The Indie Author Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror New Release List: February 2025
A note to email subscribers: Due to the number of new releases this month, the email may be clipped by your email provider. Please look for the “view entire message” link at the bottom of the email to see the full list of titles.
New Releases in Science Fiction
A Stage Over Ruthless Stars by J.J. Clapton: Available February 1, 2025
Subgenre(s): Young Adult
Aznan is a chronically ill high school drop out living on a space station with an illness that hates gravity. But he’s going to be a famous inventor… That’s if he can win the biggest tech competition in the system. Held at his space station’s circus, and judged by titans of industry, it’s one massive showcase to demonstrate his homemade tech in front of a live audience.
To win, he’ll need his ex-best friend’s help. Kairo hasn’t spoken to him in three years, not since he left school to join the circus as an aerialist, but Aznan can handle that. Oh, and the local favourites just turned up dead. That, not so much.
Everyone’s saying sabotage. Murder and riches.
A competition worth killing for.
And when a second team dies right in front of Aznan’s eyes, the official reassurances of glitches and accidents no longer hold. The body count is rising. The Grand Showcase is blasting closer. With nobody willing to stop the show, Aznan and Kairo must unearth the truth or risk their lives with one final act.
Animus Paradox by Adam Bassett: Paperback edition available February 17, 2025
A Digital Extremities Story
Subgenre(s): Cyberpunk
There’s a thief on the loose. The Tigres excel at tipping the scales in their favor, be it through bribes, politics, or blood. They unofficially run Viterbo, Italy—and somebody stole from them.
Private investigators David and Mafalda De Campo have been hired to help find the thief. They’re in it for the money, but the Tigres just want to make a statement.
Meanwhile, the Heredes have returned: ruthless idealists and revolutionaries. It’s not clear what they’re up to, but they keep getting in the way.
The De Campos will need to decide how far they’re willing to go for this job and the Tigres. Viterbo may soon become a battlefield, and one wrong move could set it aflame.
Rule of Extinction by Geoff Jones: Available February 25, 2025
The Preservation of Species, Book 1
Subgenre(s): Post-Apocalyptic
A civilization-ending comet is headed for Earth.
Two days before impact, thousands of mysterious pods land in a swath across North America. When people touch them, the pods open. Anyone who climbs inside is carried away.
No one knows where the pods came from and no one knows where they go, but finding one is David Williams’ only chance to save his family from the end of the world.
… and escaping Earth is just the beginning.
New Releases in Horror
Down the Drain by John A. McColley: Available February 25, 2025
The Plumbers, Book 1
Subgenre(s): Horror-Fantasy, Paranormal Horror
Narayan Leon’s whole world is flipped upside down when his Gran falls suddenly and mysteriously ill. He learns secrets about her, magic, the afterworld, and his family, that he had never suspected, all while being chased by mysterious grim reapers called “Plumbers” and bouncing back and forth between the world of the living and the world of the dead.
New Releases in Fantasy
Blade of the Wanderer by Steven Raaymakers: Available February 2, 2025
Scars of Magic, Book 1
Subgenre(s): Sword and Sorcery, Post-apocalyptic Fantasy
When the stars fell, the world died.
Magic claimed Esterra’s arm when she was a child. For her curse, she was exiled into the weird, pockmarked world of Verpace. The magic eats away at her, twisting her bones and psyche to its own will, the curse spreading with each use.
Now an adult, she wanders the world as a tractwalker, making her living through hunting, mercenary work, and whatever opportunities arise. It is a dangerous life. Deranged cultists cry out to the red-dwarf sun, deformed beasts prowl in every shadow, creatures born from myth lurk in broken temples, and every night brings the threat of the lethal lichtvallen.
Yet some greater danger lurks on the horizon, and there are whispers in the dark. Will Esterra survive, or will she succumb to the incessant call of the magic?
Immortal Gifts by Katherine Villyard: Available February 4, 2025
Subgenre(s): Paranormal (Vampire) Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Urban Fantasy
He lied about his identity. Two hundred years later, he’s still paying the price…
Prussia, 1841. Abraham only ever wanted to play violin. Hiding his Jewish status so he can study at the prestigious Berlin Academy of Music, the eager young man is delighted to find a patron who believes in him. But he’s mortified when his new friend turns him into a vampire… and Abraham earns the fury of an ancient antisemite who vows to see him permanently dead.
Fleeing the hate-mongering fiend across the decades, the sensitive violinist at last settles in twenty-first-century New Jersey with a mortal woman. But when he discovers his relentless tormentor has tracked him down yet again, Abraham despairs he’ll never find true happiness.
With everyone he’s ever loved at risk, can he escape the rage of a ruthless bigot?
In a complex tale woven through history, Katherine Villyard delivers a fresh and insightful twist on the vampire novel. Infusing the narrative with profound themes of love, betrayal, and the nature of monsters, she crafts an unforgettable saga of surviving prejudice that will keep readers turning pages deep into the night.
Duet of Pernicious Eels by Kaden Love: Available February 6, 2025
Paladins of the Harvest, Book 2
Subgenre(s): Dark Fantasy, Epic Fantasy
Peace is no more.
