"The Carnelian King and Other Stories" by Arden Powell

"The Carnelian King and Other Stories" is a collection of fifteen short fantasy stories introducing dazzling new worlds. 

From a magical second-hand shop hidden between dimensions to rolling emerald hills dotted with ancient ruins, through carnivorous winter woods and across the war-torn steppes of a crumbling empire, this collection spans beloved fantasy genres from classic to cozy, action and adventure to sword and sorcery, and gothic horror to romance. Some of these many star-crossed worlds include:

A dashing knight nostalgic for the lost myth and glory of the Golden Age, and a reclusive sorcerer who is more than he seems.

Gentlemen dragons, sapphic dragons, dragons as small as hummingbirds and as vast as rivers.

The first installments in a new sword & sorcery series, featuring a mercenary knight who cannot be killed and a horde of witches, lich-kings, and curses.

Trading tales of survival in the god-wrecked scrublands of the old west.

An eldritch house hungering for fresh meat.

A disgraced prophet, his flirtatious rival, and a foal whose birth foretells great changes for their land.

"Tempest, Take Me Home" by Charlie Knight

Eli has made their career and built their reputation as a treasure hunter and captain of Tempest. Now, they have the chance to secure their status as a legend on the seas...but they're going to need help to get this job done.

Max lives a calm, orderly routine, using his magic to provide maps for his clients and securing a name for himself as the best in the business. The only excitement Max gets is when Eli and Tempest come home to visit...but the proposal Eli brings home this time is an opportunity Max has never imagined.

Tempest and crew have been recruited to track down and recover pieces of myth, priceless items said to have come to the world directly from the gods. If they pull it off, the ship will receive gold and acclaim the likes of which none of them has ever imagined...but they aren't the only ship on the seas after this prize. When a rival crew finds out that Max is Eli's secret weapon, the risk to the magical cartographer is higher than any of them bargained for.

Eli and Max have been best friends since they were kids and in love for longer than either of them can remember. They've seen one another through a lot, but now, they'll need to hold onto the foundation they've built between them if they're going to ride out the storms ahead.

"Tempest, Take Me Home" is a standalone novel by Charlie Knight.

"Tales of Yamato" by Odessa Silver

Inari's eyes darkened. "You'd refuse a god twice?"

I could feel my hands trembling, my heart hammering in the forge of my chest. "Yes."

~

Yamato. A land of lavish forests, full of life... and loss. The beautiful string of islands, surrounded by expansive seas, hide a harsh reality: Wrathful gods, dangerous yokai, and humans who could end your life with a slice of the sword. Follow the lives of those surviving in any way they can, while cherishing love found along the way.

When the great sea god Susanoo is controlled more and more by the destructive part of his soul, he must do all he can to keep himself from harming humanity.

A tanuki father goes on a quest to prepare his young pup to blend in to the dangerous human world and causes mischief and mayhem along the way.

Lightning brings both luck and tragedy to a young boy who desperately picks peaches to save his sick mother.

Fourteen Tales of Yamato will take you on a journey with humans, gods, and yokai, showing how each one isn't so different from the other. And that, even in death, there will always be those who will honour your life.

 

"Shades and Silver" by Dax Murray

2023 Indie Ink Awards Finalist; Writing the Future We Need: Disability Representation by a Disabled Author

The birthright of every Ástfríður is to know each metal in the earth, command it, bend it to their desires. To hear metal singing, some of it waiting just beneath the surface, so much of it deeper in the earth. If they wanted, they knew they could pluck that metal from the earth, melt it with a thought, and shape it as they pleased with a breath of air and their will.

Each Ástfríður must choose which metal they would wear upon their heads, denoting the path they would walk. They craft beautiful horns to wear on their brow, forged with the metal they wish to identify with.

But Britt does not know if they can choose the path they want, if they can overcome a past which has stolen their identity. The day has come for them to choose and they have no idea if they have any right to even try to. And Astrid has never felt the pull of the metal at all.

Wearing a forged circlet and horn, they try to navigate a world that they feel has rejected them, all the while fearing someone will learn their secret. The Veil of the Ástfríður has kept them hidden from the world, and safe from intruders. Yet Britt and Astrid feel they are imposters in their own homes. 

Shades and Silver is a duology about identity, doubt, disability, and acceptance set in the universe of Scions and Shadows.

 

"Legend of the Falcon Prince" by S. Judith Bernstein

When the world runs red who can you trust?

The Crimson Age is a time of peril, of upheaval, slaughter and endless war. Dia knows this all too well. A disinherited prince with a secret that could destroy him, Dia has spent the last six years building a web of favors and secrets in his father’s court, hoping to use that power to change the kingdom from within. But when the politics of the palace turn suddenly deadly everything he’s built is about to come crashing down. His very life in danger Dia must outwit his opponents or face execution.

To make matters worse Dia is now being blackmailed by Calix, a mysterious royal guard with an agenda of his own who’s found his way to some of the prince’s most dangerous secrets. Yet maybe Calix could provide the very opportunity Dia needs. With nowhere else to turn and time running out, Dia seeks to turn his blackmailer into the ally he needs to survive the deadly game of politics and power. After all he can’t grant favors if he’s dead, can he?

"Legend of the Falcon Prince" is the first entry in a Young Adult LGBTQ series by S. Judith Bernstein.