#novels for sale

[swkrullimaging]

Summer Evening in the Mountains

Summer Evening in the Mountains with an approaching rainstorm and pictures by photographer and author Steven W. Krull Clouds and rain were moving in on this warm early summer evening in the mountains, so I wanted to get out and see what I could make of it. I was surprised to see this beautiful rainbow stretching across the sky as I drove up the mountainside toward the gold mine. The deer have…

[gb-patch]

🚨 Sound the alarms! 🚨

GB Patch games are currently on SALE at both Steam and Itch's Winter Sale events! ❄️

[blacktabbygames]

The Steam Winter Sale is upon us, and both Slay the Princess and Scarlet Hollow are on sale! We also have a bundle with both games that stacks a 15% discount on whatever sale is already going on. So you can pick both up at once for just under $30, or finish the bundle to still get that extra discount if you already own one.

While we're here I'd love to also take a moment to plug some other bundles we're in. We don't do a lot of bundles with other studios, and all of the titles we bundle with are personally vetted by us, your friendly neighborhood devs, as Good Video Games. All of these bundles are piecemeal, so if you already own one or more games in them, you can still get the extra discount on those other titles.

First up is the Cartoonists Turned Game Devs bundle, which has both Scarlet Hollow as well as Meredith Gran's deeply, deeply underrated Perfect Tides. Perfect Tides is one of my favorite narrative games of all time, so please do yourself a favor and pick it up if you haven't already!

Next up is the World-Ending Women bundle, which has both Slay the Princess and the fantastic El Paso, Elsewhere, a Max Payne-inspired supernatural shooter where you have to stop your vampire ex-girlfriend from ending the world. It's written by Xalavier Nelson Jr, who you might know from such wonderfully charming titles as Hypnospace Outlaw and An Airport for Aliens Currently Run By Dogs.

Last but not least is Horrors of the Heart, which has Scarlet Hollow and two other dating sims: the fully-voice acted and very funny Lovecraftian dating sim Sucker for Love, and normal cute dating sim Cooking Companions where nothing bad ever happens.

HAPPY shopping, and hope y'all play some fun games for the holidays :D

[plottwiststudios]

Women of Xal is 45% Off: We need one more review

✨ STEAM SUMMER SALE 2024 WOOO ✨

We need literally *one more review* for Steam to calculate our score. I'll put more details beneath the cut so as not to spam y'all, but if you're looking for a dating sim with poly, asexual, and aromantic options, or one with dark-skinned men and ladies, or one with political mystery and drama, or even one with silly alien shenanigans.... consider checking us out and dropping a review? :'> We'll be forever grateful.

Links are below. Click to continue reading if you're curious about the review situation. Oh, and feel free to join us on Discord!

STEAM | ITCH.IO | DISCORD

Hi everyone, Shald here with the details. So here's the deal. First off, if you don't know what Steam's user score system is, it basically just averages all the positive and negative reviews a game has to display a "rating". Here's an example from a beloved classic:

This rating obviously makes it easier for customers to see whether a game might be worth checking out at a glance, especially if they're just scrolling through a list of, say, visual novels currently on sale. The problem is that Women of Xal currently has 24 positive reviews on Steam, but only 9 of them are counted towards our user review score.

It seems like Steam doesn't count reviews from people who reviewed the game during Early Access or who didn't directly purchase the game from Steam - which, of course, is the *majority* of our Kickstarter supporters. I don't know how other Kickstarted indie games get around this, or if they ever do.

Which is very infuriating! I mean, look at this! Look at all these wonderful people who took the time to review our little indie game and just get totally ignored by the Valve Overlords. >:U

We need 10 total reviews from people who have purchased the game *directly* from steam in order for the platform to generate our "user score". At this point I genuinely don't even care if someone just reviews the game saying "It bad", I just want to see that score, I'm losing my mind 😂😢 If you've read this far into my late-night ramblings, thank you. I appreciate you. Maybe consider checking us out? :> STEAM | ITCH.IO | DISCORD

[yurimother]

Shakaijin Yuri Light Novel 'Did You Think My Yuri Was a Sales Pitch?' License in English

On Saturday, at Anime NYC 2024, Yen Press announced that it has licensed Neru Asakura's Yuri light novel Did You Think My Yuri Was a Sales Pitch? (Watashi no Yuri mo, Eigyou da to Omotta?). The single-volume is illustrated by Chigusa Minori (Shino to Ren).

