Indie Bookshelf Releases – Phoenix Edition!

Earlier this year, the publisher Silver Shamrock Publishing suddenly closed leaving many authors (including myself) without homes for their books and and sending their writing careers into a strange and upsetting limbo. Yet the darkness did not last for too long as the community rallied round, authors set up resources to help those affected and publishers stepped in to offer the displaced books a new home.

It’s taken a while, pretty much due to the practicalities of authors regaining rights, new covers being prepared where desired and the new publisher fitting the adopted author into their schedule. This bookshelf special is a way of promoting those books as they reappear and thanking everyone who supported what for many, was a difficult time. Note that some books were ‘in the pipeline’ and hadn’t made it into publication but they are still included here as a signed contract affects them as much as anyone else.

First up are a few individuals who gave up their time and energy and put resources in place for the authors with no other agenda than to simply be of help (which actually applies to everyone here). A huge thankyou goes to Cynthia Pelayo, Eva Roslin and Kenneth W. Cain.

Cynthia “Cina” Pelayo is an International Latino Book Award winning and three-time Bram Stoker Awards® nominated poet and author.

She is the author of LOTERIA, SANTA MUERTE, THE MISSING, and POEMS OF MY NIGHT, all of which have been nominated for International Latino Book Awards. POEMS OF MY NIGHT was also nominated for an Elgin Award. Her recent collection of poetry, INTO THE FOREST AND ALL THE WAY THROUGH explores true crime, that of the epidemic of missing and murdered women in the United States, and was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award and Elgin Award.

Her modern day horror retelling of the Pied Piper fairy tale, CHILDREN OF CHICAGO was released by Agora / Polis Books, and won an International Latino Book Award for Best Mystery (2021).

She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Columbia College, a Master of Science in Marketing from Roosevelt University, a Master of Fine Arts in Writing from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and is a Doctoral Candidate in Business Psychology at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology.

Cina was raised in inner city Chicago, where she still lives.

Find her online at www.cinapelayo.com and on Twitter @cinapelayo.

Eva Roslin is a disabled horror writer from Canada with a penchant for Southern Gothic themes. She received the Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Scholarship from the Horror Writers Association in 2017, a Ladies of Horror Fiction Grant in 2021, and is a Supporting HWA member. Her work has appeared in such publications as Love Bites (Mischief Publishing), Dark Heroes (Pill Hill Press), Murky Depths, Ghostlight Magazine and others. She is a librarian, instructor, and researcher with a focus on 19th century American history, particularly the Civil War, Reconstruction Era, and free people of colour in antebellum Louisiana.

Find out more about Eva at her website here and follow her on Twitter @EvaRoslin.

Kenneth W. Cain is an author and editor and champion of other authors. Throughout, and even until recently, he has been keeping those affected by the demise of SSP informed as to the status of rights, royalties and the like – so far as he was able. He guided us through the maze of rights reversions and kept us updated as time went on. Much of the time he was like us, somewhat in the dark, but whenever he was able to, he would pass on what news he had. He put himself under incredible pressure taking our initial representation upon himself, without being asked, and advising us accordingly. I know that all authors within SSP are truly grateful for the efforts he made on our behalf.

Find out more about him at his website, Twitter @KennethWCain and Facebook.

Brigids Gate Press

‘Brigids Gate Press, an indie press established in 2021 by Heather, Clyde, and S.D. Ventura-Vassallo, believe in the power of STORY. We seek to be a forge where new and established talents are refined and developed, and their stories shaped and tempered into beautiful, dark, mysterious, and thrilling tales that will delight readers. Above all, we seek to do our utmost to help and encourage writers on their journeys.

Underrepresented authors are welcome. Unagented and agented authors are welcome.‘

Brigids Gate Press, with Kenneth W. Cain as editor, have also taken on a western anthology which was to have been published via SSP. They are one of two publishers to take on this call (see Timber Ghost Press below).

coming soon
coming soon!

 

Crossroad Press

Crossroad Press ‘is a growing, widely distributed digital publishing company.  Our books are on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, and Smashwords.  We also sell direct to several library consortiums.  We have published over 3000 titles and expect growth to continue exponentially.  We are approached by new agents, publishers, and authors almost daily … Along the way we’ve picked up authors like Clive Barker, Michael DiMercurio, P. F. Kluge, James Dalessandro, Joe Lansdale, Jack Ketchum, Chet Williamson, the estates of Hugh B. Cave and Irving Wallace, International best-selling authors Thomas Sullivan and William Bayer, most of the estate of Charlie Grant, works by John Farris and Neil Barrett Jr. ‘ They also provide hardback, trade paperbacks and audiobooks and give a full breakdown of how they work with authors. Please visit their site, there is a lot more there!

 

Eerie River Publishing

‘Eerie River Publishing is a small independent publishing house based in Ontario, Canada, committed to developing and releasing high-quality works in all of the dark genres. We are devoted to offering indie authors of all experience levels the opportunity to publish their works, be it through our own house or assisting them through our Author Services for self-publishing authors.’

Please note that this wonderful press has a special submission window for any authors whose publishing house have closed in a similar manner to the SSP incident which triggered this particular post.

 

 

Timber Ghost Press, LLC

As well as the books, a submission call for a Splatterpunk Western anthology was also affected. Timber Ghost Press is one of the publishers who stepped in to take on this call.

‘​Timber Ghost Press is a small press located in Utah, founded by C.R. Langille in 2021. They are a retired, disabled veteran with a deep love for weird and creepy tales.  

Mission Statement: Publish quality weird and creepy novels, novellas, and anthologies while taking care of our authors.

Vision Statement: Become the premier indie publisher of weird and creepy novels, novellas, and anthologies and be a respected name in the horror community.’

 

Along Harrowed Trails​ *OPEN* Timber Ghost Press is looking for high-quality horror poetry, flash, and short fiction set in the Old West for our upcoming anthology expected to release early 2023. The deadline for submissions is Aug 31st, 2022. For the submission form and further guidelines, click on the image.

 

 

 

Happy reading.

Steph

 on behalf of Stuart and the Horror Tree Team