Tessera

Justin Lee Anderson

@justinleeanderson.com

Scottish fantasy author of Carpet Diem as well as The Eidyn Saga from @orbitbooks.bsky.social. The Damned King OUT NOW. He/Him. Rep by @canonizer.bsky.social Founder of bookmatch.co.uk

2206 Posts4461 Follower 3314 Folgt

Justin Lee Anderson @justinleeanderson.com · 4d ago

The Black Bane by L Lyons is just one of the great indie books available to reviewers on bookmatch.co.uk. Want to check out out our full library? Sign up for free today. #BookSky

Text reads: In a cursed corner of Avellion, a dark forest infected with the Black Bane spells death to all who enter — except one…

When an old priest arrives at Kailas Darkchar’s door with a bag of gold, she’s right to be suspicious. His ancient sect is rumoured to practise dark magic.

The priest claims Kailas has the power to enter the forest and retrieve the bones of his god. But not even the money she so desperately needs is enough to convince her. A member of a despised race, she’s lived her life in the shadows, believing her unique immunity to magic is useless in a world that embraces it.

Forced to flee for her life, she meets a powerful stranger with eyes of gold who promises to protect her. But can he be trusted, or is he part of a darker scheme?

Hunted by an army of holy warriors intent on fulfilling their ancient prophecy, Kailas is the only one who can stop the world from being plunged into darkness — and that may cost her soul…

Text reads: Genre:
Epic Fantasy
High Fantasy
Sword & Sorcery

Age: Adult

Length: 334 pages

Justin Lee Anderson @justinleeanderson.com · 6d ago

This really made me smile at a time when I’m otherwise pretty much run into the ground, so please go watch it! :)

Jimmy Baps - reviews books!@jimmybaps.bsky.social · 6d ago

I’ve banged on about this book enough IRL. Time to take it online! New video: having a good auld chat about The Lost War. @justinleeanderson.com youtu.be/hehWB_EuSxI?...

Justin Lee Anderson @justinleeanderson.com · 7d ago

If you’re not already watching Dark Matter, it is worth it just to get to S2E5, Love and Be Loved, one of the most beautiful hours of television I’ve ever seen. Breathtaking. I swear to God, I actually did let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding at the end.

imdb.com

Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 2w ago

my brilliant colleague @robertshrimsley.bsky.social on the threat from Elon Musk’s X platform www.ft.com/content/f270...

Justin Lee Anderson @justinleeanderson.com · 2w ago

Blood of Tomorrow by Robert W. Riley is just one of the great indie books available to reviewers on bookmatch.co.uk. Want to check out out our full library? Sign up for free today. #BookSky

Text reads: For centuries, the Kingdom of Alcia was a bastion of peace and songs. It took a single night for the songs to stop.

The King has vanished. In his wake, the Grey Army pours into the kingdom—a force that does not shout, does not pillage, and leaves no dead. They are not here to conquer. They are here to harvest the Tithe: a collection of human life to fuel a magic the world has forgotten.

While the High Marshal fights a hopeless war against an enemy led by a man that cannot exist, Cedrik Theramond must navigate a kingdom that has rendered him obsolete. His mission: rescue the Queen from the border city of Tarsis.

But Brighid is not the leader the kingdom expects. Hunted by officers and unimaginable horrors who wield the Gift as a weapon, she and Cedrik are guided by a scholar who knows the terrifying history of the First Cycle. The Queen must transform from a symbol of peace into a commander of war.

As the violet Spires rise and the ancient "Song of Stones" begins to fade, the survivors of Alcia discover a horrific truth: The First Cycle didn't end because the magic vanished. It ended because the price became too high.

Now, a new debt must be paid with the blood of the innocent.

Text reads:Genre:
Epic Fantasy
Grimdark
Military Fantasy
Mystery
Myths & Legends

Age: Adult

Length: 267 pages

Justin Lee Anderson @justinleeanderson.com · 3w ago

Red Sands by @cw-snyder.com is just one of the great indie books available to reviewers on bookmatch.co.uk. Want to check out out our full library? Sign up for free today. #BookSky

Text reads: When a U.S. Army squad massacres an Afghan village on bad intelligence, PFC Franklin Sims comes home plagued with guilt and a classified NDA. Then his squadmates start dying—violently, impossibly—and the thing doing the killing wears the face of his best friend. Now Sims has a reanimated corpse for an ally, an unstable police detective, and his Hoodoo-practicing mother as his only backup. There’s one question he can't outrun—when your crimes created the monster hunting you, do you deserve to survive?

