Since it’s Self-Pub Author Appreciation Week, I decided to take a gander at all the great self-pub authors I’ve read, and those that I will be reading (Part II available now). My list became massive and uncontrollable, so we’ll begin with:
Those I’ve Read
Angela Boord
I have read Fortune’s Fool, and found it to be a fantastic tale filled with amazing characters, a deep world, and story built around the vengeance of a young woman who was caught between the political machinations of larger houses and came a little worse for wear, and with a new metal arm. Angela has two other stories set in this world, and I am excited to dive into those!
Ryan Cahill
Of Blood and Fire was the start of something great, and this is a series I am very excited to continue through. This series blended familiar fantasy feeling with a new and exciting ideas to create a story that can’t be put down. The Fall is next on my list (I hear this is the correct reading order), once my ebook slot has been freed up.
Rob J. Hayes
I read Along the Razor’s Edge as an audiobook and was so enticed with it I jumped right into the next one, which I’m halfway through. The War Eternal series is a wonderful example of rich and extensive worldbuilding with an antihero protagonist at the helm. The first book follows Eska’s time imprisoned in an inescapable prison called The Pit, and features a fantastic magic system, many inventive creatures, and some very enjoyable characters.
L.L. MacRae
I’ve only read The Citrine Key so far, but that short novella has excited me so much to delve into more of MacRae’s work, especially in the Dragon Spirits series. She has masterfully crafted a quick tale that feels deep in its worldbuilding and characters, and gives a hint at what’s to come in the full series. I can’t wait to dive into The Iron Crown to follow this one up.
Kerstin Espinosa Rosero
Burn Red Skies skies is an epic story filled with dragons, airships, and genetic-based elemental magic. Kerstin writes some amazing characters that are a blast to read about, and has some fantastic worldbuilding with undead dragons, and magic that has deep effects on the users. I have the second book, Rise Red Kingdom, sitting on my shelf ready to go, and I can’t wait to delve into it!
M.L. Wang
I read The Sword of Kaigen several years ago, so I don’t have a review ready to go, but Goodreads will show thousands of reviews that say how amazing this book is. A beautiful tale of a mother and her son in an isolated village and the effects of propaganda and war. Its magic system is fantastic, combining elemental magic and martial arts together. I also had the chance to read M.L. Wang’s upcoming Blood Over Bright Haven, and I am so excited for this story to come out and see how it’s evolved since I’ve read it in its rough form!
Will Wight
I gave a brief review of the Cradle series through book 10, and talked about all the things I loved about it. Combining the fast-paced, epic action of an anime into quick book form and creating his own unique and extensive world. The magic system is fantastic and allows for so much change in the various fight styles while not breaking any established rules. This series is so addicting, I hammered these out nearly back to back at times.
I hope to see this list grow dramatically in size in the next year, as I aim to tackle several more self-published books, which I will talk about in Part II when I bring out which new authors are sitting near the top of my *TBR pile.
*My TBR pile is and extensive, amorphous blob of books that are ever shifting, and due to being a mood reader, there are never guarantees on when a book will be read. Just that there are many books I want to read.
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