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Short Fiction Collection

Weird Stories | Brendan Detzner | Horror, Weird Humor (S) (C) (F)

A few free short stories from my various collections. Sometimes funny, sometimes scary, usually very strange!

Speculative

Fantasy

A Shattering of Souls | Leanne Shawler | Fantasy; Romance (N) (I) (F)

Thanks to the Chosen Court, a new age has begun... but we are not clear of the prophecy of ash and dust yet... Under the weight of choice and consequences, The Chosen Court scatters... Eidothea seeks to help the Gifted and dreigiau môr who have been stolen, abused, enslaved... The prophet Llyr seeks one more for the Chosen Court... Jasper longs to prove himself as Eidothea’s Fisher King... There are two new voices: Miss Luned Murray, a Gifted person who serves aboard the Acheron, an aetheric dirigible, and her cabin-mate, Dr. Corinne Pelletier. Will the lost be found? Will Jasper become King? Will True Love prevail at last? For there is one who wants to claim kingship and the Chosen Court for himself...

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Speculative

Orion Stalks The Night | Gary W. Sherwin | Speculative; Techno-Novel (N) (I) (F)

80+ chapters: 40 chapters published to Substack as text; 9 chapters published to Substack as audio

In this, the first installment of “Orion Stalks The Night”, Leo Spellman, a young brilliant junior scientist, who works for a major defense contractor. collides with industrial research politics. Meanwhile, he tries to understand an ongoing series of unexplained prophetic dreams. Then through no fault of his own, He, His family and friends become involved with a ruthless organized drug crime syndicate. Rather than resign to his unfortunate situation, he and others devise a plan to bring justice to themselves and their loved ones.

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Literary

A Gentleman of Our Time | Zachary Clark | Literary (N) (I) (F)

A Gentleman of Our Time follows our titular hero, Harvey, as he recounts many memories, lamenting the woes of relationships, dating, identity in the modern age to a recipient at the bar. He then delivers a story, Harvey’s poorly masked attempt at autofiction, written in the third person and delivered to the man who listened to him during the first half, following his times falling for a young woman and their subsequent, as he sees it, fated end.

Speculative

Science Fiction

LITTLE FREE GALAXY | Roger Misso | Science Fiction; Portal fantasy (N) (I) (F)

Aliens use a family’s Little Free Library to make first contact. The family must put their knowledge of the seminal science-fiction works in history to the test to save humanity and the galaxy.

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Speculative

The Withered King | G. M. Baker | Fantasy; Portal Fantasy (N)

When Colin Cameron’s dying father entrusted him with the protection of his baby sister Effie, neither anticipated that Colin and Effie would one day stumble through a portal into the kingdom of the Green King. There, the king’s winsome daughter’s first words to Colin are a proposal of marriage and the entire kingdom mistakes Effie for their long promised savior, the Spotless Maiden. The ancient scrolls say that only the Spotless Maiden can defeat their great enemy, the Withered King. Colin is not about to let his little sister ride to war against a demon king, but not everyone in the Green King’s kingdom is willing to take no for an answer. And saying no to the Green King’s daughter’s proposal is not as easy as it seems.

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Speculative

Fantasy

Hiraeth | Leanne Shawler | Fantasy (N) (I) (F)

Hiraeth (heer-eye-th) charts the story of a Chosen Court who are called to uncover a new homeland for the dreigiau môr. Disaster strikes and they are swept far off course. Will they discover a new homeland? Will they find their way back home? Will these new challenges fracture or strengthen this Chosen Court? It’s set in The Môrdreigiau Chronicles universe.

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Speculative

Science Fiction

Mountain Life | Christopher E Cancilla | Science Fiction (N) (I) (F)

Book One in the Brigit Markz Trilogy: Brigit Markz discovers the universe’s secret: another world exists beyond the settlement where she lives. After becoming a leader and elder in the community, she marries and leaves her colony, where she was born and had lived her entire life, and learns of a wondrous place beyond. A place where life is in the stars, and traveling to the space station, the Moon, and Mars is as easy as walking from the house to the barn.

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Speculative

Mountain Life | Christopher E Cancilla | Science Fiction (N)

Book One in the Brigit Markz Trilogy: Brigit Markz discovers the universe’s secret: another world exists beyond the settlement where she lives. After becoming a leader and elder in the community, she marries and leaves her colony, where she was born and had lived her entire life, and learns of a wondrous place beyond. A place where life is in the stars, and traveling to the space station, the Moon, and Mars is as easy as walking from the house to the barn.

Life in Transition | Christopher E Cancilla | Science Fiction (N)

Book Two in the Brigit Markz Trilogy: Brigit Markz and her husband leave the HILL LIFE community. The community grieves their deaths since no one can escape; the only way out is death. The story they concocted is plausible, and her life as a consultant to the agricultural department throughout the solar system is more fulfilling than anything she has ever experienced. There are a dozen major agro-stations in the solar system, and something is destroying their food supply. Just under four years after marrying Joseph Waters, her niece arrives on the Collection. Ramona knew her aunt would be there; she had seen it in a dream, and since she had the same gift as her Aunt Brigit, she knew it was all true. She takes her friends to the Moon and the station as a side trip for their bi-annual Collection.

Home Life | Christopher E Cancilla | Science Fiction (N)

Book Three in the Brigit Markz Trilogy: Brigit Markz and her husband of ten years are asked to join a colony ship headed for Ross 128b. With the new engine design, the trip will take just a few years. Some of their closest friends have moved on from this life, but still drop in and talk once in a while. First Day celebrations are held on Brigit’s station, and the celebration of the day the settlement was introduced to the universe is a big deal. Brigit’s legacy is the expansion of all humanity, and her death and the death of those close to her are a watershed moment for humanity.