Text reads: Genre:
Contemporary
Ghost
Paranormal
Thriller

Age: Adult

Length: 207 pages

Justin Lee Anderson @justinleeanderson.com · 3w ago

The Iron Crown by @llmacrae.bsky.social is just one of the great indie books available to reviewers on bookmatch.co.uk. Want to check out out our full library? Sign up for free today. #BookSky

Text reads: Fenn’s first and only memory is finding himself in the middle of a forest, face to face with a dragon spirit mocking him, all knowledge gone apart from his own name.

Lost and confused, his only hope for answers is Calidra—a woman living on the edge of the world with her partner. Forced to return home when her father dies, Calidra has put off facing her estranged mother for seven years, and she begrudgingly helps Fenn, forging papers for him so he can avoid the Queen’s Inquisitors.

But her mother is the least of her worries when they discover an ancient enemy is rising again. It should be impossible with the Iron Crown in power—and Fenn is terrified he might unwittingly be playing a part in the war’s resurgence.

Surrounded by vengeful spirits and powerful magic, Fenn’s desperate attempt to find his way home might well alter the fate of Tassar, and every power in it.

Text reads: Genre:
Epic Fantasy
High Fantasy

Age: Adult

Length: 550 pages

Jimmy Baps - reviews books!@jimmybaps.bsky.social · 3w ago

New video, anyone for painting and a chat? youtu.be/pTfCX0SHVmM @nicholaseames.bsky.social @justinleeanderson.com @richardswanauthor.bsky.social

DIY, Rustin Cohle, and my favourite fantasy characters

YouTube video by Jimmy Baps

youtu.be

Stephanie Ellis @stephellis.bsky.social · 4w ago

I certainly would love to get more eyes on this collection!

Justin Lee Anderson@justinleeanderson.com · 4w ago

Devil Kin by @stephellis.bsky.social is just one of the great indie books available to reviewers on bookmatch.co.uk. Want to check out out our full library? Sign up for free today. #BookSky

Justin Lee Anderson @justinleeanderson.com · 4w ago

Devil Kin by @stephellis.bsky.social is just one of the great indie books available to reviewers on bookmatch.co.uk. Want to check out out our full library? Sign up for free today. #BookSky

Text reads: Darkness comes in different forms: in the mischief of the supernatural, in the evil of demonic spirits, or in the greed and selfishness of humans themselves. Regardless of where it comes from, its proponents are all 'devil kin'. From gothic to post-apocalyptic to vampiric folk horror, the kin are waiting in this collection of short stories.

Including 3 stories featured in Ellen Datlow's 2023 Best of Horror recommendations

Text reads: Genre:
Apocalyptic
Body Horror
Fantasy
Gothic
Mystery
Occult
Quiet
Sci-Fi

Age: Adult

Length: 303 pages

Tom Phillips @tom-phillips.com · 4w ago

almost word for word

Screenshot of tweet from @InternetHippo:

New right wing thing is describing crimes as generically as possible to pretend like they're not crimes. Someone gets convicted of conspiracy and they start yelling "Wow so it's illegal to make plans with friends now"

Alexander Brown@alexofbrown.bsky.social · 4w ago

Robert Jenrick tells Times Radio Nigel Farage wasn't part of the donations scandal as he just had lunch. He said: "You can't criticise a leader for saying thank you over lunch to someone. I know a lot of slings and arrows are thrown at Nigel Farage, but being polite is not a crime these days"

Justin Lee Anderson @justinleeanderson.com · 4w ago

I’m now getting AI spam for books I didn’t even write.

A ridiculous AI spam email that seems to think I wrote a non-fiction book about narwhals called “The Arctic Unicorn”. I did not. I don’t even know if it’s a real book.

Justin Lee Anderson @justinleeanderson.com · last mo.

Featuring me! 😎

British Fantasy Society@britfantasysoc.bsky.social · last mo.

The BFS is excited to announce our next in-person Aberdeen event, Scottish Fantasy. Wednesday 9th September 2026, 5.30pm. Waterstones, Albion Street, 33 Bon Acord Centre, Aberdeen. Ticket: tinyurl.com/scotab @shonak.bsky.social @justinleeanderson.com #WritingCommunity #BookSky #ScottishFantasy

Pictures of authors Shona Kinsella (a woman with dark long hair and smiling in black and white), Justin Lee Anderson (a long haired man in a red jacket standing against a brick wall) and Chiara Bullen (a long haired woman sat on a chequered floor) alongside their books: Daughters of Nicnevin (Shona Kinsella), The Damned King (Justin Lee Anderson) and The Inn at the foot of Mount Vengeance (Chiara Bullen) with text along the top reading: The British Fantasy Society and Waterstones Aberdeen presents… and text at the bottom reading Scottish Fantasy Panel In Store, Wednesday 9th September 2026, 5.30pm

Justin Lee Anderson @justinleeanderson.com · last mo.

