Hey'a, all! So, a few years ago, I did a Friday 5s post that I really enjoyed: Summer Anytime Reads, a collection of books (and some bonus recommendations) that I felt were really summertime books. I've been meaning to do a followup for . . . well, years, but never really got around to it (and never really had enough books to suit any one season). However, I have finally changed that fact! Some of these are selected because they actually relate to some aspect of autumn, some because they take place in the fall, and some just . . . y'know. They have the right vibe. So, without further ado, here are your Autumnal Anytime Reads!

Autumnal Anytime Reads

1. An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson. I mean, the transition from summer to autumn is literally a plot point here, and Rook is the autumn prince, so . . . kind of an obvious choice? But I would also say that Enchantment effectively captures the feel of fall as well, from the descriptions and colors to the emphasis on making and creating (fall usually feels very crafty to me, though maybe that's just because of Halloween) to the juxtaposition of life and death and the idea of things dying to make way for new life.
   If you liked An Enchantment of Ravens, try: Fairest Son by H.S.J. Williams (for fae magic and fairy tale vibes) or The Dark King's Curse by Wyn Estelle Owens (for seaonal fae and fabulous autumnal rulers).
   
   
   
2. Plenilune by Jennifer Freitag. I almost put this one as a readalike for An Enchantment of Ravens, but then I decided that it deserved its own spot. Though this book spans multiple seasons, it carries a very classic autumnal vibe all the way through, especially in the author's very rich language and descriptions. But where Enchantment is very early autumn, Plenilune is late autumn, when skies are grey more days than not and the encroaching greys and browns make the last bits of color stand out all the more brightly and fires in the fireplace are appreciated for more than just the aesthetic, if that makes sense. And, once again, it has that feel of death bringing about new growth and life. Plus, this book has a very classic, slower-moving, spiced-cider kind of feel that really seems very autumnal.
   If you liked Plenilune, try: Pendragon's Heir by Suzannah Rowntree (for kingdom intrigue and classic feel). I seriously cannot think of another readalike for this at the moment, but if you have any ideas, feel free to leave them in comments.
   
   
   
3. The Dragons in Our Midst series by Bryan Davis. This series takes place primarily in fall (all except for book 2, which is midwinter and feels like it). In addition, Books 1 and 3 are very effective examples of two kinds of fall-related stories. School stories often seem very autumnal (mostly because of "back to school"), and a lot of the conflicts in Book 1 begin in or relate to that. And in Book 3, of course, the whole story takes place right around Halloween and takes advantage of the legends surrounding that holiday — specifically, that Halloween is the night on which the borders between realms and dimensions are the thinnest.   
   If you liked The Dragons in Our Midst, try: The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson (for allegory and colorful characters) or The Ilyon Chronicles by Jaye L. Knight (for strong Christian characters and dragons).
   
   
   
4. The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud. Speaking of Halloween, we can't go through autumn reads without discussing some deliciously creepy or scary tales! The Screaming Staircase has just the right amount of spine-chilling creepiness without becoming horror for the sake of horror, and it leans heavily on traditional lore while adding its own twists. It also has an excellent mystery, and I'd say that fall and winter are an excellent time for mysteries. For the record, I'd actually say the whole series fits the vibe of fall read fairly well; the first book just happens to be the one I like best.
   If you liked The Screaming Staircase, try: The Crocket and Crane series by Kyle Robert Shultz (for spooky legends and, especially after Book 1, plenty of creepiness, plus snarky friendships) or Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy (for lore-based fantasy mystery).
   
   
   
5. The Book of Names by D. Barkley Briggs. We end this list with a series that I think effectively bridges fall and winter. The Book of Names starts in November, and it feels like a November/early December sort of book. Part of that is the atmosphere and the book's reliance on Welsh and Arthurian Legend (which I often associate with fall). The other part of it, though, is the aspect of the Nameless and the darkening of the world. Though I love fall and the change in seasons, I often find that late fall and winter are times of the year when I tend to feel much more tired and discouraged than usual, and I think The Book of Names and the rest of the Karac Tor series reflects that struggle in certain ways.
   If you liked The Book of Names, try: The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander (for shared basis in Welsh mythology) or the Beyonders series by Brandon Mull, especially books 2 and 3 (for unconventional portal fantasy and portal adventures that leave a mark).