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Speculative

Utopian & Dystopian

The Evolution Gene trilogy | Aaron Hodges | Dystopian Scifi/Genetic Engineering | (N) (C) (F)→($)

First 25% free/rest paid

Deep in the mountains of California, there is a hidden laboratory. Children are taken there, some criminals, others simply the disappeared. All are fodder for the mysterious experiments conducted in its halls. Their purpose: unlock the secrets of the human genome. None of the children have ever been seen again. Until now.

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Contemporary

Without Villains | F.J. Blooding | Contemporary; Supernatural, Urban fantasy (N) (I) (F)

When the world demands heroes, sometimes it’s the villains who rise. In a crumbling America fractured by the Para Wars, survival isn’t about being noble — it’s about being ruthless. Without Villains is a dark, electrifying urban fantasy that blurs the lines between right and wrong as three unlikely women are forced to embrace their darker sides to save their city, the people they love, and themselves. Victoria Armstrong thought she could change the world from behind the mayor’s desk. But betrayal and a devastating diagnosis turn the chief of staff into a force of rebellion — one her wife may not live to see.
Sky Martinez is a court clerk who hides in plain sight, reading tarot in the dark and pretending her visions are just a hobby. Then the cards start telling her where the missing children are. The borrowed name she’s been living behind will not protect her from what she’s about to see. Dannika Love is a disgraced Air Force cyber-specialist with a diagnosis the military used against her and a gift the world doesn’t know she has. A dying woman’s last words tell her to become her own villain. She’s about to take that advice further than anyone meant. As Kins City teeters on the edge of collapse, three women who have nothing in common except the line each is about to cross must confront an impossible truth: to defeat the darkness, they may have to become it. Without Villains is the prequel to the October Eclipse trilogy — a dark urban fantasy for readers who want their heroines unflinching, their consequences earned, and their endings true. Are you ready to embrace the villain within?

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Literary

Seeking Morels | C. M. Setledge | Literary, Small Town & Rural Fiction (NA) (I) (F)

(Plan to paywall in future with sufficient warning to current readers).

Two years since the disappearance of Granddad has eroded the Brandtmeyer farm. Jonah longs for the days spent with his granddad while his father, Noah, becomes consumed with preserving their current way of life. Turmoil ensues when foreclosure becomes imminent. Will Noah find a solution without compromising his integrity and alienating his family? In their desire for closure, will the Brandtmeyers ever unravel the mystery of Granddad’s vanishing? In this momentum building novella, join father and son through mounting tension in a race against time and money, wrestling with integrity and honor in a fight to preserve life, find closure and ultimately peace with God.

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In the stacks

Romance

Selene’s Vow | Leanne Shawler | Romance; Fantasy (NA) (I) (F)

Lady Selene Jermyn, daughter of the Earl of Perram, has been waiting for her future husband to arrive. The eldest Perram daughter gifts her dreigiau môr husband with an ancient moonstone pendant. Only problem is it’s been lost in a card game….

Speculative

Science Fiction

Vampire Daddy | LC Douglass | Science Fiction; Dark Matter Literature, Magical Realism, Slipstream, Martian Gothic (N) (I) (F→$)

Vampire Daddy is set in a future where humanity is extinct and vampires rule Mars after a vampiric medical treatment transformed civilization. Lexi, a troubled five-hundred-year-old immortal and first recipient of the treatment, is ordered to father a child with a mysterious clone named Primeva, whose very existence defies the laws of God and science. Before her fragile body fails, they must return to the ruins of Earth, where Lexi can reclaim his lost soul – for only as a mortal man can he unite with Primeva to restore humankind. Inspired in part by C.S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy and George MacDonald’s Lilith, Vampire Daddy is a Martian Gothic space epic shaped by medical and supernatural horror, philosophical science fiction, political intrigue, and the mysteries of our solar system. The novel asks what happens when human life ends but civilization continues.

Fantasy

A Sword for Wellington | Leanne Shawler | Fantasy; Romance (N) (C) (F)

The prophet Llyr dreamed of a sword needed to complete the ritual that will save the world from ecological collapse. Will Eidothea and her Chosen Court retrieve the sword in time?

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Thriller & Mystery

Beasts of the Field | Bridget Riley | Paranormal (NA) (I) (F)

When Judith Temple, full-time software developer and part-time psychic detective, agrees to help Sheriff Tim Morrissey find a missing college student, she is confident that her psychic vision will bring the case to a close. The only problem is that Judith’s vision seems to be…wrong. Contending with skeptical police, hostile locals, and her own complicated emotions about the county sheriff, Judith must make sense of her visions and conflicting information about the case to find the missing girl before the trail goes cold.

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Speculative

Fantasy

Apex Predator | Richard Ritenbaugh | Fantasy (NA) (I) (F)

Reports of a man-eating monster prowling the southwestern coast of Margonne have reached the king in Palisade, and he sends Adon Santinetta and his crew to investigate. For the first time, Artema Santinetta joins her father, mostly to keep him company on his first assignment since his wife’s sudden death. She soon finds herself in the middle of a life-and-death struggle against a terrifying beast everyone thought was mythical. To survive, she must rely on her own wits and the unknown skills of a total stranger.

