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Celebrating Indie Authors – Check out these four
By Carol / October 13, 2017 /
October 14 is Indie Author Day, a day recognizing and encouraging authors who choose to publish independently. As you may know, I indie published my first book Growing Up Country, and am in the process of indie publishing my second novel Simple Truth.
Among the many delights of indie publishing was meeting so many other authors who’d taken the same route to publication. In honor of the day, I tip my hat to four authors I’ve come to know and respect.
David Lawlor – An Irish author, Lawlor is a fantastic story teller. He writes books I enjoy for lots of reasons: historical fiction, fast pace, well-drawn characters. Three of his books – Tan, Golden Grave, and A Time of Traitors – form a trilogy centered on Liam Mannion, an Irishman who fought with the English in World War I and returns to Ireland only to become embroiled in the Irish war for independence from England. Fascinating history. Terrific writing. His blog posts at History With A Twist are as entertaining as they are instructive.
Carol Erwin – Erwin draws inspiration from the West Virginia mountains and the people and industry that took root there. Her Mountain Women series includes six books so far, beginning with The Girl On The Mountain. In each book Ervin creates a vivid landscape of characters and the Appalachian Mountains. The stories don’t rest on famous people or well known events. Instead Erwin relies on characters so well developed, language so precise and fresh, and a plot so engaging you can’t help but be drawn in.
M. K. Tod – Tod is a Canadian author who also writes historical fiction (do you sense a theme here?). Tod has focused much of her writing on the WWI era, telling stories set mostly in France. Her first novel – Unravelled – introduces characters we track in future novels. Her stories include rich historical detail and fully developed characters. She blogs about historical fiction at A Writer of History.
Paulette Mahurin – Mahurin blends famous characters and events with local stories. Her first book – The Persecution of Mildred Dunlap – is a good example of her style. Set in 1895, the story tells how the citizens of a small Nevada town are impacted by the news that Oscar Wilde was convicted of gross indecency under Britain’s law making sex between men a criminal offense.
Indie authors are writing and publishing excellent stories. I encourage you to check out these and other indie authors. On Indie Author Day or any other day.
Have you found an indie-published author you particularly like? Please share.
Thanks much for the tips, Carol. I too enjoy historical fiction. I like the balance of escapism without straying too far from “home.”
Books do that for us, don’t they, Janet? We can get away to other countries, other worlds, other times, all without leaving the comfort of our homes.
They all look terrific, Carol. Thanks for sharing these and all the best to you as you prepare to launch your second novel.
I hope you’ll have an opportunity to check out these authors at some point. There are so many others I could add to the list. I’m working diligently on “Simple Truth.” Targeting the end of the year for publication.
Thank you so much for featuring my book. Coming from you, an author whose books I love, is such a thrill. Love, Paulette
You’re welcome, Paulette. So delighted to get to know you through writing and publishing. Best to you.
Carol, thank you for these book recommendations. I’m going to check out The Girl on the Mountain by Carol Ervin and perhaps read her whole series. I’m also going to check out your novel, Growing Up Country, and I’m looking forward to your new book. Happy writing to you.
Thanks for taking a look at Carol’s books, Billie. I really enjoy her writing and the stories.
My book, Growing Up Country, is a memoir of my growing up on a family farm in the middle of America, in the middle of the 20th Century. My first novel is Go Away Home, historical fiction set in the years leading up to WWI. My upcoming novel is an issue-oriented, contemporary story also set in Iowa.
I just finished reading “The Prussian Captain” by Ann Brough, a Canadian author. This is her debut novel and is based on a true story about her grandparents, both born in England, one from a wealthy, the other from an impoverished background. I could not put the book down as it is a fascinating story of the rich and the poor, each with their own firmly defined limits, scandalous if broken.
I first met Ann in Lester Beach, Manitoba where they own a cottage, which we rented one summer.
Thanks for sharing another indie author, Elfrieda. The story sounds interesting. It’s fun to know the author whose work you’re reading. And you have an even deeper connection having stayed in her cottage.