# who's the indie writer who knocked your socks off



## KirstenM (Feb 2, 2011)

Okay. So I am looking for indie writers who transcend indieness :-D

This is the mythic creature: the writer who in another age would have been Discovered and feted as a Master of the craft -- 

The one who, if the universe is just, will one day rise to the top -- and will still be read when our Kindles are all long buried in a landfill somewhere.

The writer is an excellent story teller; has a gift for language; understands that stories need to be very local yet touch on enormous themes . . .

Anybody there spotted this creature?


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## davidhburton (Mar 11, 2010)

Scott Nicholson - hands down. Absolutely brilliant writer.


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## ddarol (Feb 5, 2009)

Boyd Morrison.......at least he used to be.  Now he's been "discovered".  But it is well deserved!  Read all his books when he was an indie and on these boards.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

The first Indie I read was KB member Mike Hicks...I couldn't put the original version of In Her Name down in February 2009....

Betsy


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> The first Indie I read was KB member Mike Hicks...I couldn't put the original version of In Her Name down in February 2009....
> 
> Betsy


I second this.

And may I add Jeff Hepple?


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## intinst (Dec 23, 2008)

scarlet said:


> I second this.
> 
> And may I add Jeff Hepple?


Ditto on Mike and Jeff


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## Bigal-sa (Mar 27, 2010)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> The first Indie I read was KB member Mike Hicks...I couldn't put the original version of In Her Name down in February 2009....
> 
> Betsy


My favourite too!


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

I was really impressed by James D. Best, especially since I don't normally read westerns and yet wound up loving his western series:


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I like Ed Patterson's work. . . .especially if I'm in the mood for a good long read. . .with lots of plot twists and turns.  The only problem is the books are so good I sometimes read too fast and don't pick up critical details.


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## KirstenM (Feb 2, 2011)

Okay, so far the list is all men! I did not expect that.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Well, your post title sort of implied just one, and Mike was the first one I read, so I picked him.

J Carson Black, Monique and Debra Geary.... am reading all their books.

And Michael Wallace, for another male-type individual....

Betsy


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## kcrady (Dec 17, 2009)

I second Debra Geary, and would add Donna Ball, Nathan Lowell, and CS Marks (Archer) to the list - I've read almost everything each of these authors has published and will buy their future books as soon as they are available


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## Tony Richards (Jul 6, 2011)

I second Scott Nicholson.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

kcrady said:


> I second Debra Geary, and would add Donna Ball, Nathan Lowell, and CS Marks (Archer) to the list - I've read almost everything each of these authors has published and will buy their future books as soon as they are available


I really enjoyed Archer's books...my only excuse for not mentioning her is that it's a genre I don't read much of. Again, her posts here on KB got me interested enough to try them.

Betsy


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## Guest (Mar 21, 2012)

I'll toss out a few names: Victorine Lieske, J.M. Pierce, and Amanda Hocking.


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## KirstenM (Feb 2, 2011)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> Well, your post title sort of implied just one, and Mike was the first one I read, so I picked him.
> 
> J Carson Black, Monique and Debra Geary.... am reading all their books.
> 
> ...


That was semi-deliberate -- my tbr pile is already ahead of me -- if this list gets too long I'll end up on the floor in a fetal position


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## MLPMom (Nov 27, 2009)

I have read a lot of really talented indie authors in lots of genres. A lot of them are members here in fact.

Barbra Anninno, Maria E. Schneider, J.A. Templeton, J. Meyers. It really depends on what you are looking for and in which genre.


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## balaspa (Dec 27, 2009)

Wow, that is a tall order.  The one book I think comes closest, in my experience, was Epitaph for Coyote from Bryan R. Dennis.  I wrote a review of it and compared it to Catcher in the Rye and some other big "profound" novels of past generations.


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## J.R.Mooneyham (Mar 14, 2011)

I guess I only recently began reading some indie books myself. Largely because ebooks are where you're most likely to encounter them, and ebooks and ebook readers are fairly new developments. I mean, sure, they've been around for several years now, but I avoided them until just a couple years back because the whole field was in such flux, and far too chaotic for my tastes. I waited until Amazon had brought some order to the marketplace before I even considered delving into it myself, as either reader or author.

