The Indie Author Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror New Release List: December 2025
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The Knowing Doll by Holliday Vermont: Available Today
The Twisting World, Book 1
Subgenre(s): Urban Fantasy, Dystopian, Post-Apocalyptic
The Knowing Doll delighted in idle cruelties, held Nadir City under her wooden thumb, and at the height of her power, beholding the desolation she created, the great spymaster walked away saying:
“No more.”
Now she is only Delilah, struggling each day to be a good woman. Even though her new friends question her motives, they’ve given her a second chance and a new home in Stonetown. Delilah has dedicated herself to this town, a rare oasis of trust and community in The Twisting World, hoping to make up for what she broke in Nadir.
But Nadir learned its greed from Delilah, and stretch their hand out hungrily toward her new home. War lingers on the horizon. To stop it, Delilah is faced with a cruel choice… remain the woman of peace or become The Knowing Doll once more and abandon the moral progress for which she’s struggled.
The Path of Poison by Seán Hill: New Stories Available Starting Today
Subgenre(s): Flash Fiction, Serial Novel
The Path of Poison is a monthly fantasy adventure serial following a young apothecary Sepp driven from his home by civil conflict, with nothing but the clothes on his back and the poison magic of dark repute inherited from his foster father. The series has just begun its second arc with Sepp and his fellow refugees arriving in the sprawling port city of Farhaven, seeking passage on a ship, after a long trek across wintry wilderness.
Note: The Substack link goes to the beginning of chapter 32, the beginning of the new story arc, and includes a recap for readers.
Year 2471 by Lloyd Samira Samhane: Available Today
Subgenre(s): Queer speculative fiction
Interplanetary travel in a future ruled by The Clever, a rabbid zombie virus breaking out on the moons of Jupiter while a player ravages Earth. Caught in the middle is Max, who had but one friend, Alex, who was recruited by The Clever when he was only 18. He must travel to Saturn’s moon Dione to find his king lost friend, but other stowaways change his plans…
New Depths by Chad Retterath: Available December 4, 2025
Legend of the Awakened Goblin, Book 3
Subgenre(s): LitRPG
Secrets lie in the dark depths of the Ocean Dungeon.
After helping Katalin and Ernie through the fourth floor of the Ocean, Owin is ready to dive back in and climb all the way to his first shard.
With Myrsvai and Suta in tow, Owin starts on another adventure with new friends and old foes.
Outside the dungeons, in the wider world of Verdantallis, other schemes emerge as hero companies, militaries, and powerful figures vie for control of the goblin and his unlimited potential.
Little Bead in a Squall by C.B. Lansdell: Available December 5 2025
Subgenre(s): Choose Your Own Adventure, Interactive Fiction
Each generation of knyads is a gift from the sea. A carer in training, Abulon understands this better than most. He has been taught to scout for the young polyps that come on perigean tides, and prepare them for a life on land. But in order to complete his training, he must leave the seagrass meadows of Fentu Brise for a clan with stormy seas and an uncertain future. Will he find his purpose on this wild coastline? And what else might it have in store for him?
Little Bead in a Squall is a game that can be played for free on the interactive fiction app, Unearthed Stories. This short choose-your-own-adventure story is set on Knyadrea, a habitable moon. All the characters depicted are knyads, a near-human species that populates C.B. Lansdell’s Apidecca Duology and related works.
Off with their Sleds by C.J. Daley: Available December 9, 2025
The Cemetery Collection, Book 3
Subgenre(s): Thriller, Mystery, Crime
Detectives Williams and Ed Reyes are back.
This holiday season, the town of Cemetery is getting just a little bit stranger.
When a 911 call leads to a decapitated family and one hastily scrawled, bloody message, the duo will stop at nothing to arrest this latest killer.
But when the only witness is claiming Santa Claus is the killer, and the only evidence leads to a supposedly dead patient, they’re left scrambling.
Will they beat the odds and be home for Christmas dinner?
As I Command by Kel E. Fox: Available December 20, 2025
Solstice War Fairy Tales, Book 3
Subgenre(s): Romance, LGBTQ+
Marguerite Baccata intends to do big things as the first female businesswoman at Baccata Industries. So when her father suggests her best contribution will be in marrying a Floral Realms prince, she’s appalled. And furious, because he’s right – a royal wedding is a coup for the company. After all, Baccata Industries makes weapons, and the Floral Realms are at war.
Hoping to make the best of the situation, Marguerite attends a ball in her honour with the intention of finding a royal spouse. The princes are stuffy, the princesses cold, and Marguerite is instead drawn to the enigmatic Lucien, Lord of Adiantu, who claims to be a pirate. Then they both meet a beautiful stranger who glides like a swan on the dance floor, and their lives change.
Once a prince, now a destitute exile, Jules is the opposite of what Marguerite is looking for. But he knows more of the war than Marguerite ever imagined, and Jules needs her help. More; the whole of the Floral Realms needs her help. Neither she nor Lucien can walk away.
Marguerite realises that it’s time for her to take a stand. But can she abandon everything she’s worked so hard for?
Whose Woods Are These? by Iseult Murphy: Available December 24, 2025
Subgenre(s): Holiday Horror, Short Stories, Medieval Horror
Stray from the narrow path and lose your soul.
For these woods are hungry and steeped in darkness.
6th Century Ireland. Close to the Winter Solstice. Thirteen-year-old Eoin is journeying by boat along the coast to celebrate Christmas at the monastery with his siblings. When rough seas force his party to land, Eoin is relieved to trade the frightening waves for the shelter of the forest.
The trees provide protection from the elements, but strange animals dwell in these woods. Five large wolfhounds surround Eoin and his siblings. Mysterious lights and voices tempt them towards unseen delights. But the pleasing lures turn into nightmares the further they travel along the path.
Tormented by ghosts, Eoin finds himself at the heart of the forest, where something sinister waits for him on the darkest day of the year.
He better pray his faith is strong enough to protect him from the entity who dwells within the trees.
Shadows in the Light by Alex S. Garcia: Available December 30, 2025
A Short Story Collection
Subgenre(s): High Fantasy, Epic Fantasy
Orphan thieves stealing a sun, an apprentice wizard unleashing chaos, a friendly monster tricked, a woman’s quest for her father in the midst of a war, and so many other startling stories come together in this collection of 12 classic short stories.
NOTE: This book includes four previously unreleased stories: “A Sprinkle of Moondust and a Pinch of Mint,” “Dark as a Blackened Heart,” “For Life We Crave,” and “On Fields of Sorrow.”
If you have an upcoming title that you’d like to have featured on the new release list, please fill out the form here: Indie SF/F/Horror New Release Feature