What are your favorite autumnal reads? Are there any of my picks that you especially agree or disagree with? Please tell me in the comments! Also, many thanks to my sister for helping me come up with readalikes when I was stuck on some of these.
Thanks for reading!

July 2020 Doings!

Well, here we are! The end of another month! We're officially over halfway through the year and halfway through summer, and . . . yeah. I feel like this was a short month, but I also can barely remember the start of it, so . . . that's weird. Anyway. Let's get on with the Doings, shall we?

Writing!

• So, this was probably the chillest Camp NaNoWriMo of my life.
• I was editing The Midnight Show, you know. And I expected it to take most of the month — expected to still be scrambling to finish at the end. Instead, I went through more times than I planned and had time for a few extra people outside of my original betas to look at it as well. So, that's cool.
• Side note: either today or tomorrow is the last day to sign up for the Tattered Slippers blog tour. So if you haven't done that and you want to join the festivities, make sure you don't put it off any longer. Link is here.
• On a related topic: have you preordered The Midnight Show? If you're thinking of getting the ebook, preordering helps my rankings and such quite a lot. (Also, all the people who've read it so far have told me they really enjoy it! So I'm not the only person who thinks it's good!)
• Blood in the Soil/Earth is going slowly but steadily. I think I may have managed to move in towards the . . . pre-endgame? Pre-pre-endgame? Something. I still feel like I'm feeling my way along the story, but I also think I'm getting close to the point where I won't be second-guessing myself every page. Maybe I'll actually finish the book this year; that would be nice.
• And in terms of D&D writing, I spent most of the month worldbuilding dwarven cities, culture, and cuisine. It . . . was a lot. It's kind of one of those things where I know 75% of what I build won't actually get used, but I have very little idea which 25% I'll need, so I have to do all of it. On the upside, I should be able to use a lot of it in the future, so it's not like I'm wasting my time and effort.
• I also decided to reread what I wrote of Dust of Silver, which was a stupid decision because I had written less than I thought I did and I left off in a non-ideal spot, and I kind of want to work on it (half because I miss Poppy and Ivy; half because I really want to rewrite my Beauty and the Beast retelling), but I have no idea where I was going with the story. Gah. I have regrets.

 Reading!

• This was a slightly better reading month than last month was; I managed 13 books, seven of which were rereads and most of which I very much liked.
• My rereads included Cheaper by the Dozen and Belles on Their Toes (both still excellent), the Abhorsen trilogy (I still love these books and this magic system SO MUCH and I can't even explain why), and The Hobbit (because I plan to reread The Lord of the Rings soon). So that was all very fun.
• On the new-to-me books front, I finally read Spindle's End and Beauty by Robin McKinley, which — oh my pumpernickel. They were both so good, y'all. I was a touch disappointed by the ending of Beauty, but even so, they were both so. storming. good. I should've read these sooner. They're both officially among my favorite retellings of their respective fairy tales.
• I also read the A is for Apple anthology, which is a set of five Snow White retellings. Contrary to what the name would suggest, it's really not a children's anthology. It had two really good stories — "The Poet's Missing Daughter" and "Skin Deep" (the former of which is an Asian mystery retelling; the latter of which is a contemporary about IG/YT influencers and is just really good) — and a few other meh or ok ones. If you're looking for Snow White retellings, though, it could be worth picking up just for "Skin Deep."
• Going back to books I should've read ages ago, we have Deep Secret (Diana Wynne Jones) and Truly Devious (Maureen Johnson). Deep Secret was fairly fun, not my favorite DWJ, but enjoyable enough. It did make me wonder what kind of conventions Jones had gone to, though. Truly Devious didn't amaze me either, but purely for personal reasons — the story was good, and the concept was interesting; I just didn't jive with the writing style and had trouble keeping track of characters. (Ok, and I didn't buy the romance. But that's mostly because I heartily disliked David pretty much all the way through.)
• Finishing up the month, we have a reread of Plenilune, and a first-read of Song of the Current. Plenilune, I didn't enjoy quite as much as I did the first time I read it, but was still excellent. I had an easier time keeping track of who's who and connected to what and where than I did the first time around. I do think I could've benefited from a map, though. And, I mean, Dammerung is pretty excellent, so that covers over quite a lot of flaws. Song of the Current was delightfully nautical and had a good story and good vibes, though there were a few things that made it less than perfect.

Watching!

