Birthed by blogs, SPFBO (pronounced “spiffbo” to those in the know) came about when Mark Lawrence wondered how many great undiscovered self-published fantasy novels were out there and ten heroic blogs took him up on the challenge to churn through the slush of nearly 300 novels and declare a single winner. There were a few tears, and maybe the loss of a limb or two, but eventually Michael McClung stood atop the tower of vanquished foes and even earned himself a traditional publishing deal, as did Jonathan French the second time around.

Now in its third year, a new crop of ravenous, steely-eyed self-published fantasy challengers step into the SPFBO ring for the amusement of fantasy fans everywhere. But instead of battle, this time 37 SPFBO authors have banded together to give away 170 copies in ten chances three times a week throughout July, culminating in a Grand Prize consisting of 31 books.

The entry fee is free: Just share our host Fantasy Books Critic’s Facebook https://www.facebook.com/fantasybookcritic/posts/10154542890831993 and you’re in. Winners will be chosen at random after two days and treated to 3-4 ebooks.

Please note that it says “SHARE,” not “like” or “comment.” Both are always welcome, but if you want a piece of those 170 books, you better play by the rules.

And to show we mean business, let’s kick it off with the opportunity for nine folks winning the following four books:

Jamie Edmundson: Toric’s Dagger

Official Author Website
Official Author Twitter & Facebook pages

Official Blurb: Toric's Dagger is just another religious relic, until it's stolen. Belwynn and her twin brother, Soren, volunteer to lead a team tasked with its retrieval. Drawn into a world of danger and treachery, they must rely on Soren's magical abilities, and on the telepathic bond they share.

Now, as kingdoms and empires start to fall, the twins confront the dark forces that threaten them. They must not let the Dagger fall into the wrong hands. But when mercenaries, zealots and sorcerers are all hunting for the same weapon, who should they trust?

Book One of The Weapon Takers Saga, an Epic Fantasy Series in the tradition of Tolkien, Tad Williams & G.R.R. Martin. The story is told from multiple points of view, and is perfect for readers who like their fantasy done on a grand scale.

Mike Rutledge: The Apotheosis Break

Official Author Website
Official Author Twitter, Instagram, Facebook pages

Official Blurb: The life of an airshipman is violent and short, but every sailor still breathing in the clouds has a tale of Anton Mikhailovich.

Vasili, his fourteen year old son, never knew the man. The swashbuckling captain died mysteriously when the boy was five, leaving only tall tales and long shadows. His father’s remembrance ever looming, Vasili wants to leave his tiny frontier village and become a skysailing legend of his own accord.

A charismatic traveler arrives on an airship, a bishop with robes as worn as his smile. He comes to convey a funerary Telling of Anton some nine years overdue. Late but still timely, the traveler hints that his vessel may be looking for a new deckhand. He could put in a good word for the son of Anton.

The twinkling lights of home disappear over the horizon and the boy begins his own adventure, starting his own tale as he learns the truth of his father’s.

But the world and its skies are nothing like Vasili’s books. The serendipitous airship is the famed Apotheosis Break, Anton’s old ship, filled with beguiling shard hunters now at the end of their rope. They have already lost good men looking for Vasili. They may still lose everything seeking the forgotten legacy of Captain Mikhailovich.

Vasili will learn that the memories you try to escape are the ones you will always carry with you. And if half of what his crew says is true, his father’s story was one of loss, betrayal, and madness. If Vasili is to survive in the skies he will have to be as clever as his father and twice as lucky. Otherwise a traveler will return home with a Telling of another Mikhailovich boy.

Howard Gurney: Twin

Official Author Website

Official Blurb: Jack and Tul are twins separated at birth by evil monks who seek to break down the Weave that separates hell from the world. One is raised in a monastery and the other in the southern wilderness of Ganya but their lives are again brutally changed when a prophecy is revealed that says the twins must find each other to save the world.

But in a land where the separation of good and evil is rapidly fragmenting, Tul and Jack find that no one is who they first seem to be – including each other! They struggle with the discovery that they can control the pattern of life so that impossible things become a reality. Is that chaotic power magic? And more importantly, is it evil?

Twin is a rich and gripping story of action and adventure, isolation and the strength of family, and the choice between good and evil. Maybe it’s not a fantasy after all …

MD Presley: The Woven Ring

Official Author Website
Official Author Facebook page

Official Blurb: A fantasy reimagining of the American Civil War, The Woven Ring pits muskets against magic, massive war machines against mind readers, and glass sabers against soldiers in psychic exoskeletons.

In exile since the civil war that tore the nation of Newfield apart, former spy and turncoat Marta Childress wants nothing more than to quietly live out her remaining days in the West. But then her manipulative brother arrives with one final mission: Transport the daughter of a hated inventor deep into the East. Forced to decide between safely delivering the girl and assassinating the inventor, Marta is torn between ensuring the fragile peace and sparking a second civil war.

Aided by an untrustworthy Dobra and his mysterious mute companion, Marta soon discovers that dark forces, human and perhaps the devil herself, seek to end her quest into the East.

Have you entered by sharing this on Facebook yet? Well then get to it.

And show up in two days (July 12th) for the next opportunity to score some 2017 SPFBO ebooks.

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Official Author Website
Order The Woven Ring HERE

Guest Author Information: MD Presley is a screenwriter, blogger and occasional novelist… which basically means he’s a layabout. But if you’ve ever got a hankering for some grimdark gunpowder fantasy with a female anti-hero, check him out at mdpresley.com.