As you may have seen on TikTok or Instagram, I partnered with Ingram Sparks to boost a few indie authors yesterday, and I’d love to talk about them here too!

I reached out to Ingram last week and said I wanted to make a difference in a few indie’s lives and wondered if they’d help me do it, and they jumped at the chance. Which is one of the things that I love about working with them. They really seem to mean it when they say they want change for marginalized people. And I hope y’all know that I mean it when I say it!

(If you don't mind helping me boost that collaboration so that it is more effective, you can boost those videos on TikTok and on Instagram ).

With that said, let’s talk about the books I ended up picking! Because I would love to see each and every one of them get a little sales boost to end their year!

First and foremost, I chose Tj Young and the Orishas: The Gatekeeper’s Staff.

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TJ Young and the Orisha follows a teenage boy from a powerful family of diviners--people who have been gifted with gifts from the Orisha. In fact, his older sister is so especially gifted that their community largely believes her to be the prophesized chosen one. So naturally, when she dies in battle, the community--and their family--is gutted. Tj, in contrast to his sister, has not shown any affinity for the Orisha’s gifts, but in an effort to help him develop the power everyone believes he should have, he is granted a spot at a remedial summer camp where he can practice with the younger kids who need a little extra help. However, what TJ finds is much more than a couple of helpful tips. Instead, he uncovers power unlike his sister ever had access to and a sneak peak at the evil plans that probably led to her death.

Antoine Bandele is an unbelievably talented writer and I cannot wait to read the rest of this series. If you like fantasy, west African mythology, and strong Black boys, this is a book you need to pick up immediately.

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No One’s Gonna Take Her Soul Away blurs the lines between Dark Fantasy and Horror. It follows a Black woman who dies violently and is unjustly sent to the seventh level of Pandemonia (Hell), where she is condemned to spend eternity being tortured by evil creatures and her fellow condemned souls. But she knows she doesn’t belong and is determined to find her freedom. In a moment of desperation and stubborness, she teams up with a vampire, a werewolf and a demon to make a dangerous trek accross all seven levels of Pandemonia in order to confront the goddess who unjustly sentenced her and to win her freedom.

This story has some incredibly deep and painful conversations about violence, Blackness, queerness, domestic violence, and the Black women’s plight. It is gruesome and painful to read, but it will take you somewhere you’ll be grateful you went.

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Inevitability Of is a classic story about a Black woman who comes home to see her Nana only to discover a deep, dark family secret that has been kept from her for decades. Only, instead of finding her granddaddy’s bones hidden behind the attic wall or a neighborhood fued that has reached a boiling point, she discovers that she comes from a long line of magic…and she needs to prepare herself to take over as the next gatekeeper of Death, itself. Oh…and let’s not forget that her highschool boyfriend knew all about it.

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**Sordidez **is a dystopian climate story about the aftereffects of a massive hurricane in Puerto Rico. It follows a trans man who must navigate a quickly changing political climate in the aftermath of the USA completely abandoning the Island in order to seek out the help his neighborhood needs to survive. I am only about fifty pages into this story but I am enjoying it so much so far and can’t wait to see where the story takes us!

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Green Fuse Burning is an indigenous horror story about an Indigenous woman who is working through her feelings after the death of her estranged father when she finds out that someone has entered her into an art contest without her knowledge. Upon finding out that she has won, she decides to accept the trip to the middle of the woods where she has been invited to paint for a weekend without interuption. But when she wakes up to what sounds like a body being dragged through the woods, she realizes that shes in for more than she bargained for.

I haven’t read this one yet, but it has been very high on my TBR for a minute and I can’t wait to dive in!

Go grab a couple of books and help a few indie authors have a great end of year!!!

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