15 Small Press Books You Should Be Reading This Summer

Readers, we are surviving successful unprecedented times. Funding for the arts and acquisition is being slashed, ICE agents infiltrate our communities, and our rights are perpetually nether attack. It is simply a acheronian clip successful America, but lit has ever been a beacon of hope: Even successful telling tragic stories, writers resist. We defy the impulse of complacency. We defy the thought that our stories don’t matter. 

In the pursuing 15 books from tiny press, absorption is simply a theme, whether against capitalism, toxic household structures, being overtaken by grief, oregon repressive regimes. Some of these books transportation a lightness, and immoderate are tragic. Each 1 reminds america of wherefore it matters to create. 

Running Wild Press: Fallout by Jordan Rosenfeld

Zoe Rasmussen is the woman of a almighty vigor executive, and adjacent though she has misgivings astir what her hubby does for a living, she stays with him for the economical stableness helium provides to her and their daughter. Her person Justine is simply a writer who has suffered the unspeakable nonaccomplishment of her ain daughter, and the women besides enslaved implicit their feelings astir clime justice. When Justine is ensnared by Project Nemesis, an all-female radical of eco-terrorists, she and Zoe are exposed to a violent, precocious stakes satellite wherever homemade bombs and targeted kidnappings are portion of the norm. As Rasmussen Energy seeks to interruption crushed connected a atomic powerfulness plant, and the Nemesis corporate ramps up, some women collide with elements of their past that haunt them. A almighty page-turner.

Hub City Press: Plum by Andy Anderegg

J and her older member M turn up unneurotic successful an abusive household, and they are bonded by the betrayal of their parents. They marque plans to permission arsenic soon arsenic M gets his driver’s license, but thing goes to plan, and J is near connected her own. She was a kid who had grown-up responsibilities similar making dinner, a tween who learned to play on to acceptable successful astatine school, a teen who became an influencer with her ain money, and arsenic she enters young-adulthood, gains power implicit her destiny. Yet, J does not hide her brother, and works done analyzable feelings astir their separation. Plum is an intimate caller that speaks to generational trauma, the mode children are failed by adults, and the powerfulness of a miss who dares to survive.

Autumn House Press: I Have Not Considered Consequences by Sherrie Flick

A carnivore holds its bosom successful its paws, offering it to a hiker; a carnivore takes vitamin D supplements that messes with its sleep; a third-grade schoolroom sees a carnivore extracurricular their model and they, including the teacher, solemnly bash not respire a connection retired of their corporate fearfulness and awe; a pistillate admits she is, actually, thing of the bear: it is her bosom she is trying to give. In this postulation of short, flash, and micro-fictions, the satellite turns connected some the tiny pedestrian and ample absurd moments, and the people—whether children oregon lovers oregon a pistillate who conscionable wanted a kitten but is alternatively large and soaking successful the bathtub—are each infused with a consciousness of longing. Flick’s characters cognize they request something, but aren’t ever definite what it is. A lawsuit survey of the affectional interaction imaginable successful the abbreviated form.

New Door Books: The Blue Door by Janice Deal

Flo is simply a societal idiosyncratic by grooming who present works successful an upscale market store successful the American southwest. Her daughter, Teddy, was sentenced to a juvenile detention installation for a convulsive transgression erstwhile they were surviving successful bluish Illinois; slowly, they are mending the rift that opened betwixt them. Flo feels parental guilt. Teddy is distant. In the meantime, Flo’s canine has escaped her apartment, and she is connected a day-long travel to find him. As she walks, she is flooded by representation of Teddy arsenic a child, retells (and amends) the fairy-tale her ain parent utilized to archer to her, and tries to reckon with the caller decease of a beloved person who was 1 of the lone radical who supported them erstwhile Teddy was convicted. Written with affectional depth, The Blue Door is infused with empathy.

West Virginia University Press: north by north/west by Chris Campanioni

The seminal 1959 Hitchcock movie North by Northwest centers connected a lawsuit of mistaken identity; Campanioni’s hybrid enactment of the aforesaid sanction (with antithetic punctuation) besides focuses connected identity, though Campanioni’s is not mistaken: helium is seeking to understand. At the halfway of this hybrid non-fiction enactment is the conception of exile; arsenic the lad of exiles from Cuba and Poland, his precise beingness is shaped by the impacts of the Cold War. Here is simply a publication wherever sermon astir Wittgenstein, selfies, and Google Maps tin look connected the aforesaid leafage and way perfectly; present is simply a publication that tin dive into humanities events, with dates and documentation, and inactive consciousness precise personal. In north by north/west, Campanioni offers readers a caller benignant of root story.

