Hello writing and reading communities! It’s time for the next instalment of Indie Recommends Indie and today I have author Kelsey Josund, author of upcoming book, Pretty Deadly, a Dark fairytale retelling. She connected with me and wanted to highlight some upcoming indie books in this post and I am thrilled to bring them to your attention. Let’s get started.
Hi Kelsey, thank you for joining me for this series! Since this is your first time on Armed with A Book, tell me and my readers a bit about yourself. 🙂
I’m an author and machine learning researcher based in Seattle. I’ve been writing as long as I can remember, but only became serious about it a few years ago. The pandemic really gave me the time and motivation to buckle down and get my work out there! I love to read and write speculative fiction of all kinds, especially with female protagonists and generally feminist themes. My books are a little weird at times: my debut, Platformed, is very contemplative and about ideas amid a gentle dystopia in near-future Silicon Valley; my second novel, Pretty Deadly, is Cinderella retelling in which she’s a psychopath. They’re definitely better fits for niche publishers than the Big 5, at least so far!
Do you primarily read indie books or big publishers books as well?
I read a lot, so that means I read a lot of both! It varies month to month. Lately, I’ve been reading a lot of ARCs from indie authors I’ve met through Twitter. Most books I find organically are still from big publishers because they are so much easier to discover, unfortunately. This month it’s 80/20 indie; some months it’s the other way around. Below, I recommend five indie 2021 releases by people I know personally, listed in the order in which they came out (or will come out, as the case may be).
Kelsey’s Indie Recommendations
I Am Sophia by JF Alexander
Philosophical Science Fiction
Published 2021
Standalone
When a mysterious and charismatic woman insinuates herself into a fringe religious group, its dozen members wonder whether she is a lunatic, a con artist, or a messiah. Sophia quickly upends the routines and expectations of the group—the last Christians in the inhabited solar system—while Peter, their struggling leader, becomes increasingly obsessed with her. Before long, Peter finds himself following Sophia on a perilous interplanetary adventure which may cost both of them their lives.
Why this book is loved:
This book was both exceedingly clever science fiction and a very clear argument for Christianity. Though the belief it argues for is not in line with my own life, I found it engaging and compelling as a story, and I suspect that active believers would find it even more moving.
The story is simple: it’s the distant future and Christianity is dying (interestingly, it’s confirmed that other religions are not necessarily dying, though pretty much everyone seems to look down on all kinds of “metafiz”). The last Bishop, of the reunified Christian church, oversees a fading flock in an antiquated cathedral in San Francisco. Then, a woman shows up on their doorstep, apparently unhoused and starving, and begins to reignite Christianity. The epic story takes the Bishop and this woman, Sophia, to Mars (which has been charmingly renamed for marketing purposes) and back again, and illuminates a lot of this plausible world of fractured nations and all-powerful corporations.
I was drawn in from page one. There were a few places where the dialogue dragged and felt unlike something people would actually say, but I can forgive that as a deliberate stylistic choice—perhaps people would talk a little differently when conversing with God in the form of a woman! Or is she God? Like Peter, we as readers can’t quite be sure. His doubt was part of what made this story work; his skepticism was very human and relatable.
If you’re likely to be offended by or overly unreceptive to a book about Christianity (or religion in general), skip this one. But anyone open to having their perception of religion poked and pushed should give this a try! It’s creative and interesting and very well written.
Of Us and Them by TL Coughlin
YA Fantasy
Published 2021
Start of duology
A fated future burning with danger leads a young girl to uncover a sinister plot.
HAVE YOUR LAST BREATH
Seventeen-year-old Evren was born for one purpose: to serve as a vessel for the Leviathans, an alien species hidden in global dragon lore. She longs to join the secret society who concealed them in history—and as last of the twelve prophesied Paladins, she needs to. With the world in ruin, their unification will signal the Leviathans’ return to Earth to protect humans from their worst enemy: themselves.
But Evren’s ambitions are dashed when a Paladin is found dead. The murder sets her world ablaze and now she must stop the saboteur, or risk destroying a celestial plan millennia in the making. However, finding the truth—and the killer—in a society built on deceit won’t be easy, especially with Evren’s fierce and guarded mother as its leader.
Can Evren salvage what’s left of her fate? Or will dark discoveries make her the next victim?
