Hello friend. Happy Friday! Today’s Indie Recommends Indie post features author Nathan Burrage, author of the historical fantasy duology that begins with The Hidden Keystone. Nathan is Australian and this post is a shoutout to the amazing writers from there. Let’s dive in! 🙂
Welcome to Armed with A Book, Nathan! Please tell me and my readers about yourself!
Hello and thank you for the kind welcome. Great to be here.
I live in Sydney, Australia, and have been writing speculative fiction for over 20 years. My first short story was published back in 2001, and my debut novel was released by Penguin/Random House in 2008. Since then, I’ve had one short story collection published (Almost Human) and a duology called The Salt Lines saga. The Hidden Keystone (Book 1) was released in October last year, with The Final Shroud (Book 2) coming out at the end of April.
Do you primarily read indie books or big publishers books as well?
Given work and family commitments, I average less than 2 books a month. The mix between big and indie publishers is about 60/40. I’m far from one of the most prolific readers going around, but I’ve been on Goodreads since 2008, and you can find my reviews on Goodreads.
Australia has a vibrant speculative fiction community, so I’m looking forward to showcasing some of it in this article.
Nathan’s Indie Recommendations
Ferren and the Angel by Richard Harland
Fantasy/YA/Steampunk
Published 2024
Ferren Trilogy #1
An angel falls from the sky and crashes to the ground! Miriael, the Fourteenth Angel of Observance, has been shot down in the thousand-year war between Heaven and Earth. Damaged and helpless, she prays for extinction. The young tribesman Ferren finds her lying in the grass. She ought to be an enemy, since his people are on the side of the Earth. But seeing her there, unable to fly, his curiosity outweighs every rule and every warning. Ferren knows almost nothing about the terrifying world he’s grown up in. Now he’s going to learn the truth about the war, the Humen army camp and what military service really means. His unique friendship with Miriael is about to change the course of history.
Richard Harland, author of the Worldshaker books, creates a whole new world of angels and apocalypse!
Ferren and the Angel is book 1 of The Ferren trilogy by Australian author Richard Harland. If you read the synopsis, then you know it involves a unique central premise: set on the western outskirts of Sydney, Australia, a thousand years of war with the angelic choirs of Heaven has all but destroyed human civilisation. The few surviving humans are scattered across the Australian continent in small, unobtrusive communities. Known as Residuals, they’ve devolved to the point where the technological prowess of their ancestors has passed into myth. The Residual tribes believe they are allied with the Humen (yes, I spelt it correctly) who are technologically advanced and leading the ongoing war effort against Heaven.
Intrigued? Well, I certainly was. This is a fresh take on the post-apocalyptic setting and Harland’s world-building is a particular highlight. He manages to dole out the necessary background information on the lives of the Residuals, the origins of the Humen, and the war with the seven altitudes of Heaven, without slowing down the narrative.
In the first instalment, Ferren is the main protagonist, and his intelligence, curiosity and compassion set him apart from most Residuals. Desperate to avoid being conscripted into military service with the Humen, he stumbles across Miriael, a junior warrior angel that has fallen to Earth. When Ferren nurses her back to health, Miriael discovers she is unable to return to Heaven. The growing friendship between Miriael and Ferren sets both characters upon a path that might change the course of the war.
This is a unique coming of age story that will appeal to most readers of fantasy. Yes, there are YA undertones to the story that might not suit readers who like their stories particularly dark or grim. That said, if you’re looking for a fresh spin on the post-apocalyptic tale with engaging characters who are trying to make a difference in the world, then this series might be for you. And Harland certainly deserves a tip of the hat for taking familiar fantasy tropes and producing something truly original.
Ferren and the Doomsday Mission (book 2) will be released in July 2024.
Ferren and the Invaders of Heaven (book 3) will be released in early 2025.
Traitor’s Run by Keith Stevenson
Science Fiction
Published 2023
The Lenticular #1
Two outcasts. One goal: stop Earth.
Earth’s Hegemony controls the surrounding alien civilisations with ruthless force. Its aim: dominate the galaxy to protect humanity.
On Earth, disgraced pilot Rhees Lowrans is thrust into a job she doesn’t want. She sees first-hand how the Hegemony will sacrifice anything – including her – to keep Earth safe.
In the Lenticular, Udun – one of the empathic Kresz – is on a secret mission when he learns of the Hegemony’s expansion into nearby space. But his warnings are ignored and the Hegemony invades his world and mutilates any Kresz who oppose them.
Can these two outsiders stand against the might of the Hegemony? And will the human race survive if they succeed?
I promised a showcase of Australian Indie fiction, so from Fantasy/YA/Steampunk, we move on to Science Fiction.