Yen Press describes the light novel:

Suzune Senmiya, a young voice actress, has been struggling for six months to get over the retirement of her favorite idol, Karin Kanezuki. One day, Karin shows up as a new voice actress in Suzune’s agency! While Suzune tries to play it cool and keep her distance, Karin aggressively closes the gap between them. And as Suzune starts to see unexpected sides of Karin, she begins to perceive her not just as an idol but as a woman. 

Did You Think My Yuri Was a Sales Pitch? was published in Japan in 2023 under Kadokawa's Dengeki Bunko imprint. It received generally positive reviews from audiences who noted it was short, light, and cute with just a little bit of drama.

The novel is written by Yuri light novel author Neru Asakura, who has published a few light novels in the past few years, including Kare nanka yori, Watashi no Hou ga Ii desho? Did You Think My Yuri Was a Sales Pitch? is their first work to be licensed in English. It is illustrated by Minori Chigusa who is primarily known for their original Yuri works and light novel illustrations. Jenny McKeon (Bloom Into You, Kobayashi's Dragon Maid) translates the light novel into English.

Source: Press Release

[pro-philosopher]

Last day of Pro Philosopher 2 Launch sale!

We’re in the last run of the Pro Philosopher 2 Launch discount!! With 98% positive reviews — and some glowing words on the matter from players — we obviously think our “Debating Sim” is worth your time.

So give it a shot — the first chapter is available for FREE as a demo!

[worstjourney]

Quick heads up – Iron Circus (my wonderful North American publishers) are having a 50% off sale on their whole online shop on Friday 29 November. That means you can get the super sexy hardcover US edition of Worst Journey Vol.1 for a paltry US$10! Or the e-book for $5! What a steal!

Check out the rest of the shop, too – you may be able to knock a few people off your gift list with their varied selection ... and maybe one or to favoured libraries as well ...

[screensavorstudios]

Do you have $10 and need some more Queer Slasher Mysteries in your life? Get Jill O' Lantern during the Steam Winter Sale!

[arimiadev]

recommendations of visual novels on sale for the steam winter sale 2024

steam's winter sale just started and will run for the next two weeks, so if you're looking for a new visual novel to try (or want to get into them), here's a lot that I've played that are on sale on steam.

umineko when they cry

the ushiromiya family returns to the family head's home on an isolated island for their annual conference with the intention of settling how his vast amount of wealth is divided. instead, though, a letter is left from someone claiming to be a "witch". with the ushiromiyas dropping dead left and right, the mystery behind everything remains to be solved by you, the reader.

I can't make a recommendation list without mentioning umineko. it's life changing. it might even trans your gender. it's hard to describe umineko, but just know that it's absolutely deserving of the "cult classic" tag.

notes:

kinetic/linear - no choices

VERY long, 120+ hours (over all 8 episodes)

divided into two games on steam - Questions Arcs is the first 4 episodes and Answers Arcs is the last 4 episodes (8 episodes in total, play Questions Arcs first)

created by Ryukishi07, creator of Higurashi

fantasy vs mystery

ace attorney

follow phoenix wright as he embarks on his career as a lawyer to help people. meet a variety of clients and prove their innocence by collecting evidence, interviewing witnesses, and exposing lies in court.

ace attorney is a classic mystery visual novels, being a blend of point-and-click elements via investigations and visual novel storytelling. the steam port is a massive collection, combining the first 3 games (the original phoenix wright trilogy) as 1 game.

notes:

investigative gameplay segments, a good chunk of the story is point-and-click parts

pretty long for the whole trilogy- each game is around 20 hours long and the steam edition is 3 games

modern mystery with supernatural elements

ai: the somnium files

play as detective kaname date as he hunts down a serial killer using a cutting-edge technology which allows him to "psync" with a person, diving into the memories of others to solve crimes in a limited amount of time with the help of his AI assistant/eyeball Aiba.

aitsf is a lot. it's probably the raunchiest non-eroge game I've ever played and despite my low tolerance for dirty jokes I found most of it to be laughable and a fun experience, though I did play this with friends. if it's a miss for you, it's gonna miss you by a wide margin, but if it's a hit for you, you're going to be recommending it nonstop. either way you'll want to hit kaname date with a car.

notes:

long, around 25-35 hours

this game heavily relies on going back to prior choices via their branching menu to try other options in order to get the full story (and true ending). there are several endings to this game but you're meant to play through them all, not just one or two.

a lot of gameplay and interactive segments

sci-fi mystery

english voice acting

witch on the holy night

aoko aozaki is a highschooler who has to balance her class president, perfect grades life with her secret afterschool life of being a mage—a secret she has to keep at the risk of death. keeping this balance already isn’t easy but one day she gets a wrench thrown into it with the introduction of a transfer student, soujuurou shizuki, a country boy so out of touch that he’s never seen electricity before.