Another reason for my late arrival to the indie scene as a reader is that I was on a hiatus from entertainment reading, from around the early 1990s, until just the past year or so. Seriously. I read more than 2000 books before starting that break, then virtually nothing of an entertainment nature during it. Why? I was busy. I'd also exhausted all the titles by my favorite authors, and was having lots of trouble finding anything else to intrigue me. During that long break, I did read maybe a dozen Clive Cussler books: that was about it. Everything else I read was for work or education.

Unfortunately, that lengthy break didn't produce nearly the wealth of potential new reading material for me that I'd expected of it. For when I restarted such reading again, I found and read a few dozen good books-- then abruptly ran out of good choices again; in just a period of months. But as ebooks offer all those indie titles in addition to high profile authors now, I've started sampling those-- even stepping out of my preferred genres to do so.

So far the indie I'd have to rate as most enjoyable is KB's own Sybil Nelson, with her Priscilla the Great book. I'm likely to read more of her books when I get the chance, as well as try other of my fellow indies as well (once I get another sizable break from work and chores; besides having lots of self-employment stuff to do right now, I'm also helping my elderly dad recover from hip replacement surgery).


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## KMenozzi (Jan 8, 2012)

Greta van der Rol. No question.


is historical fiction, about the shipwreck of the _Batavia _in 1629 and the horror which followed for the survivors. It's a chilling, well-written and compelling read. (In my humble opinion, of course.)


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## Matthew Lee Adams (Feb 19, 2012)

kcrady said:


> I second Debra Geary, and would add *Donna Ball*, Nathan Lowell, and CS Marks (Archer) to the list - I've read almost everything each of these authors has published and will buy their future books as soon as they are available


Donna Ball (who also writes under the name Donna Boyd) is very good and someone I'll also highly recommend.

She has actually written in a few genres so there may be something for quite a few people among her work, depending upon what people like. Some of her stuff is still published by her legacy publishers. But a lot of her newer work and backlist are her own.

Her paranormal stuff (werewolf trilogy The Promise/The Passion/Renegade) reminds me of Anne Rice - in the sense that she is a beautifully descriptive author who visualizes historical time periods in a really vivid way, and whose characters make themselves quite known  Plotwise, Anne Rice has her own style(s), of course.


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## dablab (Feb 10, 2009)

ddarol said:


> Boyd Morrison.......at least he used to be. Now he's been "discovered". But it is well deserved! Read all his books when he was an indie and on these boards.


I have to agree with you here. He was the first person I thought of.


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## James Everington (Dec 25, 2010)

Hmmm, a few to mention: Cate Gardner, Dan Holloway, Neil Schiller, Marion Stein and Iain Rowan spring to mind.


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## dablab (Feb 10, 2009)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> The first Indie I read was KB member Mike Hicks...I couldn't put the original version of In Her Name down in February 2009....
> 
> Betsy


Ahh, and another one. Great books.


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## Krista D. Ball (Mar 8, 2011)

My cat has been putting out some great works. My favourite? Meow Meow me Meow. 



(Ann is going to beat me for that)


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

Part of the problem for me is that certain genres tend to sock knocker offers, while others don't.....


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## Krista D. Ball (Mar 8, 2011)

scarlet said:


> Part of the problem for me is that certain genres tend to sock knocker offers, while others don't.....


*nod*

One thing I'd like to see is the academic world re-publishing some of their papers, grouping them together, etc. Kinda like anthologies for non-fiction. I would *love* that.


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## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

Seconding several of the ones mentioned above, especially Jeff and Mike, and I'd also like to add Karen McQuestion. I've read a _lot_ of kids' books over the past few years, and her book _Celia and the Fairies_ (for kids under ten or so) is one of the best-crafted ones I've ever read.


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## sherylb (Oct 27, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> The first Indie I read was KB member Mike Hicks...I couldn't put the original version of In Her Name down in February 2009....
> 
> Betsy


Yep, me too. One of the original members of the 2am club!


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## MeiLinMiranda (Feb 17, 2011)

Nathan Lowell.


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## StephenEngland (Nov 2, 2011)

I've read some good indie authors over the last year. Knock the socks off good? That would have to go to Robert Bidinotto and his vigilante thriller _Hunter_, a debut thriller quite a bit better than anything I've read recently out of New York. My two cents.


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

I kinda got yelled at the last time I answered one of these questions... I had too many answers... so I'll limit to one.. this time... but know that there are many many indies I have found in the past 3+ years that I LOVE the writings of.


