Literary Fiction Titles
Literary fiction refers to novels that are character-driven rather than plot-driven, examine the human condition, use language in an experimental or poetic fashion, or are considered serious art.
Works are alphabetized by author. Genres are listed beside works. For details about a specific work, refer to author’s Substack. The Library is not responsible for content on individual authors’ Substacks.
(N) Novel / (NA) Novella / (NT) Novelette (B) Nonfiction Book
(C) Complete / (I) Serial In Progress
(F) Free / ($) Paid / (F)→($) Preview Available
In Judgement of Others | Eleanor Anstruther | (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…
Into It | Morgan Beatty | Literary (N) (C) (F)
John, a high school junior driven dangerously manic by illicit medications, and Adam, a secretive, obese obsessive in his senior year respond to a massive school shooting covered over weeks in the media by making plans to destroy their own school. Meredith, their classmate, is convinced that John’s a shooter-in-waiting and tries to save him. Her decision brings the three into a dangerously intense relationship. Told from Adam and John's alternating perspectives, the novel follows the trio as they inhabit and then revolt against the roles their peers give them, until a day comes when their plans change them forever.
When the Place Is a Map, and the Map Is a Maze | Zoe Carada | Magic Realism (NT) (C) (F)
This is the story of a journalist who travels to an Eastern European country for a TV doc but goes down a rabbit hole and lands in his past. Or was the obscure country a place of his mind, too? The 3-part novelette builds on the theme of the invisible hero, which is here a forgotten memory, a buried sense of identity. The geographical places, Bucharest and Berlin, become places of the mind and, although the saying goes, “the map is not the place”, in this story, the place actually becomes a map. Read to find out where the map is guiding the protagonist.
Carousel | George Chasco | (N) (C) (F → P)
New posts are freely available for two weeks before going paid.
Two lovers, united by a night in bed, discover that rather than walk away and separate in shame they want to spend their time together. She has a train in the evening, hours away, and he'll do what it takes to have those hours with her. Together they explore Paris: art, Seine and Notre Dame; they discover, accidentally, reluctantly, with stinging passion and aching hope, that they’ve fallen in love.
The Werewolf of Mariahilf am Inn | Daniel W. Davison | Horror, Gothic Horror (N) (I) (F)
A gothic tale of supernatural horror spanning the latter half of the nineteenth century, The Werewolf of Mariahilf am Inn chronicles the story of an Austrian man fleeing a curse that has pursued him from the sleepy foothills of the Tyrolean mountains to the wind-swept canyons of the Sierra Nevada.
I Hear You Watching | Zachary Dillon | Psychological Suspense (N) (I) (F)
A disturbing, deeply interior novel based on the author's experience with hearing voices and paranoia. Alex hears a voice out his window. He believes it's his neighbors spying on him. Harassing him. Are they skilled hackers? Government agents targeting him for a secret experiment? Are the police in on it? His friends? The girl he met online? He'll turn his apartment upside-down to find their bugs, search his own body for microchips, confront his neighbors face-to-face… Will he hurt the only person who can help him? Little does Alex know, the true culprit is much closer to home.
A Footnote to Plato, a novel | Tina Lee Forsee | Campus novel (N) (I) (P)
A Footnote to Plato takes place in 2012 at a tiny liberal arts college in Vermont. Philosophy professor Dr. Isaac Fischelson finds himself embroiled in a student drama that leads to a false accusation of sexual harassment and an investigation intended to force him out. He faces a disgraceful end to his long career unless he retires immediately. But Dr. Fischelson refuses to be, as his students like to say, an epic failure. Zeb is a promising math student who has resorted to dealing coke to pay for college. He lives on a failed hippie commune with his toxic mother, who seems intent on bankrupting her son, both materially and spiritually. Zeb tries his best to escape her world, but what he really needs is a bit of luck. The two meet in the Maintenance Committee and soon form a Socrates-Plato bond. When Zeb offers to help the professor put together an online lecture series, Dr. Fischelson decides to take him and a small group of students to Greece to film it. It's an opportunity of a lifetime for Zeb and Dr. Fischelson's last chance to save his reputation--and maybe leave behind a legacy.
And in the Dark They Are Born | Garrett Francis | Literary (N) (C) (F+$)
A deaf teenager and a middle-aged scavenger navigate a post-blackout America occupied by warring tribes.
