A New Era for SciFi – the indie scene!

There is a whole new world of excellent SciFi out there – just under the radar. And I would like to draw your attention to it. For this is the indie (self published) Sci Fi scene – and some of the books I’ve read recently are very VERY good!

Unfortunately being self published these books tend not to gain the attention they deserve, and they’ve not been easy to find. Some I encountered through the SPSFC3 contest for self published SciFi, others I found through engaging with other authors.

I’ve always been an avid SciFi fan, ever since I was a child and skipped straight from children’s books into the SciFi world. I’ve read voraciously over the years but recently it’s been getting harder and harder for me to find the sorts of SciFi that I love to read. Mainstream publishing is trying to appeal to new audiences, but in the process the traditional readership is being left behind.

Now that isn’t to say that there’s no good SciFi being published by mainstream publishers. There most certainly is. But the big shift at the moment is towards fantasy and more specifically Romantasy, which isn’t for me. But then I discovered the indie scene and realised that this is where all those Hard SF and military and gritty space operas have gone.

So here I am, rediscovering my love for SciFi. And now I want to shout about some of the wonderful books and authors I have discovered. This is a selection of the best I’ve read so far. If you click on the link it will take you to my review for that book. And if you have any you’d like to recommend to me please leave a comment and I will check them out.

• Arkhangelsk by Elizabeth Bonesteel

• Embargo on Hope by Justin Doyle

• Kenai by Dave Dobson

• The Day the Earth Turned: Book 1. Summer by Chantelle Atkins

• The Prism Effect by J Wint

• Ironheart by Allan Boroughs

• The Girl from a thousand Fathoms by David Gullen

The Arid Lands promotion update: (May 2024)

Here is my latest update on the various promotional activities I have undertaken to try to spread the word about my self-published books, and how successful or otherwise these activities have been.

1. Social Media

I continued to be active on social media promoting my books. I’ve pretty much dropped Twitter/X and increased my engagement on threads. I don’t just promote my books there, I try to interact more but have a pinned post with my book details. My author IG is however nearly all book promotion. Social media doesn’t appear to sell books but is useful for spotting opportunities.

2. Review blogs

The review blogs I approached resulted in one review but that review was posted across many platforms. I had approached 16 review blogs. Two asked for money so I didn’t take things any further. Speaking to other indie authors who have tried this one out of 14 is pretty much to be expected. It’s quite a time-consuming endeavour but will be worth doing again.

3. Indieverse awards

This was an opportunity I spotted on Threads. There were a number of free to enter categories as well as paid categories, but I only entered the free ones as I didn’t want to pay for something which is pretty much an unknown. The awards ended up being massively oversubscribed and the organiser implemented some sort of vetting/screening process which is very opaque. However as organiser it’s up to her how she manages this. Nominations were announced on 18th March and unsurprisingly The Arid Lands didn’t make the cut. She has promised opportunities for vetted authors who were not nominated. It remains to be seen how this pans out.

4. Collaboration with other authors

I started looking for ways to collaborate with other authors. The first was with a group of SF authors I knew through SPSFC3. We set up a discord and looked into ways to try to promote our books. I made some group graphics on Canva which we shared. We discussed various ideas such as group sales and largely decided to share opportunities as these arise. I’m not sure how this will evolve. We shall see.

I also joined a readers/authors group being run by someone on threads and entered The Arid Lands into their database. Again, I’m not sure how this is going to evolve.

So in conclusion, of all the activities so far, it still looks like free deals and participation in SPSFC3 as discussed in my December 2023 update have been the most worthwhile

Review: The Prism Effect by J Wint

 The Book:

Just beyond Earth’s atmosphere, orbiting like a shining beacon of hope, is the celebrated Skylight University and only the brightest students are accepted into its hallowed halls.

Not surprisingly, Jet Stroud can hardly believe it when he receives his acceptance letter. After all, who would want a kid with glowing eyes and a deadly disease called ‘The Youthful Death’ on their campus? Thanks to his rare condition known as ephebus mortem, Jet has always been avoided and feared because of his eyes. When he learns the legend claims he will die before his twenty-fourth birthday, his excitement at being accepted into Skylight University is suddenly crushed.

Determined to find answers, Jet quickly picks himself up. Accompanied by another kid from his hometown, a loner named Cutter Jade, they seek out the other three students with ephebus mortem. Despite their differences, the small group develops a shaky friendship and begins a quest to find a cure.

But not all is as it seems at Skylight University. Mysterious shadows lurk in the hallways and bizarre visions of serpents and prisms haunt Jet’s dreams. While reading the obituary of a former student with ephebus mortem, Jet discovers several clues hidden in a trilogy of old paintings. As the group follows the breadcrumbs left behind by this former student, their quest takes an unexpected and deadly turn.

The pace to find clues quickens when strange voices, ghostly apparitions and bizarre events threaten to splinter the small group apart. With the semester roaring to a close, and tensions running high, Jet fears they may not survive long enough to crack the code.

Could the clues hidden in the paintings hold the cure to the strangest disease ever known to the human race? Can Jet and the others unravel the mysteries of ephebus mortem in time? In the end, Jet discovers something so profound that it will change his life forever.

 

My Thoughts:

I enjoyed this story immensely. I found it a very easy read. It’s clearly aimed at a Young Adult audience, with its futuristic university setting, but it is a story with real depth and intrigue.

The characters are immediately engaging and relatable. The story is well written, the worldbuilding excellent, the pacing spot on. One thread I particularly enjoyed was the way the author uses art as a plot device. I won’t say any more about this but I thought it was a fascinating idea.