Why Kelsey recommends this book:
Dragons and prophecies are both usually a hard sell for me, but the way TL imagines them here is fresh and interesting and fun. I love the broad inspiration from global dragon lore. The groundedness she conjures by centering an epic story on a few characters really makes the book work. It’s YA through and through, with a lot of the classic teen scenes you’d expect in the genre, but still manages to be unlike anything else I’ve read.
The writing is accessible and the plot somehow both straightforward and unexpected—a great combination to keep you reading! I kept thinking I knew what would happen next, but I kept being wrong.
The characters really felt like teenagers, which is a major strength. So often YA really feels like it was aged down to fit the market, with five years chopped off a character’s age but no change made to their behavior, but these are kids, as they should be. They grapple with difficult issues and complicated scenarios, but the author gave them space to also be young.
It’s firmly in the vein of much recent YA fantasy, so it should find a wide audience there, but I think anyone who’s interested in dragons should check it out!
Blood and Snow by Abi Clarke
Fantasy
Published 2021
Start of a trilogy
The world as we know it has ended…
After a violent war leaves the country in ruin, humans are a dying breed. In their stead, vampires walk freely, crowned kings and queens of the New World.
Sage Lively should know better than to challenge them. They’re impossibly strong, with senses fifty times sharper than her own. Yet that’s exactly what she finds herself doing.
With a rare gene called the Tolerance, she’s wanted in order to continue the vampiric lineage, restoring them to full strength. But when she meets Silas, a centuries-old vampire with incurable apathy, Sage finds herself at the centre of a plot that threatens to tear down the New World.
Silas knows what he wants, and it seems he’ll stop at nothing to get it. When old friends resurface, loyalties are tested, and Sage is forced to confront her own humanity in ways she could never anticipate.
Will Sage survive the fall, or will she end up a victim?
Why Kelsey recommends this book:
I thought I wasn’t into vampire books, but it turns out I’m just not into how they’re usually portrayed! Specifically, I am usually frustrated by authors’ desires to thrust romance upon us, rather than allowing their characters to be the people and monsters they purportedly are; so often, the only thing that makes a monster inhuman is that they’re even more attractive! In Blood and Snow, the desperation, violence, and tragedy of the situation weigh much more heavily on the plot than I’ve seen elsewhere, to wonderful effect.
This book is unflinchingly dark and full of monsters — as promised by the synopsis — but also very human. I love when stories are about more than plot, and this one definitely is.
Dystopias and apocalyptic books are often my favorite, and Abi brilliantly combines vampires with societal collapse, which is something I haven’t seen done before. Clashing genres leave so much room for interesting stories!
In this world, vampires have taken over the world and humans are on the run. The main character has a rare gene that makes her useful to vampires, but also makes her an especial target. She finds herself at the center of a much larger conflict, confronting humanity and meaning in the middle of a compelling fantasy plot.
Anyone who likes vampire stories is likely to pick this one up, but I actually think it would most appeal to people who like stories of survival and apocalypse.
Fault Lines by Tsveti Nacheva
Mystery
Expected Publication December 2021
Standalone
When the unthinkable happens…
When Ashley disappears from a party at a haunted house attraction, Laurie Arbo fears the worst. Her best friend would not just up and leave. As days turn into weeks, it becomes clear that Ashley is not coming back. But without a body, proving that a crime has been committed – let alone unmasking the culprit – is a tall order.
The truth should come first.
All eyes are on Ashley’s boyfriend, who is being cagey. But Laurie’s own partner, Nate, is not being truthful either. On that fateful night, his clothes were bloodstained. He swears it wasn’t Ashley’s, but Laurie doesn’t know what to believe. Heartbroken, she leaves town, refusing to accept the man she loves might be a murderer.
But what if it’s ugly?
Seven years later, Laurie returns to Solway to work on a TV documentary about a local family drama. She reconnects with Nate, and the pieces start falling together. As Laurie draws close to learning where Ashley is and what happened that night, she realizes the truth might be the one thing she doesn’t want to uncover.
Why Kelsey recommends this book:
From the first page, this book grabbed me — I didn’t know where it was going, exactly, but Tsveti wove in enough ominous mentions of the coming plot to intrigue me from the start. The writing style is a bit unusual, with the text in present tense but the narrator clearly already aware of what has happened, and it ends up giving the effect of a person reflecting on their life. The sense of place is very solid and distinct and the writing crisp and easy to read. There’s a familiar sense of modern young adult malaise and timeless search for meaning and purpose, following a somewhat aimless person unmoored from societal expectations but jolted into action.