Flux | Julie Gabrielli | Literary, Climate Fiction (N) (I) (F)
The asthmatic climate scientist Grace Evans is a closet inventor who approaches her work (and her life) as puzzle to solve, a machine to repair. A rising academic star, she documents the harms caused by the fracking industry. She’s determined to expose the methane-leaking cracks in gas wells while hiding her own widening cracks—in her integrity, her relationships, her health, and her control over any of it.
Centenary Book One: Go On Down | Andrew Horan | Literary (NT) (C) (F→$)
Posts are free, while the collection is paid.
Centenary follows the lives of people at Living Well Towers, a high-rise community for seniors. They’re people we don’t often see, and their stories and antics reveal lives full of joy and travail, action and regrets, folly, mischief, and more. The protagonist is Anne, who has just moved to The Towers as Book One opens and is immediately thrust into a death that we come to learn is tragic on many turns. Along the way, we meet her neighbors, children, new friends, and old adversaries. You won’t believe what they’re up to.
The First Book of the Olympnomachi | Brothers Krynn | Speculative / High Fantasy (N) (I) (F)
Long before these ages, yet equally long after the ancient Wars of the Elves and the Dark Queen, when the Dwarves ruled nigh on the whole of the world in a vast Empire, and the Elves had retreated to a single sub-continental Kingdom, War explodes throughout the world. War among the gods, the first in many thousands of years, and one that is destined to tear apart the Olympians, mightiest of the Occidental Pantheons and topple them from their perch atop Mt-Olympos.
When Trees Fall: Book One of the Wood and Water Saga | Dale Mahfood | Historical (N) (I) (F)
Cailin is a naïve, adventure-seeking girl living in a Jamaican Great House. Archie is a teenage boy with a chip on his shoulder. Sharpe is a young man with divided loyalties, living as an outsider in a poor hillside village. Yet, all three long for the same thing—a father’s approval. But the man who has the power to give it to them won’t…or can’t. Behind his back, his property workers call him a tyrant for allegedly murdering a worker in the past, and his family walks on eggshells when he returns home from his drunken visits with his mistress. All while Cailin, Archie, and Sharp’s unfulfilled desires spiral into rejection, mistaken affections, and murder. Set in a seaside village during the final year of World War II and Jamaica’s first general election, When Trees Fall is the first novel in Dale Mahfood’s Wood and Water series. If you enjoy well-drawn, relatable characters and a compelling story you don’t want to put down, you’ll love this first installment in Dale Mahfood’s series.
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!
Substantive Change | Zackary San Martin | Magical Realism (NT) (C) (F)
Joseph awakes one day while out of town to find he has aged 60 years in one night. Follow along as he searches for what brought him to this state, his life and the nature of knowledge and wisdom.
Two Years in New York | Michael Mohr | Fictional Memoir (N) (C) (F)→($)
A fictionalized memoir about my experience living in a rough part of East Harlem during the opening months of the pandemic.
The Sacred Crest | MYINC | High Fantasy, War (N) (I) (F)
The Sacred Crest is a high fantasy novel taking place in the world of Seril, where those in power have received the goddess’ blessing of Royal Crests. The Twelve Divine Kingdoms reign supreme, their rulers descended from heroes who were blessed with power even greater than Royal Crests. But under the Divine Kingdoms’ peaceful masquerade, a quest for further power twists into corruption. Ellighs, the Divine Kingdom of Light, and Duscura, the Divine Kingdom of Darkness, are destined enemies, meant to oppose each other in any way possible. Why does the hatred between these kingdoms run so deeply in their veins? Nobody knows, but one thing is for certain: if light and dark unite, all of Seril will be bound for destruction. Seeking power, the crown prince of Light and the crown princess of Darkness have a daughter whose Royal Crest, the Sacred Crest, threatens the world with its existence. In The Sacred Crest, join methodical Sennia, thoughtful Nessun, energetic Arus, benevolent Twillia, and cynical Telisse as they face the consequences of a lust for power in an adventure that explores the themes of light and dark, truth, and the meaning of what comes from within.
Tranith Argan | Nick Richards | Fantasy/High Fantasy (N) (I) (F)
A 6-book series of high fantasy (elves, dragons) meant for those who still have hope in this world, for this is a hopeful tale that can be enjoyed by the whole family.
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.
