The Indie Author Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror New Release List: June 2025
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Legacy of Blood by Jessica Barberi: Available June 1, 2025
Sons of the Flame
Ronan is the teenage crown prince of Perinthia and son of the legendary, dragon-rider king who saw an end to his country’s tyranny. The boy is struggling to get out from under his father’s shadow, and is convinced the only way he can become great himself is to also become dragon bound.
There is however a problem: In this world such a thing is not only rare, but is seen as a holy honor which elevates the rider to the mantle of prophet, and Ronan’s character is far from noble.
When he is told no he decides to take matters into his own hands and takes that which he desires, fleeing his home on a fishing boat across the sea. Now isolated from the protection of his family and home land Ronan is about to find out how much less forgiving of his transgressions the world is without his privilege to hide behind.
Dragon Along by Joseph John Lee: Available June 3, 2025
The Dragons of Nóra, Book 2
Subgenre(s): Cozy Fantasy, Middle-Grade
Sometimes, the promise of a different story doesn’t quite go the way you planned.
After the adventure of a lifetime and hatching a dragon of his own, Camaráin promises his mother that they won’t be forced on the same journey his sister embarked on. That pledge appears to have happened a bit too literally: for as much as Camaráin’s hatchling Brían loves to sit and read with him, they share neither the Bond nor the friendship that Camaráin’s sister had with her dragon.
When his grandparents invite the family to their new home outside the capital city of Mór, Camaráin thinks the extent of his new story is getting rid of the belligerent gnome that has taken up residence in his grandparents’ bathroom. At least, until the gnome forms an instant rapport with Brían that leaves Camaráin flummoxed—and also quite jealous.
If Camaráin is to discover why he cannot form a Bond with his new dragon, he must navigate the strange webs of Mór spun by a secret scholarly society, a band of fae hunters, tourists taking up too much space, and the banned books section at the local library.
Evidently, the days of bonding over books and a cuppa have yet to make their way to the land of Nóra.
The Residents of James Hotel by M.G. Mason: Available June 6, 2025
Subgenre(s): Haunted Building
Vince is stranded at a bus stop one cold and wet stormy November evening when a mysterious stranger offers him a lift and a room for the night. The stranger is one Michael James, a local aristocrat, and owner of The James Hotel in the nearby town of Execombe.
It’s an old hotel of mysterious figures and strange voices.
It’s a place where the owner and his equally mysterious reception manager repeatedly states “Nobody ever wants to leave!”
What is the secret of The James Hotel? Who are the residents? And more importantly, what secrets lurk within the fabric of its historic walls?
A Few Minutes In April by J.S. Eber: Available June 8, 2025
The Time Helmet, Book 1
Subgenre(s): Portal Fantasy
Every second out here is one hour inside the simulation.
Deep within a once-great gaming company, a stolen prototype is about to change everything: The Time Helmet, a fully immersive virtual reality device that dilates time itself.
John Longfellow, prodigious video gamer and corporate wage-slave, learns this the hard way when a chance encounter traps him in an ancient, war-scarred world of wondrous beauty and inescapable depth.
Worshiped by NPCs, hunted by godlike players, and haunted by the truth of what it all means, John begins to suspect this isn’t just a game… and he might not be the only one trapped here.
Strength by Greg Ramsay: Available June 8, 2025
Subgenre(s): Post Apocalyptic
What would you do with infinite life?
A scientist looking to help the medical industry develops nanotech, only to have it stolen and modified by political forces around the world until it provides limitless life and immense strength for armed forces.
Wars will be waged over the technology until a mad president ends the world in nuclear fire. But even that won’t stop the wars.
Born in a ditch, our protagonist faces a life full of suffering and loss; a future unknown.
But as he grows and sees life from different viewpoints, he will rise to take on the evil king of a post-apocalyptic America.
The question is… even with a body and heart as strong as his, will he be enough against more than one immortal dictator?
The Lineman by Christina K. Glover: Available June 9, 2025
Connections, Book 3
Subgenre(s): Urban Fantasy, Romance, LGBTQ+
If there’s one thing Henley Yu has learned, it’s that nothing is easy when it involves Chief Operator Kittinger.
