Hello friend. Today’s Indie Recommends Indie post features author B. R. Russell. Let’s meet her and learn about the indie books she loves! This collection includes non-fiction book and graphic novels! Bethany’s debut novel is an Adult Science fiction, The Last 0-Day, and you can learn more about it at the end of the post.
Welcome to Armed with A Book, Bethany! Since it’s your first time on the blog, can you please tell me and my readers about yourself?
Hi Kriti, thanks for having me.
I’m a new author who released their first sci-fi novel in 2022 and am currently editing the next for publication later this year. I’m from Ireland but moved a lot and now live on the US west coast. This left me with a mixed bag of accents, slang, and colloquialisms that infuses my writing and dialogue. When I’m not working, I’m usually listening to a book on a bike ride or playing video games.
Do you primarily read indie books or big publishers books as well?
Since I started writing, most of what I read has been non-fiction books put out by university presses for research purposes. For fiction, I read an equal mix of indie/traditional (skewing indie if we count comics/graphic novels, which I love). It’s probably around 70% non-fiction 30% fiction, with the indie-trad split at 70-30. As a random addition, most of the music I listen to is indie, which is a separate post, and I’m always looking into independent movies with the goal to make one, some day.
Bethany’s Indie Recommendations
Out of the Mountains by David Kilcullen
Genre: Non-Fiction: Military Theory
Published Year: 2015
Standalone or Series: Standalone
When Americans think of modern warfare, what comes to mind is the US army skirmishing with terrorists and insurgents in the mountains of Afghanistan. But the face of global conflict is ever-changing. In Out of the Mountains, David Kilcullen, one of the world’s leading experts on current and future conflict, offers a groundbreaking look at what may happen after today’s wars end. This is a book about future conflicts and future cities, and about the challenges and opportunities that four powerful megatrends–population, urbanization, coastal settlement, and connectedness–are creating across the planet. And it is about what cities, communities and businesses can do to prepare for a future in which all aspects of human society–including, but not limited to, conflict, crime and violence–are changing at an unprecedented pace.
I read this book for research while writing a novel with a large revolutionary element in it as I wanted accuracy. And this book delivers strategy, tactics, and logistics for guerilla warfare on both the waging and fighting against sides but remains digestible for a general audience. Out of the Mountains focuses on terrorism, counter-terrorism, and the tactics employed in conflicts across the globe (more or less, which I’ll touch on later). Within the book there are case studies that analyze how an attack was started, executed, and stopped. One example is the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, wherein Kilcullen doesn’t mince words on the actors, funding, and logistics of the entire event. It was eye-opening and sobering, to say the least. This style of analysis is applied to conflicts both large and small, some historical events, and a possible future. It was particularly interesting to read about how larger countries struggle in these styles of war and historically lose. I left with a changed understanding of conflict in our world and how sticky an asymmetric war is for everyone involved.
One of the things I will say, and this goes for all non-fiction books, is that readers need to remember cognitive bias’. “If the only tool you have is a hammer, it is tempting to treat everything as if it were a nail.” Experts who write theory for the current world will see and find problems like this.
Recommended for: I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in military tactics, theory, and strategy, or are looking for a riveting and frightening real-world read on terrorism and counter-terrorism.
If the Universe Is Teeming with Aliens … Where Is Everybody? by Stephen Webb
Genre: Non-Fiction: General Astronomy and Astrobiology
Published Year: 2002
Standalone or Series: Standalone
In a 1950 conversation at Los Alamos, four world-class scientists generally agreed, given the size of the Universe, that advanced extraterrestrial civilizations must be present. But one of the four, Enrico Fermi, asked, “If these civilizations do exist, where is everybody?” Given the fact that there are perhaps 400 million stars in our Galaxy alone, and perhaps 400 million galaxies in the Universe, it stands to reason that somewhere out there, in the 14 billion-year-old cosmos, there is or once was a civilization at least as advanced as our own. Webb discusses in detail the 50 most cogent and intriguing solutions to Fermi’s famous paradox.
I’m low-key obsessed with the Fermi Paradox. The idea and reality of it all causes a psychological vertigo that I can’t get enough of. This book was particularly special as I found it while searching a university’s astronomy library and stumbling on it. What makes this book amazing are the solutions to the problem presented and how it’s done. The book gives you a quick background on the question and how it formed in a Los Alamos lab decades ago. Then each chapter afterwards is a potential solution. This makes the book super fast to read, as you leap from one answer to the next. The answers themselves range from “duh” to “woah, how did someone think of that?” All of them left me thinking of countless short-stories and novels that could be written from each one of the answers. I gave the book to my friends and they also finished reading with their imaginations racing for other answers to the enigmatic question, where is everyone?
Recommended for: Anyone who loves space opera, science fiction, astronomy, general sciences, honestly, I think everyone should read this book. It has so many solutions to a truly weird and interesting problem.
