Presence Heat blistered skin and glazed over eyes; smoke choked the lungs, its currents pushed by a wind the flames themselves created. Disorientation. Pain. Fear. Adrenaline wasn’t enough to free the women from the fire. Not enough to drive most to break free. Tabitha stumbled through the inferno, coughing until her chest ached. Margaret’s handContinue reading “Where the Winged Thing Waits: Chapter One”
Author Archives: Nikki
Where the Winged Thing Waits
A Vintage Horror Serial — Coming Soon There are places in rural communities where the trees grow too close together. Places where iron gates rust in the middle of the woods, largely forgotten, immortalized only in legend. Places where an asylum once burned… but the screams never stopped. This spring, I’m releasing a new serializedContinue reading “Where the Winged Thing Waits”
Religion as World-Flavor and Literary Engine in the Industrialized Series
Religion is one of the most reliable ways to give a fictional world texture. Not because gods or rituals automatically make a setting epic, but because belief inevitably touches everything: politics, language, identity, rebellion, survival, and even personal identity and mythos. In the Industrialized series, religion isn’t a backdrop. It’s the cultural engine that drivesContinue reading “Religion as World-Flavor and Literary Engine in the Industrialized Series”
Indie Book Spotlight: Reflections of Imperfections by Laura Rose
“Embrace your whole self and thoroughly bloom.” Reflections of Imperfections, a dreamy collection of poems, is truly nourishment for the soul. It’s raw, vulnerable, and celebratory all at once. From the short and deeply reflective Haiku for the emotions to the story-like saga of Body Story, this lovely read is a delicious indulgence from startContinue reading “Indie Book Spotlight: Reflections of Imperfections by Laura Rose”
Indie Book Spotlight: Siduri by JJ Vason
When death claims you, it seeks to cleave your essence from the mortal plane and cast it into the infinite other. Without an anchor, all that is you should dissipate. The cold you feel is the pull of the multiverse on your soul and when chaos finally claims you, there will be utterly nothing left.Continue reading “Indie Book Spotlight: Siduri by JJ Vason”
Indie Book Spotlight: Caves and forests by Any Pascual
I play with verses as if they were bricks. As always, Any Pascual’s prose delights with a delicious dive into humanity, this time intertwining it with lush themes of nature. The variety of topics she highlights and the flow from long poems to short is always so gripping, and Caves and forests is arguably herContinue reading “Indie Book Spotlight: Caves and forests by Any Pascual”
Indie Book Spotlight: Star Lost by Amy Marie Ayres
“Every social impediment prevented perpetual cash flow. The idea was that this would be beneficial to free enterprise for all, but anyone paying attention would see that the cash was flowing only one way.” Two AI stand in the middle of an empty office bullpen. It’s not a punchline… it’s part of the dystopian futureContinue reading “Indie Book Spotlight: Star Lost by Amy Marie Ayres”
Indie Book Spotlight: Vessel by Samantha Jo
Human bodies were not meant to hold this much of the universe within them. I was totally enamored by the worldbuilding and prose in Vessel by Samantha Jo. In this unique world, meteors seem to have brought mana, a type of magic, to humans. (“Scholars and scientists alike agreed that life pre-meteor was barbaric andContinue reading “Indie Book Spotlight: Vessel by Samantha Jo”
Indie Book Spotlight: A Thorn Among Roses: A Sapphic Beauty & the Beast Novella by Hayley Anderton
When I look at myself in the mirror this morning, I see what the rest of the world must. A woman unable to let anyone through the armor. The curse was a catalyst, but it wasn’t the beginning. I have always tried to hide myself away. What a fun, easy read by Hayley Anderton! Alana,Continue reading “Indie Book Spotlight: A Thorn Among Roses: A Sapphic Beauty & the Beast Novella by Hayley Anderton”
Indie Book Spotlight: A Midflight Vampire’s Tale by Linda Ling
No, I am not “okay”. I’ve had a very bad night spent in sub-zero temperatures with two broken limbs, and now I have to run for my life like some fugitive when I have done absolutely nothing wrong except tell off some ancient psycho to his face, and then you show up like the ghostContinue reading “Indie Book Spotlight: A Midflight Vampire’s Tale by Linda Ling”