Tin House Books: Foreign Fruit by Katie Goh

In Foreign Fruit, Katie Goh maps her idiosyncratic past alongside that of the orange. Originating successful Asia, which is besides Goh’s ancestral homeland, the orangish effect has a analyzable past of cultivation, migration, and multi-cultural significance. Goh’s heavy probe into the citrus that traces backmost to the Himalayan foothills works successful tandem with her enquiry into her ain Chinese and Malaysian heritage—and her ain household histrion is conscionable arsenic branched. Goh’s prose is lyrical and deft arsenic she draws parallels from the plagues carried on the Silk Roads to the Covid pandemic, and arsenic she links the oranges we person successful supermarkets contiguous with her ain story. As a text, Foreign Fruit is astute and satisfying. As a memoir, it is breathtaking. 

SFWP: After Pearl by Stephen G. Eoannou

Nicholas Bishop is simply a backstage detective surviving retired of a hotel, and his occurrence is profoundly hampered by his alcoholism. As Nazism sweeps crossed Europe, and successful the aftermath of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, anti-Semitism surfaces successful Buffalo, New York. The bureau of 1 of Bishop’s associates—a Jewish attorney—is repeatedly vandalized. All the while, section nightclub vocalist Pearl DeGaye has gone missing, and Bishop is simply a suspect. He is besides struggling desperately with the request to drink, and is lone holding it unneurotic with the assistance of his assistant, Gia. Packed with made men, corrupt politicians, and philandering husbands with socialite wives, After Pearl is simply a throw-back noir with a literate twist. While Eoannou’s Bishop is simply a profoundly flawed man, we basal for him anyway.  

Buckrider Books: Drinking the Ocean by Saad Omar Khan

Murad and Sofi are assemblage students erstwhile they meet, and some are trying to fig retired who they volition beryllium successful the world. Sofi is haunted by the decease of her brother, and Murad is opening to wrestle with what Islam means to him. While Murad has romanticist feelings toward Sofi, she does not reciprocate, and they instrumentality a break. Drinking the Ocean follows their stories, some earlier and aft their split, including a accidental brushwood successful Toronto, arsenic their paths tally some parallel and diverge, and they some indispensable recognize what it means, personally, to beryllium Muslim successful modern London and Toronto. An artfully meditative novel, Khan captures highly idiosyncratic matters of faith, analyzable narration dynamics, and a heavy consciousness of longing successful this beautifully written debut. 

Dzanc Books: Unfinished Acts of Wild Creation by Sarah Yahm

When Louise is diagnosed with the aforesaid terminal neurological illness her parent died from, she is determined to spare her contiguous household from watching a dilatory decline. Louise has built a beingness with her hubby of 20 years, Leon, and has a adjacent narration with their girl Lydia. In an effort to support them some from the symptom Louise experienced arsenic her ain parent was physically ravaged by disease, she moves to a kibbutz successful Israel wherever she has kin. Yet, alternatively of redeeming her hubby and daughter, who is conscionable a teen erstwhile Louise leaves, from the trauma of extended unwellness and caregiving, she creates a gaping affectional hole. This caller explores the analyzable choices we marque erstwhile trying to support the radical we love—and ourselves. 

Betty Books: The Boat Not Taken by Joanna Choi Kalbus

Part of the land-owning gentry, the Choi household fled Korea arsenic it was partitioned betwixt northbound and south, a 1945 Cold War borderline drawn nether the power of the United States and the Soviet Union—and they had already fled erstwhile before, to China, erstwhile Korea was nether Japanese occupation. Caught successful the aftermaths of aggregate wars, Kalbus lived successful tenuous lodging and exile camps, until she and her parent made their mode to Los Angeles. This memoir details some the struggles and the joys Kalbus and her parent acquisition successful LA, and however they marque their way. At times disarmingly funny, determination remains the information that arsenic idiosyncratic from what is present North Korea, adjacent decades later, she cannot spell home. With notes of unspoken unit and a chorus of resilience, The Boat Not Taken shines with Kalbus’s voice. 

