There's less than two weeks to get your hands on this horror bundle, if you're a fan of house horror this bundle is for you. I've got my duo of house horror zines Where the Heart Is and Yours No Longer in the bundle along with MotB Volume 1. There's 23 projects in total in the bundle from 20 creators. Support horror creators and help us reach our goal!
Crips for eSims for Gaza Bundle: 237 items for $16.00
Since shortly after the current escalation of violence beginning in October 2023 in Palestine, disability justice collective Crips for eSims for Gaza has raised over $2 million CAD to directly fund the activation and top-up of 18K+ eSims for Palestinians surviving genocide and occupation under the Israeli state. This mutual-aid driven communications network has supported doctors, nurses, paramedics, journalists, family members, and students. For more background on Crips for eSims for Gaza, check out their mission statement here.
Keeping all of these eSims going is very expensive! Every month, Crips for eSims for Gaza spends approximately $120K CAD/$100K USD buying and topping-up eSims. Even with strong public support and a global network of volunteers, sustaining this level of commitment is challenging. So Crips for eSims for Gaza launched an itch.io bundle of digital goods for sale to support the eSims. They are offering over 200 video games, TTRPGs, zines, books, soundtracks, and asset packs for just $16, and all proceeds will go to buying and topping up eSims. The bundle will be on sale for three weeks, from April 28th 2025 to May 20th.
One of the many items available in this massive sale is a PDF copy of the comic anthology Cartoonists for Palestine, which I was honored to contribute to. Please check out and spread the word about the bundle, especially to your friends who love video games, roll playing, comics, and could use the asset packs for their own projects.
A collection of queer books from the Right Here Write Queer Podcast hosts are going on sale as a bundle for Pride Month! It starts today, June 1st, and goes on for the entire month.
Some of the things you'll find are fae rituals, mysteries, immortals having a Time, sword fighting, small business shenanigans, and tricksy gods. Check it out on itch.io!
My books include a cozy urban fantasy series following a group of friends as they fall in love later in life, and a dystopian fiction with shape-shifting mutants overthrowing the government.
we put together an itch.io bundle to support Lazarus Halliwell (@neonominous), a queer, disabled artist who needs help with survival funds right now. friends and comrades contributed work to this bundle — folks who want their art supported, too.
it’s pay what you want (yes, free downloads are okay). you’ll get about $80 worth of zines and art, all very trans-centered, with explicitly anarchist voices throughout.
💸 90% of proceeds go directly to Lazarus
🎨 10% goes to the contributing artists
no pressure — reblogs help just as much as purchases.
I’m excited to announce I'm participating in the Point of Pride @powerofpridebundle LGBTQ+ mutual aid itch.io bundle this month along with 280+ other queer creators across the globe! My project is just one of almost 400 games, books, comics, and more, all from LGBTQ+ artists and creators. Funds raised go directly to us indie creators to help use continue making art and games that feature divers voices front and center. The bundle will be available today June 1st through July 6th 2026. Please consider checking out this incredible deal and sharing with folks.
Full bundle here | "Pay what you can" version here
Free Zine Week 2025 bundle is available now september 5 2025 and for 9 more days from now.
description from their page:
"This is a collection of OVER 125 zines from dozens of creators, and they're all 100% free in celebration of Free Zine Week. We'd love for you to check out our work, and maybe you'll even find some new favorite games or creators in here"
Bez Reviews Independent Books #13: Journey Home & Emergence (Read An Ebook Week 2026)
[This intro has now been updated due to the changes to itch.io’s content guidelines.]
Hey everyone! I wanna do little reviews/writeups for the independently-published books, and so, here I am. I want to review one book every month or two (or quicker, if I’m lucky); it’ll get me reading more, and get authors who often go without feedback some thoughts on their work! I think it’ll be cool for everyone!
I used to require that your books be hosted on itch.io, and while I do prefer that, their crackdown on adult content (which I think is bullshit, and has personally affected my work as well) makes it impossible for many of your stories to have a home there. I would prefer that your book isn’t solely hosted on Amazon, but the only requirement is that no part of your book uses AI at all. I want to see your stories, especially the fucked up shit that places like itch.io will no longer allow!
Feel free to get in touch with me with your books—I’m @NorbezJones on Twitter (I refuse to call it X), Bluesky, Pillowfort, Threads, Instagram, Tumblr, and Discord.
