Remember the fable of the tortoise and the hare? We all learned as kids that slow and steady wins in the end. But the publishing industry’s dominated by the hares. You’ve seen them: fast-reading, fast-selling books with a big name on the front. They loom large on the doorway displays one month and are relegated to the bargain bin thereafter—unloved, unremembered, and easily replaced by next month’s Next Big Thing. (Hare today, gone tomorrow, you might say.)
We’re looking to change that.
Tortoise Books focuses on quality, not quantity. Or more accurately, we know quality will bring quantity down the road, in the slow and steady race to win discerning readers. We’re a small, independent publisher that’s using the best attributes of the old industry (extensive editing, heavy pre-publication publicity work, and a financial structure where we’re invested in the future success of our authors) plus the best attributes of publish-on-demand (the ability to get something good out there without regard to whether or not someone thinks it has a market, or whether it fits into some multinational conglomerate’s busy schedule) to build a brand readers will trust.
Read our books and see why Rick Kogan (of Chicago Tribune and WGN Radio fame) recently called us “one of the best, most provocative, and rewarding publishing houses in the entire country.”
We are usually accepting a limited number of submissions via the luxury submission and critique process. Free submissions will be available intermittently; please check this page periodically or follow us on BlueSky @tortoisebooks.bsky.social for updates.
The Last Words of Jack Ruby by Joshua Corey
Late 1966. A sharp young FBI agent finds himself summoned to J. Edgar Hoover’s office for an extremely important and highly confidential assignment: to fly to Dallas and interview a dying man who might just know the secrets behind one of the greatest crimes in American history. A dying man, and an infamous one: Jack Ruby.
“VERDICT: A daring literary work that expertly blends deep psychological inquiry with bold historical speculation, this novel is tailor-made for readers who appreciate experimental fiction and poetic prose. An unforgettable exploration of conspiracy, memory, and the lasting cultural aftermath of the Kennedy assassination.”
— Library Journal
Run-On by Phillip Garland
Have you ever drowsed through the night with a sleeping infant on your chest, and you love your child but you just want him to get a little bit of sleep, and you want to get some sleep too, but that’s sometimes impossible, and you’re lost in a fog of exhaustion and dreams and love and maybe you did sleep a little, but now you’re wondering if you’re a bad father because what if your baby fell while you slept, but still you need to go for a run, a quick run on the lakeshore even though it’s cold but maybe, just maybe…can you go for a run?
"This is absolutely brilliant—a single glorious flow of words that starts in the utter exhaustion of parenting a newborn, circling and recircling, and by the end embracing everything from God to morning runs."
— Kij Johnson, author of At the Mouth of the River of Bees and The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe
Thirty-Six Fighting Holes by Nathan Weidman
The few. The proud. The Marines. Do you have what it takes…not just to join them, but to talk others into joining? Can you occupy an isolated outpost—a strip mall office—and work the phones and set appointments and bring people in? Can you keep at it month after month, coping with all manner of bureaucratic absurdity, working with no vacations so you can hit your recruitment quotas, flogging yourself until your marriage and your sanity are in jeopardy?
And did we mention there’s a war going on—and volunteers are hard to come by?
"This is the most surprising memoir you'll read this year."
— Brian Castner, author of The Long Walk