Known as work written by contemporary authors, these books are usually either self-published or published by small publishers. Indie authors tend to be celebrated for their unconventional storytelling and fearless risk-taking attitude. Unfortunately, one downside they face, just like any other non-mainstream art, would be the tendency of going under the radar due to them not being affiliated with a major publishing house (i.e. Macmillan, Penguin Random House or HarperCollins).
That said, times have changed and indie books have been consistently on the rise in the last few years. Indie bookstores all around the world (and on the web) are thriving and according to Written Word Media’s 2018 publishing trends, indie authors will continue to steal e-book shares away from traditional publishers as readers are predicted to continue purchasing books that are competitively priced and that cater to their specific genre tastes.
With that in mind, check out our list of must-reads below!
If you love noir and magical realism:
Miraculum by Steph Post
The year is 1922. The carnival is Pontilliar’s Spectactular Star Light Miraculum, set up on the Texas-Louisiana border. One blazing summer night, a mysterious stranger steps out onto the midway, lights a cigarette and forever changes the world around him. Tattooed snake charmer Ruby has travelled with her father’s carnival for most of her life and, jaded though she is, can’t help but be drawn to the tall man in the immaculate black suit who has joined the carnival as a geek, a man who bites the heads off live chickens. Mercurial and charismatic, Daniel charms everyone he encounters but his manipulation of Ruby becomes complicated when it no longer becomes clear who is holding all the cards. For all of Daniel’s secrets, Ruby has a few of her own. When one tragedy after another strikes the carnival, and it becomes clear that Daniel is somehow at the centre of calamity, Ruby takes it upon herself to discover the mystery of the shadowy man pulling all the strings.
If you love young adult romance fiction:
Just For Clicks by Kara McDowell
Mummy blogs are great… unless the blog happens to belong to your mum. Twin sisters Claire and Poppy are accidental social media stars thanks to their mom going viral when they were babies. Now, as teens, they’re expected to contribute by building their own brand. Attending a NY fashion week and receiving fan mail is a blast. Fending off internet trolls and would-be kidnappers? Not so much. Poppy embraces it. Claire hates it. Will anybody accept her as “just Claire”? And what should Claire do about Mom’s old journals? The handwritten entries definitely don’t sound like Mom’s perfect blog persona. Worse, one of them divulges a secret that leaves Claire wondering what else in her life might be nothing but a sham.
If you love dark humour:
Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett
One morning, Jessa-Lynn Morton walks into the family taxidermy shop to find that her father has committed suicide on one of the metal tables. Shocked and grieving, Jessa steps up to manage the failing business while the rest of the Morton family crumbles. Her mother starts sneaking into the shop to make aggressively lewd art with the taxidermied animals. Her brother Milo withdraws, struggling to function. And Brynn, Milo’s wife—and the only person Jessa’s ever been in love with—walks out without a word. As Jessa seeks less-than-legal ways of generating income, her mother’s art escalates—picture a figure of her dead husband and a stuffed buffalo in an uncomfortably sexual pose—and the Mortons reach a tipping point. For the first time, Jessa has no choice but to learn who these people truly are, and ultimately how she fits alongside them.
If you love dystopian / post-apocalyptic stories:
The Lightest Object in the Universe by Kimi Eisele
After a global economic collapse and failure of the electrical grid, Carson, a high school history teacher heads west on foot towards Beatrix, a woman he met and fell hard for during a chance visit to his school. Amidst the chaos and working his way along a cross-country railroad line, he encounters lost souls, clever opportunists, and those who believe they’ll be delivered from hardship if they can find their way to the evangelical preacher, Jonathan Blue, who is broadcasting on all the airwaves countrywide.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, Beatrix and her neighbours turn to one another for food, water, and solace, and begin to construct the kind of cooperative community that suggests the end could, in fact, be a promising beginning.
But between Beatrix and Carson lie 3,000 miles (approximately 4,900km). With no internet, phone or postal service, can they find their way back to each other, and what will be left of their world when they do? The answers may lie with fifteen-year-old Rosie Santos, who travels reluctantly with her grandmother to Jonathan Blue, finding her voice and making choices that could ultimately decide the fate of the cross-country lovers.
If you love historical fiction:
The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff
One morning while passing through Grand Central Terminal on her way to work, Grace Healey finds an abandoned suitcase tucked beneath a bench. Unable to resist her own curiosity, Grace opens the suitcase where she discovers a dozen photographs—each of a different woman. In a moment of impulse, Grace takes the photographs and quickly leaves the station.
She soon learns that the suitcase belonged to a woman named Eleanor Trigg, leader of a network of female secret agents who were deployed out of London during the war. Twelve of these women were sent to Occupied Europe as couriers and radio operators to aid the resistance. However, they never returned home and their fates remained a mystery. Setting out to learn the truth behind the women in the photographs, Grace finds herself drawn to a young mother turned agent named Marie, whose daring mission overseas reveals a remarkable story of friendship, valor and betrayal.
If you love short stories:
Joy: And 52 Other Very Short Stories by Erin McGraw
In these very short stories, narrators step out of their shoes to explain their lives to us, sometimes defensively, sometimes regretfully, and other times deceitfully. Voices include those of the impulsive first-time murderer, the depressed pet sitter, the assistant of Patsy Cline, the anxiety-riddled new mother, the aged rock and roller, the girlfriend of your husband—human beings who are often (and incredibly) unaware of the turning points that are staring at them in the face.
Not sure where you can find these books? This might help!| SHARE THE STORY | |
| Explore More |