I love witch on the holy night so, so much. it's one of the most beautifully directed visual novels ever made with so much love and care put into each frame. the cast is wonderful (touko my beloved) and it's a must-read for anyone who likes modern-ish fantasy.

notes:

kinetic / linear - no choices

long, around 25-30 hours

originally written by kinoko nasu, one of the co-founders of type-moon and creators of fate/stay night. has some relation to tsukihime and garden of sinners but you don't need any knowledge of those going in

modern-ish (1980s) fantasy with lots of talking about magic

ghostpia

a snowy town filled with "ghosts" is where the young woman sayako finds herself trapped, feeling like she doesn't belong and wants to leave this town where no one dies.

it's hard to describe ghostpia. it's a surreal-ish story about "ghosts" where every character is quirkier than the last but every part is made with so much heart behind it. you never really know where the story is going, but unfortunately only 1 season is currently out on steam.

notes:

medium length, around 10 hours

very innovative and unique use of visuals and paneling

surreal-ish (sometimes violent) fantasy

please be happy

as a shapeshifting fox called a "gumiho", miho has traveled the world in search for a traveler who showed her kindness many years ago. afraid of sticking around in one place for too long, miho has never stayed anywhere for more than a few nights- but all of that changes when she arrives in wellington, new zealand and meets the barista/writer aspen and the vampire archivist juliet.

okay I did work on this one but hear me out. please be happy was a labor of love for our team that took over 3 years to make and is a slice of life story about love, trust, and what it means to be human. and you get to play as a gay fox girl voiced by dottovu.

notes:

medium to long, about 20 hours

2 romanceable ladies, aspen and juliet, and a plethora of side characters to meet via a map system

modern slice-of-life fantasy

english voice acting

WE KNOW THE DEVIL

find yourself back at summer camp with all the queer religious horror of it.

WE KNOW THE DEVIL is a short, atmospheric and slightly surreal story about 3 teens at a religious summer camp waiting for the devil. if you want something that feels familiar and otherworldly at the same time, this is right up your alley.

notes:

very short, about 2 hours

3 endings and 1 true ending

isolation, psychological horror

fate/stay night

seven mages known as masters summon heroic and fictional characters from the pantheon of history to fight it out over the ultimate magical item - the holy grail.

fate/stay night is one of the most well-known visual novel properties out there and it's finally not only available in english officially but on steam! this remaster is a treat and done with a lot of care put into it, it's a great way to get into the fateverse if you've never tried it before.

notes:

pretty long, 70+ hours

3 routes / heroines to be with with lots of bad endings

modern fantasy, battle royale

mamiya

the end of the world is near. what will you do in the final months? and who is this "MAMIYA" who proclaims their love for you?

MAMIYA is a dark mystery visual novel about a group of guys who meet during the funeral for a friend, a stranger, a passerby, and become entangled in the web of an entity known as "MAMIYA". the presentation and style feels fresh.

notes:

check out the content warnings before reading

medium length, but is segmented into a lot of chapters that make it easy to pick back up

dark modern mystery with supernatural elements

a date with death

the grim reaper contacts you saying he wants your soul. naturally, you respond...with flirting??

a date with death is a free game but it does have paid DLC so I'm including it here because I want to. it's a comfy chatsim romance visual novel about, well, courting the grim reaper.

notes:

short, around 8 hours for the base game

customizable protag

1 male love interest

cute modern supernatural romance

twofold

Olive has 1 last chance to graduate college - pass a filler class. when their situation comes to light, 2 club presidents agree to help them but end up dragging them in the middle of their feud...