The Harmony Allegiant have grown in Kzhek, preparing for the next stage in their revolution. Phenmir has returned home to witness the rise of a new Krall and the path of his son as a Patriarchal Scholar.
Aerhee must face her past once again as secrets of Facet threaten its structure.
Yetrik finds new allies in the Priessmen, hoping to join them to his people in Court Gruth.
Nature speaks as vines rise from their rest in the Middlelands.
Players both familiar and new have entered the war over harvesting. In a battle of preservation and progression, there can only be one victor.
Nimble Hog by Chad Retterath: Available February 6, 2025
Legend of the Awakened Goblin, Book 2
Subgenre(s): LitRPG
With the Great Forest behind him, Owin heads to Atrevaar with one thing on his mind: Find the Nimble Hog Hero Company.
When alchemists come searching for a hero to escort them through a section of the Ocean Dungeon, Owin steps up and volunteers to bring them safely into the dangerous depths.
Unknown dangers, both mobs and humans, await Owin in a new dungeon as he tries to gain strength, make a name for himself, and prove he is worthy of the Nimble Hogs.
The Artistry of Magic by Helen De Cruz: Available February 7, 2025
Subgenre(s): Magical Realism, Romantasy
That sense of glory was worth the occasional beating…
Since his youth, Maarten has wandered the Low Countries, living from one handful of silver stuivers to the next. The urge to channel magic through his street art is like an itch, yet without the expensive accoutrements of his craft, he can never call himself a true magician.
One day, as he paints animated birds on the cobblestones before the college library in the proud city of Haltra, an irate librarian arrives to tell him off…
Born the daughter of a lowly shopkeeper, Johanna de Vries has spent her entire life working towards her modest position as a junior Scholar. She takes no pleasure in asking the young man to erase his artwork, but it is her responsibility to maintain the magical tomes of the library and prevent anyone from disrupting their delicate balance.
After their first rocky meeting, this unlikely pair find that perhaps their perspectives on life and art are not so different after all. Yet can love triumph amid the harsh realities of life on the streets?
Trouble Throne by Aisha Urooj: Available February 8, 2025
Subgenre(s): Fairytale Retelling
Isabelle’s father is missing, and the only person who could help her is asking a steep price. Gustave offers help on the condition that she marry him, yet Isabelle has witnessed his true character and would never agree to such a proposal.
By sheer luck, Isabelle comes across a clue that points to Chambord, where travelers have mysteriously disappeared without a trace. Isabelle believes her father might have gone there, but with her rejected suitor relentlessly pursuing her, and refusing to take no for an answer, can she make it to Chambord in time and locate her father?
In addition to Gustave, Isabelle faces another obstacle: Rumors of a shadow haunting the forest of the mysterious village. With the presence of this shadowy figure and the unexplained disappearances, was Isabelle in danger of becoming another victim?
FarrowHaven AdventureLand: Spring by Gigi Shoe: Available February 11, 2025
FarrowHaven AdventureLand, Book 1
Subgenre(s): Cozy Fantasy, Fantasy Mystery, Romance
Every year FarrowHaven AdventureLand opens its Top-Rated Long-Distance Portals to Other Worlds for Adventurers to experience the magic of the island! Pet & Play with Unicorns! Swim with Merrow! Watch Griffin Jousting and Dragonlings Take Flight! No matter the age, there’s something for everyone to enjoy at FarrowHaven!
Maeven Mathers, a witch with aeromancer intent, is the newly appointed Overseer in charge of making sure the park full of faeries, merrow, pixies and imps, runs smoothly.
But when Maeven arrives on the island, she is met with a slew of problems: the least of which is her ex-fiancée, Beck, who still makes her heart race and her palms sweat. In between restoring 5-Star Ratings, finding a counter-curse for the sentient fountains, and dodging unwanted villager complaints, Maeven must solve the disappearance of a teenage Imp before the opening of the island park.
Platinum Tinted Darkness (2nd Edition/Relaunch) by Timothy Wolff: Available February 14, 2025
The Legacy of Boulom, Book 1
When the gods send their harbingers, the Guardians are all who stand in the way. But who protects these defenders when the gods seek to sway them?
Crystal mage Serenna Morgan struggles to maintain the neutrality of the Guardian Pact when a neighboring kingdom invades her own. The God of Death offers his divine power to stop the invasion. For a price. As the conflict escalates, the remaining Guardians fall prey to the other meddling deities, and the choice given to Serenna might be the only thing that keeps them together. Or results in their doom.
Not all gods love their people, but the ones that do may end up the most dangerous
The Diplomacy of the Knife by C.M. Caplan: Available February 20, 2025
Four of Mercies, Book 2
Subgenre(s): Science Fantasy
Petre Mercy’s had a rough time since he rode home on a cyborg horse. He’s lost a hand that’s been replaced with a mess of steel and piano string, broke his thyroid-powered sword, and helped ignite a civil war that’s engulfed the countryside.
His sister, The Queen, has ordered him to root out any traitors in Mercy House. But Petre can hardly ferret out the truth from his siblings, let alone a vast network of spies with counterplots. And every day more turncoats move against him.
If he has any hope of putting down this uprising, he’ll have to work with a sister he’s still learning to trust. But his enemies are one step ahead of him at all times. And they’re hiding in the last place he’d think to look.
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