Who Will Save Her? | Val Stuart | Mystery, Sci-Fi (N) (I) (F)
Milly's journey spans twelve birthdays in the near-future, revealing an intricately layered and interconnected story. Succinct delivery belies subtext, clues and multi-media symbolism. The story sparkles with action and suspense, but is deeply character-driven by her. In a harsh future not hard to imagine, Milly must find what it truly means to be human. When people are traded and subjugated, she walks the line where “have and have-not” means life itself, yet forges on with her dry humor intact. Who can she trust? Who or what is watching her? What’s she thinking? The perspective of the mysterious narrator makes one ponder: does Milly need saving, and which she is her? Can she gain freedom from the pain of her past without becoming the perpetrator herself?
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.
The Tarnished Gloriole | Nicolas Sutro | Literary (N) (I) (F)
When Jamie starts to work for the charismatic Ben David family, he believes he has found a way forward in his life. But, envy and malice threaten this new life. Families, art, wealth, homosexual identity, and the interplay between the past and the present all play their part in the story.
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?
Beautiful but Unlikely | Julie Weigley | Literary (N) (C) (F)
Beautiful but Unlikely is a coming-of-age novel about finding your place in the world on your own terms in your own time. The way the measure of a man should be taken—by the money he makes or the leadership he exhibits. In both cases, courage is needed to cross boundaries and not be ruled by what others think Amy Templeton is a college graduate full of private passions, but in need of public markers. She stumbles her way from crisis to crisis in her journey, watching for her ‘knights, in the form of money or men.' Drawing on the legend of her beloved Birman cats, each of whom carries the soul of a priest released to heaven upon the feline’s death, she manages to change over time, in her own time, from a spectator at loose ends to the type of purposeful individual she could once only admire.
The Water Is So Wide | Julie Weigley | Literary (NA) (C) (F)
The Water Is So Wide is a novella about the resilience of art and love, an episodic story told in three parts, tied together by the involvement/voice of the first-person narrator interwoven throughout. Its theme questions how love and art can survive the ever-present forces of destruction and not be permanently extinguished. Art, simply by its existence, invariably attracts forces bent on its destruction. The same holds true with love. The world labors under this dynamic and is ultimately weakened by it: almost ninety percent of Cambodia’s artists perish under the Khmer Rouge; a train built with love and longing no longer runs, standing rusted and still; the Lipik Lipizzaner horses are kidnapped and lost during the war in the Balkans. And yet, the gestures of Khmer dance, the history and power of one man’s love, and the horse stables of Croatia survive to this day. How this can happen, how what’s most valuable is not lost, is often the most fascinating story to tell.
The African Songbook: A Tragedy In 5 Acts | Ben Woestenburg | Literary (NA) (C) (F)
A love story that takes place during the Mau Mau uprising of the 1950s. The African Songbook: A Tragedy In 5 Acts, is a story that speaks to the strength of true love, and the lengths one woman is willing to go...
At the Edge of a Long Lone Land | Ben Woestenburg | Literary (NA) (C) (F)
Nearing the end of The Great War, a young boy meets a widow and falls in love; a complicated story about love, family and the crushing defeat of first love…
Beyond the Pale | Ben Woestenburg | Literary (NA) (C) (F)
It’s a rather long short story meant for reading in bed, drinking a cup of coffee and listening to the rain against the window. It’s an inter-racial love story set during the turmoil of Congo’s Independence from Belgium in 1960. Above all, it is a love story between two different people. One is a recent widow, an English schoolteacher whose husband dies on what can only be called a working honeymoon; and Livingstone, a general handyman at Bulongo Station.
The Boxer’s Lament | Ben Woestenburg | Literary (NA) (C) (F)
The Boxer’s Lament is the story of our Narrator’s uncle, Sam Langdon, also known as the Boston Terror…the best pound for pound boxer around. A coming of age story about loss and unrequited love. Come share the pain and heartache, follow our Narrator as she learns first hand that recovery means more than she ever thought it did. Come into the dark world of boxing, of sports writers fighting to get a story out, and a niece’s love for her uncle.
The Evil That Men Do | Ben Woestenburg | Literary (NA) (C) (F)
A coming of age novel set in 1963 Rome, when Lorenzo meets Benjamin Messenger for the first time and has to come to terms with what he thought was the truth after he uncovers the biggest secret of his life…
No Simple Remedy | Ben Woestenburg | Literary (NA) (C) (F)
An actress discovers she has cancer and wants to die in Florence, but only makes it as far as Montepulciano, where she settles with her three children, and her brother—who harbours a dark secret…
Nice list!
Would be cool to see one for transgressive self-published fiction as well.