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## boydm (Mar 21, 2009)

ddarol]
Boyd Morrison.......at least he used to be. Now he's been "discovered". But it is well deserved! Read all his books when he was an indie and on these boards.
[/quote]
[quote author=dablab said:


> I have to agree with you here. He was the first person I thought of.


Thanks, ddarol and dablab! I'm still hangin' around, but I don't post as much now that I have deadlines. Indie publishing is still a great option and gives more leverage to writers who do decide to go with a traditional publisher.

My vote would be Douglas Richards, who wrote a book called Wired. I loved it so much that I blurbed it, and it hit the NY Times e-book bestseller list (definitely not because I blurbed it, but because it was a fantastic story).


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## SunHi Mistwalker (Feb 28, 2012)

Well, I'm still making my way down my reading list; but so far I would say Hugh Howey. I love his Wool series.


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## jehma (Jul 10, 2009)

I'll second Hugh Howey. I loved Wool and read The Plagiarist and Half Way Home. I couldn't put Half Way Home down. I'm reading The Hurricane now and I'm completely sucked in.


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## mistyd107 (May 22, 2009)

KA Thompson, LJ Sellers and Maureen Miller with SEVERAL more Indie authors on my kindle left to discover


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## jbcohen (Jul 29, 2011)

Its always a good idea if we are able to laugh at our own mistakes.  I thought indie was short for Indian, as in the ones whose national capital is New Deli.


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## Debbie Bennett (Mar 25, 2011)

Marj McRae



Amazing depth & detail.


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## KMenozzi (Jan 8, 2012)

James Everington said:


> Hmmm, a few to mention: Cate Gardner, Dan Holloway, Neil Schiller, Marion Stein and Iain Rowan spring to mind.


Dan Holloway is another of my favorites - and he's a wonderful guy, too.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I am reminded that I quite enjoyed David McAfee's 33 A.D.. And I'm not even a vampire/horror fan. . .but he put quite an interesting spin on a story that is familiar to many of us. . . . .


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

MeiLinMiranda said:


> Nathan Lowell.


I was so taken with his book 'Quarter Shade's that I bought the next book in the series when I was only 2/3 done. He would be my favorite but then I discovered an Indian author, Mainak Dhar, who writes in multiple genres and is just highly entertaining ...


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## drenfrow (Jan 27, 2010)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> The first Indie I read was KB member Mike Hicks...I couldn't put the original version of In Her Name down in February 2009....


Add me to this list. I considered it one of my top reads for 2010.


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## Meka (Sep 8, 2011)

So far L.J. Sellers, I am really enjoying the Detective Jackson series. There are other indie authors on my "To Read" list as well, so hopefully there will be more who knock my socks off


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## soyfrank (Feb 2, 2011)

James Everington said:


> Hmmm, a few to mention: Cate Gardner, Dan Holloway, Neil Schiller, Marion Stein and Iain Rowan spring to mind.


I second Marion Stein and Dan Holloway.


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## Kay Bratt (Dec 28, 2011)

The best I've read in the last few months is Hugh Howey, _*Wool*_, by a long shot!


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## Ergodic Mage (Jan 23, 2012)

Another vote for Hugh Howey by a good margin. After that Randolph Lalonde's work is also very good.


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## TheSFReader (Jan 20, 2011)

My vote for indie "storyteller" who knocked my socks off would go to David Kitson for Turing Evolved (Free). But after more than a year (and a few "crowdsourced" editing passes), the book STILL needs professional editing. I was able to go past the typos, and BOY was I glad to ! What a great story !

Otherwise, it would go to (shared) Debora Geary and Nathan Lowell, with Michael Sullivan closely after.


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## Alex Owens (Mar 24, 2011)

Debora Geary, Monique Martin, Scott Nicholson, Arthur Slade (Dust), Suzanne Tyrpak, Shea McLeod (sp?), Ania Ahlborn (Seed), JL Bryan (Jenny Pox), Jack Wallen, Heather Marie Adkins...just to name a few


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

If we're going for just one, I'd say Michael Wallace.


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## 31842 (Jan 11, 2011)

Susan Ee's Angelfall was the best book I read last year. There was a hole in my heart after The Hunger Games ended, and I thought nothing would ever be able to fill it again. And then I read Angelfall. It blew my mind! I picked it up for 99-cents, thinking that all of those positive review had to be sock puppets. I now stalk her Goodreads page to see when the next one will come out. Angelfall was AMAZING.