The pair can finally face the world together, focused on the pursuit of the Ethereal lord who escaped into the Actuality. This time the mortal world won’t be a silent victim, and Kit and Henley will hunt their quarry with the help of mages who have plenty to lose.
But Kit punched through something he shouldn’t have in the battle for the Order Headquarters. His transgression has opened him up to a darkness that swallows him whole, leaving him cold and his body empty. What is broken can only be mended by the hand of the maker.
In his fight for Kit and their future together, Henley will need help from the only one who knows the real story behind the Between—but only if the Lineman is willing to lend his aid.
A Fairytale for Snow White by Aisha Urooj: Available June 14, 2025
Subgenre(s): Fairytale Retelling
Edwin Fenrich is the perfect prince, but beneath the polished facade he hides a secret: He’s never been a fan of fairy tales or believed in true love. For this crown prince, duty and practicality have always come before matters of the heart. But everything changes when he hears whispers of a mysterious girl in the forest.
Suddenly, the rule-bound prince is captivated, and for the first time, he dares to break free from his regimented life, plunging headfirst into the most daring adventure of his life—a journey that will challenge everything he thought he knew about love, courage, and himself. Get ready for a story where magic, mystery, and rebellion collide, because sometimes, the greatest fairy tale is the one you write yourself.
Wraith and the Revolution by A.J. Calvin: Available June 17, 2025
Standalone Novel
Subgenre(s): Space Opera, Cyberpunk
Kye Verex is trapped.
Due to a fluke of genetics, the decisions of the galaxy’s elite, and a lack of finances, he’s stuck on his polluted and noxious home world indefinitely. And it’s slowly killing him.
Then his more fortunate sister returns one day, bringing the promise of salvation. Kelsey has always hoped to find the means to pull him out of his desperate cycle of survival, but it has taken years. Now, she has a plan, one that will cure his genetic condition and clear him for interstellar travel.
The catch?
He has to sign over his very existence – and a portion of his humanity – to Zylar Inc., the galaxy’s most prominent and notorious corporation, in exchange for the necessary treatment. Is his cure worth the cost?
Dirt You Shall Become by Karen Lykkebo: Available June 21, 2025
Short Story Collection
Subgenre(s): Lovecraftian Horror, Horror Comedy
What terrors hide under the mulch of the compost? What if the weeds aren’t just stubborn – they’re fighting you back. And that garden gnome in the corner by the bush… He’s watching you.
Step into five gardens where beauty is deceiving, life becomes death, and the darkness under the dirt is just the beginning…
History` Prime by K. A. Wood: Available June 22, 2025
Renaissance Paradox, Book 1
Subgenre(s): Alternate History
The year is 2034, and scientific breakthroughs have flatlined.
Humanity believes it has reached the limits of knowledge. Advances are nothing more than faster, smaller versions of century-old inventions. Real breakthroughs are a thing of the past—until Dr. Glen Larson, a historian at the Museum of Human History, uncovers a 400-year-old textbook that shouldn’t exist.
The discovery raises impossible questions. Was Isaac Newton taught calculus, the laws of gravity and motion? Have the greatest minds in history been guided by a hidden source of knowledge? And who is behind the effort to suppress it?
As Glen digs deeper, he finds himself hunted by a powerful secret society determined to keep humanity stagnant. Alongside a close circle of friends—including a rogue tech trillionaire—he embarks on a global search for five legendary textbooks rumored to hold the key to human advancement.
Their journey unravels a conspiracy stretching back centuries, one that could upend everything we know about science, progress, and the very fabric of history.
What if our greatest inventions weren’t discovered… but gifted?
Which version of history have you been living in?
Reflections of Lilje Damselfly by Natalie Kelda: Available June 23, 2025
Standalone Novel
Subgenre(s): Cozy Historical Fantasy, Sapphic Romance, Chronic Illness and Disability Representation
When a mysterious ailment refuses to leave water nymph Lilje, her father sends her to a human spa retreat. Lilje quickly discovers she has a lot to learn about human nature and culture when she accidentally scandalises the Edwardian spa guests by showing up undressed.