• Most of what I've been watching this month is Critical Role, trying to cram in as much as I can in the time I have. I just finished Episode 18, and I'm facepalming a little (ok, a lot) at some of what goes on, but it's still fun. Caleb continues to be my favorite of the M9, though I love pretty much all of them. Though this does have the downside of making me want to make and play so many new D&D characters . . . I mean, it's made me more open to certain classes and races now that I see how they work, which is great, and has given me ideas on how to play the characters I have better, but everything looks fun and I want to do it alllllllllll and I caaaaan't.
• (I mean, yes, I can make them as NPCs/GMPCs and slip them into my game when appropriate. But it's not the same as actually playing the characters in a campaign; I have too many other things in my head to get the full experience.)
• Anyway. Other than Critical Role, everything I've watched has been stuff with my family. A lot of it was movies I'd heard a lot about but hadn't seen yet — sometimes classics, sometimes not. Unfortunately, I was uniformly frustrated with most of those.
• For example: we watched Phantom of the Opera (2004 version) about midway through the month, and while I admit the music is pretty good, the storyline is just . . . why? I spent half the movie just (mentally and sometimes verbally) yelling at Christine and Raoul and everyone and the other half telling the Phantom off for being a creeptastic stalker. So, yeah, I'm basically this one post:

• Anyway. Also disappointing: at my request, we watched Goldfinger (because I've never actually watched any James Bond). I very quickly regretted that request, but, hey! I've now officially watched something James Bond and I never have to watch another one. Seriously, though. Bond just kind of seduces his way through the movie, and pretty much anything he accomplishes, he does through 90% luck or getting a woman to do it for him, and I am not impressed.
• The best of the well-known-but-I've-never-seen group of movies was My Fair Lady, which we watched for my sister's birthday. It was great, but I now want to write a retelling that fixes the stupid ending. Seriously. It was really good (if sometimes awkward) up until the last two scenes. I loved Eliza's character arc, and I loved the fact that she grew enough to tell Professor Higgins off in the end and was fully prepared to make her own way in the world. But then the filmmakers screwed that up by having her reappear in that final scene when she had no reason to come back. Higgins hadn't redeemed himself to her; he barely redeemed himself to the audience — and that only if you stretch things. He sort of recognizes that he may have been wrong; we see no indication that he plans to change. And that's the essential ingredient in the arc of any character of his type. It is, in a way, a sort of Beauty and the Beast retelling where the Beast never becomes not a beast. And I do not approve.
• Anyway. Outside of that, we rewatched Secondhand Lions, which I really liked when I was younger and apparently still enjoy. It's kind of weird — it does not, on the outset, seem like the kind of movie I would like (as it's a real-world-ish story that relies as often as not on awkward situations), but then you watch it and it's like "Why would anyone not enjoy this?" It's got humor. It's got heartwarming moments. It's got swordfights. It's almost 100% about a family figuring itself out. It's great.
• Probably the best movie of the month was Where Eagles Dare, which was actually cooler than I expected. I fully admit that I'm prejudiced against war movies — I associate them with being dark and depressing and having a lot of characters I can't tell apart because they're all white guys with either black or blond hair and no one says names often enough for me to figure anything out. And, yeah, for the first thirty minutes of this movie, I had no idea who anyone was. I actually still don't know the names of several characters who I think I was supposed to be able to identify. But it was still really good and really twisty, but in a good way, and it's spies and stealthiness and secret identities and guile heroes, all of which I appreciate.
• Oh, and we watched The Man Who Knew Too Much, which I did not enjoy at all. I actually almost walked out halfway through the movie (because I'd said I'd give it a try for half an hour and had already given it more than that), but ended up coming back because I hoped it would get better (and I felt guilty for leaving). It did not get better. As a result of this (and other movies I've watched), I have come to two conclusions:
  1. I like Hitchcock movies best when Hitchcock didn't actually make them. Which is to say: the best Hitchcock-style movie I've seen is Charade, which isn't actually his. I have a suspicion that this is because Hitchcock doesn't seem to have a sense of lightness or humor, and I don't care how serious or thrilling of a story you're telling; you need moments that are lighter. You need to occasionally let the tension lift or else you either exhaust your audience or your audience just stops feeling it.
  2. Jimmy Stewart often plays one of two types of characters: the sensitive, moral guy who's trying to do right and the angry guy who doesn't know how to let anyone else (especially women) talk. I don't mind the first. I hate the second with a passion. This is probably part of why I'm one of the three people in the world who don't think It's a Wonderful Life is the absolute berries/best Christmas movie ever/whatever.
  3. (I also determined that, if given the chose between watching a movie with Jimmy Stewart in it and watching a movie with Cary Grant in it, I'm more likely to enjoy the Cary Grant movie. So apparently those names mean something now, as opposed to three months ago when I routinely became frustrated with my dad for saying "We could watch this; it's a Cary Grant movie, or this, which has [insert other famous classic actor here] in it" and not giving any other information about the movies. Yay, character development?)