Like What Happened to Coco (described next), this is the story of a young woman who goes missing. I think it’s interesting to read these close together and compare how very differently the authors handle a similar premise.
This book is definitely dark, but also very realistic. I think it would appeal to true crime fans, especially young women, and anyone looking for a subtle thriller.
What Happened to Coco by VB Furlong
YA contemporary
Expected Publication December 2021
Standalone
When a girl disappears, long-buried secrets resurface…
Coco is missing. Her room’s a mess, and her phone is left behind in her dorm at Lainsbury Hall School
Ella, Coco’s childhood best friend, is desperate for her to return, although she knows that if she ever sees Coco again, there’ll be a lot of explaining to do.
Bea knows that her new group of friends attracts drama, and she thinks she has the last shred of common sense between them all. Only, if that was true, she would leave Genevieve, her toxic ex, well alone.
Conrad is confident that Coco will return safe and well. Only, the way his secrets are unravelling, he’s worried he won’t be when this is all over.
Harrison and Coco are the perfect couple. Everyone knows that. But looks can be misleading. Even the smartest boy in school can make a terrible mistake.
In order to navigate the web of secrets and lies that Coco leaves behind, her circle of friends needs to unravel a few of their own.
But the question remains: What happened to Coco?
Why Kelsey recommends this book:
Contemporary fiction is hard, in my opinion: too often, it gets bogged down in quotidian concerns, creating real people at the expense of an interesting plot or creating an interesting plot at the cost of realistic characters. Not so here! This book starts from a very simple setup — a wealthy girl has gone missing from her prep school — and expands the world slowly, giving us more and more about her friends and her world until we find ourselves as desperate to learn her fate as her friends are.
It’s not a quick-paced book, instead gradually amping up the tension over flashbacks and slice-of-life chapters. The characters are believable and memorable and flawed in complex, compelling ways. It’s sad, but somehow it’s still easy to read.
If you’re not as interested in fantastical elements in your books, this would be a good choice. It’s realistic and close to real. It is YA, but I still found the issues the kids dealt with complicated enough to be worth contemplation as an adult reader.
After all these fabulous recommendations, here is Kelsey’s book that she wanted to highlight.
Kelsey Josund’s Book Spotlight
Pretty Deadly
Dark fairytale retelling
Published October 26th, 2021
Start of a trilogy
Cinna would quite literally kill for the throne.
For years, Cinna has been forced to serve her wealthy cousins rather than attend society events alongside them. She has waited for the chance to prove herself and exact revenge. When a ball at the castle is announced, promising to bring many powerful people to town, she seizes the opportunity to strike.
She bets her best friend, Johann, a small-time thief and con-man, that she can land a greater score the night of the ball than he can. They embark on parallel heists. But as their plots unfold, things begin to unravel: by the end of the night, the castle’s on lock down, a duchess is dead, a mansion has burnt to the ground – and Cinna hasn’t even stolen anything.
Or has she captured something far more valuable than gold and jewels?
This is for people who like the single-mindedly murderous protagonist of The Shadows Between Us, the heist in Six of Crows, or anything featuring a psychopath! A warning, though — the protagonist, Cinna, is not meant to be likeable. I’ve read a lot of books about supposedly villainous characters who are actually big softies. When I say she’s a psychopath, I mean it. Still, this is a tale of a glittering ball, devious and clever scheming, cons and double crosses, and some really great shoes, which sticks just close enough to the original fairy tale for readers to see that it was inspired by Cinderella.
Kelsey
Find the book on Amazon and Bookbub. You can connect with Kelsey on Twitter, Instagram and Tiktok – her handle is @kelseyjosund. Learn more about her on her website.
Have you read any of these books or are they on your TBR? Did you add any to your TBR today? Tell us in the comments!
Thank you so much for hanging out with Kelsey and me today as part of the thirteenth Indie Recommends Indie Series. I hope you are enjoying the series so far and are looking forward to future posts.
If you are an indie or small press author who is an avid reader and wants to be featured, sign up using the form on the Indie Recommends Indie home page. This is a fantastic way to bring attention to fellow indie authors as well as your own book. 🙂
Banner Photo of library by Alfons Morales on Unsplash
Be First to Comment