I also worked on this one. the writing and art is truly charming and heartfelt. it's a story about romance but also relationships in general - friendships, platonic relationships, familial bonds, etc. this visual novel took several years to be completed and the final result is one made with a lot of love.

notes:

medium, around 15-20+ hours for both routes

nonbinary protagonist, 2 female love interests

modern slice-of-life, college setting

english voice acting

slay the princess

you're tasked with a simple goal - slay the princess, or else she'll destroy the world.

talk about taking a simple premise and running with it. slay the princess is a mind-bending psychological horror about love and repeating things a lot of times. after all, all you have to do is slay the princess, right?

notes:

short to medium, around 10 hours for a full run

lots and lots and lots of branching paths

psychological horror, does contain gore

english voice acting

canvas menagerie

Niko is a trans man and lifelong actor who's been down on his luck until he gets the lead role in a major TV show. there, he starts to fall for his annoying celebrity costar.

well I wrote and drew and programmed this one by myself so I can't really give an indepth recommendation for it but I think it came out pretty nice. it's a comfy gay romance about actors.

notes:

medium length, around 10-12 hours

boys love romance

modern slice-of-life, adult cast

------------

note that all of the indie visual novels listed are also available on itchio as DRM-free versions. there's a ton of VNs on sale over there right now as well.

[synstoria]

Season of Pride

I am very proud to be part of the Season of Pride steam event this year, and I am even more happy to be features along with other incredible queer devs and games! ✨ Check them out and if it's your jam, wishlist them, it helps so much indie devs like us ❤️

Lock & Key: A Magical Girl Mystery by @vnstudioelan 🌟 Cage of Roses by @ebi-hime 🌹 Of Sense and Soul by @forsythiaproductions ✒️ Canvas Menagerie and Asphodelium by @arimiadev 🎥 Drăculești by @draculestigame 🍷

So don't wait come celebrate over 130 Queer Games with us! 

[swkrullimaging]

Chapter Ten

I’ve completed the first draft of Chapter Ten of Thundering Hooves. Caleb’s life has taken an unexpected turn and he has left Montana for Colorado. He has also been reunited with the first friend he met in Montana years before. Please enjoy the below excerpt from this important transitional chapter or our main character’s life. Excerpt From Chapter Ten A couple of Angie’s little cousins were…

[jesncin]

LUNAR BOY IS ON A PRE-ORDER SALE!

Your next new favorite queer sci-fi middle grade graphic novel about a trans Indonesian moon boy is 25% off for Barnes & Noble members. It's only for April 17-19th, so order quickly for a sweet deal!

[johnbierce]

Fantasy short story anthology time!

My new book, The Gorgon Incident and Other Stories: A Mage Errant Anthology, is out now on Amazon and Audible!

I absolutely love writing short stories. They push me as an author in ways that novels don't, and each one presents me with a unique, fascinating challenge. And, with this anthology, they allow me to explore parts of Anastis, the world of Mage Errant, in ways I couldn't in the main series. I get to travel to out-of-the-way corners, visit ordinary people to see how they get by in a world of giant monsters and ruthless archmages battling for control of petty territories, to explore secret conspiracies and legendary historical figures, and to flesh out Anastis' ecology, culture, and history.

If you haven't read Mage Errant yet, the first three ebooks are free for the next few days, and books four through six are on sale for $0.99 in the US and UK! Mage Errant is a completed, seven book magic school progression fantasy series, following the adventures of Hugh of Emblin as he goes from being a shy, neurodiversefailure of a student mage who struggles with anxiety and depression to being a shy, neurodiverse terrifying archmage who struggles with anxiety, depression, giant monsters, and magical superweapons. It features found family, giant monsters, a science-inspired hard magic system where you're as liable to run into hair or bismuth mages as fire mages, giant monsters, lots of queer characters, giant monsters (some of whom are also queer characters), kaijucratic systems of government, and sapient living cities. (Did I mention the giant monsters?)

The stories in the Gorgon Incident are written to be legible even to people who haven't read Mage Errant yet- though I think most people will get more out of them after reading the main series. The twenty-four stories, all originally published on my Patreon, span five centuries of history, from the last years of the Ithonian Empire up to the events of the series itself, even visiting another of Anastis' continents for the first time.

I also leaned hard into the science-inspired aspects of the setting with many of the stories, building what I like to call science puzzle stories, where the plot of the story revolves around the real-life behavior of various materials and natural processes, through a magical lens. (I had a lot of fun doing it, and it even let me include a whole additional appendix filled with notes on the science of the short stories- I love appendices.)

(Art by Aaron McConnell and Lee Moyer.)

A fugitive child finds shelter with a monster of legend. A mind-blind scholar outwits the mages who disdain him. A gold mage must secure a bank vault from a monster capable of obliterating entire cities. An aging basketweaver wakes up one morning to find a brand new river in front of her house. A palace-sized octopus seeks to defend his city from a living fortress of bone— if he can get his arms to cooperate.