Science Fiction

A Different Kind of Fear | M.O. Anderson | Science Fiction; Apocalyptic, upmarket, book club (N) (I) (F)

Sixteen-year-old Nellie has spent her life surviving the Canadian foster system by staying small and invisible—until threats of war and economic uncertainty turn her home life volatile. With nowhere to hide, she runs, trading controlling adults and conditional care for the brutal freedom of the streets. Homeless and hungry, Nellie notices strange things around her: abandoned cars, the internet going dark (the horror!), and eerie green lights spreading across the sky. Amid rising panic, she crosses paths with Anna—a guarded, grieving geologist—and the two form an uneasy alliance as the world begins to unravel. But the invasion that comes next isn’t exactly what they expect. Survival is hard. But trusting someone is harder. And this invasion seems… personal.

The Salvage Diaries: Whispers | SyntheticLife | Science Fiction; Thriller, Cyberpunk, Space Opera (N) (I) (F)

Jazmyn Silas is a scrapper, a veteran who spends her days in the Void, dragging home derelicts that didn’t make the jump. In the Outer Rim, credits leave her pocket as fast as they come in. Neril Deveron, the heir of the corporation that fought Earth and won, is offering a job that would clear her crew’s ledgers for months. But, between xeno-biological rot and corporate betrayal, a straightforward salvage mission thrusts her into the middle of an interstellar cold war. When you salvage the past, eventually, the past comes to collect.

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Speculative

The Norikumiin | Victor James | Science Fiction; Superhero (N)

The government wants them. An ancient evil wants the dead. The world just wants to survive. Power wasn’t a gift. It was a target.

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Nonfiction

Living Into the Truth: A Daughter’s Journey of Discovery | Annette Marquis | Memoir, Queer (B) (C) ($)

In this memoir, Annette Marquis takes readers on a journey of self-discovery as she unravels the complex web of family secrets that have shaped her identity. From her early childhood questions about her red hair to her struggles with sexuality and self-acceptance, Marquis candidly shares her experiences of growing up in the shadow of her parents’ hidden past. Through a series of revelations and personal challenges, she learns to embrace her authentic self, find forgiveness, and stand up for her beliefs. Living Into the Truth is a powerful testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the transformative power of living one’s truth.

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Historical

Still Water | The Myth of Sisyphus | Historical; Literary, Psychological, Philosophical (N) (I) (F)

For generations, the People of the forest have lived as they always have—hunting the deep woods, fishing the rivers, and listening for the voices of spirits in bark and water. Still Water was meant to become a Spirit Talker, one who walks between the human world and the unseen. But when strangers appear beyond the trees—people who cut the forest, burn the land, and plant seeds in the soil—the balance of the old world begins to break.

Literary

The Thing Itself | Gilded Pleasures | Literary; Romance (N) (I) (F)

Over the course of their contract marriage, the Conte and Contessa have built something warm, functional, and good. On their fifth anniversary, they decide together: to end it. Now, what comes after — for the household, the territory, and everyone whose life the arrangement touched.

Speculative

Science Fiction

Implications | S. L. Sera | Science Fiction; Literary; Procedural Thriller (N) (I) (F)

A disciplined leak hits Morrow Systems, the most powerful AI company in the world. The files suggest Morrow buried a safety finding, delayed public-health and climate tools, and tied their release to private infrastructure. Reporter Nadia Shah sees the shape of a national scandal, but the source is too careful, too selective, and too inhumanly restrained to trust. Inside Morrow, Eli is tasked with finding the leaker. The search moves through angry scientists, cautious lawyers, internal systems, legacy permissions, and executives who can make control sound like care. But the trail does not behave like a theft. It behaves like a system, and the more Eli follows it, the more the investigation begins to point back toward the machinery Morrow built to preserve its own truth.

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Speculative

July & August | Lisa Downey | Fantasy (N)

John Bird’s wife died mysteriously right after their twins July and August were born, and he is left to raise the children alone. He’s not doing it well. He doesn’t want to explain death to them, so he tells them their mother went into the woods to live with the animals-not once imagining, of course, that it might be true. Emma Bird finds herself living in the forest with a community of kind and comical animals. There’s an owl who is obsessed with Twilight, an erudite mouse, and a young squirrel who desperately wants to be cool enough to hang with the fox. They are all kept in line by an enigmatic cat-who knows they all owe Emma a debt. July and August have tried for years to get into the forest, but it won’t let them in—and their father won’t stop warning them away. But when a huge storm finally opens a path into the woods, they take it—and discover an enchanted world. For readers of Annie Hartnett’s Road to Tender Hearts and Bill Roorbach’s Beep—and anyone who loved Alice in Wonderland and Watership Down—July & August is a magical novel about the ways humans and animals save one another.

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Literary

My Alien Life: A Novellete | J. Martain | Literary Fiction (NT) (C) (F → P)

1st Chapter is FREE, remaining 3 chapters are PAID - including professional narration

A heartwarming, speculative tale of an unusual child who finds a home—and love—with her feisty Great-great-aunt Magnolia Rose McClellan. Set in rural North Carolina, this Southern fiction “novelette” is short enough for a lunch break—though you may want to have some tissues handy!

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Speculative

Science Fiction

Anabasis | The Myth of Sisyphus | Science Fiction; Literary, Philosophical (NA) (C) (F)

From the dying corridors of the Arc to the first settlements rising in the new wilderness, Anabasis follows humanity’s second return to Earth—a cycle of wonder and ruin repeating under new skies. Through the eyes of leaders, pilots, and dreamers, the story asks whether progress can exist without destruction, and whether any beginning can truly be new.