Looking forward to seeing your books! <3
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I found out this week is Read An Ebook Week on Tuesday, March 3rd, the same day I found out it was Indie Press Month. As Read An Ebook Week is March 1st to 7th, I would like to use the opportunity to do some reviews. I decided to review some of the stories in the A Very Queer March! book bundle, because I want to give them some attention and hype up their stuff! Yahoo!
For Friday of Read An Ebook Week, I’m looking at two short stories from the bundle. Both are sci-fi and about the bonds we share with others. Let’s have a look!
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Story 1 : Journey Home by May Barros
The first story has the following synopsis on its page:
Amara and Luiza are two witches that live in a queerplatonic relationship. When Luiza decides to embark on a journey through the galaxy in a quest for the lost fortress of Laura, the Dragon Queen, she ends up finding more than expected, while Amara follows her footsteps, hoping it's not too late.
I will avoid major spoilers in this review so you can enjoy the piece for yourself.
This is a sci-fi fantasy piece with a very interesting magic system. I love that when you say words to cast magic, the words literally appear and are used to cast the spell. That’s absolutely kickass, and I love it! While I’m not as big on other parts of it (like casting portals to use as video chat screens), I did also enjoy Luiza sending Amara her memories as a gem she could open and watch while sleeping. It’s very unique, and those things, along with the details of Amara’s shop, Luiza’s quest, and other such things, made me very interested & invested in the world Journey Home takes place in. If Barros makes another piece in this universe, I would love to see it!
The characters are very endearing and cute. It’s great to see fellow aromantics in fiction, and their relationship is quite cute. I do have some issues with it, which I will discuss in later paragraphs, but overall, it’s very endearing. I appreciated, as someone who also has anxiety, that Luiza gave Amara something to help calm her worries about the long trip. It comes into play later in the book, but in a somewhat confusing way—more on that later.
Barros is great at environmental details, from Amara’s store to Luiza’s stops on the outskirts of space. I love the way she set scenes and establishes locations. It’s great!
Now, onto criticism. My biggest quibble concerning the story is its misuse of commas. It’s mostly comma splicing, but also a few instances of commas being put in places they don’t need to be. I am aware that English appears to be the author’s second language, so that is probably why this is the case. Perhaps a second pair of eyes could have fixed this, as it doesn’t make for a smooth read.
The use of italicized paragraphs in the story also, for the most part, feels completely random. There was one instance where it made sense, because the italicized section was taking us to the past for a moment, but other than that, its use confuses me greatly. And even with scenes taking place in the past, some of those parts are in italics, while others are not. I don’t know what to make of it, or what was trying to be achieved here.
Onto Amara & Luiza’s relationship. For the most part, it’s beautifully endearing. What confused me is that Amara states she doesn’t like adventure, but Luiza believes the opposite is true. See this paragraph (which includes a run-on):
Amara would love all of this. Her partner liked to hide her adventurous side, but Luiza could always tell from the sparkle in her eyes when she told her stories that Amara would be happy to come long if she was sure it was safe and that they’d have a place to come back to.
However, when the necklace Luiza gave Amara to tell her if she needs help activates, Amara does not seem to enjoy the adventure that follows, not even when Luiza is found; she’s way to stressed to do so. Speaking of the necklace, I don’t believe we see when Luiza activated it, which confused me—why did the necklace indicate she needed help? Was there some kind of automatic sensor magic involved? It’s not clear.
The ending is also very sudden; the story stops a bit too soon for me. I would have liked it if it lingered a bit more on Amara & Luiza exploring the fortress more. While the opening of the story could have been better, it does explain & establish Amara & Luiza’s relationship to us, how they fit together perfectly, despite their differences. We could have also seen Amara’s attested adventurous side, shown us rather than telling. Some closing lines about those things, as well as their new life ahead, would have tied the tale up nicely.
In conclusion, while I enjoyed Journey Home, I do have some issues with it. However, they don’t take away from the story entirely, at least for me. I also want to emphasize that, as an asexual arospec person, I am grateful that an aromantic QPR story exists at all, showing with its characters that platonic love is just as strong & beautiful as romantic love. That’s a beautiful thing, and shouldn’t be discounted.
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Story 2 : Emergence by A.M. Weald
Here’s the synopsis of the next story, which is described as, “a short postapocalyptic queer cozy romance”:
Kelle and Arjun are best friends.
Kelle and Arjun have never met.
