Indie Author Spotlight Reading

This year, the Nebulas celebrated indie publishing in fine form with the Andre Norton Award going to Vanessa Ricci-Thode, an indie-published author.

Now it’s time to dive in and see what the rest of SFWA Indie is up to, with readings and author Q&As from some of our most dedicated members: Vanessa Ricci-Thode, Joyce Reynolds-Ward, and Bert-Oliver Boehmer. This event is open to the public, and we look forward to showing you how the power of the written word transcends all publishing forms. Stop by and learn about SFWA Indie’s latest!

More about our Indie authors…

Bert-Oliver Boehmer is the author of the Galacticide trilogy—Three Immortals, Dark Cascade, and Galacticide—an epic space opera exploring military strategy, political intrigue, and existential mystery. His current project, Goddess of the Galacticide, continues this saga as a serialized web novel released in weekly episodes. With a background in computer science and two decades in bioinformatics, he draws on technology and biology to shape his storytelling. Since 2023, he has been a member of SFWA. He also presents “Bert’s Battle Briefing” on InterFleet Broadcasting, the largest Battlestar Galactica fan channel, where he analyzes conflict in science fiction.

Join Bert for a reading from Goddess of the Galacticide!

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Joyce Reynolds-Ward has been called “the best writer I’ve never heard of” by one reviewer. Her work includes themes of high-stakes family and political conflict, digital sapience, personal agency, realistic strong women, and (whenever possible) horses, frequently in Pacific Northwest settings.

She is the author of six speculative fiction series: The Netwalk Sequence, Goddess’s Honor, The Martiniere Legacy Quartet, The People of the Martiniere Legacy, The Martiniere Multiverse, and The Cost of Power as well as standalones Federation Cowboy, Beating the Apocalypse, Klone’s Stronghold: Reeni and Alien Savvy.

Joyce is a Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off Semifinalist, a Writers of the Future SemiFinalist, and an Anthology Builder Finalist. She is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association and a member of Soroptimists International.

Join Joyce for a reading from The Cost of Power: Return!

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Vanessa Ricci-Thode is a Nebula Award-winning Halloween enthusiast and a bookish geek who loves dragons, astronomy, and travel. If she’s not hibernating, she can be found in her butterfly garden, achieving her final form as a garden witch. She lives in Waterloo (no, the other one) with her spouse, daughter and very good dogs. To learn more, visit her website thodestool.ca or follow her on social media @VRicciThode.

Recent publications include “Billionaire’s Tears” in Escape Pod (July 2025), The Dragon Next Door (June 2025), and the award-winning The Young Necromancer’s Guide to Ghosts (April 2024).

Join Vanessa from a reading from her new release, The Dragon Next Door, a sapphic ace romantasy about two disaster queers raising a baby dragon.