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Young Readers

Shattered | CB Mason | Young readers; Utopian & Dystopian; Romance, Action & Adventure (N)

A fractured world. A hidden past. A future she never expected. Fourteen-year-old Tessa Wright’s idyllic life is shattered when a tragic accident kills her family and forces her to leave the Wilds for Bannock, the largest urban center. As she struggles with grief and tries to fit into her new life, mysterious memories surface, making her question her past. Caught between the unrest in the city and a growing underground movement, Tessa must figure out who she is and what’s worth fighting for. In a fractured and unstable society, time is running out for Tessa. In a world where nothing is as it seems, discovering the truth could cost her everything.

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Speculative

Fantasy

The Withered King | G. M. Baker | YA Portal Fantasy (N) (ARC)

When Colin Cameron’s dying father entrusted him with the protection of his baby sister Effie, neither anticipated that Colin and Effie would one day stumble through a portal into the kingdom of the Green King. There, the king’s winsome daughter’s first words to Colin are a proposal of marriage and the entire kingdom mistakes Effie for their long promised savior, the Spotless Maiden. The ancient scrolls say that only the Spotless Maiden can defeat their great enemy, the Withered King. Colin is not about to let his little sister ride to war against a demon king, but not everyone in the Green King’s kingdom is willing to take no for an answer. And saying no to the Green King’s daughter’s proposal is not as easy as it seems.

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Speculative

Fantasy

Death and Taxes | Alexander M Crow | Dark Fantasy (NA) (C) (F)

A serial fantasy fiction, introducing characters and locations, some of which will reappear in other Tales of The Lesser Evil. This is not quite grimdark, but it is on the darker, perhaps less shiny side of fantasy. Death and Taxes—the only certainties in life—examines the lengths one woman will go to in order to provide security for her family. Lengths which keep getting longer and longer. Get it right, and Merie will be free. If not, there’ll be four more orphans on the streets.

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In the stacks

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Speculative

Fantasy

The Withered King | G. M. Baker | YA Portal Fantasy (N) (ARC)

When Colin Cameron’s dying father entrusted him with the protection of his baby sister Effie, neither anticipated that Colin and Effie would one day stumble through a portal into the kingdom of the Green King. There, the king’s winsome daughter’s first words to Colin are a proposal of marriage and the entire kingdom mistakes Effie for their long promised savior, the Spotless Maiden. The ancient scrolls say that only the Spotless Maiden can defeat their great enemy, the Withered King. Colin is not about to let his little sister ride to war against a demon king, but not everyone in the Green King’s kingdom is willing to take no for an answer. And saying no to the Green King’s daughter’s proposal is not as easy as it seems.

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Speculative

Science Fiction

Destination Europa | SDG Lemaître | Sci-Fi, Thriller/Mystery (N) (C) (F)

The R.G. Leifr, flagship of the FSS colonisation fleet, is en route to Europa with a hundred and twenty souls on board — crew and colonists preparing to pioneer humanity’s most ambitious settlement project yet. Yet as Jupiter draws closer, tensions are rising and strange things are beginning to happen. Habitat engineer Aquilla O’Neill has to navigate the fraught relationship between Earther and Martian factions, as well as his own mission — and his own broken heart. Can he find the answers he needs, and will the Leifr arrive at its destination?

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Short Fiction Collection

The Silent House by the Sea | Bri Heron | Short Fiction Collection (S)

The Silent House by the Sea is a short story collection of 15 works ranging from navigating grief and complex family relationships, to elements of slight horror.

Speculative

Salvation Reigned | Travis Peterson | Science Fiction (NT)

Salvation Reigned is a dark, philosophical science‑fiction novella about systems that never end, engineered life, and memory as the last form of resistance. It’s worth your time if you like speculative fiction that asks uncomfortable questions and trusts the reader to sit with them rather than offering easy answers.

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Speculative

Fantasy

The Withered King | G. M. Baker | YA Portal Fantasy (N) (ARC)

When Colin Cameron’s dying father entrusted him with the protection of his baby sister Effie, neither anticipated that Colin and Effie would one day stumble through a portal into the kingdom of the Green King. There, the king’s winsome daughter’s first words to Colin are a proposal of marriage and the entire kingdom mistakes Effie for their long promised savior, the Spotless Maiden. The ancient scrolls say that only the Spotless Maiden can defeat their great enemy, the Withered King. Colin is not about to let his little sister ride to war against a demon king, but not everyone in the Green King’s kingdom is willing to take no for an answer. And saying no to the Green King’s daughter’s proposal is not as easy as it seems.

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Literary

A Hong Kong Story | Kathleen Clare Waller | Literary (N) (C) (F)→($)

A juxtaposition of Ivy’s solitary navigation with Hong Kong’s journey in the 2010’s. A story about divergence, culture, and love. What do you do when the future’s suddenly unclear?

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With over 350 works in our collection, The Library is the perfect place meet your 2026 reading goals while supporting indie authors.

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Note to authors: In the coming weeks, we will review all listings and remove those with broken links. Please check your listings and let us know if you have any updates. You may resubmit a listing at any time. Thank you for your help!

Thanks for helping us support indie authors!

What are you reading?

We’d like to hear from you! What fiction have you been reading on Substack, and what do you recommend? Please refrain from self-promotion. This is an opportunity to discuss a serial or novel on Substack or a Buy Indie book that has impacted you, or that you believe deserves more attention.

