Locally & Independently Published Fiction

Bookshop Santa Cruz has hundreds of locally and independently published books on our shelves. Our consignment program allows us to continue to accept all of the professionally-produced, self-published books from our local authors and to devote our resources to prominently featuring them throughout the store.

visit the main page for Locally & Independently Published Works

The following is a small selection of the locally and independently published fiction that we have on our shelves. Please visit our Locally & Independently Published Works section in our store to see the full extent of our selection. 

Row Well and Live: A Novel of Young Love, Innocence and Espionage During the Cold War (Paperback)

By James E. Haley
$18.95
ISBN-13: 9781462083497
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: iUniverse.com, 1/2012
Other Editions of this Title
This book is a delightful spy thriller in the Hitchcock tradition of mistaken identity. Young love flourishes in Cold War Washington during the Cuban missile crisis while conjuring up a super spy from the distant past to combat the very real and present danger posed by Soviet agents.

American Maze: Only One Way Out (Paperback)

By Ralph Peduto
$16.95
ISBN-13: 9780984114047
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: River Sanctuary Publishing, 11/2010
American Maze is a fish-out-of-water road story about two young guys from Jersey City, NJ on the lam from two mob hit men. Our heroes, Rayf and Cal, with absolutely nothing to live on but their wits hitchhike through America's turbulent southland during the month of November in the year 1963 - the exact time of JFK's assassination. In their attempted escape from the long arm of the mob, they inadvertently rediscover America

La Leyenda de La Princesa Dorada (Paperback)

By Yesenia Cardona-Muller
$21.99
ISBN-13: 9780615586144
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Leyenda de la Princesa Dorada, 1/2012

Beauty, power, true love, and deceit…Good and evil…sometimeswe don’t know which side we are on…

Twice Upon A Prequel And Three Shorts (Paperback)

By Derald W. Hamilton
$7.95
ISBN-13: 9780984619214
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: dhamiltonbooks, 1/2011
Two of the more prominent supporting characters of "The Call" are given their own stories comprising two novellas found within the context of Derald Hamilton's newest literary endeavor entitled "Twice Upon A Prequel And Three Shorts. Elmo Piggins and Reginald Dexter shine as the two dynamic protagonists who star in the misadventures that lead them to answering "The Call."

The Death of Soc Smith (Paperback)

By Jerome Arthur
$8.75
ISBN-13: 9780984299065
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Jerome Arthur, 5/2011
Soc Smith's life gets complicated when he wakes up one Saturday morning to find his own name on the obituary page of the local newspaper. Things really get strange when a death certificate, addressed to his wife Jayne, arrives in the mail that afternoon. The question is, can he surf his way back to life?

Out of Breath (Paperback)

By Susan Salluce
$13.99
ISBN-13: 9780578090924
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Hidden Beach Publishing, 1/2012
In Santa Cruz, California, former pro-surfer, Seth Buchanan, wife Alyssa, and daughter Daisy's lives are shattered when the couple's toddler drowns. A drug history foreshadowing Seth, a positive test results in an arrest and parental rights stripped. Grief expert, Katherine, tenderly unveils years of pain, present lies and manipulations, but predominantly hope for this grieving family.

The Incredible Dog ACT (Paperback)

By Trent Eglin
$12.99
ISBN-13: 9781453870259
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Createspace, 12/2011
1967. Isaac Holdt, a promising second year med student, is drawn into a risky anti-war protest, equally grisly and inspired. The institutions under threat from Isaac and his fellow students soon threaten him back. Now he's wondering whether he'll be able to squeak through school before the comfy world where his childhood dreams were shaped completely unravels, and he right along with it.

Matcher Rules (Paperback)

By Mary Holland
$14.99
ISBN-13: 9781105102219
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Lulu.com, 1/2011
Jerzy plans to discover why the Matcher makes Novi colony so peaceful. Stella plans to go to the Matcher and live happily ever after with her affinity group. Max plans to fix the Matcher and get very rich. Three people, three plans. But the Matcher has no plans, only rules.
Equinox Volume I

Equinox Volume I

By Scissors & Spackle, Ben Lieb
$5.00
Model: EQUINOX1
Ben Leib, the author of the short story "The Gifts I Received," which is featured in the first issue of Equinox, has lived in Santa Cruz on and off for the past twelve years. You may have seen him in his plaid shirt, drinking endless coffee in the Delmarette or on the patio of Pergolesi, smoking as many Lucky Strikes as suit his needs, pounding the keys of his Toshiba like they insulted his grandmother.

