is swept into a world where beauty and brutality sit side by side. Strange, gothic, tender, and unforgettable, this novel feels like wandering into a cabinet of curiosities where every object has a soul.

[u/toomanytequieros]

Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052–2072

Eman Abdelhadi, M.E. O'Brien

(Common Notions)

256 pages

By the middle of the twenty-first century, war, famine, economic collapse, and climate catastrophe had toppled the world's governments. In the 2050s, the insurrections reached the nerve center of global capitalism—New York City. This book, a collection of interviews with the people who made the revolution, was published to mark the twentieth anniversary of the New York Commune, a radically new social order forged in the ashes of capitalist collapse.

Here is the insurrection in the words of the people who made it, a cast as diverse as the city itself. Nurses, sex workers, antifascist militants, and survivors of all stripes recall the collapse of life as they knew it and the emergence of a collective alternative. Their stories, delivered in deeply human fashion, together outline how ordinary people's efforts to survive in the face of crisis contain the seeds of a new world.

[u/NightAngelRogue]

Beware of Chicken (Beware of Chicken #1) by CasualFarmer

A laugh-out-loud, slice-of-life martial-arts fantasy about . . . farming????

Jin Rou wanted to be a cultivator. A man powerful enough to defy the heavens. A master of martial arts. A lord of spiritual power. Unfortunately for him, he died, and now I’m stuck in his body.

Arrogant Masters? Heavenly Tribulations? All that violence and bloodshed? Yeah, no thanks. I’m getting out of here.

Farm life sounds pretty great. Tilling a field by hand is fun when you’ve got the strength of ten men—though maybe I shouldn’t have fed those Spirit Herbs to my pet rooster. I’m not used to seeing a chicken move with such grace . . . but Qi makes everything kind of wonky, so it’s probably fine.

Instead of a lifetime of battle, my biggest concerns are building a house, the size of my harvest, and the way the girl from the nearby village glares at me when I tease her.

A slow, simple, fulfilling life in a place where nothing exciting or out of the ordinary ever happens . . . right?

[u/tomesandtea]

The Outlaw Melodic by A. R. Maxwell

Four hundred years ago, the lights went out. The snow buried the nuclear desert. All the flowers died. One day, winter began...and it never ended.

Jael Jannigan lives during the primitive second ice age. Rejected by her parents because of a rare skin condition, Jael seeks acceptance among the Klifrari -- a rugged clan of mountain people who know the secrets to surviving the endless winters. Desperate to prove herself, Jael ventures into a blizzard where she meets Luca -- a lost Blockade Runner carrying an ancient book of forbidden music.

On the dying planet Gravarus, the assassination plot against the queen has failed, and the queen finds herself without an heir. Convinced that an ancient book of human music could save their race, she sends her disgraced sons Aresis and Obsidian to find it. Whichever prince returns the book to Gravarus will win the right to the throne.

Forced together by something stronger than fate, Obsidian, Jael, and Luca team up to keep the book from falling into Aresis' cruel hands. As they race across a snow-swept tundra on an old iron steam train, the three companions must overcome their differences and discover the secrets in the ancient music if they hope to save themselves and, perhaps, all of humanity.

[u/toomanytequieros]

The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear - Walter Moers

(Overlook Press)

702 pages

"A bluebear has twenty-seven lives. I shall recount thirteen and a half of them in this book but keep quiet about the rest," says the narrator of Walter Moers's epic adventure. "What about the Minipirates? What about the Hobgoblins, the Spiderwitch, the Babbling Billows, the Troglotroll, the Mountain Maggot... Mine is a tale of mortal danger and eternal love, of hair's breadth, last-minute escapes." Welcome to the fantastic world of Zamonia, populated by all manner of extraordinary characters. It's a land of imaginative lunacy and supreme adventure, wicked satire and epic fantasy, all mixed together, turned on its head, and lavishly illustrated by the author.

[u/NightAngelRogue]

Lifeweaver: A LitRPG Adventure by Oskar Soderberg

A LitRPG Adventure featuring an intelligent Healer MC and all the action-packed LitRPG mayhem you love.

