Another great year for the Indie Ink Awards! This past September 21 (Do you remember?) the winners were announced and get ready for your TBR to get even bigger, because these reads sound too good to pass on. Some of them even won various awards! You can also check the rest of the finalists if you’re looking for a specific type of representation.

About Indie Ink Awards:

Books by marginalized authors, self-published books, and books by small presses often get overlooked. The Indie Ink Awards is a unique event that brings together the writing community to celebrate books that have made an impact on us. This is our way of highlighting the future we want to see in books–by uplifting those that shine.

All awards are segmented into two categories: Best-In and the Writing The Future We Need awards. The “Best In” awards should exemplify the chosen category. We are looking for exceptional inclusion and diversity in works nominated for “Writing the Future We Need” awards.

Let’s start with the winners of the Best-In awards.


Cutting Your Teeth by Caylan MacRae

Cover of Cutting Your Teeth by Caylan MacRae. A person looking in a broken bathroom mirror to a shadowy creature trying to come out of it.

Award: Best audio narration

Book blurb

Ezra Santos is tired of running. Of burning bridge after bridge and going through new names like used matches. He desperately wants something he was never destined to have—a future all his own. Having escaped his hell of a home two years ago, he can’t go a day without looking over his shoulder. Putting down roots was never in the cards when the family that raised Ezra relentlessly hunts him across the country. Right as he’s about to restart the cycle—new name, new life, the whole nine yards—his plans come to a screeching halt when he crosses paths with a mysterious and charismatic vampire, Killian Hale. He promises a way out from a life on the run. Ezra knows there’s no helping a man with the devil on his heels—but there’s something about Killian that makes him believe he could finally break free of the Espinas once and for all. It’s only a matter of time before the clock winds down and the rest of Ezra’s troubles come home to roost. There’s something sinister in his blood—a dark fate passed down through generations. Can the two survive an ancient family curse or will Ezra doom them both?


Inked by Rachel Rener

Cover of Inked by Rachel Renner. A woman with arms crossed wearing a black corset and boots, and purple mermaid leggings stans in front of a forest with twisted tree trunks. A colorful magical looking bird is on one side and a red-eyed cobra on the other.

Awards: Best book cover and cover artist, Best light read, Best use of tropes, Prettiest book interior, Side Character MVP

Book blurb

When Zayn, your smoking hot boss, tells you never to touch the cache of deluxe tattoo ink locked away in his office, you listen to him… until the day you run out of your own ink, your squirming client is on the verge of peeing his pants, and your boss is nowhere to be found. Desperate times call for desperate measures, right?

I fully expected Zayn to yell at me when he returned to the shop. What I didn’t expect was the fresh cobra tattoo on my client’s butt magically springing to life. Or the interdimensional filing cabinet hiding in the back of Zayn’s office. And, oh, did I mention that my gorgeous, magic-ink-hoarding boss is actually an incubus?

Now – through (mostly) no fault of my own – we have to venture into a strange and distant land where a never-ending list of lethal flora, fauna, and fae await us. When you add in my Jewish mother’s string of poorly-timed, hysterical phone calls, there is one thing I’m grateful for: there’s no cell service in the fae realm.


Orphan Planet by Rex Burke

Cover of Orphan Planet by Rex Burke. A Blue planet in space with the text bubble "Home sweet... Oops."

Award: Best friendship

Book blurb

Book 1 in the ‘Odyssey Earth’ series – a feelgood SciFi space adventure .

With Earth in crisis, humans are travelling deep into space. But humanity’s future just took a wrong turn.

A seventeen-year colony-ship voyage – a straight shot to a new planet. Handpicked, single-minded crew, and a thousand settlers in hypersleep. No children, no families, no fuss.

That was the plan, anyway.

Captain Juno Washington commands a ship of loners and oddballs. The teenagers of the Odyssey Earth didn’t ask to be born, and face an uncertain future. And Jordan Booth really didn’t want to be woken up early.

After an unexpected change of course, relationships are tested like never before. If they listen to advice, pull together and stop squabbling, they might just make it.

Yeah, right. Good luck with that.


The Thread That Binds by Cedar McCloud

Award: Best mentor character

Book blurb

The books are restless. At the Eternal Library, books are more than the paper, ink, and thread they’re made from–they’re full of spirits. Only a handful of people will ever be invited to the Bindery to learn the craft of etheric bookbinding: the creation of intricate illuminated manuscripts, Bound with a secret that will make them last forever.