They live in different pods: underground settlements separated by long stretches of strictly regulated tunnels, each pod sealed off to avoid viruses and other plagues devastating what remains of humanity and its food sources. Even romances, to an extent, are regulated. But people can still communicate via landline telephones, and people can still fall in love, even from afar. So when the government in control of the North American pod system has determined it's time to make a trade of goods between Pod North and Pod West, the human inhabitants of each pod are also welcome to petition for a transfer.
It's time for Kelle and Arjun to meet.
I’ll avoid any major spoilers in my review, like with Journey Home.
Emergence takes place in the aftermath of a nuclear winter decimating the planet, with people & animals put into pods underground. Kelle & Arjun are friends across two of those pods, and at the start of the story, Arjun telling Kelle that according to a source of his, the pods are going to be brought together. After connecting virtually for so long, they might be able to meet face-to-face for the very first time.
I love the opening of the story. It starts with the line, “A duster bot was stuck again.” From there, we learn Kelle’s job in the pods (making sure the duster bots that clean the solar panels are doing their duties right), more about the world, and how Kelle feels about the whole thing. The world becomes real, and so does Kelle, with a few masterful strokes of the pen in the first few pages. It’s excellent.
The worldbuilding is excellent throughout, actually. As the story continues, we get more insight into what ended the world as we (the reader) know it, and that it was “global warming, the virus, the meteor, the war and nuclear fallout, and the bioweapons”. It sounds like a lot, but the story manages to spoon-feed the information in a natural way, which I admire. It’s the little details that really impress me, like the songs children have made for life within the pod. It makes the world feel real.
Kelle & Arjun’s personalities shine in this story, and I loved seeing them together. My favorite part is how Kelle, once they physically meet, starts telling corny jokes like Arjun does. I thought that was so freaking cute!
Finally, I like the writing style quite a bit. A few comma splices here and there, but rare enough not to be a major issue. The dialogue is great, and the characters bounce off each other well.
Now, onto my critique. The most confusing this about the story is that it frames itself as Kelle & Arjun’s story, but it’s not. It’s the story of Kelle, Arjun . . . and Jair.
Who is Jair, you may ask? Well, he’s someone Arjun was set up with in his home pod, who he eventually rooms with and starts dating. We don’t see anything about the progression of that, nor are we told (1) if Arjun ever worried Kelle wouldn’t want polyamory, or (2) if Kelle is jealous or not. There’s no real discussion had; we just skip ahead and don’t worry, everything is fine and fell into place behind the scenes. It’s a bit too convenient, and it doesn’t help that Jair doesn’t have much of a personality aside from “nice & sweet guy”.
Speaking of time skips, this story does some giant ones near the end. Once they arrive at the pods, Arjun & Jair have to spend two weeks in quarantine, but in the next scene Arjun is snuggling with Kelle in the same space. Then, in the scene after that, we are many years in the future, and see a hope that was set up earlier has come true. While I’m glad it came to fruition, it doesn’t feel earned.
The worldbuilding is very good, like I said. I do have a quibble, though: a Pod East is mentioned, along with some vague reference to an unfortunate incident that ended it—and then, it’s never brought up again. What happened there? Why reference something that will never be discussed again in the story? I also was confused when “gene flow” was brought up, then not defined. A scene where Kelle asks Arjun what it is in their conversation could have alleviated my confusion and subsequent Google search.
Also, while the dialogue is excellent, the author does overuse “said” here & there, sometimes for multiple lines of dialogue in a row. Something to watch out for.
To finish my criticisms, here’s my biggest qualm: the story focuses hard on a “will they, won’t they” at the start, but the “they will” moment passes by with barely a whimper. Introducing Jair into what should have been a tale for two makes the story feel unfocused; it’s an odd choice to have a third wheel in what should have been a straightforward romance. I love me some polyamory in my fiction, don’t get me wrong; my issues is not with polyamory on principle. My issue is that in this book, when the cover & synopsis & intro scene set it up as solely Kelle & Arjun’s story, Jair is an unwelcome intrusion. And once they get together, we don’t see their relationship progress naturally; time skips ahead rapidly at that point.
Overall, despite the issues I have with Emergence, I still enjoyed it, and am looking forward to seeing more from Weald. I saw she has ones about archeologists falling in love that I’m especially interested in. . .
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That’s all for today! If you want to read Journey Home, Emergence, and a bunch of other cool books, please support the A Very Queer March! book bundle! To be clear, I am not sponsored by them or anything like that; I just wanted to support some indie authors, so here we are!
My next Read An Ebook Week review will hopefully be of another novel, but we’ll see what I have the bandwidth for. See you tomorrow for the last day of Read An Ebook Week!
