Hard to believe it’s already almost September. We’re just a week and a day away from Labor Day! I’ve got a couple of epic fantasy books that were recommended to me by someone who’s been reading my Necrolopolis stories and thinks they would make for good “comparables” in the querying letter sense. Whether a query letter for Shield of Souls gets written or not, it’ll make for good marketing research and hopefully help readers looking for character driven stories set in a gothic fantasy world and surrounded by institutional magic. We’ll see!
Now, enough of my own aspirations. This post is about Indie Publishers, specifically an American Spectator article written by Lou Aguilar highlighting several that are cutting against the traditional publishing grain, at least as it presently exists in 2026. The industry is forever in flux, and the bigger publishers are not immune to sea changes. Sometimes they lead the charge. Sometimes they’re left to play catch-up.
Titled “Independent Publishers Are Saving the Books Big Publishing Won’t Touch”, Lou mentions five publishers by name, and Three Ravens is one of the five! We are dedicated to releasing entertaining fiction in the fantasy, sci-fi, horror, noir mystery, and wild west (including weird west) genres. Our readers want compelling characters in intriguing settings, and they don’t leave disappointed!
And if you’ve got younger readers in mind, we even have something for them, too! Specifically…
Special Ed Audiobooks are Live!
The voice pounded a question into Special Ed’s sleeping head: “What is the world’s deadliest snake?”
Meanwhile, in far-away Singapore, three of the city’s beloved otters had been devoured by a gigantic, three-headed serpent. Two of them were bitten by poisonous fangs, and the third was squeezed by powerful coils … before disappearing into the serpent’s mouth.
Special Ed no longer felt sleepy. He muttered, “I may be special. But I know I’m specially scared of snakes. I don’t like ‘em.
Like ‘em or not, Special Ed was about to learn that the world’s deadliest snake isn’t a cobra or a python — it’s Hydra-Serpent! He and his special pals, AmberII and WillowII, were about to take on their most dangerous mission yet — kill the Hydra-Serpent before it kills and eats every animal on Earth.
And, as AmberII and WillowII reminded Ed, “Humans are animals.”
Hydra-Serpent didn’t stop at Singapore. It ate critters and people from Singapore to San Francisco, Maine to Maryland, Newfoundland to New Zealand. Where would it strike next? No one had a clue.
Will the three Specials save the animals (including the human animals) from this deadly creature? There’s only one way to find out — Listen on!
The room was buzzing. Journalists, reporters, camera operators and sound techs. Something big was coming. Something big, big and scary — mega-scary. Special Ed stood behind the podium … shaking.
A journalist roared, “WE NEED YOU TO SAVE US! CAN YOU DO IT?”
Special Ed wished his answer was, “Yes, of course I can.” He wished it wasn’t “No, I haven’t got a clue.” But that’s just what he was feeling. Clueless.
He took a deep breath. He said, “Something is racing toward Earth that will devour our planet. It’s coming from some far corner of outer space — and it’s much, much bigger than Earth. It’s so big, I call it Megatroid. And it’s hungry.”
The burning question in the room and in Special Ed’s heart: Can he and his special pals, AmberII and WillowII, save the planet from this giant — this hungry giant — that wants to … eat us alive?
To find out — the only way to find out … listen on!