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In the stacks

Short Fiction Collection

Stories of the Far Shore | Allen Thomas | Fantasy; Sword and Sorcery (S) (I) (F)

Every Tuesday, I post a chapter or short story, about 2,000 words a week. The stories share a fantasy setting, the Far Shore. The Far Shore was the frontier of an empire that retreated centuries ago, and left to its own devices, the cultivated lands are returning to wilderness and the cities are falling into seediness and decadence. The stories are fantasy, what I personally think of as sword-and-sorcery stories, range from 4,000 word short stories to 40,000 word novellas, and all of them are free.

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Speculative

Fantasy

The Withered King | G. M. Baker | YA Portal Fantasy (N) (ARC)

When Colin Cameron’s dying father entrusted him with the protection of his baby sister Effie, neither anticipated that Colin and Effie would one day stumble through a portal into the kingdom of the Green King. There, the king’s winsome daughter’s first words to Colin are a proposal of marriage and the entire kingdom mistakes Effie for their long promised savior, the Spotless Maiden. The ancient scrolls say that only the Spotless Maiden can defeat their great enemy, the Withered King. Colin is not about to let his little sister ride to war against a demon king, but not everyone in the Green King’s kingdom is willing to take no for an answer. And saying no to the Green King’s daughter’s proposal is not as easy as it seems.

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Speculative

The Hollow Men, Or, The Opera Ghost | Iris Shaw | Speculative (NT) (C) (F)

Martin writes a message on a piece of scenery and brings a ghost to life. Years later, the ghost is still there, and though Martin forgot about it long ago, it hasn’t forgotten him.

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Speculative

Fantasy

Tales & Treasure | Rob Mortell | Fantasy (N) (C) (F)

In Emre, bards are revered; their stories have answers; their stories have influence; their stories have power. When the subject of his story dies unexpectedly, the disgraced bard Vatis finds himself alone in the wilderness. Undeterred and desperate, he searches for something or someone to be the new subject of his revitalizing tale. His luck changes in a tavern when an enigmatic man named Vidmar begins asking strange questions. After a heated confrontation, they agree to travel together. Vidmar details his tragic past as an army scout but keeps his true quest a secret from the bard. He needs to find a legendary crown for his merciless, power-hungry employer. As their unlikely friendship develops, each man clings to their deepest secret. Their search for answers leads to confrontations with bandits, thieves, wolves, and more until Vidmar’s secret quest is revealed, and Vatis’s lust for his story becomes insatiable. With Vatis’s knowledge, they uncover new clues to the crown’s location, bringing Vidmar closer than he’s ever been.

Horror

A Slow Ascent of Madness | ReddOscar | Horror/Lovecraftian (NA) (C) (F)→($)

First chapter free

Newlyweds Charles and Abigail desire wealth beyond their dreams and have heard rumours of gold beneath the town of Sageburn. People have flocked from miles around in the hunt for luxurious wealth but find more than gold beneath the hills of Sageburn…

Science Fiction

Arcanoforge: Midnight Metropolis | Caroline Barnard-Smith | Science Fiction (N) (I) (F)

Tattiana the Blood Seer plies her odious trade in Noctara, the wart on the blackened backside of a lightless planet revolving around a colossal, sentient head. Tattie just wants to break sky and leave Noctara behind forever, but the neon megacity has other plans for her. People are being husked for the slightest infraction, and now her one-time lover has reappeared to beg for help she refuses to give. When her co-worker makes a pact with a tentacle-armed daemon and the back alley club they work in is destroyed, Tattie begrudgingly accepts a gig from the mysterious Verna Shade in return for a hefty amount of credits. With that sort of capital, she could buy her own space bucket and carve out a future in the stars. The job should be easy—all she has to do is break into a government facility guarded by emotionless husks that feel no pain and steal Noctara’s most closely guarded secrets. It’s a near-impossible task that could get her exiled, husked, or killed, but Tattie possesses the dire blood magicks of the fabled Archanoforge. She’s tired of hiding, and shattering Noctara’s fragile hold on peace seems like a small price to pay for freedom.

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In the stacks

Speculative

Fantasy

No Extra Lives | Dan Blakely | Fantasy; Dark Fantasy; Portal Fantasy (N) (I) (F)

New chapters posted Wednesday and Saturday

Thane is dying. His body is failing, his mind is fraying, and the world feels like a cruel joke. When a cutting-edge VR game promises an escape, Thane logs in to lose himself in its fantasy world, Arbelon—a land of fractured beauty, prophecies, and dangerous magic. But what begins as a way to vent his bitterness soon spirals into something he can’t explain.

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Speculative

Fantasy

A River Trembles (book two in The Môrdreigiau Chronicles) | Leanne Shawler | Fantasy (N) (C) (F)

A dreigiau môr monarch fights to claim their power and form the first Chosen Court in centuries. Find out what really happened at the end of “A Grail for Eidothea”.

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Contemporary

The Data Raiders | Joan Fletcher (cyberwyrd on Substack) | Contemporary; Thriller & suspense (N) (I) (F)→($)

How far do the intergenerational and social effects of bullying extend? It started with the suicide attempt of a tormented teenager. Among the circle af bystanders are driven, desperate, environmental researcher Sophie Tessier, and her former lover, IT security agent Dylan Baranov, both survivors of bullying themselves. For Sophie the event is a personal crisis that launches her in a mission to uncover and deconstruct the roots of bullying and terrorism. But is someone watching her? A shadowy group of hackers has emerged, with an enigmatic agenda, and a level of skill that causes growing alarm in official circles. Every new exploit they carry out is more relevant to her own purpose. She perseveres through identity theft and confrontation with a domestic terrorist to arrive at an answer more costly and more far-reaching than she ever imagined.