In these twenty-four short stories set in the world of Mage Errant, John Bierce explores the murky depths of history, forgotten corners of Ithos and beyond, and the strangest reaches of magic itself.

Gorgon Incident US link Gorgon Incident UK link Gorgon Incident CA link Gorgon Incident AU link

Gorgon Incident Audible US link Gorgon Incident Audible UK link Gorgon Incident Audible CA link Gorgon Incident Audible AU link

Amazon US series page Amazon UK series page Amazon CA series page Amazon AU series page

[forsythiaproductions]

We're thrilled to say Of Sense and Soul is featured in this year's Season of Pride Steam Sale! 🌈✨

Come celebrate over 130 Queer Games with us! 💖

A huge thanks to Midboss, IGDA, and Gayming Magazine for highlighting all of us!

If you're looking for more visual novels to wishlist, look no further than a few of our fellow Upcoming Queer VNs! ⬇️

Lock & Key: A Magical Girl Mystery by @vnstudioelan 🌟

Cage of Roses by @ebi-hime 🌹

Imperial Grace by @synstoria 👑

Canvas Menagerie and Asphodelium by @arimiadev 🎥🪻

Drăculești by @draculestigame 🍷

[blacktabbygames]

Hey folks! Thank you so much for making Slay the Princess' launch month an absolutely incredible experience. The game already have over 3,700 reviews on Steam, 97% of which are positive, and a 91 critic score on metacritic, making it the 15th highest rated release in 2023 across all platforms, and the 3rd highest rated PC release of this year.

We can't express how much it means to us to see it resonate with so many people.

Today is the start of voting for the Steam Awards, and we'd appreciate it if you could lend Slay the Princess your vote for Outstanding Story-Rich Game. You can only submit one game per category, and you can only submit one category per game, so if everyone focuses on this one, we might stand a chance! You can vote for us here: 

Today is also the start of the Steam Autumn Sale! Slay the Princess unfortunately isn't participating (Steam doesn't let you participate in sale events until 30 days after your launch, so we just missed the cut-off here) but Scarlet Hollow is 25% off!

I'd also like to take the chance to highlight a couple of bundles we're in that have stackable discounts.

The Cartoonists Turned Gamedevs Bundle

Meredith Gran's Perfect Tides is, I think, one of the most criminally underrated narrative games of at least the past several years. Some of the point-and-click mechanics can be a little challenging to navigate, but the art, writing, and overall experience is absolute top-of-class. I cannot recommend this highly enough, and if you already own Scarlet Hollow, you can get Perfect Tides for an additional 10% off its sale price whenever it's discounted by finishing this bundle: https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/29945/Cartoonists_Turned_Game_Devs/

Horrors of the Heart

If you want some romance with undercurrents (or overcurrents) of horror and the supernatural, the Horrors of the Heart bundle contains a few horror visual novel staples, including the excellent Girl-Cthuhlu-Dating-Sim Sucker for Love, and charming stuck-in-a-cabin-for-too-long Cooking Companions. Same deal as the Perfect Tides bundle: if you own any of the games in it, you can still pick up the others and get that extra discount: https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/26929/Horrors_of_the_Heart/

That's all we've got for you for now. It looks like we've zeroed in on a date for rescheduling the Slay the Princess livestream (December 16th), but we'll do a more formal announcement once that's wholly set in stone.

In terms of development work, we're taking a little time off following Slay the Princess' release, but the gears have already started turning for Scarlet Hollow Episode 5, so keep your eyes peeled for more updates.

All the best, Tony

[leannareneehieber]

GOTHIC & DARK ACADEMIA ENTHUSIASTS!

DARLINGS! Just noticed the double-volume revised edition of STRANGELY BEAUTIFUL via @torbooks is on super-eBook-sale right now. 684 pages! For only $3.99! Via Kindle, Kobo & Apple Books! Includes THE STRANGELY BEAUTIFUL TALE OF MISS PERCY PARKER and THE DARKLY LUMINOUS FIGHT FOR PERSEPHONE PARKER + extra scenes & content.

This book of my heart is: GOTHIC. It's Jane-Eyre-Meets-Dark-Academia+Hot-For-Teacher+GHOSTS+Greek-Mythology+Jack-the-Ripper+Found-Family

YES, there is a paperback omnibus edition, available via Bookshop.org (my favorite link to send folks to, it supports local bookstores!), B&N and any physical store can order it in. It's on sale too!

Please share? Thank you!

Kindle - Kobo - Apple Books