New this week

The latest additions to The Library's collection

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

Poetry

The North Pole Epic | Caleb Taylor | Fantasy (P) (I) (F)

Explore the history of the North Pole culture in a series of epic poetry. The Polar Elf Guild (P.E.G.) pushes for elf rights and freedom in a North Pole overwhelmed by greedy goblin exploitation. If you have ever wondered how the culture of giving associated with Christmas reached so much of the world from the mysterious North Pole you will love The North Pole Epic.

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Romance

6 Little Seeds | Alexx Hart | Speculative (N) (I) (F)

Persephone & Haides. We know that old tale—or do we? Because the Goddess of Love has a problem. Commerce, domination, and war have begun to rule the Cosmos, leaving Love on the wane. That’s all right. The rapscallion God of Love has a super-duper awesome solution! Let’s orchestrate a love-match across the barrier separating Above from Below and spark new life in a wasteland riddled with monsters and ghosts. Yeah! That’d be fun. So, just how many gods, goddesses, demigods, and primordials does it take to match-make the King of the Dead with the Bringer of Blossomtime? And how many will it take to tear them apart? Short answer: most of them. After all, Persephone’s mother despises Haides, and her father has had a love/hate (mostly hate…okay, fine…complicated) relationship with him for nearly a millennium. Plus, there are those dirty family secrets that most individuals would love to keep buried. But not everybody. So how about you? Ever wondered who Haides & Persephone were before that infamous snatching and the notorious pomegranate incident? I did. So I asked. BE WARNED: Here There Be Beasties! And fiends and gore and kinky pluckery galore.

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Short Fiction Collection

Strays Like Us | Garrett Francis | Literary  (S) (I) ($)→(F)

Available to paid subscribers first, then unlocked to free subscribers two weeks later (some stories will go back behind the paywall two weeks after being unlocked for free subscribers). 

A collection of ten standalone short stories exploring what it means to grow up in America.

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Speculative

And in the Dark They Are Born | Garrett Francis | Post-apocalyptic  (N) (C) (F)→($)

First three chapters (plus their installments of author commentary) are free, remaining chapters are behind paywall. 

A deaf teenager and a middle-aged scavenger navigate a post-blackout America occupied by warring tribes.

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Contract Marriage | Von | Dystopia (N) (I) (F)

Contract marriage is an adult dystopia examining the issues of marriage. Like 1984 and Brave New World, Contract Marriage treats the relations between the sexes as a fundamental aspect of how a society is formed, and thus how a society can go wrong.

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The Erosion of All Things Sacred | Winston Malone | Dark Fantasy (N) (I) (F)→($)

First three chapters are free, remaining chapters are behind paywall. 

When a luminary priest is murdered, a cardinal named Reginald is put on the case by the Chancery. As a man of the Codes, he's incapable of allowing such evil to exist. However, the investigation leads him into the darkest depths of a society he once swore allegiance to protect. An unlikely companion may be his only hope for survival or the one that kills him.

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Thriller & Mystery

The Viper | Annelie Wendeberg | Historical (N) (I) (F)→($)

First four chapters are free, remaining chapters are behind paywall. 

Like most gangsters, Quinn McCurley has been feeding lies to the police for as long as he can remember. Unlike most gangsters, he's an Inspector at Boston's Police Department of Criminal Investigation, hiding his true identity and deception from all. As the shadows of his past creep closer and his double life takes a dangerous turn, he must choose which side of the law he's truly on. Dr. Elizabeth Arlington finds herself entangled in a deadly game of deception that threatens her life and that of her children. As she uncovers the truth behind the conspiracy, she must decide whether to trust the man who has lied to her for years or risk the lives of those she loves.

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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

Speculative

And in the Dark They Are Born | Garrett Francis | Post-apocalyptic  (N)

A deaf teenager and a middle-aged scavenger navigate a post-blackout America occupied by warring tribes. Also at Bookshop.org

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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

40 Before 40 | Walther Cantu | Memoir (B) (I) (F)

Forty personal essays about one man's journey from faithless to zealous, single to husband/father, and morbidly obese to just obese. All before he turns 40.

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