Sticking my own book at the end of the list because the sequel to this introspective, lush, fever-dream dark fantasy is coming out in NINE DAYS!!

A woman with missing memories and violent magic must face her traumatic origins and decide where to stand in a mage uprising shaking the foundations of her home.

#bookstodon #books #indieauthor #indiebooks #NarratessSale #darkfantasy #fantasy #IndieAugust

Alt...

The cover of Imbued by Helyna L. Clove

When the Forest Calls by Cassandra Newbould - Cover reveal and preorders soon! Learn more: https://www.starsandsabers.com/books/when-the-forest-calls/
#books #fantasy #darkfantasy #fairytale

There's a 29-book Robert R. McCammon "Dark Fantasy" bundle on Fanatical: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/robert-mccammon-dark-fantastic-book-bundle

IMHO McCammon's underrated, and under $1 CAD/book is a steal! As if I needed another 28 (I've read *Swan Song* already) books in my Kobo's to-read pile.

#books #reading #DarkFantasy #Horror #RobertRMcCammon

RE: https://wandering.shop/@helynalc/117138492882002482

I think I shared this before, but after I published Skylark in the Fog in 2022, I wasn't sure I was going to write/publish another book. Skylark took so long that I wasn't even sure how it happened, and although I loved how it went by the end, I wasn't sure if there would be another story in me 1/🧵

#bookstodon #books #indieauthor #indiebooks #fantasy #darkfantasy

Hel ✨ » 🌐 2026-08-22
@helynalc@wandering.shop

RE: https://wandering.shop/@helynalc/117134177677725844

Should you like:

- lush, tropical realms
- lost history, dead gods
- sideplot no-spice slowburn
- weird, violent magic
- fever-dream, spiralling narration
- mental health & gritty, angry hope
- a "passive character" regaining agency

...read Imbued & Untwined!

See thread for art and short intro of the MCs! ⬇️

#bookstodon #books #indiebooks #indieauthor #fantasy #darkfantasy

RE: https://wandering.shop/@helynalc/117134177677725844

Should you like:

- lush, tropical realms
- lost history, dead gods
- sideplot no-spice slowburn
- weird, violent magic
- fever-dream, spiralling narration
- mental health & gritty, angry hope
- a "passive character" regaining agency

...read Imbued & Untwined!

See thread for art and short intro of the MCs! ⬇️

#bookstodon #books #indiebooks #indieauthor #fantasy #darkfantasy

What legend will befall you when you walk by the lake? Find out in "The House By the Lake" now appearing in Legends. Available at your favourite retailer! https://books2read.com/b/LegendsMonsters #books #booklovers #darkfantasy #horror #legends #amwriting

I have been hinting that the anthology will come out soon - and it indeed will, after a brief preorder period which starts TODAY! :D

You can buy your copy for 99c AND make a bunch real human indie authors (including me) VERY happy! :D

Contains ORIGINAL Dark Fantasy Fairytales, NO AI in ANY part of the production, and all stories have trigger warnings - so you can enjoy without guilt.

https://books2read.com/u/bw6WJ9

#Bookstodon #Books #Preorder #IndieBook #DarkFantasy #eBook #Anthology #Fairytale

Alt...

An adverticement picture made by me (hiisikoloart/Mara Reboi) for book named: Once Upon a Fairytale: A collection of original fairytales. Background is well lit bed of moss (a hint which will be clear if you read my story in the book), and topped with flecks of gold. The texts around the eBook cover shown in a phone says, "A Collection of Original Fairytales - PREORDER NOW! Dark Fantasy Stories from Human Authors, NO AI, Only 99 cents." The cover is photoedited (NO AI) and shows a dark forest, thorns around the edges of the cover, and a thorny, red rose at the middle. Golden filigrees framge the cover among smaller roses, and magic particles. The subtitle "a collection of original fairytales" reads at the top" while the main title reads at the bottom on bold, golden font "Once Upon a Fairytale". Note: By buying this book you support human work - each story was written by a human author, edited by human(s), formatted by human(s), and the cover was also made by a human. All authors and the cover artist (who is not me) are against use of AI in any part of the creative work.

Alchemised is an impressive work of fan fiction, a dark fantasy wartime romance shipping the characters of Hermione (Helena Marino) and Draco (Kaine Ferron) from Harry Potter in a world that uses the magic system (or close enough) of Fullmetal Alchemist, with necromancy and elements of The Handmaid's Tale stirred in for horror and a sprinkling of softcore erotica for horn.

If that premise doesn't sound like anything you're remotely interested in, don't pick up this book. The story is told in a little over 1,000 pages (32+ hours for the audiobook), so it's not a light investment of your time; and as much as I wanted to be able to recommend Alchemised to all (adult) fantasy readers when I started the book, by the end I felt that I could only ever recommend the book to fans of Harry Potter and Fullmetal Alchemist who are powerfully intrigued by the idea of a melding of those two fantasy worlds.

For those people, Alchemised may indeed scratch an itch. I think SenLinYu did a great job of creatively joining those two universes to create an entirely new universe that is interesting in its own right. I appreciated the horrific descriptions of war, and especially the wartime application of the world's magic systems. (Don't take that the wrong way: I'm no fan of war—quite the opposite, in fact; and I appreciate that Alchemised depicts war as a horror in a way that few of the fantasy novels I've read ever do.) I had fun identifying all the little elements of the various IPs SenLinYu worked into her story. I also enjoyed the erotica, even if it was a bit vanilla for my taste.

The problem is the length of this book. Part II, especially, drags on for much longer than needed to get to where we needed to be by Part III. I know Alchemised was originally self-published on AO3, and if it had stayed there I maybe could have forgiven the bloat. A young, talented, but inexperienced writer indulging in a story they've probably had in their head for many years—I get it. But the book wasn't self-published, and Penguin really should have insisted that an editor help the author trim some of the fat off this book. Someone to interject when the characters repeat the same phrases 100 times. Someone to insist that we get to the fucking monkey.

It's unfortunate that didn't happen; or, if the book did go through an editor and they did some trimming, it's unfortunate they didn't cut more out of Alchemised. As it is, I just can't recommend that anyone other than real fans put as much time as it will take to get through this beast of a book.

@bookstodon@fedigroups.social #Books #Review #Fantasy #DarkFantasy #FanFic

Alt...

SenLinYu: Alchemised (Paperback, Del Rey)

My Appalachian weird horror novella Godfestation comes out August 11 and you can pre-order it now from your favorite bookseller! Publishing via Sley House.
#books #horror #folkhorror #darkfantasy

T-1 until the cover reveal of Untwined!

Imbued was all about Calla suppressed, crowded, forced down by her own magic, by secrets, by ancient greed, and by circumstances. Untwined is breaking and flowing free (eventually), ongoing transformation, breathing, taking space and form, and blooming anew.

#bookstodon #books #indiebooks #fantasy #fantasybooks #darkfantasy #indieauthors

Alt...

The cover of Imbued by Helyna L. Clove. The digital art is very painting-like and features lush, thorny vegetation in purple and green colours on all sides, surrounding a white calla lily. The stalk of the lily is clutched by golden, sparkly, magical threads as if they were pulling it towards the ground. The cover is framed by golden swirly framing art, and the title and author name are written on it also with gold.