Book Spotlight: Treasures and Trinkets: A Dragon's Brood Tale by Josh de Lioncourt
Books on my Wish List: February 2022
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Last month I spoke about some of the books that were on my wish list! This month I wanted to share the books I've added to my wish list recently.
12 Indie Books to Read!
But Maddy's predictable world is turned upside down when an extraordinary servant girl challenges everything she's ever known; there's a wider world beyond the comfortable confines of her castle, full of wonder and magic, and Maddy finds that the one thing she doesn't have is the only thing she really needs.
Indie Showcase #10 Sci-Fi Books!
Welcome to another indie showcase post where I share some books written by self-published/small press authors! See all previous posts on my indie books page. Today we are looking at indie science fiction books!
Cardinal Virtues (War of the Submarine Book 1)2037: Underwater exploitation has changed the world. Every nation wants territory, and the race for resources on the ocean floor is on.
Commander Alex Coleman thought his career was over when he got sent to Armistice Station, an underwater megastation where you can buy everything except success in the U.S. Navy. Here, he waits for retirement, doling out sodas and supplies while keeping an eye out for and unruly sailors—hardly the things the Navy sends you to do when you’re a submariner on the fast track.
But things aren’t quiet in this underwater amusement park. French marines arrive with Indian Navy support. Both nations want the United States out of the Indian Ocean, and Alex, along with his eclectic band of castoff sailors, is the only one standing in their way.
Alex sure as hell doesn’t want to be a hero—because heroes don't explode coffee creamer fireballs or hijack cruise ships—but the shooting’s started, and he’s got a job to do.
Meanwhile, an American carrier strike group steams though the Straits of Malacca. Commander Nancy Coleman’s USS Fletcher (DDG 155) is on point, keeping an eye out for Chinese submarines that might stop her ships from arriving in time to aide Taiwan. But when a trigger-happy admiral shoots at the wrong nation’s submarine, she finds herself in the middle of a shootout that might be the first act of World War III.
Cardinal Virtues is first book in the series War of the Submarine, also published as Season 1 of the War of the Submarine serial on Kindle Vella.
A band of modern-day pirates station-hops across the Indian Ocean. Each attack bolder and more costly than the last, these pirates leave behind a trail of broken bodies, businesses, and stolen submarines at every undersea station they visit—and it’s up to Lieutenant Commander Alex Coleman and USS Kansas (SSN 810) to stop them.
Teaming up with with his old college roommate and not-so-gentle giant, marine lieutenant colonel Paul Swanson, Alex sets out to hunt the pirates down. But these pirates aren’t in rundown little skiffs that are easy to track and find. They’ve got a genuine warship and the will to turn weapons against innocent civilians and undersea stations, and more importantly, they’re good at stealth.
With time running out, Alex he convinces his friendly neighborhood U.N. representative to rent a ridiculously expensive civilian submarine. This way, he and his marines can play bait for the pirates. But there's no time to reflect on the wisdom of the mission when the pirates come aboard to face more than they bargained for and Alex finds himself staring death in the face.
This book is the prequel to the upcoming series, War of the Submarine, available on both Kindle Vella and with book 1, Cardinal Virtues, coming soon on Kindle and in Paperback.
Mary I: remembered by history as “Bloody Mary” ended her life abandoned by her husband, imprisoning her sister, and hated by her people. Yet before that, she was a neglected daughter of Henry VIII—who shoved her aside in his quest for a male heir, never caring what his callous attitude did to his daughter.
Elizabeth I: likewise abandoned by her father, a life without love would shape her into a hard woman remembered as one of the greatest monarchs in English history—yet she, too, was lonely. Unable to marry the man she loved and unable to trust even those closest to her, Elizabeth played one faction against one another up until the bitter end.
Not this time.
Henry VIII’s early death in 1541 throws his daughters together, with far-reaching consequences for the Tudor dynasty. In a world where Katherine Parr never becomes queen, Mary and Elizabeth Tudor have no one to depend upon except one another. An alternate story in Tudor England. Novelette length.
This isn’t your life.
This isn’t your timeline.
And there’s a way out.
An emotional, mind-bending novel in the tradition of Dark Matter and The Midnight Library, this surprise Amazon bestseller will make you question everything you know.
“A powerful piece of inventive and topical science fiction [that] will undoubtedly resonate with readers in a way that many stories reach for, but few achieve.” –The BookLife Prize
For one man, the past few years have delivered one shock after another. The election of an authoritarian president. The sudden loss of his mother. A series of debilitating seizures. Now, as America descends into a nightmare, he’s shocked to discover the explanation for his seizures: He’s in the wrong universe.
A drug trial promises to return him to the timeline where he belongs. With his family life strained, his job gone and tanks in the streets, he jumps at the opportunity. But what will he find on the other side?
Take a reality-bending trip filled with surprises and second chances. Visit alternate timelines where life played out very differently, yet one man keeps dying in every one. Explore the roads not taken. Question the nature of fate. And find an answer to the biggest question of all: in a world that feels like it’s spinning out of control, what would it take for one person to make a difference?
Now an international Amazon bestseller, Branches is at once a cerebral page-turner and a deeply personal journey through fear, grief and redemption.
First in a series.
