In Honor of Indie, Unknown, and Mid-list Authors

… or “You Won’t Find These in the Average Bookstore

Photo © 2005 Justin Silles CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Looking at my “to-read” bookshelf for something to read after slogging through Nora Roberts’s Northern Lights… Would someone remind me: why exactly am I reading this? I’m nearing the end, but the end can’t come quickly enough. Right now, I’m rating it at about 2½ out of 5, because the prose needs momentum and the characters need personality. (All except for Bing, who actually does have personality. But he’s not even a secondary character.)

Looking at my “to-read” bookshelf, for an intelligent and engaging novel to enjoy, I discover that I have precious few books by the kind of authors I have most enjoyed: indie authors, unknown authors, and mid-list authors. These are authors of the kind who have blogs, and Twitter and Facebook accounts, who enthusiastically engage with fans, who would love for me to mention them here.

So I will.

Here are some of the authors whose work I have enjoyed, and which I expect to enjoy:

• Sheila Williams, an ex-corporate-exec, who quit her job and became a novelist. I had originally heard her story on an episode of Brain Brew Radio, an entrepreneurial business-oriented radio-show-turned-podcast. I put her first novel Dancing on the Edge of the Roof on my Amazon wishlist and on a whim, ordered it. Was one of the best decisions I ever made. My only regret is that I haven’t yet followed up with her second, third, and fourth novels.

• Holly Lisle, if you know anything about me, you know that I’m a huge fan of her work, but I’ve read only a tiny sampling of it. Despite having published dozens of novels, however, she’s still a mid-list writer. Not in my opinion. I’ve enjoyed everything of hers that I’ve read, and I recommend her work wholeheartedly. I’m currently working my way through The Silver Door, and the only thing holding me up is that the Little One is working her way through it as well, so we have to share.

• C.J. West, an indie author who’s published 3 novels. I wasn’t too crazy about his first, Sin & Vengeance, until he published his third, A Demon Awaits, in which the character Randy Black reprises his role. And I realized that for all of my complains about Sin & Vengeance, Randy Black made an excellent villain, a deeply victimized character with a god complex and the cunning to pull it off. Having now read both of the above, I want to go back to his middle novel, Taking Stock.

• Julie Carobini: her third novel Sweet Waters recently came out, and the concept intrigues me. Her first, Chocolate Beach, it took me a hundred pages or so to get into it, but once I did, I fell in love with the characters, and overall it earned 4 out of 5 stars. (That means I’d like to read more books like it someday, and maybe that someday is now.)

• Laura Whitcomb, an English-teacher-turned-YA-novelist (as I understand it). I fell in love with her first book A Certain Slant of Light when I read it for a reading group. As always, what hooked me were the characters and the sympathy I felt for them. Now that her second novel The Fetch has been released, just this past year, I’d like to read it as well.

• Kevin Cummings, a humorist, blogger, and indie author, who I met online, recently released his new book Happily Domesticated. I was enjoying reading the humorous sketches and essays therein, and then I got distracted. Not his fault—trust me. There’s only one writer who makes me laugh more than Kevin, and that’s Dave Barry. (Not even Mark Twain, one of my all-time-favorite authors makes me laugh more, not consistently, anyhow.)

Now, don’t get me wrong. There are a few big names I do enjoy reading. Kathy Reichs (for her vibrant characterization and edge-of-the-seat suspense). Janet Evanovich (one of my guilty pleasures; I also enjoy watching old episodes of the Love Boat). Stanislaw Lem. Robert Heinlein. Even Danielle Steel (at least the one novel of hers that I’ve read so far). And Twilight was recommended highly to me, and it’s sitting on my shelf, waiting for me to crack it open. (Do I dare? Paranormal romance is a saturated market right now in YA fiction, and that probably means it sucks. But Twilight was one of the early contenders, so maybe that means it doesn’t suck.)

But I’ve always been the rebel, always enjoyed doing what no one else was doing, reading what no one else has even heard about. For someone who takes such pleasure in breaking the rules, you’d think that I would find more enjoyment in discovering undiscovered authors.

So help me expand my list. What indie, unknown, and mid-list authors do you recommend for me to check out?

-TimK