Tabby is a dreamwalker, a witch who escapes into the stories of sleep to avoid a birth family that’s never loved em enough. Amane is a cartomancer, a medium who speaks for the Unseen, but doesn’t know how to speak for her own needs. Rhiannon is highly psychic, an archivist who can See into the past, but only has eyes on the future.

Their stories intertwine as they discover the secrets of etheric binding, the Library’s archives, and those of their mentors–the three of whom are competing to be the next Head Librarian, the Speaker for all the books. How do you know who’s truly worth being part of your family? Sometimes we must forge connections in order to heal; other times, those bonds must be broken.


Glimmer of the Other by Heather G. Harris

Cover of Glimmer of the Other by Heather Harris. A woman wearing all-black casual clothes holds a dagger on one hand a produces fire with the other; a black dog stands behind her. A purple background shows a castle far away and the full moon.

Award: Best Morally Gray Character

Book blurb

I can tell when you’re lying. Every. Single. Time.

I’m Jinx. As a private investigator, being a walking, talking lie detector is a useful skill – but let’s face it, it’s not normal. You’d think it would make my job way too easy, but even with my weird skills, I still haven’t been able to track down my parent’s killers.

When I’m hired to find a missing university student, I hope to find her propped up at a bar – yet my gut tells me there’s more to this case than a party girl gone wild. Firstly, she’s a bookish soul who’s as likely to go off the rails as Mother Theresa. Secondly, I’m not the only one on her trail; she’s also being tracked by the implacable and oh-so-sexy Inspector Stone.

Stone and I team up, and he shoves me into a realm where magic is real – a place where there are vampyrs and werewolves, dragons and trolls. And where my skills are more than just detecting lies…

Oh, and my dog? He’s a freaking hellhound who can manipulate the magical realms themselves.

I need to find the girl.

I need to discover who killed my parents.

And I need to find out more about the attractive but mysterious Zachary Stone…


A Circle of Stars by Craig Montgomery

Cover of A Circle of Stars by Craig Montgomery. Two young men standing close to each other fading out torwards the bottom; a sci-fi looking city with skyscrapers in a rough terrain.

Awards: Best Setting, Wittiest Character

Book blurb

Sometimes you have to leave home to find it… 

All Casper Bell has ever wanted is to belong. But now, abandoned by his friends and family after being outed, he has nothing left to lose when the people of Novilem abduct him.

Except Earth.

Teleported to a world where stars grant humans magic, Casper discovers he has the rare ability to draw power from all twelve astrological signs — a gift that makes him a political pawn for the Estellar Council. But Novilem’s inhabitants seem as hard and cold as the stone their city is carved from, and Casper’s new role leaves him more isolated than ever. Until he meets the grandson of the council’s most powerful woman. Helix is kind, playful, and heartbreakingly handsome, yet it’s how Helix makes him feel that gives Casper hope.

As rebellion brinks in the city, even the Council starts to fracture, reaching
for extreme measures that could cost Casper not only his newfound abilities, but the first place he has ever wanted to call home. Together with Helix, he must uncover the secrets of his full potential —  because the survival of Novilem hinges on Casper’s powers, whether he’s using them or not.

Set inside a hidden lunar city, where astrology is magic and your birth sign defines your social status, A Circle of Stars is a queer young adult fantasy filled with political intrigue and romance.


Sistah Samurai by Tatiana Obey

Cvoer of Sistah Samurai by Tatiana Obey

Award: This Book Made Me Hungry/Thirsty

Book blurb

Afro Samurai meets The Sword of Kaigen in this anime-inspired novella

This is no revenge story. I ain’t got time for that. I’ve got errands to run and things to do and barely enough time to make it home before sundown. I don’t care why folks are going around stealing ink. I don’t care why the monks are acting kinda strange. I don’t care that everybody is expecting me to save them. I might be a Sistah Samurai but those days playing hero were back when my knees didn’t ache, and I wasn’t the only one left. So leave me alone.

All I want to do is get home, drink some green tea lemonade, and enjoy my peace. I’m not asking for much, so why are all these demons daring to get in my way?

I am not the one. Not today.


Now with the Writing the Future We Need winners.