Traitor’s Run is the first instalment in The Lenticular Trilogy by Keith Stevenson, and it has all the trappings of science fiction that you’d expect; a vast galactic canvas with a myriad of extremely well-drawn alien societies, interstellar travel, and plenty of political machinations. The central administration of humanity’s Hegemony is fixated on controlling all sentient species it encounters, although not without reason, as we learn early in the story that humanity was almost wiped out in a war with another species 20 years prior to the events in Traitor’s Run.
The story is told from two viewpoints: Rhees Lowrans is a Fleet pilot whose miscalculation during an exercise costs the life of her lover. Dismissed from Fleet in disgrace, her father’s connections gift her a second chance in the Hegemony Diplomatic Corps (HDC). The HDC is part intelligence agency, part black ops, and humanity’s first line of defence against extra-terrestrial threats. Rhees soon comes to despise Troels Volmar, the Comptroller of HDC and his ‘ends justifies the means’ approach to diplomacy.
The second viewpoint is from Udun, an alien from the Kresz homeworld. (Picture a lobster in the shape of a very large human with a cobra-like hood that can engorge from the back of its neck and you get the idea.) The Kresz are a highly empathetic species, which means they sense the emotions of other Kresz nearby and participate in a world mind whilst retaining their individuality. The Kresz are an insular species and want nothing to do with the Hegemony, but the HDC has other ideas.
Udun is unlike most Kresz in that he is interested in other species and yearns to spend more time off the Kresz homeworld. And here we encounter one of the key themes in Traitor’s Run: both Rhees and Udun are ostracised for not conforming to the expectations of their societies. While their respective journeys do not intersect – at least not in this instalment – there are obvious parallels, including the inevitable collision between independent thinkers and heavy-handed regimes. Thought-provoking material indeed.
I find some science fiction can be difficult to engage with, particularly where high science concepts dominate, or the canvas is so vast it inevitably comes at the expense of characterisation. However, I didn’t find that with Traitor’s Run at all. Stevenson’s pacing is brisk and his tendency towards a modest level of description and short paragraphs worked well as I read the novel on my Kindle.
I’d recommend this series to anyone who enjoys stories about humanity finding its place amongst the stars. This is intelligent and accessible SF, with engaging characters and themes that are very relevant to modern day.
Traitor’s Bargain (book 2) was released in February 2024.
Traitor’s War (book 3) will be released on 1 June 2024.
The Heart of the Labyrinth and Other Stories by DK Mok
Speculative Fiction
Published 2024
Standalone
Twelve tales of adventure, wonder and heart from Aurealis Award-shortlisted author DK Mok.
These diverse stories of courage and hope celebrate fierce women, curious minds, and unexpected kindness. A warrior librarian makes a pact to save the monsters of her realm. A high school girl ferries refugees from broken, enchanted worlds. An underfunded roboticist builds a robot kraken to explore the abyssal depths. The Heart of the Labyrinth and Other Stories features six Aurealis Award-shortlisted stories, as well as two stories original to this collection.
Shifting gears here from novels to short stories, Australian author DK Mok’s latest collection of 12 tales takes one look at genre labels and gives a dismissive shrug.
The collection contains 12 stories, two of which are original to the collection. Of the remaining 10, an impressive six have been short-listed for Aurealis Awards, Australia’s premier awards for speculative fiction.
This is a collection that neatly side-steps gender stereotypes and speculative fiction tropes to explore the nature of humanity, often in a future extrapolated from the current challenges humanity is facing. Unlike other collections that posit apocalyptic futures, Mok portrays worlds crafted through the intelligence and determination of the protagonists, where cutting-edge science is always tempered with compassion.
If I had to distil the DNA of a Mok story, there are frequently three common ingredients: Humour, Hope and Heroines. (Honourable mentions going to cephalopods, insects and sentient robots.)
Mok is not afraid to tackle the key issues of our time: climate change, species extinction, and the rise of artificial intelligence to name a few. Scientific innovation is a frequently explored theme, as are the power of stories and the preservation of knowledge.
The Heart of the Labyrinth and Other Stories will appeal to readers who enjoy succinct stories, populated by fierce and intelligent women, with a hopeful outlook on our collective future.
The Gulp by Alan Baxter
Horror
Published 2021
Tales From the Gulp #1
Strange things happen in The Gulp. The residents have grown used to it. The isolated Australian harbour town of Gulpepper is not like other places. Some maps don’t even show it. And only outsiders use the full name. Everyone who lives there calls it The Gulp. The place has a habit of swallowing people.
A truck driver thinks the stories about The Gulp are made up to scare him. Until he gets there. Teenage siblings try to cover up the death of their mother, but their plans go drastically awry. A rock band invite four backpackers to a party at their house, where things get dangerously out of hand. A young man loses a drug shipment and his boss gives him 48 hours to make good on his mistake. Under the blinking eye of the old lighthouse, a rock fisher makes the strangest catch of his life.
Five novellas. Five descents into darkness. Welcome to The Gulp, where nothing is as it seems.