Genuine Thread. Jesus Christ.

Screenshot from Threads that reads: Anyone interested in this?

I run a fantasy book club with 9 members and 100k+ combined TikTok followers. We’re opening a few spots for new releases and lesser-known fantasy books to move to the top of our TBR.

We do 4 weekly 1-hour LIVEs, and every member posts weekly about the book—good, bad, or indifferent. In week 4, we interview the author.

Cost: $1,000. $800 goes directly to boosting the LIVEs and member posts.

Justin Lee Anderson @justinleeanderson.com · 2mo ago

A little update: I’m still writing - slowly, but surely - The Bastard Throne. Health is still a problem. I was recently rediagnosed with fibromyalgia instead of the other autoimmune disease that was suspected (which I might also have but it’s not showing up on tests yet).

Justin Lee Anderson @justinleeanderson.com · 2mo ago

It's Out There by @mylesrobertsscifi.bsky.social is just one of the great indie books available to reviewers on bookmatch.co.uk. Want to check out out our full library? Sign up for free today. #BookSky

Text reads: It’s a thousand or so years in the future. The Galactic Human Empire collapsed into myth and ignominy centuries ago. Life is good, but Turchin Shelton is bored. He longs to travel, to see the stars, and now he has finally been made redundant, the only thing keeping him on his home planet of Linto is the gravity.
So, when an abandoned spaceship mysteriously floats into his home starsystem, it seems like it might offer a low budget way to explore the cosmos.
This is the tale of Turchin’s comic adventure across the galaxy, in a ship that cannot remember what its original mission was but is sure that it was something important.
And, in the absence of a definitive history of the Galactic Human Empire, it might also be the most authoritative work on that topic to date.

Text reads: Genre:
Space Opera
Comedy
Cosy
Space Exploration

Age: Adult / New Adult / Young Adult

Length: 224 pages

Shona Kinsella @shonak.bsky.social · 2mo ago

And just two weeks later I’m in Aberdeen Waterstones with @justinleeanderson.com and Chiara Bullen www.waterstones.com/events/scott... @britfantasysoc.bsky.social

Scottish Fantasy Panel | Events at Waterstones Bookshops | Waterstones

Events at Waterstones get you closer to the books and authors you admire most. Find information and tickets about Scottish Fantasy Panel today.

waterstones.com

Justin Lee Anderson @justinleeanderson.com · 2mo ago

CTRL-Z by @iain-benson-author.bsky.social is just one of the great indie books available to reviewers on bookmatch.co.uk. Want to check out out our full library? Sign up for free today. #BookSky

Text reads: Welcome to the apocalypse. On repeat.

On any given day, millions of people are in London. Now they’ve gone. But they’re still hungry, and these dead don’t walk… they run.

At moonrise, London reboots: sirens, smoke, sprinting dead. Parkour-hardened survivor Zane survives by motion, flying from roof to roof, balcony to bus. He wakes every day beside his former friend, forcing a last-second swan dive off Tower Bridge for breakfast.

Death isn’t an exit; it’s a restart.

Zane hunts for the cause, a way out, five lifetimes of searching. His only clue, a flash across the financial district. Until one day, a bedsheet hanging from the Tower of London sends him to the Sky Garden to meet Nina. He measures days in rooftops and near-misses; she measures them in the things time refuses to delete. Together, they face a crumbling London, unravelling time, and intersecting only once every five days.

With Nina at his side, Zane will stop running and start fighting back, Even if it risks time itself.

CTRL-Z is a breathless and gory daily apocalypse with gallows humour and zombies.

Text reads: Genre:
Apocalyptic Sci-Fi
Zombie
Dystopian
Thriller
Time Travel

Age: Adult
Length: 267 pages

Dawny B @dawnbritten.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Justin Lee Anderson @justinleeanderson.com · 2mo ago

The Gifts of Pandora by Matt Larkin is just one of the great indie books available to reviewers on bookmatch.co.uk. Want to check out out our full library? Sign up for free today. #BookSky

Text reads: Once opened, the Box can never be shut …
In a single moment, Pandora lost the only person she cared for. For refusing to aid a tyrannical order, Zeus bound Prometheus in eternal torment. But Pandora’s beloved left her a gift: a puzzle box, that when solved, allows her to jaunt through time. So begins her relentless pursuit to save Prometheus.