The Other Side of History: Daily Life in the Ancient World by Robert Garland
Genre: Non-Fiction: Ancient History
Published Year: 2013
Standalone or Series: Standalone: Audiobook
The past truly comes alive as you take a series of imaginative leaps into the world of history’s anonymous citizens, people such as a Greek soldier marching into battle in the front row of a phalanx; an Egyptian woman putting on makeup before attending an evening party with her husband; a Greek citizen relaxing at a drinking party with the likes of Socrates; a Roman slave captured in war and sent to work in the mines; and a Celtic monk scurrying away with the Book of Kells during a Viking invasion. Put yourself in the sandals of ordinary people and discover what it was like to be among history’s 99%. What did these everyday people do for a living? What was their home like? What did they eat? What did they wear? What did they do to relax? What were their beliefs about marriage? Religion? The afterlife?
History is mostly the stories of rich and powerful men, which make up the 1%. There’s a distinct lack of the common person which made up the majority of the human experience throughout time. This audiobook answers what it was like for the 99% and it’s fascinating. For example, we know of the splendor of Rome from the ruins and stories. But we don’t read about the masses that lived in the fire-prone hellscape that was Rome’s tenement housing. It paints the humanity of what’s usually a footnote in history books by focusing on what actually happened for the common person in a famine, festival, or average day. Robert Garland is the narrator/teacher for the book, and his British accent adds an enjoyable touch. My only complaint with this book is how euro-centric it is. Robert Garland is an expert in European antiquity and classical era, so it’s understandable that the book leans into that. But with how vivid a picture it paints, I wish there was more on China, Africa, and pre-columbian Americas because that would have been fascinating.
Recommended for: People with an interest in history, high and low fantasy, and anyone wanting to go back in time. If you’re interested more in Greece, I’d recommend his book “How to Survive in Ancient Greece”. I’d recommend The Great Courses as Audiobooks for pretty much anyone, as they have countless topics to choose from (but can be pricey depending on the website you get them from.)
The Starfisher Series by Glenn Cook
Genre: Science-fiction
Published Year: 1982
Standalone or Series: Series
Centuries ago, a private army’s deadly strike freed human slaves from their cruel Sangaree masters. A single Sangaree alien survived—and swore vengeance on the Storm family and their soldiers. Generations later, his carefully mapped revenge scheme explodes as the armies of the galaxies collide along a strange burning planet’s Shadowline.
In the war’s deadly aftermath, Mouse Storm makes his way towards Stars’ End, a mysterious planet bristling with deadly automated weapons systems, programmed to slaughter anyone foolish enough to approach. Mouse and fellow Confederation agent Moyshe benRabi are pursuing Starfishers, Sangaree harvestships that protect the Starfish; creatures of pure fusion energy that produce the priceless ambergris that makes travel between the stars possible.
But who built Stars’ End, and why so close to the drifting Starfish? In the midst of the Sangaree wars, a far more sinister enemy approaches, coming from the depths of the galaxy, in hordes larger than a solar system.
The Starfisher trilogy has a special place in my heart. I read it in middle school and it is a chicken or the egg piece of fiction for me. The trilogy is dark, grim, fun, follows characters from their youth to adulthood, has minor characters from earlier books become main characters in later books, has a ton of action that feels realistic, and has morally gray moments throughout– all of these are things I love in fiction, but because I read it at such a young age, the question is did this book make me like them or did I like them before. My only issue with this book is the prose are spartan to the point that some of the hand-to-hand combat is a little confusing. But I can overlook this with how fun the characters are and how the book surprises you. Without getting into specifics, there’s a plot point that you are hoping will happen. When it finally does happen, the reality of it is laid bare and you’re stuck feeling icky because the events are a little psychotic and horrifying. Even the characters realize this, and they grow/shrink because of it.
Recommended for: Fans of space opera, grimdark, sci-fi with fantasy-like structure, and people who like book series that cover a character from being young to old.
Blue is the Warmest Color by Jul Maroh
Genre: Graphic Novel: Romance
Published Year: 2010
Standalone or Series: Standalone
Blue is the Warmest Color is a graphic novel about growing up, falling in love, and coming out. Clementine is a junior in high school who seems average enough: she has friends, family, and the romantic attention of the boys in her school. When her openly gay best friend takes her out on the town, she wanders into a lesbian bar where she encounters Emma: a punkish, confident girl with blue hair. Their attraction is instant and electric, and Clementine find herself in a relationship that will test her friends, parents, and her own ideas about herself and her identity.