Life!

• July was much quieter than June, which was nice. I spent most of the month reading, editing, writing, watching stuff, playing D&D, and occasionally baking.
• McKays, our favorite used bookshop, reopened for business recently, so I got to go there. And then I proceeded to spend about twice as much as I planned. But it's fiiiiiiiine. I got good books. It's worth it.
• My sister had her birthday this month, as I sort of mentioned earlier, which was fun. We didn't really do a whole lot other than watching My Fair Lady, but we did have chocolate cake. It was very yummy.
• But yeah. That's about it.

August Plans

• IT'S THE MIDNIGHT SHOW RELEASE MONTH, WHOOOOOO!
• That's at the end of the month, so I'll be spending a lot of this month prepping for that. So that'll be finishing up last edits and formatting stuff and writing things for the blog tour. Which, reminder, if you want to sign up for it, you should do that now!
• Outside of that, I'm figuring out job things still. I may be closer to a partial answer on that, but we'll see. I did apply for the Tor Books internship because it's virtual this year and it would be SO COOL to get actual experience in the big-press publishing industry, so, yeah. I'm praying that comes through and that they don't say "Nah, you graduated already; we don't need you. Get a full-time job already."
• (Unless they decide they want to hire me for a full-time remote job, in which case YES PLEASE AND THANK YOU VERY MUCH.)
• (It's funny; I spent a lot of time in college feeling like the only one who didn't want to go into the publishing industry, but now I've remembered that the publishing industry needs marketing and production people and I REALLY want to get in on that. Just . . . let being excited about books and making things related to books be my actual job. Please.)
• But yeah. Other than that, it's business as usual. I kinda want to write a new book but I also know I should try to hurry and finish Blood in the Soil/Earth. It's a struggle.

How was your July? Any exciting plans for August? How do you feel about Hitchcock movies? Have you watched Critical Role (or another D&D podcast), and if so, do you have this problem of wanting to play ALL the classes and races and characters? What's your favorite D&D character concept that you haven't gotten to play yet? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)

Favorite Long Books

Hello, friends! For this week, I decided to borrow a topic from Top Ten Tuesdays and talk about my favorite long books. (I almost did a "Thoughts on Miraculous Ladybug" post, but I've only finished Season One, so I'm going to wait on that until I hit the end of the released episodes.) So, long books it is! As a qualification, I'm only featuring one book or series per author — so, if I want to mention all the books in a particular series as one unit, I'll do that, but I won't mention multiple single books by one author.

That said, I realized something while picking out books for this post: I my perception of what books are long or short is sometimes kinda weird. There were several books that I looked up thinking that they were super long . . . only to realize that they were a mere 300-odd pages. (For example: The Night Circus.) And then other books, I don't remember as being long at all, but they're definitely hefty enough that other people have called them intimidating. (For example: Before She Ascends.) It's weird. I'm weird. But we all knew that, right?

Favorite Long Books

1. All the Stormlight Archive books by Brandon Sanderson (1007, 1087, and 1248 pages). We all know I love these books. I actually get excited about how long they are because I think they're so awesome. Is anyone surprised by this? No. Honestly, Brandon Sanderson could release a book three times as long as one of these and I'd still devour it. His books are just that awesome — which is why they're so long, because anything shorter would explode.

2. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (1216 pages). I feel mildly guilty because I haven't managed to reread this yet, even though I meant to at the beginning of the year . . . The problem is, this is a long book with long chapters, and it's not at all suited to reading in bits and snippets between classes and before bed, which is when I do most of my school-year reading. So, yeah. I still love LOTR, even with how long it is, but just because I love long books doesn't mean they aren't still sometimes daunting even to me.

