Bring on the Indie Books - Part 2 - The Small Press Books
- Lily Lawson
- 16 minutes ago
- 5 min read
I am including Small Press Books as Indie Books. Given their small teams the members can be called to multi task and they do not have the reach of the larger and more well known publishers. Some are also authors themselves. As some of them told me 'they need all the help they can get'. I will talk about some of the presses themselves in another part of this series but for now here's some books you might like.
I would like to thank Mel Reynard for her help this month. Check out her Instagram for lots of book recommendations (mostly if not all fantasy) or her excellent Substack (Book Seeds) for her book related words of wisdom.
This list is a bit heavy on Fantasy. I have read a fair bit of it myself and it's Mel's favourite genre but I have included a couple of my non fantasy favourites for the non fantasy readers amongst you. I promise not all my guests will be fantasy writers and readers so stay tuned for more suggestions from other genres.
Having said that lets start with fantasy.
The stuff I've read
The Haven Chronicles is a YA series staring the unlikely hero Steve Haven. It also features one of my favourite fictional characters Hartley Keg. I also love The Darkling. There's magic, robots, curveballs a plenty and a fair bit of trouble on more journeys than I can count.
Fi Phillips has a wonderful imagination. I've read the first three books - Haven Wakes, Magic Bound and Haven's Deceit. I'm waiting for book four to see what happens next.
I was excited to read P.S.C Willis’ debut novel. Time flew by as I gobbled it up. The author’s easy writing style combined with an ability to make us care enough to root for Niall and Draven as they face unusual challenges to be together. I smiled at the familiar references and there is more than one location I am tempted to visit. If cosy fantasy is your cup of tea and you find yourself crying out for magic this will warm your heart.
I should maybe say I am from the north east of England where this is set and I know where these places are so it felt kind of special to me a well as being a lovely cosy fantasy.
Do you have a Me list?
No idea what I’m talking about?
I will tell you this book will make you look at your life and write one.
It also made me think about friendship, the masks we wear, the walls we put up and why and what it takes to bring them down/put them up again.
Olivia and Patricia are characters I was drawn to.
I know I want to read more from Julee Balko.
Buy the paperback you'll see why.
I do have a Me list in case you're wondering.
As I said I want to read more by Julee Balko. I haven't read The Things We Keep yet but I've heard good things and fully intend to and there's a new one coming I'm just hearing about so I will be ordering that too.
The writer who brought us the Adam and Grace Series wrote a western! I had to take a look. I had no idea what to expect but as I love her writing ... and it was great.
This book has a very appropriate title. I have never read a western before. This was an excellent baptism. Paulson writes a great story with characters you care about. She drags you into her world and says look, see, listen. Blood and Dust deals with difficult issues with the sensitivity of touch we have come to expect from this writer. Whatever she's writing - I'm reading. Her six stars are well earned.
This months interviewee Alethea Lyons' Seer of York series is published by small press. I admit I haven't read it but there's a lot of very good stuff floating about. Supernatural Dark Fantasy is not really my thing.
Arcane archivist Harper has always been plagued by dreams of grotesque creatures and bloody deaths. When she bumps into a ghostwalker in the Shambles and has a visceral experience of his execution, she knows it’s a foretelling. Yet fear of the Queen’s Guard stops her speaking out. When her vision indeed comes true, the unusual markings on the ghostwalker’s corpse, combined with his neatly excised vocal cords, send a ripple of terror through York.
The witch hunt is on. As the body count rises, Harper knows her magic is the only way to find the killer – if she can avoid being hanged as a witch. To protect both human and supernatural, Harper walks the thin line between their worlds. She and her demonhunter foster-sister form a multi-faith team with a forensic scientist, a spirit Harper accidentally summoned, and a techno-witch, to catch the killer before more people die.
Mel's Suggestions
After criminal psychologist Clara’s divorce shatters her family, she retreats into her work. But, instead of finding comfort there, Clara develops a growing obsession with one patient, a young woman accused of murdering her boyfriend on a remote hiking trail. Desperate to discover what happened and to mend the bonds between her and her estranged daughters, Clara makes an ill-fated decision: to hike that very same trail, with her family in tow. Once they hit the trail, however, violent visions plague her dreams, and when a close encounter with a mysterious presence splits them apart, what began as a family bonding trip becomes a battle for survival. Clara must confront her own demons and the thing that prowls the forest to find her family and get them out alive before the forest claims them all, for good.
What would you risk to save someone you loved from a fate worse than death?
A half-elven princess, grieving the loss of one father and fearing for the other.
A loyal guardsman, torn between his oath to the king and her safety.
And a creature so bent on revenge, he’ll make the world kneel to hurt them all.
Of all the messages Dimitar’s carried, he now delivers the worst of all: vile Corrupted creatures have returned and murdered the king’s best friend. The king leaves to seek retribution, and gives Dimitar an order he doesn’t expect: guard the princess, Kaleela.
How Far Would You Go To Discover Your Heart’s Desire?
Greton of Willow is in a spot of bother. Caught in the act while escorting a family of elves to safety, Greton flees for greener pastures with only his scant magic and brilliant mind to his name.
And a question. The question.
‘What is your heart’s desire?’
A life-long outsider, Greton sets out to uncover what lies at the center of his heart. Is it adopting a tawny owl? Owning his very own map shop? Forging a found family with others as similarly scorned as himself? The possibilities are endless.Determined to put his marvelous mind to the task, Greton discovers a way to reveal anyone’s heart’s desire, but not everyone’s longings are as pure as his…
Empire Of Ruin Saga - David Green
An Epic Fantasy series filled with full-on action, heart-racing excitement, complex characters and deep lore, 'Path Of War', 'Beyond Sundered Seas' and 'At Eternity's Gates' were all shortlisted for Best Fantasy Novel at the British Fantasy Awards.The grandeur of 'The Wheel Of Time' meets the grittiness of 'The Witcher', now with a rewritten and expanded first book in the series, 'In Solitude's Shadow'.
Happy Reading
Lily x
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