I’m a huge fan of graphic novels. I love the art, the creativity, and the story that can be told so quickly. Usually, I only like GN’s that are in full color, but BitWC plays with color in an interesting way. There’s the titular blue in a character’s hair, but there’s also color ebbing and flowing with the relationship itself. Jul Maroh’s character style is so unique, it’s kinda anime-ish, but more realistic in the face. She also gives most characters a visual flow or non-perfect body part, which really stands out and makes her work great. The novel definitely got a boost from its controversial movie, but the book is so much better. The movie had closeups to try and be more intimate (I think) but the book captures those quiet moments of a relationship (like getting dressed in the morning next to your partner) better. I will say to bring a box of tissues for the latter half of this book, because it deviates from the movie pretty massively and it is brutal/beautiful.
Recommended for: Fans of romance, graphic novels, and books that make you cry.
Sentient by Jeff Lamire, Gabriel Hernandez Walta
Genre: Graphic Novels: Science-Fiction
Published Year: 2019
WELCOME TO THE U.S.S. MONTGOMERY. When a separatist attack kills the adults on board a colony ship in deep space, the on-board A.I. VALARIE must help the ship’s children survive the perils of space. But as they are pursued by dangerous forces, can Valerie become more than what she was programmed to be – a savior to these children?
This book has a ton going for it. It’s a super fun and fast read, I burned through it one sitting. It has AI characters, which I love. I’m obsessed with AI characters that aren’t overtly evil and are more-than-human in their attempts to relate, which this book does great. The art style is outstanding. There’s comic panes that have no dialogue but are hilarious, which is such an accomplishment. There’s children wearing adult space suits, which comes off as super cute (even when it’s harrowing). The use of color is awesome, with the ship having no reds, so the blood comes off as stark and is an awesome choice. I think this book’s whole aesthetic and appeal can be summed up with how it can have you say “awe” about a robotic appendage that doesn’t have a face and has both murdered adults and cared for kids.
Recommended for: Fans of AI characters, space-trucker sci-fi, Lord of the Flies, and people looking for a fast GN.
Aion by Ludovic Rio
Genre: Graphic Novels: Science-Fiction
Published Year: 2019
Standalone or Series: Standalone
Captain Lexi Neel thought she’d sacrificed years of life with her daughter when she left Earth on a decades-long journey through the depths of space. But when a distress signal takes her out of hypersleep years ahead of schedule, she finds herself on the mysterious moon Aion, home to exotic wildlife and a research station dedicated to study of the moon’s “particularities.” It might mean a chance to start over as if she never left… As Lexi is about to learn, time is an experience.
This will be the hardest to write without spoiling anything. It starts a little tropey, for lack of a better term. There is, literally, a folded piece of paper with a pencil through it describing the bending of spacetime and how to travel between point A and point B the fastest. But, I think the tropes are used intentionally. They’re priming you for a specific experience and then the book goes in a different, super fun, direction. I really liked Aion’s art, the use of color and brush strokes are beautiful. The drawings of the moon are known, mossy, and familiar, but the use of color makes the world alien and interesting. The pacing is great on both a story level but a pane to pane level. The text doesn’t overwhelm the pages and there are pages without text that tell a whole story.
Recommended for: Fans of sci-fi, time-travel, video games (risk of rain 2, especially), and great art.
Bethany’s Book Spotlight
The Last 0-Day
Genre: Science Fiction: Cyberpunk
Published Year: 2022
The cybernetics revolution knows no compromise.
Luciana Gutierrez, a police officer, works ninety-six-hour shifts with a eugeroic hangover around the corner. Her investigation into those who stole her life is sidelined as a crime syndicate turns her precinct into a war-zone. Sent for backup, she’s offered experimental technology that could turn the tide, if she’s willing to risk mind, body, and soul.
Anton Grissom’s birth was a crime, and his sentence is military service. Molded into an elite soldier, his path of atonement falls away when he’s caught on the losing side of a massacre. In the aftermath, he’s offered a second chance at life—if he’s prepared to pay.
Weaver heals the broken and disposable, and in the process makes cybernetics a reality. Superhuman strength, intelligence, and connections to one another, it could solve humanity’s problems or tear society apart. But those concerns are secondary to Weaver, who just wants to see the next sunrise.
All three are augmented for their own personal crusade and are on a collision course that will change the world.
The Last 0-Day is an action packed adventure of the first cyborgs. It’s Neuromancer meets Malazan Book of the Fallen with a dash of cli-fi.
Readers who enjoy cyberpunk, dystopian settings, AI-characters, The Malazan Series, Stephen King’s prose, or Cloud Atlas, will like my book. I generally say, if you like a good R-rated sci-fi action movie, you’ll love this book.
Bethany’s books are available on Amazon. You can learn more about her on her website, Twitter. If you would like review copies or wish to connect with her via email, her address is brrussell.media@gmail.com. Sign up for her mailing list here. The current bonus is a free copy of her heist-horror novel, Things Long Buried, and entry to win a free paperback of The Last 0-Day.
Did you add any books to your TBR today based on this post or did you see any you have already read? Tell us in the comments!
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Banner Photo of library by Alfons Morales on Unsplash
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