Across the Ages, Pandora strives against the corrupt world of the Olympians. To succeed, she must confront gods, monsters, and the fearsome Nemesis. Yet her greatest foe may not prove Zeus and his order, but Fate itself, for time resists changes, and its weave is more complex than Pandora can imagine.

In the darkest moments, the greatest gift is a hope that refuses to burn out.

Text reads:
Genre:
Epic Fantasy
Myths and Legends
Grimdark

Age: Adult

Length: 380 pages

Justin Lee Anderson @justinleeanderson.com · 2mo ago

The Prisoner of Zaragoza by Daniel Ribot is just one of the great indie books available to reviewers on bookmatch.co.uk. Want to check out out our full library? Sign up for free today. #BookSky

Text reads: It’s 1589 and King Philip II of Spain is having a terrible year – and that’s on top of last year, when his Armada failed catastrophically to conquer England. Now the English are returning the favour by sending their own Armada to Spain. Not only that but Aragon is in full revolt, Barbary pirates are pillaging the Mediterranean coast and his ex-secretary, Antonio Pérez, whom he once counted as a friend, is threatening to reveal letters that implicate him in a murder. Poor old Philip!

But this is not Philip’s story. This is the tale of Albert Bast, a Jewish English sailor and Beatriz March i Saeza, a Valencian servant girl who are caught up in it all. Both are sent by the Bey of Tunis’s seventh wife into a perilous and unstable Spain to retrieve Pérez’s letters. A land in revolt where foreign agents wield deadly magic and the Inquisition can read your mind.

The Prisoner of Zaragoza is a historical fantasy romance set in a world of clashing civilisations, war, intrigue, spies and betrayal.

Text reads: Genre:
Historical Fantasy
Comedy
Gaslamp
Flintlock
Fantasy Horror

Age: Adult

Length: 300 pages

Justin Lee Anderson @justinleeanderson.com · 2mo ago

Judgement by @rikohare.com is just one of the great indie books available to reviewers on bookmatch.co.uk. Want to check out out our full library? Sign up for free today. #BookSky

Text reads: Humanity survives aboard ELLE4, a vast orbital habitat carrying two hundred thousand souls and half a billion frozen embryos – the last hope of a species on the brink.

Chief Engineer Martal Strand has spent his life wrestling with fragile systems, buried guilt, and the impossible expectations of his father, ELLE4’s Chief Administrator. But when he agrees to help a trusted friend, Martal uncovers a conspiracy that could doom not just the habitat, but humanity’s future itself.

A secret cult.
Sabotage buried in plain sight.
A father whose devotion hides a terrible secret.

Betrayed, hunted, and desperate to protect his family, Martal must risk everything to stop a reckoning that will decide whether humanity endures – or ends.

Vast in scope and charged with human emotion, Judgement is a gripping tale of conspiracy, survival, and the fragile hope that binds us together when the end is near.

Text reads: Genre:
Dystopian
Post-Apocalyptic
Space Opera

Age: Adult

Length: 304 pages

Jon Karoll @jonkaroll.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Yo @justinleeanderson.com your books are with good company. And congrats how your books have made it all the way here to Asia.🤘🔥

Justin Lee Anderson @justinleeanderson.com · 2mo ago

The Sane Vessel by Creed Parker is just one of the great indie books available to reviewers on bookmatch.co.uk. Want to check out out our full library? Sign up for free today. #BookSky

Text reads:In a nation ruled by mercenaries, power comes at the price of your sanity or humanity, or both.

Kalnen is a nation forged in blood, mercenary rule maintained through Vessels; an unstable elemental magic forced into innocent bodies.

Orun and Zarna are the only Vessels not in chains. Capable of immense destruction at the cost of their sanity. They have gained their freedom, but now must choose their path in a land that would rather use them as living bombs.

Zarna wants to see the world burn. Orun just wants to go home.

The long-lasting peace between the mercenary houses is rotting, their oaths strained, they will soon use Vessels to scorch their lands and lay waste to one another. Orun and Zarna travel to the northern Greatlands, each with a part to play in the coming civil war.

Will they fight for peace, or to ensure fire, lightning, and blood are spilled?

Text reads: Genre:
Epic Fantasy
High Fantasy
Sword & Sorcery

Age: Adult / New Adult

Length: 334 pages

Justin Lee Anderson @justinleeanderson.com · 2mo ago

Crossings by @ashcapes.bsky.social is just one of the great indie books available to reviewers on bookmatch.co.uk. Want to check out out our full library? Sign up for free today. #BookSky

Text reads: She thinks she's tracking a beast…but is the beast hunting her?

