Top Five Self-Published Books of the Year

I hmmed and hawed about this one, Should I do five best authors, should I go with books, or do I go outside and do something less boring instead (anyone remember that reference?).

I decided to go with the books because, well, I read a lot self-pub books, probably somewhere around 70% of my reads. So, there was plenty of material to work with. Choosing them was the hard part. I already gave a shout out to The Thief That Pulled on Trouble’s Braids in my top five books, so I’ll exclude it here, but Michael McClung’s novel is an absolute blast. Anyway, I digress. On with the show:

1. The Heresy Within, by Rob J Hayes: This author is one of my favourites, independent or otherwise. This novel tells the tale of villainous heroes and magic-wielding priests, with gallows humour galore (yay!) (review)
2. Darkness Forged, by Matt Larkin: If Rob Hayes is my favourite Indie, then Matt is nipping at his heels. This is is the  novel that started his rift on Norse mytholgy, the book that spawned a dozen or so sequels. Dark and brooding, with a wonderful take on the Norse gods Hollywood has had too wicked a way with (review)
3. Darkstorm, by ML Spencer: A dark tale of political intrigue, with characters whose motivations are called into question throughout. Who are the bad guys here? The story hints at so much more, and will have you wanting to rush onto the next book in the series (review)
4. I Was a Teenage Weredeer, by CT Phipps: Sound familiar? Yeah, the sequel made my audiobooks list. This one, the first in the series was more entertaining, in part because it was different to most other urban fantasies. Funny, irreverent and full of pop-culture references, if this doesn’t make you laugh, you have no soul (review)
5. Bridgers 1: The Lure of Infinity, by Stan C Smith: The lone sci-fi selection, the author writes fast-paced, intelligent science fiction. This has a terrific premise, great lead characters, and a few twists to keep us on our toes (review).

That’s it for my top five lists for the first half of 2018. Next up I’ll start giving some info on what I’m supposedly working on at the moment (as I promise regularly). Watch this space.

Until next time,

Al