Search a Darker Sky. a Cleft Mind (Paperback)

By Devik Schreiner, Jeanne Marie Yee
$12.95
ISBN-13: 9781611700381
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Robertson Publishing, 6/2011
In a span of 100 hours, 11-year-old Justin Tyme's world has been shattered. Still reeling from his father's unexplained disappearance and unsatisfied with the non-answers his mother has given him, he learns of his father's involvement with an elite team of engineers on the brink of developing a revolutionary new material, code-named C-Metal. As Justin unravels the clues to his father's disappearance, he copes with his mother's depression and struggles to protect his sister from their emotionally abusive stepfather. Search a Darker Sky is a rapid-fire psychological journey that propels Justin from boyhood to adolescence.

The Waterhauler: A Desert Story (Paperback)

By Cooper Gallegos
$14.95
ISBN-13: 9781600476068
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Wasteland Press, 8/2011
Follow a quirky cast of loners in the Mojave Desert as they seek companionship and epiphany in a landscape of starving dogs, skeletal road-kill sculptures, arson and disappearing school kids. All while Velma, the water hauler, a perennial outsider, tramps through their lives, privy to their most intimate secrets.

Mainline: (Based on Some Real Shit.) (Paperback)

By Joseph McCarty
$9.85
ISBN-13: 9781463413231
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Authorhouse, 7/2011
Follow an undercover investigation into California prisons. Start this book a reader, finish as a convict, and try not to lose your head.

The Butterfly's Kingdom (Paperback)

By Gwendolyn Geer Field
$14.99
ISBN-13: 9781461054948
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Createspace, 5/2011
When Elizabeth Bishop’s life begins to feel like a string of empty successes, she makes a pilgrimage to idyllic, small town Montague to visit her childhood friend, Annie. But when Elizabeth arrives, she finds that Annie’s seemingly perfect life is a lie.

House on Harrigan's Hill (Paperback)

By C. J. Noonan
$14.95
ISBN-13: 9780970805065
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Sea Hill Press, 3/2011
Set in the 1910 Sierra Nevada high country, well-paced action and lively characters in The House on Harrigan’s Hill captures the drama for the Edwards family and townspeople in Truckee and Sacramento during California’s 20th century transformation from small rural towns to the diverse, modern economy we know today.

The Color of Music (Paperback)

By Claire P. Gordon
$16.95
ISBN-13: 9780974981406
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Phase V, 7/2010
If you liked The Help, The Color of Music is another book you’ll enjoy. Mixed race identical twins are separated early. One is raised in Quebec as white and the other as a black child in Los Angeles. You won’t be able to put it down. Read more at thecolorofmusicnovel.com

Eviction Notice (Paperback)

By Robyn Wyrick
$19.98
ISBN-13: 9781449971373
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Createspace, 9/2010
A raucous adventure about a small town woman who must save the Earth from space aliens trying to eject humanity into deep space. Eviction Notice is packed with comic missteps, alien abductions, romantic revival, space battles, invisible lawyers, lost fairies, and rednecks with super powers. What more could you want?

Death Wore a Redcoat (Paperback)

By Peter Tyzack
$19.95
ISBN-13: 9781602647015
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Virtualbookworm.com Publishing, 12/2010
London 1881. An army officer found stabbed with a Zulu spear leads Inspector Parsons to a conspiracy reaching from the House of Lords to the goldfields of Africa. As in his earlier books the author provides an intricate murder mystery set against a vivid background of life in Victorian England.

Golden Harvest (Paperback)

By Rosanna Cerezo Sharps
$14.95
ISBN-13: 9780983447405
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Word Sower Publishing, 5/2011
The Sawyer family moves from Kentucky in 1864 to the new land of promise, California. The adolescent siblings discover ‘giant’ encounters: disappointing ambitions, uncontrollable temptations, hidden intentions, bad discernment, and a desire to follow a calling. Their life assimilates the Parable of the Sower and their trials are timeless.

