Sapphic Shelf EXPLOSION 💥
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In this issue:
- Update on SHACKLES AND SHARDS: Shattered (50%!)
- Yearn Media: 50% off your first month all you can read and all you can listen - with guaranteed NO genAI
- Sapphic Shelf Explosion - hundreds of Sapphic Books $1 or less - see my recommendations!
- Smoke and Steel still available for free on BookSirens, plus other free queer books
- Mass Market Paperbacks now available for STARS AND SOIL - enter the giveaway to get a free copy!
- My cat plots against me
Writing Life
I have hit the 50% mark on this pass of Shackles and Shards: Shattered and have gotten some great feedback from a friend. Switching from Scrivener has been hard, but having access to my manuscript on my mobile device and not having to fumble about with external syncing if I want to work on my tablet? Amazing. Fabulous. I'm getting so much more done when I have like 10 extra minutes to spare.
I got my quarterly botox on Monday (it really helps my migraines, taking me from like 20 migraine-days per month down to like 5 or 6!) which meant I did take a quick break from writing (and played Fire Emblem: Echoes: Shadows of Valentia to pass the time) and my characters are so angry at me for abandoning them, leaving them stuck in the strange underground ruins full of strange shadow monsters and bioluminescent flora. But I'll be back to writing probably tomorrow or the day after and they can have their revenge on me.
I've continued to make some structural changes to the story and what started as one novel, Shackles and Shards, is now more like four full novels. But I'm really enjoying Sresca's journey and being able to give more room to Petra, Kiut Tshu and {{Spoiler}} for their own narrative arcs. If you haven't yet, you can read the first three chapters (around 30k words). These are available to paid members of any tier, so even the $1/mo tier will get you access. You can sign up for a yearly membership for as little as $5.50/year using this discount link. These memberships help me keep the lights on while I put the words on the pages.
Dax Murray, Sapphic Fantasy Author
Yearn Media Plug - Because it's that good
I know I talked it up in my last newsletter, but I really need to give another shoutout to Yearn Media.
This time, I have a discount code for 50% off your first month. For $5 this month, you can get all you can read AND all you can listen Romantasy, Romantic Fantasy, and Fantasy Romance.
DISCOUNT CODE: MURRAY50
If you are on android, just put that code in for the Author/Creator Code and you will get the discount when the Android app is live (which should be soon)!
It's entirely free of genAI--no genAI covers, no genAI "virtual voice" for the audiobooks, and no genAI writing. The team at Yearn personally screen every author they onboard, giving thorough time and attention to making sure they live up to their promise that the platform is just for humans!
If you're a KU reader and feeling like you're encountering more slop than not, Yearn Media might be the all-you-can-read-and-listen reading subscription you've been looking for.
Right now, A Lake of Feathers and Moonbeams is available to read and Stars and Soil and Smoke and Steel are being added as we speak!
If you're an author who wants to be on the platform, you can apply here. They pay fairly, transparently, and have a special program for authors who want to leave Kindle Unlimited, too!
Sapphic Fantasy Recommendations
Today is the second annual sapphic shelf explosion hosted by Year of Queer Lit. There are over 200 books that are either $0.99 or free! Here are some of the books that either I already own and loved or just picked up as part of the sale!
Two of my own books are also in the sale, A LAKE OF FEATHERS AND MOONBEAMS and STARS AND SOIL. ​
The Cradle of Eternal Night
F/F illustrated romantasy horror novel about a bard and a witch on a quest to steal the sun, moons, and stars back from the clergy which plunged their world into an abyss.
• Amazon
• Kobo
• Apple
• Barnes & Noble
• Author’s Website
Uncharted
Pirate Captain Cinder is a terror on the open sea, striking fear into hearts wherever she sails. Now she has a new target. The vulnerable Princess Georgina should be an easy mark in Cinder’s kidnapping plot. However the legend of Captain Cinder is more intertwined with Georgina’s own history than either of them expect.
• Amazon
• Kobo
• Apple
• Barnes & Noble
• Google
• Author’s Website
A Crimson Covenant
A werewolf and a vampire go on a dangerous journey to save their nocturnal town from violent zealots.
• Amazon
A Sharper More Lasting Pain
Three Casters at a school for the arcane-inclined find their lives upended when a monstrous tragedy unfolds around them–literally and metaphorically.
• Amazon
• Kobo
• Apple
• Barnes & Noble
• Author’s Website
The Dragon Next Door
In this sapphic ace romantasy, Tollar’s got a stolen dragon egg & that’s the least of her problems! Join a pair of disaster queers raising a baby dragon amidst growing threats.
• Kobo
• Apple
• Barnes & Noble
• Google
Dame Ophis
She has many names: Lady of the Oak. Dame Ophis. Few are those to know her real one: Sinha. When wounded knight Cerris crosses through the forest on her way back to the castle, she doesn’t expect a surprising young woman to offer her shelter, nor to heal her. Things take a complicated turn when Cerris realises who she is dealing with. She is supposed to kill Dame Ophis. The only problem is, she might have fallen in love with Sinha.
• Amazon
• Kobo
• Author’s Website
The Lowest Healer and Highest Mage
A sapphic fantasy romance set in a modern-era world!
After seven years in prison, Clematis gets one last chance to win her freedom… by cooperating with the powerful, distant mage who originally got her arrested and charged with treason. The same mage who just happens to be her former best friend, and perhaps so much more.
• Amazon
The Timeless Legion
A dragon stolen.
A love betrayed.
A legion lost to time…
• Amazon
Born of Flame and Fury
A shattered source. A broken realm. A false king.
It’s all her fault.
• Amazon
Hunt Monsters, Do Magic, Fall in Love
A little spooky, a little sparkly: Hunt Monsters, Do Magic, and Fall in Love is a triptych of modern fantasy stories interrelated by family—stories with myths and demons and ghosts (oh my), and with romance and secrets and lies (and someone dies).
• Amazon
• Kobo
• Barnes & Noble
• Apple
• Google
• Author’s Website
