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
In Judgement of Others | Eleanor Anstruther | Literary (N) (C) (F)
The Midhurst Amateur Dramatics Society are putting on a production of Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit, and Tessa has agreed to play a part. But when she suffers a psychotic episode, Ros, a C-list celebrity and new to the area, takes her place. In this darkly comic tale of psychosis in the Home Counties, the stage is set for a blistering examination of mental illness, how we treat it and how we don’t. While Tessa is sectioned in a secure psychiatric hospital, the relationships in the community unravel, and by the time she’s released, all that we thought we knew, and all of our judgements, are thrown into question. Dim the lights, turn off your phones, watch as the curtain rises…
Electric Fantasy Land | Michael L. Sussman | bildungsroman (N) (I) (F)
Electric Fantasy Land follows a laid-back, aimless, sometimes charming daydreamer, as he finds his way through the adolescence of the counter culture in 1976-1977. It's about music, food, sex, and nuclear power. It's about his quirky people he meets, the women he finds and loses, and the lessons he learns from them. It's about his unplanned path to finding purpose and his ongoing quest for love.
Romance
Chasing After You | Johnna Wilford | Romance (N) (I) (F)
In an effort to be taken more seriously, a college girl impulsively signs up for a half marathon training program, where she finds unexpected motivation and love on the journey to rediscovering herself.
Speculative
Monster | Marion Jensen | Speculative thriller (N) (I) (F)
The book is free. Paid subscribers will get access to a podcast discussing the creative process, decisions made while writing each chapter, etc.
After a traumatic head injury, Nick Carson discovers he has an incredible ability; he can predict–and prevent–another person’s death. The burden of this ability tears his life apart in a matter of months. He’s left with little more than the recurring, exhaustive decision of who he can save and who he’ll let die. A chance encounter with Celeste, a clerk at a grocery store, leads to a series of revelations, each more unbelievable than the last. A singular event is coming where millions will die, leaving one small infant alive. Nick becomes convinced he can stop the event, while Celeste becomes convinced Nick is the one who must be stopped.
Dystopian
The Undoing: Book 1 of The Reckoning of Anecor Trilogy | D.K. Shepston | Dystopian, Young Adult (N) (C) (F)
Just before Rebecca's brother died, he made her promise one thing: Discover the truth behind the ruthless killer claiming countless lives, leaving everyone else to wonder if they are next. This is a killer that has no cure and leaves no survivors. But if her brother’s suspicions were right, the biggest threat isn’t a virus. It is something far more dangerous. The only clue Rebecca has to go on is a mysterious purple light glowing behind a mountain during the quietest hours of the night. Jonathan’s death thrusts Rebecca from the safety of a sheltered life in Tier 3. She is now forced into a role she doesn’t feel equipped to handle. If she is to succeed, she must confront her fear and avoid the Council's watchful eyes. Rebecca doesn’t want this role, but if she doesn’t finish what her brother started, how many more people will die and what will happen to Anecor? You don’t need to be a teen to enjoy this book…it’s a story that appeals across age groups!
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
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From the Archive
Featuring a different, randomly-selected book every week
Obscurity | Elle Griffin | Gothic (N) (C) ($)
Set amidst the wild palms of 1790s New Orleans, the widow St. Vincent appears in the wake of her husband's death, the wealthiest plantation owner in the South. But strange occurrences ensue in her wake, and the town becomes obsessed with their superstitions about her. As they attempt to unravel the widow's secrets, we find she knows something of their secrets as well and the philosophical underpinnings of their pasts all surface to haunt them all. Written in the style of 19th-century gothic novels such as The Count of Monte Cristo, Dracula, Dangerous Liaisons, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and Phantom of the Opera, and featuring a lush atmospheric setting with a mysterious female lead, Obscurity reads like a wandering through apothecary shelves, each step more haunting and mercurial than the last.
For your consideration for the next issue.
"Contracts & Chaos", the second book in Tales From Crann Na Beatha is available in both EBook and Paperback, The links is: https://books2read.com/u/bwVkyP