In hope of relieving her chronic pain and fatigue, she tries her best to fit in and silence her ability to speak with the elements, plants, and animals around her. But when the secret of her heritage is revealed and Lilje falls in love with a human, she faces a difficult choice. Give up everything she thought she was, or live forever in pain and regret of what could have been.
Hero at Heart by Margaret Madigan: Available June 24, 2025
Tales from Beyond the End, Book 2
Subgenre(s): Fairy tale retelling in the zombie apocalypse
Since the zombie apocalypse, Robyn Hayward has collected an assorted band of misfits she calls family. It’s her job to take care of them, and she takes her job seriously. When Father Tucker needs more heart medication, she goes straight to the place she knows she’ll find some—inside the best organized and fortified compound in Chicago.
Marion “Mac” McGuire is head of security for the safest safe zone in the city. His Uncle Guy is an apocalyptic dictator, which works for Mac because it keeps everyone fed and protected. But when a fiery redhead with a conscience breaks in and steals medications—and blames him of hoarding supplies—his convictions are shaken.
When Mac learns his sister’s compound in the Chicago suburbs has been breached, he goes to rescue her, only to be overtaken by zombies. Robyn’s band saves his life and because she believes everyone deserves the chance to survive, she agrees to help Mac save his sister. The mission goes sideways, but the real fight begins when the refugees return to the safe zone and Guy issues a shocking mandate.
Robyn is furious, but with her band of found family, and with Mac on the inside, they’re determined to engineer a solution that works for everyone.
Maryneal 1962 by Abigail F. Taylor: Available June 24, 2025
Subgenre(s): Historical Horror, Sapphic
Warned by a soothsayer at a traveling fair that something evil is about to come to Maryneal, sixteen-year-old Delah Nix chalks it up to carnie theatrics and ignores the woman’s suggestion to leave before dark. But then her sister is savagely attacked on their way home, and her murder leaves the small farming community stunned. The authorities scramble to place the blame on a deranged man, the carnival workers, and even the nearby Indigenous community.
Delah, however, starts to suspect that something supernatural is afoot when a childhood friend, bitten in an attempt to save Delah’s sister, gains powers and a thirst for the county’s livestock. As much as he is enjoying his super speed and perfect hearing, Delah senses there will come a point of no return and begins to desperately search for a way to save her friend before he hurts himself or the girl they both love. With the full moon approaching and no salvation in sight, Delah is faced with an unconscionable decision: If she can’t find a cure, she’ll have to kill the boy next door.
Only a Grave Will Do by James Lloyd Dulin: Available June 24, 2025
Malitu, Book 3
Subgenre(s): Dark Epic Fantasy
On the march towards war, blood is both a promise and a gamble.
Newly dubbed the Hero of Anilace, Kaylo is thrust into leading a rebellion against insurmountable odds. His people are dying, if not in labor camps, in occupied cities as everything that makes them Ennean is stripped away. In two generations, the Great Spirits will be legends and Ennea will be yet another conquered territory. People look to Kaylo and the myth growing around him to stem the rising tide.
Sixteen years later, a trivial rebellion, a reclusive nation, and a vast empire march towards a battle to decide the fate of Ennea and her people. The actions of the small folk go unseen. Those who want to serve; those who have given up; those imprisoned; those who will fight at any cost; and those who will protect the people they love with every breath will tip the scales. Ennea is not done fighting.
Struggle For Existence by Geoff Jones: Available June 24, 2025
The Preservation of Species, Book 2
Subgenre(s): Post-Apocalyptic, First Contact, Alien Invasion
Escaping Earth was just the beginning.
Two days before a comet wiped out civilization, mysterious pods carried dozens of people to a strange menagerie inhabited by deadly specimens from Earth’s past.
Sierra Preston made first contact with an alien that had been observing humans from an invisible floating platform. The creature claimed the comet was sent by a race known as gorgers and warned that no one could leave the menagerie.
Sierra isn’t about to let that stop her.
Alone Together by S.S. Fitzgerald: Available June 25, 2025
Alone Together, Book 1
Subgenre(s): Post-Apocalyptic
Their goal: Survive.