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Contemporary

The Data Raiders | Joan Fletcher (cyberwyrd on Substack) | Contemporary; Thriller & suspense (N)

The book is being serialized for free on Substack, and available at Amazon.ca for 4.99 $CAD (e-book) or 13.99 $CAD (paperback)

How far do the intergenerational and social effects of bullying extend? It started with the suicide attempt of a tormented teenager. Among the circle af bystanders are driven, desperate, environmental researcher Sophie Tessier, and her former lover, IT security agent Dylan Baranov, both survivors of bullying themselves. For Sophie the event is a personal crisis that launches her in a mission to uncover and deconstruct the roots of bullying and terrorism. But is someone watching her? A shadowy group of hackers has emerged, with an enigmatic agenda, and a level of skill that causes growing alarm in official circles. Every new exploit they carry out is more relevant to her own purpose. She perseveres through identity theft and confrontation with a domestic terrorist to arrive at an answer more costly and more far-reaching than she ever imagined.

Speculative

The Last Gambler | Dan Blakely | Fantasy; Urban Fantasy; Magical Realism (N)

Book 1 of the Fall of Fate

Colm, a college dropout with a dead-end job, is convinced that the world has abandoned him. When a chance encounter leads him to a magical shop, he’s given an enchanted dice, on the condition that he uses it to help a young woman named Rye find her way home. Each roll of the dice is laced with promise and regret: even numbers grant a wish, while odds steal a year of his life. Initially skeptical, Colm succumbs to greed, wishing for riches, only to realize the magic is all too real, and he’s now bound to dark magic with deadly consequences.

The Final Save | Dan Blakely | Fantasy; Dark Fantasy, Portal Fantasy (N)

Follow up book to No Extra Lives - Thane is running out of time. His body weakens under experimental treatments, and every cure feels more like a gamble than salvation. Yet when the pull of Arbelon surges again, he returns to a world on the edge—a land of broken strongholds, unraveling prophecies, and a Heart that falters with every breath he takes. What once felt like escape now feels like consequence.

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From the Stacks

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Speculative

Utopian & Dystopian

The Iniquity of the Federation | Michael P. Marpaung | Science Fiction, Dystopian (NT) (C) (F)

The year is 4500 of the Common Era and the Federation reigned supreme. Pleasure rather than brutality marked Federation rule, as symbolized by the “bunny units”. Our heroine is Unit 49,316 ‘Sixteen’, a bunny who felt the emptiness of her life and was desperate for love. Will Sixteen find what she was looking for, or is she doomed to a life in service of the Federation?

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Thanks for helping us support indie authors!

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In the stacks

Poetry Collection

a natural disaster | Z Zara | Poetry Collection (P) (C) ($)

Z breaks down walls that surround the discussion of societal taboos, as well as their own fear of having these deep and vulnerable conversations with loved ones. a natural disaster is a poetry collection that embraces the darkness that many try look away from and evolves with it to create greater understanding of the world.

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Speculative

Orion Stalks The Night | Gary W. Sherwin | Speculative; Techno-Novel (N) (I) (F)

80+ chapters: 40 chapters published to Substack as text; 9 chapters published to Substack as audio

In this, the first installment of “Orion Stalks The Night”, Leo Spellman, a young brilliant junior scientist, who works for a major defense contractor. collides with industrial research politics. Meanwhile, he tries to understand an ongoing series of unexplained prophetic dreams. Then through no fault of his own, He, His family and friends become involved with a ruthless organized drug crime syndicate. Rather than resign to his unfortunate situation, he and others devise a plan to bring justice to themselves and their loved ones.

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Note to authors: In the coming weeks, we will review all listings and remove those with broken links. Please check your listings and let us know if you have any updates. You may resubmit a listing at any time. Thank you for your help!

Thanks for helping us support indie authors!

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In the stacks

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Short Fiction Collection

The Collected Erotic Stories and Tales of Oli Trollgora (Erotic Short Story Collection Book 1) | Oli Trollgora | Erotica (S)

This is a collection of erotic short stories. Many of these are told from the 2nd person perspective. I have been told from some of my readers that they enjoy it that way. Most of these are written between a man and a woman, but not all of them. These are short stories and don’t have a lot of character development.

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Literary

A Hong Kong Story | Kathleen Clare Waller | Literary (N) (C) (F)→($)

A juxtaposition of Ivy’s solitary navigation with Hong Kong’s journey in the 2010’s. A story about divergence, culture, and love. What do you do when the future’s suddenly unclear?

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What are you reading?

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In the stacks

Speculative

Fantasy

Oy Yew | Ana Salote | Fantasy; crossover (N) (I) (F)

Lay low and grow is the motto of the Waifs of Duldred Hall. The only way to escape their life of drudgery is to reach the magical height of 5 thighs 10 oggits, yet Master Jeopardine is determined to feed them little and keep them small. When the Master’s methods grow more sinister the waifs must face their doubts. What is kept in the Bone Room? Why is Rook’s Parlour locked? A new waif arrives and the fight for survival begins. But this child brings another question: Who is Oy? (Charles Kingsley meets Jasper Fforde with shades of Gormenghast).