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## KirstenM (Feb 2, 2011)

Okay, I compiled everyone's answers. This is not the least bit scientific obviously, but fwiw . . . 

Writers who got the most praise (i.e. multiple people gave thumbs up):

Mike Hicks (In Her Name) – 7 votes and 1 mention in list of several authors
Hugh Howey (Wool) – 4 votes
Nathan Lowell (Quarter Shades) - 2 votes plus 1 mention in list of several authors and another mention as 2nd place author
Jeff Hepple – 2 votes and 1 mention in list of several authors
Scott Nicholson - 2 votes plus mention in list of several authors
Dan Holloway  - 1 votes and 2 mentions in list of several authors
Michael Wallace – 2 votes
Boyd Morrison - 2 votes
Donna Ball aka Donna Boyd – 2 votes
CS Marks (Archer) – 1 vote and 1 mention in list of several
L.J. Sellers (Detective Jackson series) – 1 votes  and 1 mention in list of several authors
Debra Geary – (also 1 vote as 2nd place author)


Other writers who got singled as as "the" #1 indie author:

Ania Ahlborn (Seed)
Arthur Slade (Dust)
Bryan R. Dennis (Epitaph for Coyote)
Cate Gardner (mentioned in list of several authors)
David Kitson (Turing Evolved)
David McAfee (33 AD)
Douglas Richards (Wired)
Ed Patterson
Greta van der Rol (To Die a Dry Death)
James D. Best (The Shopkeeper)
Jason Letts (Powerless)
Marj McRae
Randolph Lalonde
Robert Bidinotto (Hunter)
Suan Ee (Angelfall)
Sybil Nelson (Priscilla the Great)


Writers mentioned in lists of multiple authors:

Amanda Hocking 
Barbra Anninno 
Heather Marie Adkins 
Iain Rowan 
J Carson Black 
J. Meyers 
J.A. Templeton 
Jack Wallen 
JL Bryan (Jenny Pox) 
JM Pierce 
KA Thompson 
Karen McQuestion (children’s) 
Marie E. Schneider 
Marion Stein – 2 mentions 
Maureen Miller 
Michael Sullivan (mentioned as 3rd place author)


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## KirstenM (Feb 2, 2011)

Whoops, sorry, cut/paste missed four -- add this to my last list 

Neil Schiller 
Shea Mcleod 
Suzanne Tyrpak 
Victorine Lieske


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## KirstenM (Feb 2, 2011)

aaaand one more I missed -- Monique Martin - 2 mentions in lists of authors.

Too late/tired to be doing this apparently


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## Dawn McCullough White (Feb 24, 2010)

Gabriela Popa

Ever since I read her first book I've been a complete fangirl, pestering her to write something else...  Probably driving her crazy.
Dawn


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## ChrisWard (Mar 10, 2012)

I hope to check a few of these out. I don't know many indie authors other than the few who spam me endlessly on Twitter. I recently decided to see if some of them could walk the walk and bought a couple of books, but neither were particularly good (not mentioning any names). I don't care about spelling/grammar but I hate flat, generic writing. A good story should _soar_. Flat writing puts me off reading other indies a little bit but I'll try to find time to check out some of them if they've got good reputations.

Chris Ward


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## CoffeeCat (Sep 13, 2010)

I love this list! I am always trying to find more indie authors to read. 

The indie author that I've fell in love with is Cheryl Kaye Tardif. When my K2 met an untimely death and I was waiting for my Kindle Keyboard, she actually offered to let me select a book of hers for free to help me pass the time while my Kindle Keyboard arrived. I read The River and loved it. I also loved Whale Song and have Children of the Fog and the first in her Divine Intervention series to read on my KT.


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

ddarol said:


> Boyd Morrison.......at least he used to be. Now he's been "discovered". But it is well deserved! Read all his books when he was an indie and on these boards.


Boyd was and is still one of my favorite authors. And how great it was to "chat" with him here in this forum.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

geoffthomas said:


> Boyd was and is still one of my favorite authors. And how great it was to "chat" with him here in this forum.


Yes ... I enjoyed Boyd's books .... and yesterday I got an email that he has a new one coming out, co-written with his sister:

The Lawless Land

It's billed as an historical adventure ... first in a series. His sister is a medieval scholar so I expect authenticity!


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