Regal House: Duet for One by Martha Anne Toll

When Adele Pearl—half of the renowned soft duet Pearl and Pearl—dies from cancer, her lad Adam is near dealing with the nonaccomplishment arsenic helium watches his father—the different fractional of the duet—keening with the lack of some a woman and nonrecreational collaborator. As Adam works done his grief, helium examines some his narration with his parent and the romanticist relationships with different women successful his life, each of which are suffused with a benignant of emptiness. A talented violin subordinate successful his ain right, Adam starts to question however the philharmonic ambitions of his parents impacted him. When a pistillate helium utilized to attraction profoundly for resurfaces successful his life, his feelings are further complicated. A thoughtfully crafted and deftly layered caller that offers a nuanced look astatine encores, and astatine love.

Rejection Letters Press: Freelance by Kevin M. Kearney

After Simon hardly graduates from his elite backstage schoolhouse successful Philadelphia, helium starts driving for HYPR, a ride-sharing app. Because his astir meaningful romanticist narration to day is with a cam girl, helium already knows however the net infiltrates real-life. And, already, the HYPR app seems to cognize excessively overmuch astir him. Yet, arsenic his roommates, different drivers, and a metropolis council-person statesman agitating against HYPR’s labour practices, Simon doubles down. He takes a fiscal inducement and drives adjacent much to support up with the presumption of his payout—even erstwhile it’s starting to go wide that definite rider matches are perfectly not coincidences. A caller that grapples with the ramifications of the gig system successful late-stage capitalism and the ever-growing hostility betwixt a beingness lived and a beingness lived via a screen, Freelance is an astute cautionary tale. 

Book*hug Press: Iris and the Dead by Miranda Schreiber

Somewhere successful Toronto, a precocious schoolhouse counsellor has a caller job, having fled her past posting successful Colorado, aft having near her location authorities of California. The counselor, Iris, takes a peculiar involvement successful the talker of this hybrid novel, who is technically an big astatine eighteen, but besides intelligibly a kid successful presumption of powerfulness dynamics. The talker believes she is successful love, and the caller unfolds successful fragments of longing, confusion, and diary entries. In addressing questions of consent and abuse, Schreiber unpacks the precise analyzable experiences of a young woman’s sexuality successful the aftermath of a intelligence wellness situation profoundly exacerbated by being groomed. Iris and the Dead is uncomfortable successful the mode it feels truthful true, and cleanable successful the mode its talker finds her ain voice.

Autofocus: Out There successful the Dark by Katharine Coldiron

In this postulation of braided essays that employment classical films similar Apocalypse Now and The Sound of Music as a foundation, Katharine Coldiron looks astatine her ain beingness with a cinematic scope. She works connected a equine workplace with a hard but loveable steed named Borges, she undergoes analyzable dental enactment due to the fact that of a puerility illness, she wonders what her begetter is not telling her astir his clip successful Vietnam. All the while, Last Tango successful Paris plays successful the background, and the representation of an older Marlon Brando is juxtaposed against him arsenic a young antheral successful A Streetcar Named Desire. Neither a memoir nor a publication of movie criticism, Coldiron succeeds successful pulling unneurotic the moments that marque our ain beingness consciousness arsenic if we are successful a movie—and successful this case, it’s an exceptionally absorbing one. 

Columbia University Press: The Red Wind Howls by Tsering Döndrup, translated by Christopher Peacock

In 1950s Tibet, Alak Drong is the reincarnate lama, and adjacent helium is not supra informing connected different inmates successful the labour camp. Such is the civilization of fear, surveillance, and unit imposed by the Chinese occupation. The caller details the horrors of the camps galore Tibetans were sent to aft a failed uprising successful 1958, and it besides shows that successful the look of truthful overmuch cultural, familial, and biology destruction, beingness extracurricular the camps was often not overmuch better. The Red Wind Howls excavates a play of peculiar cruelty successful the Mao regime—Tibetans sentenced to hard labor, taste Chinese experiencing famine. It is truthful desperate, adjacent beatified Alak Drong is fallible. Banned successful China, The Red Wind Howls was agelong lone disposable connected the achromatic market. Tsering Döndrup deserves to beryllium read.

The station 15 Small Press Books You Should Be Reading This Summer appeared archetypal connected Electric Literature.