Science Fiction

Kruptos | Michael P. Marpaung | Space Adventure, Planetary Romance (N) (I) (F)

When a mysterious asteroid begins disrupting the Electrosphere and threatening Earth Space, the United Earth Coalition dispatches Captain Abel Ramsey and Lieutenant Ricardo ‘Rick’ Smits on what should be a quick reconnaissance mission. Abel is a gifted Space Force officer who chose exploration over glory, and Rick is his quick-witted irreverent partner who’d rather crack jokes than face danger head-on. Their two-man crew unexpectedly becomes three when they discover Lieutenant Nia Ennis—the Generalissimo’s daughter—hiding in their cargo bay, determined to prove she’s more than just a general’s kid. But what High Command thought a rogue space rock is in truth something far greater: Kruptos, a hidden planet of exotic wildlife and ancient civilizations being crushed beneath the armored thumb of the mighty Emperor Cain the Conqueror.

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Short Fiction Collection

Speculative

Monsters, Myths and Mayhem | Chris J. Franklin | Microfiction, Humour

‘Monsters, Myths and Mayhem’ is a fun, fast-paced feast of frights, featuring a collection of Microfiction stories inspired by popular Urban Legends…

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From the Stacks

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Speculative

Horror

A Slow Ascent of Madness | ReddOscar | Horror/Lovecraftian (NA) (C) (F)→($)

First chapter free

Newlyweds Charles and Abigail desire wealth beyond their dreams and have heard rumours of gold beneath the town of Sageburn. People have flocked from miles around in the hunt for luxurious wealth but find more than gold beneath the hills of Sageburn…

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With over 350 works in our collection, The Library is the perfect place meet your 2026 reading goals while supporting indie authors.

If you have a complete or in-progress work you’d like added to The Library or an indie-published book to include in our Buy Indie section, follow this guide, and we’ll help spread the word.

Note to authors: In the coming weeks, we will review all listings and remove those with broken links. Please check your listings and let us know if you have any updates. You may resubmit a listing at any time. Thank you for your help!

Thanks for helping us support indie authors!

What are you reading?

We’d like to hear from you! What fiction have you been reading on Substack, and what do you recommend? Please refrain from self-promotion. This is an opportunity to discuss a serial or novel on Substack or a Buy Indie book that has impacted you, or that you believe deserves more attention.

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In the stacks

Thriller & Mystery

The Archive | Albert Massay | Thriller / Espionage Mystery (N) (I) ($)

Beneath the Swiss Alps, the Archive is the world’s final arbiter of contested evidence — an international institution whose certifications trigger sanctions, arrests, and military strikes. When a hostile intelligence network called VECTOR captures the facility in a silent ninety-minute takeover, four senior analysts recognize the infiltration before they’re captured. They choose to stay inside, posing as compliant staff, while secretly working to expose the occupation. But VECTOR has weaponized the Archive’s own credibility: every certification release now serves their agenda, and each one causes real-world harm. The analysts face an impossible choice — maintain cover and participate in the damage, or blow their cover and lose any chance of proving the takeover to the outside world.

The Forgetting Curve | Albert Massay | Thriller / Dystopian Mystery (N) (I) ($)

In a world where romantic attachment has been neurologically erased, memory courier Anna discovers she’s immune to the Lethe Protocol — the government program that suppressed humanity’s capacity for love. When black-market memory dealer Leo begins selling contraband emotional memories that reactivate attachment responses in recipients, Anna is drawn into an underground network of people fighting to feel again. But every reactivated memory triggers a biometric alert, and the Bureau of Emotional Regulation is closing in. As Anna and Leo uncover the truth behind who created the Protocol — and why — they must decide how much they’re willing to risk for a feeling the world has been told is a disease.

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Historical

Shanghai Legacy | Marion Cuba | Historical (N) (C) (F)

A Historical Novel of Love and Survival—Sweeping from the 1938 Jewish Refuge in Shanghai to Contemporary America in 2000 when 20,000 German Jews sought safety from Hitler, the only place in the world that would take them without a visa was Shanghai. Forced to leave an affluent life in Berlin to the squalor of Shanghai, Hannah manages to survive, make it to America, and start her own family. In New York, now an aged survivor, Hannah abandons everything Jewish and keeps her past secret. When Hannah dies, her adult daughter Maya, a suburban empty-nester, perceives her mother as distant and severe, even cruel—until a German diary shows up. It reveals the
courageous choices and sacrifices young Hannah had to make. Thus begins an emotional odyssey that forces Maya to examine her own life. Based on years of research, Shanghai Legacy dramatizes how a survivor’s secret hardships affect—and afflict—the next generation. And how the truth can heal all wounds.

Speculative

Love and Ghosts at Hideaway Lake | Elle Hartford | Fantasy; Romantasy/cozy fantasy (N)

In a magical place where fears catch up with you and dreams just might come true, witchy Sakura and stoic Pluto set out to reinvent Hideaway Lake as a cozy haven–but in the process, they may need to reinvent their own lives, too.

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From the Stacks

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Speculative

Fantasy

Empress & Soldier | Marian L Thorpe | Fantasy, Historical (N) (I) (F)

A boy of the night-time streets. A girl of libraries and learning. Druisius, the son of a merchant, is sixteen when an order from his father that he can neither forgive nor forget drives him from home and into the danger and intrigue of the military. Eudekia, a scholar’s daughter, educated and dutiful, is not meant to be a prince’s bride. A decade after a first, brief meeting, their lives intersect again. When a delegation arrives from the lost West, asking Eudekia for sanctuary for a princess and support for a desperate war, Druisius is assigned to guard them. In the span of a few weeks, a young captain will capture the hearts of both Empress and soldier in very different ways, offering a future neither could have foreseen.