The only point where I felt things flagged a bit was the scene where it is finally revealed to Jet what exactly is going on. There was a lot to take in, and just like Jet, I found it all a bit overwhelming.

The conclusion was poignant and tied everything up, whilst still leaving the door open for further books in this series. And indeed there are more to come. I look forward to reading on and discovering how this world evolves.

Recommended

Review: The Poison Balance by Lucy Ghose

 The Book:

‘When the rains fell, the world burned…’

After a childhood spent in the foster care system, failed PhD student Amy Weston attracts trouble wherever she goes. Acid rain is destroying London’s trees, brain lesions are turning once-harmless pets into killer dogs, and her new work colleague, Professor Joel Harket, is the most infuriating man she has ever met.

But when the media continue to insist that autumn has simply come early, and humans begin to experience the same symptoms as the killer dogs, Amy must work alongside Joel in order to convince the world of the seriousness of the situation, before it is too late.

From the UN Air Health summit in Beijing to the abandoned tunnels beneath the city of London, Amy and Joel search for answers to prevent the end of the world, and as Nelson’s Column crumbles and zombie-like ‘howlers’ wreak havoc worldwide, they discover that the only way to survive the apocalypse is to set aside their differences… and learn to trust each other.

 

My Thoughts:

I enjoyed this book immensely. It was a really good and entertaining romp. The novel starts off very much as a technothriller. We meet Amy and Joel, two very different people who at first appear mis-matched. The concern is the sudden increase in acid rain which is having all sorts of unexpected effects and Amy and Joel team up to try to investigate this phenomenon.

The story thus far feels very much as I would expect from its billed genre of eco thriller and I was quickly hooked as this sort of thing is right up my street.

But things rapidly shift. The acid rain causes anyone it touches to turn into a howler. These are effectively zombies and before long we are caught up in the middle of a zombie apocalypse which Amy and Joel are trying to survive, find a cure and save the world. All the while their feelings for one another are growing and these two polar opposites are inevitable drawn together.

The acid rain is a really original method of zombification and the book is a lot of fun.

If you like a good zombie apocalypse with a good dollop of romance thrown in them this is the book for you.

Recommended.

The Arid Lands themes: Zanclean Flood

About 5.3 million years ago, after years of sustained evaporation had resulted in the landlocked Mediterranean Sea almost completely evaporating, the waters returned when the Straits of Gibraltar was breached. This, possibly the largest flood in known Earth’s history, is known as the Zanclean Flood.

Details of the rapidity and nature of this flood remain up for debate but recent studies of deep gully like incisions in the seabed near the Straits of Gibraltar and extending out into the Mediterranean Sea itself, suggest that this could have been a catastrophic event.

Although initially discharge was low, and this may have continued for thousands of years, about 90% of the water returned in as little as a few months to two years. Such an abrupt flood would have seen sea levels in the Mediterranean rising by as much as 10 metres per day.

So how does this fascinating event influence Inez’s story? You will have to read The Arid Lands to find out.

The Arid Lands is available from Amazon in both kindle and print format.

UK Link

US Link

Review: Kenai by Dave Dobson

The Book

A planet steeped in mystery...

Jess Amiko is long past her days as a space marine, with all the glory of that time tarnished beyond repair by what came after. Trying to rebuild from the ashes, she's taken a job as a security guard on Kenai, a lonely world far from the Council systems. It's supposed to be easy duty - quiet and peaceful, on a docile world with no real threats, watching over an archaeological dig at a site built by a race long vanished.

Betrayed and attacked by forces unknown, and finding that nothing on Kenai makes sense, Jess is plunged into a desperate fight for survival that leads her deep into the mysteries of Kenai's past, and deep into the hardship and paradox the planet imposes on all who call it home.

 

My Thoughts

This blurb had me instantly intrigued. I love a good archaeological mystery, blended into Science Fiction, so this book was right up my street.

And what a good read it was! It’s written with a very clear military SF vibe. The female narrator is well drawn and compelling and I was immediately drawn into her world, empathising with her past and her predicament.

The worldbuilding is also one of the best things about this story. The universe that has been created here has great depth and history, but all this is fed naturally into the narrative. The pacing is spot on and the mystery unravels.

There’s not much I can say about the plot without giving away spoilers, but what I will say is that the underlying concept is both clever and original, but also the author executes it with great skill. It’s mind-bending and fascinating. And aliens? Should I mention the aliens?

I’ll say no more, other than this is an excellent book which I strongly recommend.

 

The Arid Lands themes: A vast engineering project

In the 1920s the German architect Herman Sorgel came up with the concept for a vast Engineering project to build a hydroelectric dam across the Straits of Gibraltar. This project was known as Atlantropa and was promoted by Germany until Sorgel’s death in 1952.

The construction of this dam, along with several others at strategic locations, would have the effect of controlling the inflow into the Mediterranean from the Atlantic. It would have generated vast amounts of electricity as well as causing the Mediterranean Sea level to drop by 200m, so freeing up large areas of land for colonisation.

Sorgel saw this project as a gateway to forming a peaceful Pan-European utopia, although critics found many faults with his proposals, including the detrimental effects on coastal communities who would become stranded as the seas retreated, as well as the problem of finding agreement amongst all the counties which border the Mediterranean.

The project was largely forgotten after Sorgel’s death.

But what if it really had happened? What if the dams really were built? Of course, in The Arid Lands the capacity for generating hydroelectric power was never realised, for reasons you’ll have to read the book to find out. This resulted in the Mediterranean inflow being completely cut off, and as a result, some 600 years of evaporation later, the world of The Arid Lands where Inez and her people struggle to survive, has come into being.

The Arid Lands is available from Amazon in both kindle and print format.

UK Link

US Link