Free Books on Kindle Unlimited #4
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Hi everyone! Welcome back or welcome to the series on my blog where I share books by self-published/small press authors that are free on Kindle Unlimited! Kindle Unlimited is a service where you can get a free trial and then you pay each month and receive unlimited access to millions of ebooks! I'd highly recommend if you love reading ebooks. See the other parts of this series for more free books on Kindle Unlimited!
So let's take a look at some more indie books that you can read for free on Kindle Unlimited.
It Came Upon a Midnight ClearBankrupt and broken, Emily Hester is in dire need of a safe place to hide. But when her long-lost Druid family tracks Emily down and offers her haven, she balks at the "Must Save Earth" clause.
Thinking life couldn’t possibly get any worse, Emily smacks into her witchy stalker. She flees the scene but now has only one option. Emily must accept the Druids' proposition—despite its blatantly outrageous terms.
At their headquarters in Atlanta, Emily learns several shocking secrets. She was kidnapped by the mother who raised her on the run. Her real father and his Druid followers believe Emily is Earth's only hope. And a dark, forgotten foe lurks beneath Humanity's feet.
As these Reptilians engineer a plan to breach Earth's unsuspecting borders, Emily desperately seeks to unleash the powers the Druids swear she possesses. But, can a sexy druid priest, his teenage nephew, and their animal Elders tilt the odds in Emily's favor?
Find out in Awen Rising, the first book in the Awen Trilogy. If you like compelling stories with a strong but believable female lead, quirky sidekicks, and worthy adversaries, read Barré's breakout urban fantasy. Or better yet, grab the whole series!
Book Spotlight: The Magicians of Ysavar by Z.B. Lee
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Title: The Magicians of YsavarAuthor: Z.B. Lee
Book Spotlight: Ash by Mark Jonathan Runte
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Synopsis
Daniel grew up in a family with more than their share of secrets but he never thought he’d have to run until his father killed a man. Hiding seemed like the only choice, making a life in a town where no one knew him and the LaLaurie name was a word on a page. He never counted on meeting a girl there, or falling in love with her. Or that his secrets would one day come out.Writer Spotlight: Trevor Cunnington, Featuring Some of His Short Stories and Poems!
Hello! I am a writer and artist named Trevor Cunnington, and I'm starting this Patreon to hopefully get some kind of financial remuneration for the thousands of hours I've invested in writing. If you like words and interested in language, I think you will appreciate my poetry. My work ranges from simple to "abstruse," and "enigmatic." I have used quotations for abstruse because I look at this species of my writing not as the delivery of a message so much as a field in which the writer and reader meet and co-create meaning. I really like Billy Collins' idea of readers jet-skiing across the surface of the poem, rather than torturing it to obtain the confession of its "true meaning." Others have called my work enigmatic. I have been heavily influenced by L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry, which was an avant-garde group of writers including Bruce Andrews, Ron Silliman, Hannah Weiner, and Steve McCaffrey.
Something Lost
Barrett was famous in the neighbourhood for one main reason. He stole a cop’s gun, and he told those who he trusted, those that cared to listen, because Barrett was something of a loose cannon. So you have to keep in mind this story has been through the ringer at least one time. It was a hot, humid night, the kind when everyone breathes a collective sigh of relief when the sun goes down. But the body is funny. It seems to store heat so that on nights like that, you seem to sweat even more once the sun vanishes, especially if you’ve been walking around in a haze all day like Barrett had.
5 Indie Books to Read #3
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Something that I am working hard on at the moment is promoting books by self-published and small press authors. Amazing books that tend not to be given as much credit as they deserve. This series is where I showcase 5 books by indie authors. Some of the books will be written by my Ko-Fi members who receive ongoing priority promotion from me. See my indie books page for more books. Check these books out!
May Day: If the murderer you’re tracking is a vampire, then you want a vampire detective. (Seekers)It’s not that Jack Valentine is bad at her job. The youngest member of Oxford’s Seekers has an impressive track record, but she also has an impressive grudge against the local baron, Killian Drake.
When a human turns up dead on May Morning, she’s determined to pin the murder on Drake. The problem is that none of the evidence points to him. Instead, it leads Jack into a web of conspiracy involving the most powerful people in the country, people to whom Jack has no access. But she knows someone who does.
To get to the truth, Jack will have to partner up with her worst enemy. As long as she can keep her cool, Drake will point her to the ringleaders, she’ll find the murderer and no one else will have to die.
Body bags on standby.
May Day is the first book in Josie Jaffrey’s Seekers series, an urban fantasy series set in Oxford, England.
War followed. Humanity lost. And three hundred years later, humans are on the brink of extinction.
Orphans Thorn and Thistle live in hiding. They are the last of their families, the last of their friends. They scrape by, stealing to survive and living on the streets or hiding in sheds. But even under the brutal regime of the Suriias, there are places where humans can mingle in secret with magical sympathisers, and one night Thistle gets an unexpected offer of marriage from a Suriia with high standing and friends in all the right places. For Thistle, it’s a chance at safety and comfort; for Thorn, it’s a chance to find the ones who killed her parents.
And so the pair move into the capital city of Courtenz. An urban monstrosity of magic and might, false friends and flying cars, drones and death tolls, the new city promises a fresh start – and new love – for both.
But if there’s one thing Thorn knows for certain, it’s that dreams can swiftly turn into nightmares.