Drake's Treasure (Paperback)

By Clarence Charles Berrard
$29.95
ISBN-13: 9781607469568
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Fastpencil, 10/2010
Black America's insistence on real freedom, in the 50s, changed forever the social, cultural and economic spectrum in the U.S. That thrust fostered radical changes in music and dance, education, housing, jobs, but for others it was alternative living, or revolution. In this fictional tale Ozay Brussard navigates his way through this sea of social upheaval, as a Black activist in the 60s, and in the 70s, an engineer, husband, father, contractor, and pot farmer.
The Phoenix Diaries

The Phoenix Diaries

$18.00
Model: PHOENIX

by Philip Slater

A cynical, disillusioned actor takes an undercover job with an anti- terrorist agency impersonating the slain, psychotic former spokesman of a radical organization, to whom he bears an uncanny resemblance. By losing his identity and entering the strange world of the Phoenix he finds himself again.

Islands (Paperback)

By Jacob Sackin
$15.99
ISBN-13: 9781590923924
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Orchard House Press, 12/2007
Stuck inside a giant pyramid in a future devastated by global warming, Saskia is bored with her artificial life and yearns to experience the natural world. But unbeknownst to her and the other inhabitants of the pyramids, there are still survivors living outside.

The Call (Mass Market Paperback)

By Derald Hamilton
$9.95
ISBN-13: 9780984619207
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: D Hamilton Books, 3/2011
Satire and the supernatural blend together in this humorous, irreverent, and disturbing account of divinity school and the people who are drawn to answering the call to ministry. The story is told in the first person through the eyes of Ishmael O'Donnell, an observant young man who wrestles with familial dysfunction, possession by the spirit lof his long-dead twin brother, and his quest for purification from both.

Tales of Brave Ullysses (Paperback)

By John Masella
$12.00
ISBN-13: 9780557091621
Availability: Special Order - Subject to Availability
Published: Lulu, 10/2009
Accompanied by the beat of drums in a cave on the Island of Crete a young man sings his tales of a journey made to California during the late sixties. His odyssey changes his life forever with his discovery of sex, drugs , rock and roll, and spiritual freedom.

The Dark X: A Medical Mystery and African Adventure (Paperback)

By Jerold M. Lowenstein
$18.95
ISBN-13: 9781450239233
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: iUniverse.com, 9/2010
"The Dark X is without a doubt the most fascinating book I've read in years. The combination of medical mystery, intrigue, knowledge about primate and elephant behavior, romantic relationships and the arts kept me spellbound." - Ronald Berman, M.D., Berkeley

12.21.12 (Paperback)

By Killian McRae
$14.99
ISBN-13: 9781936305537
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Omnific Publishing, 12/2010
As archaeologist Sheppard Smyth seeks evidence to prove Cleopatra was murdered, he stumbles into a world of ancient gods, alien civilizations, and secret societies. As Shep comes closer to the truth and the Mayans' predicted doomsday, 12.21.12, little does he know the fate of humanity may rest on his very existence.

Pennington's Patrimony (Paperback)

By James I. Kruger
$18.95
ISBN-13: 9780741456519
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Infinity Publishing (PA), 12/2009
A fatherless-child learns the secrets of his paternity and discovers he shares his suffering with a famous warrior-politician, a father-figure he eventually follows into battle where the two become fast friends. The young man in time becomes a father himself, while his hero is destined to become President of the United States.

Belle Douleur (Hardcover)

By Melissa Clair Bourgeois
$11.09
ISBN-13: 9780615377209
Availability: Special Order - Subject to Availability
Published: Pelican Point Press, 11/2010
Eva is a pragmatic dreamer, raised by an acquiescent mother and schizophrenic father in south Louisiana. As she prepares to marry, Eva begins testing her own reality and finds herself faced with a loss that will lead her to perish in, or awaken from, a beautifully anguished dance of existence.

Lady Lazarus (Paperback)

By Cheryll W. Crane
$14.65
ISBN-13: 9780595406081
Availability: Usually ships from warehouse in 1 - 5 days
Published: iUniverse, 3/2007
Other Editions of this Title
Mattie Moon, an African-American single mother and caretaker of her own eccentric, overly-religious mother, contemplates committing the desperate acts of infanticide and suicide. At Eloise Lake, she meets a mysterious stranger. The stranger's wisdom and the support of friends and community ultimately give Mattie the will to live.

When Love Isn't Enough (Paperback)

By Stephanie Casher
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ISBN-13: 9780982719329
Availability: Usually ships from warehouse in 1 - 5 days
Published: Pantheon Collective (Tpc), 11/2010
Set in Santa Cruz, CA with a multicultural cast of characters, Stephanie Casher's debut novel is a heartbreaking tale of true love, terrible timing, impossible choices, and how you find the strength to go on when you discover that, sometimes, love just isn’t enough.

