Everyone, it’s time for another IndieMission!! We are so excited to announce the contenders that will be in next week’s knockout round Bonus Episode (check out the Reading Schedule for the date). For this, Hannah and Laura will be getting together to flip a coin or pick a number, and one winner will be randomly chosen. We will be covering one of these amazing works for three whole weeks, and hopefully inviting on the author to discuss their work. So here are your new contenders, chosen randomly!

Left Bracket

Kill Three Birds by Nicole Givens Kurtz: Prentice Tasifa is an investigative hawk whose been deployed from The Order to the small egg of Gould, a mountain village. A missing girl had been found dead. Hawks investigate strange and difficult situations throughout the kingdom of Aves. They can “see the unseen,” by accessing a unique ability to activate hawk-like vision, a trait they carry through their bloodlines. When Prentice arrives in Gould, she soon discovers that there isn’t just one bird dead, but three. Has the hidden town’s secrets contributed to the deaths? Did the victim’s controversial relationship? There’s a serial killer operating in little known Gould, and she has to find the person before she ends up next.

Bloodlines by Peter Hartog: Welcome to Empire City, where magic and technology co-exist, and humanity endures behind walls of stone and spell-forged steel. A place where danger lurks around every street corner, and anything is possible. When former hotshot homicide detective Tom “Doc” Holliday is recruited to join Special Crimes, he trades in his boring desk job for a second chance to do what he does best: Hunt down killers.

The Exile of Zanzibar by Daniel Maidman: Claire built a device to fold space and time. It had a flaw… When the smoke clears, she finds herself halfway across the world, thousands of years in the past, and no device in sight. In bronze-age Florence, war has lasted for generations. All Claire wants to do is get home, but she’ll need help from the locals. She wins an ally in Marcus Diophantus, a pickpocket turned soldier turned general, who hopes to turn into something more than just her champion. Together, they broker peace between Florence and its enemy.

The First Step by Tao Wong: Long Wu Ying never expected to join a Sect or become a real cultivator. His days were spent studying, planting rice on the family farm and spending time with his friends. Fate, however, has different plans for Wu Ying and when the army arrives at his village, he and many other members of the village are conscripted. Given the opportunity to join the Verdant Green Waters Sect, Wu Ying must decide between his pedestrian, common life and the exciting, blood soaked life of a cultivator.

A Paradox of Fates by Rebecca Hefner: Dr. Elaine “Lainey” Randolph was born with one sole purpose: to prevent the past. With her brilliant mind and unwavering spirit, she works tirelessly to solve the equations that will finally unlock the mystery of time travel. Then, she will leave the post-apocalyptic future her grandfather created and travel back in time to prevent his calamitous actions

Partial Function by JCM Berne: If Taken starred Michelle Yeoh and was set on a Jurassic Park – inspired Cradle. Monster hunter Akina Azure inherited the most powerful weapon in the martial world before retiring to a peaceful life raising her twin girls. The Reaver has them kidnapped, thinking Akina will trade that weapon for their safe return. Will she? Or will she use it to wreak a terrible retribution on the men who took her girls? You get one guess.

Right Bracket

The New Frontier by Wayne L. Wilson: During the era of President Kennedy’ s “ New Frontier” , in 1961, the Coles, a black family from a small Southern town seek to reap the golden harvest of job opportunities and better lifestyle that Los Angeles, California proclaims. These pioneers move into an all-White neighborhood where they quickly discover their kind is not welcome. Poignant and humorous, this coming-of-age story is narrated by Samuel Scott Cole whose innocent and imaginative observations impart how this life-changing event affects him and his parents.

Revenge Arc by Cat Voleur: When controversial comic creator Riley Langdon is faced with an unimaginable crime committed in her name, she retreats from the spotlight she spent years seeking. But as media, fandom, and obsession churn, Riley’s story takes on a life of its own.

Odd Blood by Azalea Crowley: Stuck: That’s what Josephine Pajimula felt like. A burnout millennial on the verge of losing her housing, her roommate, and maybe even her best friend. It made perfect sense to go to a Halloween party, ignore her feelings, and spend the time searching for apartments instead. A Chance: She hadn’t expected meeting him. A man in a vampire costume took a hard fall in front of her. Against her better judgment, Josephine is determined to make sure this stranger makes their way home safely. Alarm bells in her head be damned.

Phased by Tori Taken: According to the Department of Domestication and Assimilation, Val and Lyla Blackwood are the most dangerous kind of werewolves. Although they were raised in the wild, their Trueblood heritage has made them little more than experiments for years. Now, their freedom depends on their ability to become as human as possible, thrown into an assimilation school with humans and werewolves who have never known what it means to be wild. 

The Drift by Casie Aufenthie: In a future where the human race has split into three species, the mentally-evolved Illuminatos have conquered the other two in a brutal Evolutionary War. Now, the seven most powerful Illuminatos, the Council, control the Earth, ruling over the other two human species through violent oppression.

Kingdom of Forgotten Curses by A.R. Kaufer: The prince is a bloodthirsty soldier who enjoys death, fine wine, and the company of beautiful women. Until one fateful night, when everything changes.
80 years later, the king’s barrister, Marius, discovers a reference to the prince and is immediately sent upon a mission of discovery by the king, much to the dismay of his three daughters. At the chateau, Marius makes a deadly mistake, and now someone must pay the price…

Check out BlueSky and Instagram for some highlights these upcoming week(s) as we prepare for IndieMission 8!!!!!