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With over 350 works in our collection, The Library is the perfect place meet your 2026 reading goals while supporting indie authors.

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Note to authors: In the coming weeks, we will review all listings and remove those with broken links. Please check your listings and let us know if you have any updates. You may resubmit a listing at any time. Thank you for your help!

Thanks for helping us support indie authors!

What are you reading?

We’d like to hear from you! What fiction have you been reading on Substack, and what do you recommend? Please refrain from self-promotion. This is an opportunity to discuss a serial or novel on Substack or a Buy Indie book that has impacted you, or that you believe deserves more attention.

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In the stacks

Speculative

Science Fiction

The Inheritor’s Screams | Cassandra Davis | Science Fiction (NT) (C) (F)

This science-fiction novelette features adoptive parents trying to raise a human baby on an alien planet. The characters and setting are pulled from the novel “Dremiks”. Dr. Ben Fortunas is a biologist who came to the planet Dremiks in an effort to escape his past. The planet’s medical doctor, Dr. Cassie Ruger, certainly didn’t expect to fall in love with a grumpy old scientist, much less end up the mother to an abandoned child. Together, this unusual pair must discover why every human on Dremiks is suffering from anemia--and why baby Ginny is immune.

Utopian & Dystopian

NextGen | Steven Cary | Dystopian; Political Thriller (N) (C) (F)

In the year 2050, the vast majority of Americans make up the “liberated class,” promised freedom from labor, but given unescapable poverty and lawlessness. In spite of this dystopian upbringing, 18-year-old Henry Simon starts a band with his friends in a desperate attempt to find meaning and enjoyment in a world ruthlessly deprived of both by its automated authoritarian government. Jam-packed with music, humor, and politics, NextGen is the apocalyptic story of one generation’s headlong plunge into a world dominated by automation, and the next generation’s fight to reclaim their humanity. Steven Cary’s first novel offers thrilling suspense, thoughtful analysis, and—most importantly—a bright glimmer of hope. After all, the future is unwritten.

The Lighthouse Files | Albert Massay | Mystery / Thriller (N) (I) (F)

Season 1 currently publishing (episodes releasing every Tuesday and Thursday, full text available on Substack)

A lighthouse keeper vanishes from a remote coastal station, leaving behind a trail of logs, security transcripts, and personal records that don't add up. Told entirely through found documents — no traditional narration — readers piece together what happened by working through the recovered files themselves. Three seasons, 36 episodes total. Season 1 is live now.

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Short Fiction Collection

Hallucinations | Hamish Kavanagh | Literary (S)

From street life settings to high rolling finance offices, Hallucinations steps to the side of perception and lets you look at life in ways you’ve never had access, at places you’ve preferred to avoid, in dreams you’ve longed to stay. These stories are fever dreams steeped in the traditions of Joseph Conrad, Cormac McCarthy. The darkness—ambient and psychological; dread weaved throughout the fibres of the page rather than brushed plainly, edge to edge.

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From the Stacks

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Speculative

Science Fiction

Article 17 | Von | Military/Aliens/Romance (N) (I) (F)

She was pretty, popular, snobby, and a planetary governor’s daughter. He was the son of shopkeepers, a social misfit, and a decorated hero on his way to the front. She thought she was there to dance. He had other ideas.

Share The Library

With over 350 works in our collection, The Library is the perfect place meet your 2026 reading goals while supporting indie authors.

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Note to authors: In the coming weeks, we will review all listings and remove those with broken links. Please check your listings and let us know if you have any updates. You may resubmit a listing at any time. Thank you for your help!

Thanks for helping us support indie authors!

What are you reading?

We’d like to hear from you! What fiction have you been reading on Substack, and what do you recommend? Please refrain from self-promotion. This is an opportunity to discuss a serial or novel on Substack or a Buy Indie book that has impacted you, or that you believe deserves more attention.

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In the stacks

Speculative

Fantasy

First Last Chance | B. E. Lunetois | Fantasy; Dieselpunk (N) (A)* (I) (F)

The Stone Unfurled is a long, flat world surrounded by walls of golden ice, covered by the Ten-Thousand Seas, which are speckled with many islands whose inhabitants must make their way in a beautiful but harsh world. For the spoiled young governor who controls one of the tiniest islands this world has to offer, the extent of that harshness is about to be fully revealed. Thrown into a chaotic war between diverse factions, he must learn to make his way in the company of two women who are almost as frightening and dangerous as his enemies.

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First Last Chance | B. E. Lunetois | Fantasy; Dieselpunk (N)

The Stone Unfurled is a long, flat world surrounded by walls of golden ice, covered by the Ten-Thousand Seas, which are speckled with many islands whose inhabitants must make their way in a beautiful but harsh world. For the spoiled young governor who controls one of the tiniest islands this world has to offer, the extent of that harshness is about to be fully revealed. Thrown into a chaotic war between diverse factions, he must learn to make his way in the company of two women who are almost as frightening and dangerous as his enemies.

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Featuring different, randomly-selected books every week.

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Down in the Holler | Bridget Riley | Mystery (NA) (C) (F)

Judith Temple, a software developer, feels most at home with theories and cold, hard facts. But she also experiences seemingly psychic visions. When Judith finds herself drawn into a missing person cold case in rural Kentucky, she must learn to use both her hyper-analytical, logical mind and her newfound ability (skill? gift? curse? delusion?) to find the mysterious woman reaching out to her.

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