January is over, it felt like a whole damn year but we got there. It’s February now and my reading list continues to grow as I continue to network with fellow indie authors.

How many reviews have you left recently? I’ve left 4 this month, and they constitute to 4 reasons why you should read indie books because all of them are written by indie authors!

I opened my reading account with ‘Altaica’ (The Chronicles of Altaica) By Tracy M Joyce. Late last year I reached out via the tweet machine to the indie author writing community. One post particularly gathered a lot of interest including Australia! Tracy M Joyce introduced me to her fantasy world that flowed and read like historic fiction.

In my review I made comparisons to Wilbur Smith and even Tolkien and that is no way an exaggeration because this accessible and immersive book is world building at its finest.

Even if you’re not convinced by my review there is an abundance of them via amazon…

The best cure for completing a book is starting another and so I consulted my list which consisted of many different indie books but ‘Undertown’ by K.Noel Moore just stuck out to me.

“Something happened tonight, I don’t know what. Something that ripped the veil between the Chicago of the living and the Chicago of the dead…” 

This novella (which I managed to read in one sitting) is a gripping and clever fusing of real events intertwined with paranormal fiction. If you were to combine the crime wave era of 1930’s america and a deep but subtle building ghost element you’ll get ‘Undertown’ which is available now via amazon…. 

I kept the ghostly and paranormal tempo going by reading ‘Blood of the Sixth By K. R. Rowe’ next…

In this book there is a lot going on, but it is written with such clarity it never clouds or confuses the reader. To quote my review ‘Blood of the Sixth has a complex interwoven plot which is delivered in a way that makes it an easy to follow read; something I imagine the author has worked tremendously hard to achieve. The whole layout of the book from short sharp chapter length, to characters all the way to general story has been well thought out’.

I found the story to slowly build and gather steam later on but in the earlier stages I was gripped by what is a compelling and sometimes chilling tale with some twists and a little gore (I’m dead inside so not a lot phases me..). Overall a great read which you can grab via amazon here..

And finally, and by no means least The Alien Diaries by Glenn J. Devlin: my review literally dropped the other day! 

I’ve had this novel pegged for a while as the premise is so damn intriguing and without giving any spoilers away, it is!

‘The Alien Diaries’ has two simultaneous stories running throughout, one of which is via a diary from the 1700’s and the other set in modern day as those characters read the diary. It’s a clever combination in which the narration and tenses changes in what seems like an effortless style (although I imagine the writer put in a huge amount of work to achieve).

I really enjoyed this book and even found myself taking my time because there was a small element of me not wanting it to end. Check it out here….  

So I’ve managed 4 books this month, with 30 as my target this year. Remember folks above all, reviews are gold dust, so leave one!