Wildlife ranger Lisa Thomas is no stranger to violence. When an abusive ex comes rolling into town and animal entrails not-so-mysteriously land on her doorstep, she knows full well who the culprit is. But as strange killings and stranger wildlife sightings plague her little Australian town, Lisa herself becomes one of the suspects.

Desperate to clear her name and be rid of her ex, Lisa follows the trail of a giant white kangaroo spotted before several of the deaths. Except the further she tracks it, the less natural the beast appears—and the more sinister both the woods and her ex become. Can Lisa solve the mystery and save herself before she becomes prey, or will she learn that deep in the eucalyptus forests, no one can hear you scream?

Crossings is a thrilling, spooky supernatural suspense novel. If you can't get enough of scrappy underdogs, chilling mysteries, and creepy cryptids, lose yourself in Crossings!

Text reads:

Genre:
Creature Feature
Mystery
Paranormal

Age: Adult

Length: 177 pages

Justin Lee Anderson @justinleeanderson.com · 2mo ago

👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻 Uefa to boycott World Cup if Fifa plans approved www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...

Fifa World Cup: Uefa to boycott tournament if Gianni Infantino's investment plans go through

Uefa's 55 member associations vote to boycott the World Cup if Fifa proceeds with its plan to sell stakes in its competitions.

bbc.co.uk

Justin Lee Anderson @justinleeanderson.com · 2mo ago

#Aberdeen folk! I'm coming to visit in September. Come see me, @shonak.bsky.social and @chiarab.bsky.social chatting about #Scottish #fantasy in Waterstones. www.waterstones.com/events/scott...

Pictures of Shona Kinsella, the cover of Daughters of Nicnevin, Justin Lee Anderson, the cover of The Damned King, Chiara Bullen and the cover of The Inn at the Foot of Mount Vengeance. Text reads: The British Fantasy Society and Waterstones Aberdeen Presents: Scottish Fantasy Panel, in store, Wednesday 9th September 2026, 5:30pm.

Justin Lee Anderson @justinleeanderson.com · 2mo ago

Lost Amongst the Stars by GJ Stevens is just one of the great indie books available to reviewers on bookmatch.co.uk. Want to check out out our full library? Sign up for free today. #BookSky

Text reads: On an unrecognisable world far from their home, the crew of interstellar freighter, the Mary May, find themselves stranded and alone.

Travis had always been a confident man, but everything changed when, stripped of his memories, he found himself naked and surrounded in a time long gone. When a chance encounter gave him hope that he might not be the only one in the same tragic predicament, he took control.

After seeking out the first of his crew and falling in love all over again with the battered space hulk they called home, they soon found the simple answer to their burning question wasn’t the right one. With the truth, all optimism fell away when the realisation hit that they only had a few hours to find their remaining friends before they’re all damned to live out the rest of their lives as strangers in a foreign world.

With their fate already on a knife edge before the local military added to their woes, can Travis overcome his fears and the obstacles pressed against him by the strange world to bring the crew together before they’re lost forever, or worse?

Text reads: Genre:
Multiverse
Comedy
Mystery

Age: Adult

Length: 234 pages

Dr Stew Hotston (he/him)@stewarthotston.com · 2mo ago

A review of the funny and brilliantly put together Perilous Times that asks us what we'd do if King Arthur came back and was, essentially Nigel Farage in a surcoat and mail. #booksky #reviews #fantasy #SFF

Review: Perilous Times

Thomas D Lee's Perilous Times asks what if the knights of the round table actually came back when the island was in peril and what if, because Merlin was loose with his bargaining, the definition of peril has a pretty low threshold? What if the people in power kinda knew they could rely on these ancient knights who could die and die again were on call?

stewarthotston.com

Justin Lee Anderson @justinleeanderson.com · 2mo ago

Reborn in Ash by @eldris.thellian.com is just one of the great indie books available to reviewers on bookmatch.co.uk. Want to check out out our full library? Sign up for free today. #BookSky

Text reads: Magic abandoned humanity millennia ago. Now it returns, bringing ruin to a wanted thief, and her chance for redemption.

When ash fell like snow, everyone it touched grew ill with fever. Most died. Ada Renwick didn’t. She endured the ash plague, food shortages, and brutal riots, turning to thievery to keep her jewellery business afloat. But when she draws earth magic from a stolen gem, she doesn’t only learn of magic’s return. She causes an accident with lethal consequences.

Running from her crime, Ada loses everything. Yet, using magic feels as natural as breathing. She’ll do anything to get another magic gem, even join a war she wants no part of. It’s not until Ada meets a woman who can wield fire magic that she realises some things are worth fighting for.

But fire burns anything that gets too close.

Text reads: Genre:
Epic Fantasy
High Fantasy

Age: Adult

Length: 427 pages