A Call for Apocalyptic Fiction
This week, we’re searching for Pre-Apocalyptic, Apocalyptic, and Post-Apocalyptic books within the Speculative category to fill our stacks. If you have one or know someone who does, send them our way. We want to highlight your work!
Answering to our recent call for Thriller & Mystery works, you will find The Accursed Adventures of Thorfinn Grimm, a collection of contemporary detective fiction stories by Remus Noronha listed below.
Bridget Riley would also like to let readers know that Down in the Holler—a speculative mystery novella in which Judith Temple, a rigid and analytical psychic detective, investigates a cold case in rural Appalachia—published its final episode on June 29th. Thank you to everyone who read and enjoyed it, and stay tuned for season 2 this October!
For anyone needing to catch up, here is the Table of Contents:
If you have a complete or in-progress work you’d like added to The Library or an indie-published book to include in the Buy Indie section, follow this guide, and we’ll help spread the word.
And thanks again to everyone for helping us support indie authors!
In the stacks
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.
Nonfiction
Good Eye, Bad Eye: A Memoir of Trauma and Truth | Jeanne Malmgren | Memoir (B) (I) ($)
Can a childhood accident permanently damage our psyche? Or is it possible to heal from the physical and psychological wounds of trauma? At age 2 the author—who is also a psychotherapist—suffered an injury that would scar her forever. Her story will inspire anyone who lives with a disability or has endured trauma of any kind. Good Eye, Bad Eye launches readers on an emotional roller coaster of shame, the poignant yearning to be "normal," and the author's eventual discovery of a spiritual path that brings her peace and acceptance. This is also a detective story as the author searches for the truth of what happened to her in childhood—a truth withheld from her by those who loved her most. The answer she finally uncovers is bittersweet. Good Eye, Bad Eye is a primer on how the human brain struggles to handle overwhelming events, how therapists help their patients heal, and how the truth sets us free.
Short Fiction Collections
Macellus Stories | Julie Gabrielli | Speculative; supernatural (S) (I) (F)
The stories in this collection are set in the Marcellus shale fracking region of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Originally the home of the Lenni-Lenape, the Munsee Lenape and the Susquehannock, whose descendants live there still. I’m interested in how we, trapped and complicit in destructive systems we hate, might find a way forward. Holding wonder, humility, and awe in the same trembling hands as our grief, fear, and anger—with love and compassion.
Shadows & Sorcery | Seán Hill | Speculative Fantasy (S) (I) (F)
Shadows & Sorcery is a weekly dark fantasy flash fiction publication, standalone episodes, events, and chronicles designed to engage the reader's imagination with hints, implications, and rich prose in a different way to longer, traditional fiction. Every edition contains whole new worlds, but we sometimes return for new adventures in old lands, or visit old characters to see what they're up to.
The Accursed Adventures of Thorfinn Grimm | Remus Noronha | Thriller & Mystery, Contemporary detective fiction (S) (I) (F)
The Accursed Adventures of Thorfinn Grimm is a detective story collection inspired by Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot, with just a hint of The Addams Family. Thorfinn Grimm is an eccentric private detective who has yet to find a case he couldn’t solve. But for all his success, Finn’s solutions never end up benefiting him. This serial collects Finn’s various cases, including daring thefts, ruthless murders, and more.
Speculative
Fantasy
The Lorebook (a novel) | R.L. Glover (ThatOldDm on Substack) | Speculative Fantasy (N) (I) (F)
A tale of mythic fantasy and adventure set on the continent of Ar'rin, where a lost book of lore could reveal the locations of powerful magical secrets lost since the fall of a Great Kingdom. This story begins in the small town of Tommen's Rest where a young sage and an adventurous rogue uncover a tomb in the hills nearby after winter's frost fades under the warm spring rains.
The Path of Poison | Seán Hill | Speculative Fantasy (N) (I) (F)
The Path of Poison is a fantasy adventure serial set in a vibrant world of faith, sorcery, and cosmic secrets. The story follows Sepp, an apothecary's apprentice and nice young man who bears a strange and terrible poison magic with a grim reputation. Driven from home by war, he sets out with his fellow villagers on a quest for a new life that will take him across the known world, and maybe even beyond...
Storm God | Maximilian P Siddell | Fantasy (NA) (I) (F)
The Dragon of Chaos, Tarneb, has awakened from his eons-long slumber to sow destruction and despair across the face of the Middle World. Rather than fight, the Elders of the Sky Gods have fled, thinking themselves safe within their mighty fortress city of Herazeem. But Tarneb’s power grows and the ruin of the world draws nigh. Now it is left to the storm god Vorn to find a way to defeat Tarneb before all is lost and the ruin of the world is complete.
Are you publishing a book, comic, or story/poetry collection on Substack that you’d like to add to The Library? Send it our way!
Buy Indie
The Lorebook (a novel) | R.L. Glover (ThatOldDm on Substack) | Speculative Fantasy (N)
A tale of mythic fantasy and adventure set on the continent of Ar'rin, where a lost book of lore could reveal the locations of powerful magical secrets lost since the fall of a Great Kingdom. This story begins in the small town of Tommen's Rest where a young sage and an adventurous rogue uncover a tomb in the hills nearby after winter's frost fades under the warm spring rains.
Can readers buy your indie book from your author's website or favorite online bookseller? Provide us a link and some details about your book, and we’ll help get the word out!
From the Archive
Featuring a different, randomly-selected book every week. This week, we have three!
The False Infinite | Joseph W. Knowles | Science Fiction (NA) (C) (F)
The power plays and intrigues of geopolitics take to the stars. From the halls of earthly justice to faraway planets, readers will meet characters who are power-hungry and idealistic. Will a scientific mission get caught up in the whirlwind of politics? What is justice and who is subject to it? Ponder these questions and more in "The False Infinite."
Good to see Remus’s “Thorfinn Grimm” and Max’s “Storm God” here! Also been enjoying “Seeking Morels. Some great additions this week!
Thank you for adding Storm God.