It’s been brewing, spreading for months. Now the line between soldier and civilian is blurred.
In the cities, more than a third of the population is carrying the contagion and turning into hyper-aggressive predators, with their family, friends, and neighbors as their prey.
Now a group of survivors must band together and face the chaos of the new world.
The Grandsons by Stephen Swartz: Available June 25, 2025
The Flu Season Saga, Book 6
Subgenre(s): Post-apocalyptic Western
In the western territory of apocalyptic America, fatherless teen Bart Baumann frets over his boring life, stuck between his nagging mother and his domineering uncle, the sheriff. When Bart gets the chance to ride with his uncle’s posse after a gang of notorious outlaws, the boy relishes the chance to show everyone he’s finally a man.
But that adventure takes a bad turn, sending the boy alone into the wilderness. When he comes upon a trio of gunslinger sisters, his life is changed forever. Together they will confront the harsh realities of a ravaged nation trying to survive – long after a devastating plague, decades of lawlessness, reconstruction of a tyrannical society that rose then failed – until the gang must flee the law by daring to breach the forbidden zone where any random mistake could prove deadly.
Eternal Dreams by Ryan Skeffington: Available June 26, 2025
Infinite Existence, Book 2
Subgenre(s): Space Opera
Infinite Existence encompasses all—even the dead. Kana and Ratchet find themselves broken and isolated, tasked with picking up the pieces after a failed revolution. The memory of a lost friend both haunts and inspires them. Each determines a path they must follow, knowing it could pull them apart—or worse, set them against each other.
The pressure to fulfill one’s duty clashes with the desire to honor another’s sacrifice. Titanic alliances are on the verge of forming, while equally formidable adversaries lurk in the shadows. Will the threat of immortal servitude be enough to unite their efforts, or will their selfish desires thrust them into the hands of another?
Checks, Balances & Proper Procedure in Monster Hunting by Seán O’Boyle: Available June 27, 2025
Subgenre(s): Fantasy Comedy
Welcome to The Wavering Plane. Home to many odd and wonderful nations; one of which is The Galzarian Empire. A proud, defiant and slightly paranoid realm – with plenty of paperwork to boot.
Here, every aspect of life has the requisite laws, forms and reports, overseen by Galzar’s many bureaucratical branches, known as Parliaments. And that includes monsters.
For Rella Trattle, clerk at the Monstrosity Parliament, horrid tales of bestial encounters are ordinary and mundane. Monsters kill folk, monsters get slayed, forms must be filled and reports completed. There is little to be surprised by.
That is until an unusual case lands on her desk, chucking centuries of Galzarian statute out of the window. She soon finds herself thrust into an administrative mess that is a beast of its own – with the complainants involved being the worst bloody part.
Residuum by D.B. Rook: Available June 27, 2025
Darkening Dawn, Book 1
Subgenre(s): Space Opera
Light dims on humanity’s reign over the galaxy.
Charlus Vaughn, a teenage refugee escapes deadly machine justice with her penitent mother.
Rescued by a data-pirate crew, she falls into the path of ancient arachnid machinations that propel her back towards her mysterious origins and the heart of her unknown heritage.
Noxious by Ayrton Silva: Available June 29, 2025
Bloodmaster, Book 2
Subgenre(s): Dark Fantasy
After the incidents in her village, Lina has a new goal: to journey to the city of Vrysta and become a Slayer.
On the surface, it looks like it will be simple. A short trip, followed by a test, with her dream practically in arm’s reach. She couldn’t be more wrong. A series of mistakes upon arrival sees Lina not only failing the test, but being forbidden to take it again. Stranded in an unfamiliar city, now she must find a way to get by. More importantly, she has to find a way to keep her dream alive.
She knows it won’t be easy. Vrysta is a sprawling city, and the obstacles she has to navigate are just as daunting as the city’s size. Slayers are stranger and messier than they seemed. The only familiar thing is the curse, the ever-present threat that Lina’s world can fall apart at a moment’s notice.
Ironically, that curse is the very thing that Lina wants to fight.
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