Paranormal Romance & Urban Fantasy discussion

I'm always on the look out for new authors/titles in PNR/UF by independent (indie) authors. Anyone have any recommendations?

Indies...right up my alley. Besides my own, I'd suggest the following...

Mundania Press-- straight genre through sensual/erotic romance
Elaine Corvidae (especially Lord of Wind and Fire series, but her fay are also great)
Danielle Ackley-McPhail (especially Eternal Cycle series)
Piers Anthony (if you like the Incarnations of Immortality, Mundania has Nox's book)
Michelle Levigne (especially Bitter Sweet)

Phaze-- sens/erotic romance through erotica
Charlotte Boyett Compo
Megan Hussey's vampires
Bridget Midway (Adam and EVE, CAIN and ABEL are particularly good)
Sapphire Phelan

LooseId-- erom only
Treva Hart (The Wilding is one of my favorites)
Lynn Crain
You'll notice a lot of the names cross over from one company to another.
And don't forget that a lot of NY authors still work in indie, like LooseId authors Angela Knight, Vivi Anna, Morgan Hawke, Mary Janice Davidson...

MLR Press-- (M/M books)
Laura Baumbach (Details of the Hunt is fabulous)
Rick Reed (does a lot of horror in his books)

Bookstrand-- mainly romance I pick up there
Phoebe Matthews

I could go over my book shelves and find more... Some of the top of my head are...

Tee Morris (Morevi and Billibub Baddings)
Deborah Lynne's dragons
Margaret Carter's vampires
Lady of the Knife by Janet Miller

B

I found one standout Indie series that is as good as many of the best selling PNR/UFs (and I've read over 400 books in this genre).

I was really blown away by the Little Goddess series by Amy Lane. I rate it 4.5 stars. The story telling, characters and relationship development was excellent. I especially liked the world building and different point-of-view perspectives. Where I knock back points is on the editing, which could have been a little better.

The main character Cory starts out as a 'regular' California gal dealing with 'regular' life challenges--she comes from a poor family and she's working while trying to put herself through college. But something amazing happens and she discovers the supernaturals living in the area, the Fae, vampires, shifters, etc. I enjoyed seeing her growth as a character over the course of the series. Heartwrenching at times (get your tissues ready), she does find love and happiness. There are a lot of great secondary characters--I especially love Bracken and Adrian. There are sex scenes in these books and the subject matter is geared for adults.



If the print books are too pricey, I found these as ebooks for only $6 at iuniverse.com

Brenna, thanks for the recs, I'll check them out--including your books :) I guess I didn't really consider small ePublishers as indie. I was thinking more along the lines of self-published authors.

Shannon, I actually knew about this one and have had it on my PBS wishlist forever (the queue doesn't move that fast, lol!). Glad to hear you like it :)

If you like m/m romance I really like Jet Mykles you can find a lot of her stuff on fictionwise she also does m/f I just have not read that yet.

I have also read one or two by Robin Hobb I think is her name.

Oh, Jet is good, but I've read mainly Jet's contemp work, I suppose. That's why she didn't come immediately to mind.

B

Michelle,

If you don't like ebooks, much of what I suggested is also in print. Most of the indie/es do print as well as e these days. Happy reading!

B

Dawn, I actually have the first book in the Dark Elves series. I guess it is actually the first two books since it is the paperback and I think it has the first two stories that were released as ebooks. I haven't read it yet though.

Brenna, I have an ereader so ebooks are fine! ...and much friendlier to my wallet. Well, at least the indie ebooks are friendly, trad ebooks, um...not so much ;)

Thanks for the suggestions! Feel free to add any others. Never too many books! :)

Nodding. I know what you mean about the price difference between indie and NY.

B

I read a really great series by Melanie Nowak.
Almost Human series. I really enjoyed them!

You can check out my GRIM ARCANA novellas.

There are three in the series so far. It swivels between urban fantasy and PNR, depending on the moment but I think it's fun.

I can 2nd the recommendation for Elaine Corvidae, I really liked her Exile's Burn.

Also highly recommended is Lovers and Beloveds by MeiLin Miranda. It just came out, and I'm currently in the middle of my copy, but boy is it wickedly awesome. Very steamy though (in a way that actually moves the story forward a lot).

If you like the sweeter kind of PNR I'd recommend G.L. Drummond, I've only read one book by her so far, and a couple of short stories, and she builds interesting worlds. Just a bit too sweet for my personal tastes.

My favorite Indie author is MCM, he doesn't write PNR, but his sci-fi is really excellent. I recommend The Vector if you like dystopian stories (it's really, really good), Fission Chips if you like mystery/comedie, and The New Real if you like books like The Hitchhikers Guide of the Galaxy.

I'd really recommend Typhoon by MCM as well, but I know he partly rewrote it because the 2nd in the series is coming out, so I'd wait with reading that for another month. (I read an ARC of the 2nd version, and it's excellent).(Damn Jan, you're such a fangirl)

Last but not least I'd highly recommend Ember by Bettie Sharpe, a dark fantasy retelling of Cinderella, which is truly excellent and original, and which you can get for free at her website (link on the Goodreads page).

Almost all these authors have a story in a new shortstory anthology - Other Sides: 12 Webfiction Tales - I had the honor of writing an introduction for, and which you can get a free digital copy of via Goodreads, so I hope I can mention that here as well.

EDIT: Oh I forgot, there's several Goodreads lists about this topic as well:

Best Indie Fantasy Books
Indie Books Paranormal Cover Love
Indie Books Paranormal Fiction

KF Breene
Shannon Mayer
Debra Dunbar
Takari Hunter
BR Kingsolver
Dannika Dark
KN Banet

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