#IndiePressDay – May The First Port Of Call Be An Indie
May 1st has long been established as something of a celebratory day
Here in the UK, the first Monday of May is a bank holiday – May Day, with spring in full bloom, a time for fresh beginnings… And now, a time for celebrating indie presses!
A collective of authors spearheaded by Elsewhen Press failed to discover a day dedicated to promoting indie presses, so they decided to make their own – and so #IndiePressDay was born, capitalising on a date that conveniently works well with word play: May the first port of call be an indie!
We have a long-standing relationship with various indie presses including Elsewhen Press, so when they got in touch to tell us about this fantastic initiative, we of course had to jump on board. And so, we rounded up the team and asked them to nominate a favourite read from an indie press. There are so brilliant recommendations below, so hopefully we can help you find your next great read, and maybe a new favourite publisher…
Nils: My choice would be The Garden of Delights by Amal Singh which was published by Flame Tree Publishing. I’m so pleased this book found the right home with an indie press because it’s a beautiful story that immerses its readers into a world that’s dreamy, whimsical and full of colour. Singh’s gentle, melancholic prose is beautiful and oozes with delights from every page. See what I did there?! *clears throat* It’s too complex to summarise the plot here so if you’d like to know more, here’s my review.
The Garden of Delights is available through Flame Tress Publishing
Hil: Blind Man’s Wolf by Amelia Faulkner, Ravensword Press. When the world’s worst assistance dog starts to take their owner far off the beaten track, it’s natural to reach out to a dog trainer for assistance. When the trainer starts to fall for the dog’s owner, he tries to keep it professional, but fails miserably. Oh, and they both have secrets to be kept, that vampires and werewolves aren’t the only things that go bump in the night. Urban fantasy, m/m romance tightly wrapped around a thriller, and a Very Good Dog. So glad I found this author, and this indie press. Definitely worth your time.
Blind Man’s Wolf is available through Ravensword Press
Cat: Tradwife by TC Parker, published by Nefarious Bat Press. A brilliantly black, clever and timely satire on certain aspects of contemporary nostalgia, this is a murder mystery with bite. One of those great books that absolutely grabs you – I lost quite a few hours to its pages and could not have guessed that conclusion at all! I’ve been recommending hard since it released and will continue to do so – a brilliant indie publisher and a fantastic author for these challenging times. Cat’s review in Top Picks.
Tradwife is available through Nefarious Bat Press
Kat: My pick is the eerie Fog & Fireflies by T H Lehnen, published by Aspen & Thorn Press! It’s the closest any book has come to replicating the vibes of a Ghibli film for me and it presents a unique worldbuilding perspective as we follow a village trapped by carnivorous fog – except the fog only attacks adults. It’s a fantastic book packed full of ethereal, ancient creatures, spooky threats, and magical caravans.
Fog & Fireflies is available through Aspen & Thorn
Jonathan: as long-time readers will know, I am a huge fan of indie presses.
I genuinely believe they are collectively putting out the most vital and exciting fiction that can be found today. I would refer people to my previous list of small presses that I did back in 2022,with the proviso that since then we have lost a number of them – RIP my beloved Unsung Stories and Handheld Press in particular – due to the horrendous costs that small presses routinely shoulder compounded with a flailing economy.
But many of them, from Galley Beggar Press to Dead Ink Books to the recently reactivated Influx Press, are still putting out remarkable work whose breadth, diversity and quality puts the major publishers to shame. In particular, go and read Alison Rumfitt’s Tell Me I’m Worthless and Brainwyrms, both published by Cipher Press, a wonderful indie that publishes cutting-edge queer fiction.
Or read Dengue Boy by Michel Nieva, my favourite book of 2025 so far, published by indie Serpent’s Tail that specialises in works in translation. There’s a whole range of incredible stuff out there.
Tell Me I’m Worthless is available through Cipher Press
Beth: I confess, I don’t read nearly enough books from indie presses – which is criminal considering the wealth of incredible ones out there right now!
An early favourite for me was Fox Spirit Books; Aunty Fox is an absolute gem in the book community, I’d highly recommend Shona Kinsella’s gaslamp fae story The Flame and the Flood.
We have to of course shout Elsewhen Press themselves! They have a wide-ranging catalogue but I’d recommend Tej Turner’s epic fantasy series starting with Bloodsworn.
But whenever we talk about book recommendations from indie presses, I will always come back to my one true love, Sully. She’s a witch, she’s a detective, she’s angry – and you can find her causing utter mayhem in G D Penman’s Witch of Empire series, starting with The Year of the Knife, published by Meerkat Press.
I’d also finally like to give a shout out to all the amazing Welsh indie presses that we’re super fortunate to have: Parthian Books, Seren, Y Lolfa, Honno, Graffeg, Firefly Press and of course Wizard’s Tower Press!