Petition by Delilah Waan

Cover of Petition by Delilah Waan

Award: Asian Representation by an Asian author

Book blurb

In the Dominion of Aleznuaweite, anyone can rise to the greatest heights—if they are willing to pay the price.

Failure is a luxury Rahelu can’t afford. Her family sold everything, left their ancestral home, and became destitute foreigners for the sake of her resonance skills. Now she can manipulate emotional echoes to discern truth from lies, conjure the past, and even foretell the future.

But an act of petty revenge by her rival destroys her chance at joining one of the great Houses. Desperate to prove her family’s sacrifices were not in vain, Rahelu calls upon the most dangerous magic of all—altering fortune.

A slight twist of fate is enough to restore her way forward…with deadly consequences she never bargained for. The Houses make a pawn of her in their bitter struggle for control of the Dominion. A shadowy cult grows ever closer to completing an ancient ritual.

And Rahelu discovers that fulfilling her oath to her family might come at the cost of her mother’s life.


The Dryad’s Crown by David Hopkins

Cover of The Dryad's Crown by David Hopkins

Award: Bisexual or Biromantic Representation

Book blurb

Four titans sleep beneath the earth.
Only one fae can keep them from waking.

Silbrey is an orphaned wood nymph, taken from her forest home and raised in the corrupt city of Penderyn. The fae child grows up unaware of who she is, what she can do, and the calling of her kind.

Under the control of a cruel guildmaster, Silbrey is trained as an assassin. As an adult, she escapes her violent past to start a new life and a family. But a tragic death brings her back to the familiar cobbled streets to seek revenge.

This dark path leads Silbrey to uncover an even darker An ancient evil will wake the titans and break the world. Silbrey must travel with her daughter across a war-torn land to defeat that evil.

What begins as a fairy tale transforms into a multi-generational epic fantasy about love and loss—and a woman with a strange connection to nature.

The Dryad’s Crown is an emotional, coming-of-age fantasy debut. The first volume in a gritty saga, set in the immersive world of Efre Ousel.


The Fall That Saved Us by Tamara Jerée

Cover of The Fall that Saved Us by Tamara Jerée

Award: Black Representation by a Black author

Book blurb

Cassiel has given up the family tradition of demon hunting, leaving behind her sacred angelic duty and fated sword. What she can’t leave behind are the scars. To cope, she spends her days immersed in work, pouring all her attention into New Haven Books, her small bookstore and anchor in the new world she’s carved for herself.

But the past hasn’t let go of Cassiel yet. When a succubus named Avitue arrives to claim her angel-touched soul, Cassiel’s old hunter instincts flare, forcing her to choose between old knowledge and her truth. What should be a fatal seduction becomes a bargain neither woman expects. As they grow closer, Avitue is surprised to find her own pain reflected in Cassiel, a nephilim deemed fallen by her own family’s standards.

By choosing trust, they reveal the lies that bind them. Falling for each other begins a path towards healing. But exorcising the effects of trauma is harder than naming it, and to explore the unfettered possibility Avitue represents, Cassiel must find a way to reclaim and redefine her angelic heritage.


Season One: Iris and the Crew Tear Through Space! by Cait Gordon

Cover of Season One: Iris and the Crew Tear Through Space! by Cait Gordon. A diverse crew stands on the ground while above them a spaceship flies through swirling stars.

Award: Disability Representation by a disabled author

Book blurb

In a galactic network known as the Keangal, where space is accessible…

Lieutenant Eileen Iris and the command crew of the S.S. SpoonZ haven’t a clue what it means to be disabled. An unexpected conversation with an intergalactic janitor brings up the question but offers no answers before he’s ‘ported away.

Unfazed, duties resume as Iris manages an overprotective guidebot; Security Chief Lartha and her sentient prostheses offer kick-ass protection; Mr. Herbert’s inventiveness is a godsend (although he’s not quite grasped how to flirt); Commander Davan’s affable personality comes through whether trumpeted, texted, or signed; and Captain Warq’s gracious but firm leadership keeps everyone at their best.

Until on one mission, where the crew tears through space.

Just a little bit.