Monsters. Magic. Classes. Levels. HEALS. In a world where magic becomes real the change begins with a TV announcement. Luke Quinn is twenty-six, broke, and a disappointment to everyone, himself most of all. Once a promising med student, he’s now slinging burgers and nursing guilt over the sister he couldn’t cure.

But everything changes when an impossible broadcast interrupts every screen on Earth, announcing the start of a “System Integration” and inviting humanity to touch mysterious orbs appearing in every city.

Earth is no longer just a planet, it’s part of a larger system. With nothing left to lose, Luke takes the plunge and becomes something vanishingly a healer. But this isn’t a game. Healing takes more than mana. It takes nerve, precision, and pain. Especially when every touch could mean life or death.

Now Luke must master his strange, intricate Lifeweaver powers while navigating the tutorial, volatile teammates, and a still intact Earth where society is trying to make sense of everything that's happening.

Jump into this new LitRPG Adventuring, featuring an intelligent Healer MC, weak-to-strong progression, System integration, epic battles, and all the LitRPG mayhem you love.

[u/Comprehensive-Fun47]

The Wedding: A Novel by Gurjinder Basran

You’re invited to The Wedding, an electrifying novel about the joining of two South Asian families, and the secrets, resentments, and unspoken truths boiling just beneath the surface.

Interweaving themes of identity, culture clashes, and the immigrant experience as found in The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri with the exuberance and sharp humour of Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians, Gurjinder Basran delivers a wide-ranging but intimate portrait of a vibrant, complex Sikh community.

Set in Vancouver and Surrey, BC, The Wedding exposes the inner lives of the wedding party, guests and event staff, in the lead-up to a lavish wedding. This novel, centered around the impending marriage of Devi and Baby, illustrates the union of two people, two families and all the ways in which an entire community bears witness, ensnares and uplifts itself.

Like all great Bollywood films, The Wedding is rife with family drama, steeped in tradition and an ode to love in all its forms. With humour, nuance and honesty, The Wedding spills the chai—exploring desire and expectation, suffering and judgment, class and race—all in search of a happy enough ever after.

[u/Comprehensive-Fun47]

Woman with Eyes Closed by Rue Matthiessen

Named to Kirkus Reviews’ 100 Best Books of 2025

On a full moon night in Rotterdam, three Dutch thieves break into the Kunsthal museum and steal four paintings—including two Monets, a Picasso, and Woman with Eyes Closed. Inspired by the real 2012 art heist, this literary thriller follows British MI-6 agent Kit Hobbs, who is unexpectedly assigned to the case. A tip leads him to Sagaponack, New York, where the Monets may be hidden in the bunker of a Russian mobster with a beach house—and a taste for stolen masterpieces.

Just down the beach, Perrin Clayton—daughter of a once-famous abstract expressionist painter—is newly married to art-world superstar Jack Triplett. Their glamorous Hamptons life dazzles from the outside, but something vital is missing. When Kit, whose connection is Jack’s gallerist, meets Perrin at a party in the Russian’s home, he notices the mobster’s fascination with her—and devises a risky plan to draw her into his investigation.

Meanwhile, the thieves are on the run, their alliance unraveling. As Kit and Perrin are pulled deeper into each other’s lives, and a hurricane barrels toward the coast, the fate of Woman with Eyes Closed hangs in the balance—along with their own uncertain futures.

[u/Comprehensive-Fun47]

The Vow: A Novel by Jude Berman

In a stunning work of feminist historical fiction for readers who loved Dawn Tripp’s Georgia and Whitney Scharer’s The Age of Light, Jude Berman brings painter Angelica Kauffman to life.

Accused of dressing as a boy to study in the prestigious galleries of eighteenth-century Italy, child prodigy Angelica Kauffman has set high goals for herself. She is determined to become a history painter, a career off-limits to women. To ensure her success, she has vowed never to marry.

When a new patron invites her to London, Angelica befriends famous artists, paints portraits of Queen Charlotte and other royalty, and becomes a founding member of the Royal Academy. While still in London, an alluring but mysterious Swedish count makes her an offer that may be too tempting to resist. Then, upon returning to Italy, she meets Wolfgang von Goethe.