From short stories set in (mostly) bright futures, we move on to novellas set in a much darker and grimmer present. You may have read small town horror in North America before. Now buckle up for the Aussie version. Things are about to get Weird!
The Gulp is a small harbour town set somewhere on the coast of Australia. Surrounded by old forest and inhospitable terrain – or ‘bush’ in the Aussie vernacular – the insular nature of the town is a key supporting cast member in all five novellas. The locals have accepted that strange things happen in their town, and that unwary strangers often go missing. Some residents long to leave The Gulp, imagining themselves moving to big cities, but as we discover, escaping the orbit of this town is easier said than done.
The novellas are all set in, and around, The Gulp, although they are not directly linked. A side character glimpsed in one novella may feature in the next. (Or prove to be a victim.) The choice of linked novellas is inspired by Baxter, as it allows him to use different lenses to highlight the unsettling vibe of the town – and the malign influence that permeates it – thereby ratcheting up the tension with each successive tale. As an Aussie reading this collection, I particularly enjoyed the way it debunked the myth that Aussies are laid back and relaxed.
This is not a collection for the faint-hearted. Nor is it one for readers who like every plot thread neatly tied off at the conclusion of the story. It will appeal, however, to readers who enjoy weird fiction, or piecing together parts of stories to gain a sense of the greater whole.
The Gulp was self-published and won Best Collection at the 2022 Aurealis Awards. The Fall, a follow up collection also set in The Gulp, was released in 2022.
Disclaimer: read this one with the lights on!
Hard Places by Kirstyn McDermott
Urban Fantasy/Horror
Published 2022
Standalone
“Kirstyn McDermott’s prose is darkly magical, insidious and insistent. Once her words get under your skin, they are there to stay.” –Angela Slatter, author of All the Murmuring Bones and The Path of Thorns
Hard Places collects the very best of Kirstyn McDermott’s short fiction written over the past twenty years along with a previously unpublished novella. From unsettling obsessions and brutal body horror to unexpected monsters and ghosts drifting through suburbia, these stories run the gamut of horror and the contemporary gothic. By turns harrowing, provocative and poignant, this collection will haunt you long after the last page is turned.
Continuing down the darker end of the fiction spectrum, Kirstyn McDermott’s collection is a mix of dark urban fantasy, horror, and a particularly clever exploration of the life of Snow White once she’s married and has become a mother. (Spoiler alert: ‘Happily Ever After’ is a false and misleading statement.)
McDermott has long been recognised for the quality of her prose. She also possesses a rare talent for juxtaposing the disturbing and macabre with the everyday, often in an urban Australia setting. The title of most unsettling story goes to “The Home for Broken Dolls”. It’s a story that defies classification and left me wishing I could look away even as the need to see how it ended became irresistible. Yes, her writing is that compelling.
Hard Places was short-listed for Best Collection in the 2022 Aurealis Awards and won this category in the Australian Shadows Awards in the same year. It will appeal to readers who like reading about protagonists who don’t fit societal moulds and find themselves in…well, hard places.
Disclaimer: don’t be surprised if some of those stories end up haunting you…
Nathan’s Book Spotlight
The Hidden Keystone
Historical Fantasy
Published 2023
The Salt Lines saga # 1
July 1099: sweltering in the merciless heat, Godefroi de Bouillon’s desperate army finally breach the walls of Jerusalem. Concealed within their ranks are members of a secret fraternity. The Salt Lines seek a mystical artefact called the Keystone, and they’re willing to sacrifice everything Godefroi values to possess it: the lives of his closest confidants, the only woman he has ever loved, even his very soul.
October 1307: when Bertrand joined the Brotherhood of the Temple of Solomon, no one anticipated the brutal suppression of the Order that followed. Forced to flee for his life, Bertrand unwittingly becomes the only person who can lay the Keystone to rest. But can he resist its temptations whilst evading the forces of the French throne?
With the veil of secrecy in tatters, truth has become the most dangerous possession of all.
Readers who enjoyed Kate Mosse’s Labyrinth might also enjoy The Hidden Keystone given both stories involve a quest for a mystical artefact. (Although I promise my novel doesn’t involve the Holy Grail or the True Cross!)
Fans of Guy Gavriel Kay’s historical fantasy novels also might enjoy The Hidden Keystone. He set two wonderful books in Byzantium, which I absolutely adored. Book 1 is called Sailing to Sarantium, and it contains all the elements I strive to include in a story: memorable characters, conflicting cultures and/or political factions, and events that reverberate through history.
Purchase the book here. Find it on Goodreads and IndieStoryGeek. Watch the trailer. Connect with Nathan on BlueSky and learn more on his website.
Thanks for hanging out with us today! 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!
If you are an indie or small press author who is an avid reader and wants to be featured, connect with me social media or express your interest through my contact form. This is a fantastic way to bring attention to fellow indie authors as well as your own book. 🙂
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