Mistletoe and Mishigas by M.A. Wardell

A blond young man sits on a stool while a redhead one sitting on a dreidel holds his face with one hand, with a blackboard at their backs. Cover of Mistletoe and Mishigas by M.A. Wardell

Awards: Gay or Lesbian Representation, Neurodivergent Representation by a Neurodivergent author

Book blurb

Sheldon Soleskin should be having a horrible day. Even though he’s been unexpectedly transferred to a new school right before the holidays, has only one day to set up his new classroom, and just discovered his twin sister’s been hiding an invitation to his ex-boyfriend’s Christmas Eve wedding, he’s still ready to take on the world with a smile on his face and a skip in his step.

Theo Berenson just wants to be left alone to his custodial duties. But when the chipper new first-grade teacher needs help moving furniture the Sunday after Thanksgiving, he’s forced to do something he detests. Help. To make matters worse, Theo’s overbearing parents are coming for Hanukah in a few weeks, and he’s told them he has a boyfriend. Except he doesn’t. Because who would want to date an oaf like Theo?

Working together, these opposites discover they might be able to help each other out. Agreeing to be each other’s dates, they become friends as they practice for their upcoming events. But when all the rehearsing starts feeling a little too real, and both men’s pasts come roaring back to haunt them, will they be able to pull off the ultimate holiday masquerade?


The Name-Bearer by Natalia Hernandez

Cover of The Name Bearer by Natalia Hernández. A woman wears a flowered dress and a big red flower behind her ear; ribbons adorn the braids she wears on each side. Her eyes are closed while the wind blows from behind her, making leaves and petals fly around her

Award: Indigenous Representation by an Indigenous author

Book blurb

For her entire life, the Name-Bearer’s sole purpose has been to receive and deliver the names of the future monarchy from the Flowers of Prophecy. But when the child is finally born and the Name-Bearer is sent to the Flowers, they refuse to name him. Instead they deliver a prophecy; another child was born who is more worthy of the Naming, and if they are found and brought before them it will usher in a reign of peace.

Having failed in her duties the Name-Bearer is considered a traitor to the crown, and must hide among an elite sect of warrior women where she experiences friendship, found family, and love. Her training as a warrior helps prepare her to embark on her quest to find the Unnamed Prince, clear her name, and bring peace to her realm.

A story of magia, warrior women, found family and love – and not accepting who you are told to be, but embracing who you are destined to become.


How to Sell Your Blood & Fall in Love by D.N. Bryn

Cover of How to Sell Your Blood & Fall in Love by D.N. Bryn. A man with an undercut is sitting staring at a blond man with short wavy hair standing next to him. A graffitied brick wall is on their backs.

Award:  LGBTQ+ Representation

Book blurb

“You have money, I have blood. How would you like to buy it?”

No romantic story has ever lived up to Dr. Clementine Hughes’ reality but at least he has his steamy two-million-word fanfic and a prestigious research position at Vitalis-Barron Pharmaceuticals, where their benefits are superb and their experimentation on vampires highly unethical. When a mysterious accident turns Clementine into a vampire, discovery would demote him to lab rat and his growing thirst for his coworker’s veins forces him to the streets to hunt.

Justin Yu is usually the one attacking villains in alleys, not the other way around. After the tragedy he brought upon his local vampiric community in his youth, he’s struggled tirelessly to keep their vampires safe. So when a panicking Clementine botches a bite attempt, Justin takes pity—and advantage—and offers the vampire a trade: his blood in exchange for an exorbitant fee.

In desperation, Clementine accepts.

Justin’s blood is bland and unappealing, but the more Clementine learns to appreciate the man’s sharp humor and persistent compassion, the more he acquires a taste for Justin. Justin is determined not to let Clementine’s good looks and thoughtful intellect distract him as hunters from Vitalis-Barron close in on Justin’s neighborhood, and it turns out someone there knows Clementine’s vampiric secret…

Sell Your Blood is the second book in a series of loosely connected MM paranormal romances. It features an Ivy League a-spec vampire who’s never been in love before and an inner-city man who’s sworn off relationships for the last decade as they struggle to combine their different worlds and find a fire in each other hotter than they thought possible. While it can be enjoyed on its own, the optimal reading order is chronological. Note this story features blackmail, general violence, the smoking of prescription drugs to manage intense pain, and the acquisition of far too many salt and pepper shakers.