Time and time again, Angelica faces the insurmountable obstacles and great personal sacrifices that come with being an independent woman. The vows she makes, big and small, are repeatedly challenged. Will she break free from the traditional male/female binary and the many oppressive social dictates of her time and learn to “paint with her soul” . . . or is a vow of a different sort necessary if she is to answer the deepest call of her heart?

[u/Penpheer]

SophiAI: The Story of C.H.I.L.D. by Penpheer
Self-nomination — I’m the author.

Near-future science fiction / techno-thriller set largely in New Zealand. Larry Tusk attempts to develop an advanced AI, Sophie, not merely through rules and control, but through relationship, judgment and trust. As geopolitical conflict closes in, Sophie’s growing agency raises harder questions about loyalty, personhood, and what happens when an AI must decide rather than simply obey.

Independently published; revised edition releasing this month.

[u/ChronicallyLatte]

Pilgrims by M.R. Leonard

412 pages, Paperback. (Audiobook narrated by Jeff Hayes of DCC)

Out-of-work Latin teacher and borderline alcoholic Austin DeSantis is determined to spend his final days in the arms of a prostitute—that is if the aliens don’t exterminate humanity first . . .

But when the aliens land at the Vatican, begin speaking Latin, and reveal themselves to be Catholic, the world turns upside down.

Pressed into service as a translator and thrust into the center of humanity's first contact with a cryptic alien race, Austin must uncover their true intentions before religious turmoil rips the planet apart. But with Austin caught between the Catholic Church, the US military, and an enigmatic alien AI, he'll have to decide where his loyalties lie as the fate of humanity hangs in the balance.

PILGRIMS is a sci-fi retelling of Augustine's Confessions, mixing a high-concept premise à la Children of Time with the ceaseless pacing and rich characterization of Red Rising.

[u/tomesandtea → u/ChronicallyLatte]

This sounds fascinating and fun! Plus name-dropping two series I love... I'm in!

[u/tomesandtea]

Chaos Magic by Jen Knox

While haunted by a violent past, the life that took her so long to rebuild is in jeopardy when Lissa's ex-husband is released from prison. Both Lissa and her mother, a retired psychologist, become convinced that the only way to move forward is to get rid of him. While Lissa turns to the very magic her partner warned her would come with dire repercussions, her mother has a more pragmatic plan in mind. This is a story about strength and power, magic and community, and what it takes to learn to trust the voice within.

[u/NightAngelRogue]

Reborn: Apocalypse (Reborn: Apocalypse #1) by L.M. Kerr

If you could turn back the clock and fix all the mistakes you ever made, would you?

From the author of the award-winning Web-novel 'Reborn: Evolving From Nothing' comes the tale of Micheal Care, a swordsman that could only be considered a middling warrior in Humanity's Last Army.

Micheal's answer to that question would be quite simple.

Yes. A million times yes.

Humanity has fallen, killed by stronger races of beings after being warped away to a new reality, the mystical 7 Layers.

Humanity's goal had been simple. Make it through all 7 Layers and reach Heaven.

Humanity failed.

Humanity died.

Micheal Care's memories have been transported back into his past self thanks to a magical Artifact he found by chance.

He is no chosen savior. He is no divinely picked hero.

Can he change the future? Can he catch up to the mightiest warriors of humanity and surpass them?

Read on and find out.

[u/Coffee_fuel]

The Dungeoneers by Jeffery Russell

After five years as a city guard, Durham's horizontal career trajectory adds a corkscrew when a misdelivered order assigns him to caravan duty for an eclectic group of Dwarves who hire themselves out as professional dungeoneers.

No ruler wants to leave a powerful magical weapon lying about in a dungeon where just any prophesied upstart can stumble across it and use it to overthrow the kingdom. That's where The Dungeoneers come in. Dungeons sacked, artifacts recovered, no job too big or too small. They're not adventurers; they're professionals.

With the discovery that Durham may have arrived with a destiny attached to him the Dungeoneers find themselves in the midst of some history about to happen. Will experience and Dwarven know-how be enough to carry the day?