3. A Branch of Silver, A Branch of Gold by Anne Elisabeth Stengl (606 pages). Here's a book and author I haven't raved about in far too long! (Mostly because I also haven't read them in far too long.) Picking between this and Golden Daughter was tough — I love A Branch of Silver, A Branch of Gold; it's a wonderful take on one of my favorite fairy tales, and it features some delightful creepiness in certain parts. However, Golden Daughter is one of my favorite of Stengl's books. That said, Golden Daughter doesn't feel long. A Branch of Silver does, though not in a bad way. So, A Branch of Silver takes the top spot on this list!

4. All the Illuminae Files books by Amie Kaufman (602, 659, and 615 pages). These fall in the category of "Long books that don't feel long," mostly because of their unusual format. They're written as a compilation of bite-sized transcripts, chat logs, emails, files, and occasional word-art-y AIDAN internal logs. Multiple times, I was surprised by how much of these books I'd read at once (especially late at night . . . oops). I mean, you know they're long when you're reading them because so much happens . . . but it's a very different experience from reading lengthy chapters one after another.

5. The Warden and the Wolf King by Andrew Peterson (519 pages). Here's another book that I don't talk about enough and need to reread (especially because of some info that I found out a few weeks ago and still periodically get excited over). I think Warden feels a little longer than it actually is simply because of the depth of the emotion in it. That's not to say that it doesn't have exciting parts, but it isn't an Illuminae book that you can devour fifty or a hundred pages of in a relatively short time. Warden requires more time and processing, much like Lord of the Rings does — though it's certainly worth that extra effort.

6. Plenilune by Jennifer Freitag (668 pages). Ah, Plenilune. This is a magnificent book, full of intrigue, excitement, drama, action, heroics, emotion, mystery, and marvels. It's also a pretty long book full of names and places, only a quarter of which I actually remembered or could connect to the people they belonged to. Honestly, I think the volume of names I needed to remember was 90% of what makes this book seem as long as it is. The other 10% is that it is actually a long book that involves a great many things happening in a very richly described world. So, yeah. Excellent read, but when I reread it, I may have to take notes on who's who and where's what.

7. Winter by Marissa Meyer (827 pages). We'll end with a book that, like the Illuminae Files, doesn't actually feel as long as it is. This is probably because it features near-constant action of some kind and doesn't involve a great deal of emotional downtime (that I remember) or three thousand names to keep track of. (That's not to say that emotional downtime or large character counts are bad things, just that they make books feel their length.) I know a lot of people weren't crazy about Winter but I honestly enjoyed it — and not just because I love the titular character and her stoicly snarky guard-love-interest. The book as a whole is fun and exciting and, I think, a good conclusion to the series.

So, there you have it: my favorite long reads. What about you? Do you enjoy long books? If so, what are your favorites? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade) 

Self-Published Favorites

Hey'a, all! As you may or may not know, Indie e-Con is coming up fast— the scavenger hunt and Facebook party are tomorrow, and then the con proper begins the Monday after! For those who aren't aware, Indie e-Con is basically an online convention of indie and self-published authors and readers. Authors post about their experiences and advice, and there are contests, critique opportunities, free stuff . . . it's awesome. And because of Indie e-Con (and a helpful comment from my sister), I decided that this would be a good time to spotlight some of my favorite self- and indie-published books.

Self-Published Favorites

1. Samara's Peril by Jaye L. Knight. Ask most fans in the Christian-self-publishing circle about their favorite books and the Ilyon Chronicles will probably pop up somewhere on the list. I'm not quite as obsessed as some of them are, but, y'all, Samara's Peril is good. The character development is great (and pushed us past one of the things that kept me from loving other books in the series quite as much as I might have), the conflicts span the scale from small to epic, we learn stuff about a certain character's history that made me so happy . . . Plus, Samara's Peril contains, in my opinion, the best-handled Christ figure in Christian fantasy since Aslan and Narnia, along with one of the best extended battle sequences I've read outside of a Sanderson novel. Basically, it hits all the right buttons for me to count this my favorite self-published book I've ever read.

2. Lady Dragon, Tela Du by Kendra E. Ardnek. Y'all knew this one was coming; I've certainly talked about it enough. There's no Second Book Syndrome here, just a straight-up awesome plot, a pair of main characters who I love both as a couple and in their own rights (snarky practicality+dependable dreamer+childhood best friend romance= happy Sarah), an excellent villain with an equally excellent arc, and an emphasis on family. Oh, and a complete lack of unrealistic warrior prodigies, which is just icing on the cake. (As a bonus: Kendra's upcoming book, Worth of King, is just as good, or very nearly so, even though it has a very different feel. It comes out in August and I can't wait.)