Imperfect Solitude (Paperback)

By Tom Mahony
$16.65
ISBN-13: 9781934081280
Availability: Usually ships from warehouse in 1 - 5 days
Published: Casperian Books, 12/2010
When Evan Nellis, a neophyte biologist still reeling from the mysterious death of his father, is hired by PDT Biological Consulting in San Francisco, he finds himself under the brutal tutelage of Gordon Shaw, a brilliant biologist sorely lacking in people skills. Richard Headley, a wealthy developer, takes an interest in Evan’s career and requests him personally for the biological assessments of his properties. Yet what seems like a blessing at first soon finds Evan in conflict with his principles, and he must confront everyone, including himself, before all he values is destroyed.

Blunderland (Hardcover)

By Elizabeth O'Kane
$18.85
ISBN-13: 9781450242172
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: iUniverse.com, 8/2010
Other Editions of this Title
A young woman and her dog stumble into a world of delightful oddballs and dangerous characters in this darkly funny, grown up “Looking Glass” tale.

The Narrow Gate: A Journey Through Identity, Belief, and Perception (Hardcover)

By Joseph Phillip Danna
$13.99
ISBN-13: 9780615364681
Availability: Usually ships from warehouse in 1 - 5 days
Published: Golden Key Publishing, 5/2010
Sometimes the most meaningful lessons in life are learned by accident. But was this gay man’s journey into truth a real one? Or just an injury induced hallucination?

Death with Dessert (Paperback)

By Vinnie Hansen
$12.95
ISBN-13: 9781890625207
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Mainly Murder Publishing, 7/2009
Private investigator Carol Sabala embarks on a dangerous hunt for her long-absent father. The trail leads first to Zihuatanejo, Mexico, where Carol tangles with a romantic, but ruthless, bounty hunter on a pursuit of his own. Upon tracking her father to the Arizona/Mexico border, Carol enters the deadly world of coyotes trafficking in human cargo.

Glad Hand Saloon (Paperback)

By Steve Scott
$12.95
ISBN-13: 9780982533710
Availability: Usually ships from warehouse in 1 - 5 days
Published: Smoke Tree Press, 9/2009
When a mutilated body is discovered in the alley behind a Palm Springs gay bar, the Glad Hand Saloon becomes the epicenter of an investigation by a detective whose name--Kind--hardly matches his ambition to nail the killer.

The Power (Paperback)

By Jim Duggins
$16.95
ISBN-13: 9781439202685
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Smoke Tree Press, 11/2008
Amidst betrayal and abuse, a courageous runaway slave focuses on her destiny as Queen of Voodoo. After studying with the infamous - and volatile – Marie Laveau, Reyna escapes New Orleans to find safe passage to gold rush San Francisco. There, as their voodoo queen, she ultimately finds her higher purpose in assisting runaway slaves as they begin life anew.

The Verticord (Paperback)

By R. J. Cyle
$18.23
ISBN-13: 9781453564707
Availability: Usually ships from warehouse in 1 - 5 days
Published: Xlibris Corporation, 9/2010
When someone appears to be 'from another time' and is here.. in your life, and you wonder how real this character is.. in this life-- it is more to know.. what is he doing here? Is he here because of you, someone else, or perhaps, .. himself? Why now? This story extrapolates on this long-ago person, to prove there are, at best and at least, that there are no ghosts---- just some very real people(that you would never see). Huh?! Maybe if you were working for God, you can figure it out!

Slave Stealer (Paperback)

By Jim Duggins
$15.95
ISBN-13: 9780982533727
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Jim Duggins Creative Writing, 4/2010
Reyna Royal, Queen of San Francisco’s voodoo cult, abandons the security of the lawless frontier to fight for freedom. Disguised as a peddler boy, a jockey, a Quaker, an Indian Princess, pursued by bounty hunting slavers and blood-thirsty owners, Reyna is just a step ahead of the slave catchers.

My 333rd Life on Planet Earth: Secrets from the 9th Dimension (Paperback)

By Anne Preciado Rich
$24.95
ISBN-13: 9781432740009
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Outskirts Press, 1/2010
What if you could remember your true purpose in this life? What if you were visited by well-meaning spirits who revealed the deeper truths of this world? Join Zoie Lynn and her spirit companions for an intimate and magical soul-journey in search of wild times, love, and the “Golden Life.”

