Indy Books
I recently read a great independently published fantasy novel, and it got me thinking about other wonderful self or small indy press books.
The most recent read is Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree. It’s the story of an orc warrior woman who is looking to get out of the adventuring business and opens a coffee shop instead. This is one of the nicest and most pleasing books I think I’ve ever read. The characters are great, the exact sort of characters that as a reader I just want to spend more time with. And while the story is in some ways the perfect escape from what is a difficult era, it also has a lot to say both about reinventing ourselves and affecting positive change in our lives, and also about solving problems without resorting to violence, something that I think is helpful for our thinking in this day and age.
Matt Colville is best known for his YouTube channel and for MCDM Games, but he is also an independently published fantasy author. The first of his two books, Priest, is excellent all around and contains one of my favorite moments in fantasy fiction. The title character, Henden, basically states the theme of the book in dialogue, “No man is the worst thing he’s ever done.” Like Legends & Lattes, Priest is engaging and entertaining and also manages to contain an important idea that needs saying, the ability to improve oneself and strive to redeem one’s past mistakes is important and a worthy pursuit.
Peter J Aldin’s Third Contact is the brilliant first book in a brilliant series of fast paced science fiction. This book (and series) is chocked full of a great sense of doomsday humor that makes the soldiers in the story feel relatable but at the same time immensely entreating, the best I’ve seen since Aliens. It’s quality escapism, but again it has a message woven in with all the fun, this time about how we treat people and how the repercussions of our ignorance cost us more than taking the time to learn about others would.
The Chuggie series by Brent M Kelley is wonderful melding of dark fiction and fantasy, with a main character heavily influenced by Tom Waits. The story begins in the Desecration of Stagwater and we get a taste for how Chuggie, the avatar of thirst can drink regions dry.
Beneath the Salton Sea by Michael Paul Gonzales is a story of disappearance and loss and the eerie weirdness that comes when one steps out from the known. Strange radio signals, hidden worlds, this book has it all. It feels like the sort of book that Phillip K Dick, John Brunner, and Tim Powers might write if they decided to collaborate and got a midnight visit from Hunter S Thompson.
SP Miskowski is a writer that I always include on best of lists, because her prose are a joy to read and while it’s usually plot or characters that draws me into a book, Miskowski’s writing is always enjoyable to revel in those prose. Her Skillute Cycle is an excellent series of books, starting with Knock Knock. Every book adds another layer as well as another chance to take in those prose.
There are so many more of course. I think it’s important to seek out the small indy writers as there are many great writers out there beyond the one or two favorites that I would read otherwise.