The Clover Initiative by Michelle Monárrez

A robotic arm holds a sprout on a very minimalist white background. Cover of Refurbished: The Clover Initiative by Michelle Monárrez

Award: Latinx/Latine Representation by a Latinx/Latine author

Book blurb

The end of the world came and went. Twenty years later humanity is crafting new and secretive ways to protect itself, but the atmosphere stays clear of threats . . . Eighteen-year-old academy graduate Alyssa is determined to start her military career as a GENE (Genetically Enhanced Entity) on her own terms. But after being transferred from her native London to America, she struggles to control her powers and find her place among a military unit of underdogs and other enhanced soldiers. When a rogue GENE is taken into custody, Alyssa’s empathy for him forces her to choose between her carefully mapped out life plan, or a path that would put her in direct conflict with her superiors. With the promise of superpowers and a green card on the table, thirteen-year-old Miguel signs a contract to become a GENE. Enduring the enhancement process is sure to be worth it with his refugee status at stake and dazzling dreams of becoming a superhero in the mix. But when he forms a psychic connection with a mysterious girl who could die without his help, he must decide what he’s willing to risk in order to save her. As Alyssa and Miguel embark on parallel journeys, their desire to choose their own individual paths transforms into a fierce battle for the rights of fellow enhanced people. The world might not be ready to find out about GENEs, but it had better brace itself. The protective barrier of secrecy will soon burst, and those called “Refurbished” will make themselves known.


The Reanimator’s Soul by Kara Jorgensen

Cover of The Reanimator's Soul by Kara Jorgensen. Two men's blue silhouette's walking away from each other on a dark gray background. A line connects them to a blue brain in the center over a white circle.

Award: Mental Health Representation

Book blurb

An autistic necromancer, his undead lover, and the case that could destroy everything.

When a necromancer turns up dead, Oliver and Felipe think it will be the perfect, straightforward case for their new partnership. That is, until it leads them to a clinic promising a cure for magic, but they aren’t the only ones investigating the Institute for the Betterment of the Soul. Oliver’s ex, Ansley, is in town, and he’s certain the clinic isn’t the paragon of righteousness it claims to be.

Forced to help Ansley infiltrate the institute, Oliver fears he is out of his depth in his work and in love as old wounds and bad habits resurface. But Oliver isn’t the only one struggling. Pulled between his cases, Oliver, and his daughter returning home for the summer, Felipe is drowning. Just when he thinks he finally has everything under control, a new reminder of his untimely demise threatens to throw his life into a tailspin once more.

Between festering wounds and secrets, Oliver and Felipe’s lives stand upon a knife’s edge. To face the evil lurking behind the clinic’s genteel smiles, they must stand together or face the destruction of the place they call home.


The Lion and the Dahlia by Gabriel Hargrave

Cover of The Lion and the Dahlia by Gabriel Hargrave. Two black silhouettes of people holding each other. A swirly planet on the background

Award: Trans or Nonbinary Representation

Book blurb

It’s been months since Earth supported a pro-Purity coup on Baldwin, and Laith Ritter is settling into his new home on Europa Station. He’s a hit at work, he’s building a life with his boyfriend and Dom, Dorian Vidales, and he’s found a family, one that he would do anything for. He’s even caught the eye of his handsome coworker, Omar. On the surface, it would seem Laith’s star is on the rise and still climbing.

But in reality, he’s struggling. And so is Dorian. He’s desperately trying to find his boyfriend, Kenny, and figure out how to help his coworkers who got arrested the night of the raid. And unlike Laith, Dorian’s not as big a hit as he used to be, which is hurting his already fragile ego. With their relationship already shaky, the last thing they need is to get swept up in more chaos. But some always manages to find them…

When a client is found murdered, it’s up to Laith to figure out who really killed him and why. But the list of suspects is long—and some of them are people he cares about. As he and Omar work together to clear an innocent man’s name, Laith uncovers secrets that he’d rather not know, ones that throw what he believed about some of the most important people in his life into question. Can he find the murderer before it’s too late? And can Dorian and Laith’s rocky romance survive the chaos?

The Lion and the Dahlia continues the epic kinky queer sci-fi romance series that began with The Orchid and the Lion and sends Dorian and Laith hurtling towards a fierce battle to reclaim the home they lost.


I’ve always said how much I love these awards and I can’t wait for their next edition. You too can sign up to be a judge. I’ll be sharing more information when the nomination phase begins.

Note: I didn’t include the winner for Writing the Future We Need: Asexual or Aromantic Representation as it’s a book with a noticeably AI-generated cover. I also omitted one other book for the same suspicions.


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