Cole Creek (Paperback)

By Julie Anne Morley
$18.95
ISBN-13: 9781935605584
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Black Rose Writing, 8/2010
When Rebecca Jackson chooses to reclaim her autonomy, three generations of women are swept into a high Sierra journey. Elements of nature combine with ritual to strengthen and aid the women’s chances for survival.  As escalating tension hurls Rebecca to a lonely precipice, she must unlock family secrets to find a chance for hope and redemption.

The Long Roll (Paperback)

By W.E. Burnette
$15.99
ISBN-13: 9781453664476
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: CreateSpace, 7/2010
A band of Civil War re-enactors is about to stage what one historian calls "the most vicious bout of sustained combat ever to take place on the continent." At night. In the rain. With overly enthusiastic special effects. And as the action threatens to get a little too authentic, they have a few personal problems to contend with as well--like unemployment, headstrong children, illusive dreams, and inescapable memories. History, historical pageantry, and history in the making entangle in this novel about a peaceful community that knows all too much about war.

Buying Murder: Regan McHenry Real Estate Mystery (Paperback)

By Nancy Lynn Jarvis
$12.95
ISBN-13: 9780982113561
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Good Read Mysteries , 7/2010
Murder gets personal when human remains are found in the beach cottage purchased by realtor Regan McHenry. The victim was murdered years before the trail to his killer is cold. Regan has sworn off playing amateur detective, but as her friend police ombudsman Dave Everett says, “Your house, Regan, your murder.”

Local Tribes (Paperback)

By Thomas Hansen Hickenbottom
$14.49
ISBN-13: 9781452043661
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Authorhouse, 6/2010
Other Editions of this Title

Sellout (Paperback)

By James W. Lewis
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780982719305
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Pantheon Collective (Tpc), 6/2010
Other Editions of this Title
SELLOUT follows a black woman, black man, and white woman facing the struggles and consequences of dating outside their race. In the quest to find what they think is missing in their lives, they encounter guilt, fear and mess they never anticipated…including murder.

Alice Power (Paperback)

By Mary Diehl
$10.00
ISBN-13: 9781449573119
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Createspace, 2/2010
What story do Polaroid pictures really tell? During one traumatic week in 1970, two 14-year-old girls find themselves victims of an organized deception by three senior football players. Rumors and revenge, set to the background of 26 rock-and-roll lyrics, combine to reveal loyalty, sisterhood, and the special power "Alice" has for all women.

Jasmine Dogs Mystic Adventures in Big Sur (Paperback)

By J.W. Winslow
$19.95
ISBN-13: 9780578015361
Availability: Special Order - Subject to Availability
Published: Fresh Art, 6/2009
Dyanna Falconer is on a roll when she sells her book to Hollywood and falls in love with a hot movie star, but she misses her home in Big Sur, and longs to paint and write and live her life on the ocean with the unforgettable characters that inhabit Big Sur!

We Choose (Paperback)

By Becca Gaines Archer
$19.95
ISBN-13: 9780984392513
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Archer Books, 1/2010
Other Editions of this Title

We Choose is an intriguing story that spins itself around several characters at different points in their lives. Some are stumbling toward the responsibilities of adulthood, while others reflect on the opportunities they left behind in their youth.

At some point in life the inevitable bottom line question—What do I want out of life?–hits us all squarely in the face. Although a simple question, as this story portrays, the answer is not always easily attained.

Punch and Blood: A Novel (Paperback)

By Holly B. Lillis
$11.95
ISBN-13: 9780976273370
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Crawford Books , 12/2009
Punch and Blood is a shape-shifting text: it is a shop of horrors, a mystery, a thriller, a twisted romance, a psychological exploration... What can we say about it for certain? You’ll be surprised, you’ll be freaked out, and you’ll want to tumble down this twisted rabbit hole again.

Kabbalah of Stone: A Novel (Paperback)

By Irene Reti
$10.50
ISBN-13: 9780984319602
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Juniper Lake Press, 2/2010
This lyrical and suspenseful feminist story of Jewish history and magic is set in Girona, Spain, one of the birthplaces of Jewish mysticism, just as the Jews are expelled from Spain by the Inquisition. The author offers a reinterpretation of Huldah, an intriguing Hebrew prophet.
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