3. Plenilune by Jennifer Freitag. This is a heavy book, both physically and emotionally. However, the weight doesn't make it less awesome. The writing style is the type of beautiful you usually don't find in modern books, a type of beautiful that can only come from an author who's willing to take her time with a story (and expects her readers to do the same). Yet despite a relatively slow pace (think The Lord of the Rings for comparison), the story never sags or grows dull but holds your interest all the way through. Granted, names and battles are sometimes confusing and overwhelming, and I got lost once or twice— the main reason this isn't second or even first on my list. But for the patient reader, this is a delight. Also, it has a Dammerung. Dammerung is awesome. I don't even know how to describe him without giving away too much, so I won't try, but yeah. He's one of the best parts of the book. Read it and you'll get what I mean.

4. Golden Daughter by Anne Elisabeth Stengl. I'm not sure if this quite counts as self-published? I mean, yes, Anne Elisabeth published it herself, but she also created her own small publishing house that publishes other people's books, so . . . yeah. That's the only reason why this isn't at the top of the list, because in terms of how much I love this book, well, let's put it this way: Tales of Goldstone Wood is one of my favorite series in the world. It's on par with The Lord of the Rings and most of Brandon Sanderson's work— honestly, it probably ranks slightly higher than a lot of Sanderson novels. And Golden Daughter is one of my two favorites in Goldstone Wood. It's just so unique, from the plot (twisty and unpredictable) to the setting (magical and magnificent and based on ancient Asia!) to the characters (Sairu is a contradictory delight). It balances humor with heartbreak, pain with promise. It answers questions and asks new ones. It's everything I love about Goldstone Wood wrapped up in one book.

5. The Beast of Talesend by Kyle Robert Schultz. And now for something completely different . . . The Beast of Talesend is a short, steampunky spin on one of my favorite fairy tales featuring a detective main character who makes his living debunking magic . . . at least until he's magically transformed into a monster. (Not a spoiler; it says so in the blurb.) It's not an epic tale by any means, but it still grabs your attention and doesn't let go 'til the end. It also has a healthy dose of humor, especially in terms of character banter, and a pair of awesome brothers whose relationship is one of my favorite bits of the book.

6. An Earthly King by Hazel West. Clean, solid urban fantasy is hard to find (I should know; I've looked), which is one of the many reasons why I love An Earthly King. The fact that the fantasy bit is primarily based on Celtic/Irish mythology just makes it even better, and it has a really nice blend of the urban and fantasy elements (as opposed to the first book, which felt more heavily fantasy). Plus, we've got fun brotherly relationships (both between actual brothers and between friends-so-close-they're-almost-brothers) and an actual mystery what is this.

7. Magician's Trial by H.L. Burke. I officially need to learn to reserve judgment on any self-published trilogy or series until after I read the second book because something along the lines of the following consistently happens:

Friends: SARAH THIS BOOK AND SERIES ARE GOOD YOU SHOULD READ THEM!
Me: Ok! *reads book one* Oh. That was pretty good. Not amazing, but not bad either. 
Friends: THEY'RE SO GOOD.
Me: Uh-huh. *procrastinates on book two*
Me: *finally reads book two*
Me: What the pumpernickel, that was SO GOOD.
Friends: WE TOLD YOU SO.

And, yes, I may be referring particularly to one specific friend who does this a lot, but, yeah. Basically, that's what happened with the Spellsmith and Carver series. The first and third books are good, but the second is the absolute best. Steampunk mystery is right up my alley (especially when it's an actual mystery), and this involves a magnificent blend of science (specifically engineering) and magic that I really enjoyed.

8. The Sky Riders by Christopher Hopper. We can't have a favorite-self-published-books post without a mention of one of the books and authors that first drew my attention to self-publishing in the first place and gave me one of my first experiences with steampunk. I gave this book five stars the first time I read it— looking back, I'm not sure I would do the same now. (I was a proofie on it, so there might be some sentimental attachment going on.) However, it's still a good book with an exciting plot and a fascinating world. My only real caution is that it ends on a cliffhanger and the second book is, well, nowhere in sight. Ah well.
 
What are your favorite self-published books? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)