@tortoisebooks.bsky.social
It is Small Business Saturday and we are a small business so once you read these words you are legally obligated to go to www.tortoisebooks.com and buy some books. Sorry! We don't make the rules!
Tortoise Books | Chicago Independent Publisher
Welcome to Tortoise Books, a small independent publisher based in Chicago, IL and specializing in literary fiction and memoirs. Shop the latest titles, submit a manuscript, or learn more about us.
www.tortoisebooks.com
November 29, 2025 at 9:26 PM
It is Small Business Saturday and we are a small business so once you read these words you are legally obligated to go to www.tortoisebooks.com and buy some books. Sorry! We don't make the rules!
THE JERKS HAVE ESCAPED CONTAINMENT. I REPEAT: THE JERKS HAVE ESCAPED CONTAINMENT. (Big thanks to Three Lives Bookstore for giving customers a chance to apprehend them in the wild! And to the esteemed @saralippmann.bsky.social herself for forwarding this photo.)
November 19, 2025 at 7:07 PM
THE JERKS HAVE ESCAPED CONTAINMENT. I REPEAT: THE JERKS HAVE ESCAPED CONTAINMENT. (Big thanks to Three Lives Bookstore for giving customers a chance to apprehend them in the wild! And to the esteemed @saralippmann.bsky.social herself for forwarding this photo.)
Reposted
**Puts on headphones.**
**Starts blasting Iggy and the Stooges' "Search and Destroy"**
**ELIMINATES ALL DOUBLE SPACES IN THE MANUSCRIPT WITH A RECKLESS FURY**
That's how it's done, folks. That's all there is to it.
**Starts blasting Iggy and the Stooges' "Search and Destroy"**
**ELIMINATES ALL DOUBLE SPACES IN THE MANUSCRIPT WITH A RECKLESS FURY**
That's how it's done, folks. That's all there is to it.
One of the underappreciated joys of editing a new manuscript is pressing Ctrl+h and replacing double spaces with single spaces throughout the document in one fell swoop.
November 19, 2025 at 1:55 PM
**Puts on headphones.**
**Starts blasting Iggy and the Stooges' "Search and Destroy"**
**ELIMINATES ALL DOUBLE SPACES IN THE MANUSCRIPT WITH A RECKLESS FURY**
That's how it's done, folks. That's all there is to it.
**Starts blasting Iggy and the Stooges' "Search and Destroy"**
**ELIMINATES ALL DOUBLE SPACES IN THE MANUSCRIPT WITH A RECKLESS FURY**
That's how it's done, folks. That's all there is to it.
One of the underappreciated joys of editing a new manuscript is pressing Ctrl+h and replacing double spaces with single spaces throughout the document in one fell swoop.
November 19, 2025 at 12:43 PM
One of the underappreciated joys of editing a new manuscript is pressing Ctrl+h and replacing double spaces with single spaces throughout the document in one fell swoop.
Reposted
A reminder that seven years ago almost to the day, the CIA determined that Mohammed Bin Salman ordered the killing of @washingtonpost.com journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
I hired and worked with Jamal for a year.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/nation...
I hired and worked with Jamal for a year.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/nation...
CIA concludes Saudi crown prince ordered Jamal Khashoggi’s assassination
Audio recordings, intercepted phone calls and other intelligence link Mohammed bin Salman to killing that Saudis say was conducted by rogue elements.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:05 PM
A reminder that seven years ago almost to the day, the CIA determined that Mohammed Bin Salman ordered the killing of @washingtonpost.com journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
I hired and worked with Jamal for a year.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/nation...
I hired and worked with Jamal for a year.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/nation...
Save the date: Saturday, December 6th is NESTOR FEST! The official launch party for Rescued Me/Me Rescató by the inimitable Nestor Gomez, plus a shopping event for all your holiday needs. (As long as your holiday needs involve buying great books.) 3:00 to 5:00 at Hopleaf...5148 N. Clark...be there!
November 18, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Save the date: Saturday, December 6th is NESTOR FEST! The official launch party for Rescued Me/Me Rescató by the inimitable Nestor Gomez, plus a shopping event for all your holiday needs. (As long as your holiday needs involve buying great books.) 3:00 to 5:00 at Hopleaf...5148 N. Clark...be there!
Stop writing a movie when you're writing a book! Solid entry in the @rebeccamakkai.bsky.social Substack canon...
rebeccamakkai.substack.com/p/youre-writ...
rebeccamakkai.substack.com/p/youre-writ...
You're Writing a Book. So Stop Writing a Movie.
What film teaches us wrong about writing fiction
rebeccamakkai.substack.com
November 17, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Stop writing a movie when you're writing a book! Solid entry in the @rebeccamakkai.bsky.social Substack canon...
rebeccamakkai.substack.com/p/youre-writ...
rebeccamakkai.substack.com/p/youre-writ...
👇👇👇
Some inspiring words on cinema in the streaming era from the Pope.
Yes, THAT Pope.
Yes, THAT Pope.
November 15, 2025 at 8:04 PM
👇👇👇
...and we got trade ARCs for the new Joe Peterson book today! Never a dull moment in the indie biz.
November 14, 2025 at 11:59 PM
...and we got trade ARCs for the new Joe Peterson book today! Never a dull moment in the indie biz.
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FIVE @storystudiochicago.bsky.social Novel in a Year classes are open for applications right now, but move quickly—those apps are due 11/14!
Here are your options🧵
Here are your options🧵
November 13, 2025 at 5:05 PM
FIVE @storystudiochicago.bsky.social Novel in a Year classes are open for applications right now, but move quickly—those apps are due 11/14!
Here are your options🧵
Here are your options🧵
So thrilled we have a cover for @saralippmann.bsky.social and HIDDEN RIVER! It's an incredible Philadelphia novel about Cass, whose best friend invites her to her wedding--even though her father had groomed Cass from a young age. Writers including DAVID GATES are singing its praises...check it out!
November 13, 2025 at 6:55 PM
So thrilled we have a cover for @saralippmann.bsky.social and HIDDEN RIVER! It's an incredible Philadelphia novel about Cass, whose best friend invites her to her wedding--even though her father had groomed Cass from a young age. Writers including DAVID GATES are singing its praises...check it out!
Now we would never ever ever wish anyone a Happy Marine Corps Birthday...buuuut we will happily announce that we signed an agreement today to publish @nkweidman.bsky.social and his awesome Marine Corps recruiting memoir, THIRTY-SIX FIGHTING HOLES, and it's scheduled to come out one year from today!
November 10, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Now we would never ever ever wish anyone a Happy Marine Corps Birthday...buuuut we will happily announce that we signed an agreement today to publish @nkweidman.bsky.social and his awesome Marine Corps recruiting memoir, THIRTY-SIX FIGHTING HOLES, and it's scheduled to come out one year from today!
Reposted
October 29, 2025 at 7:23 PM
37,000 books total...woohoo! (Actually 37,043, but who's counting? Oh yeah, we're counting.)
#indie
#publishing
#indie
#publishing
November 5, 2025 at 1:00 PM
37,000 books total...woohoo! (Actually 37,043, but who's counting? Oh yeah, we're counting.)
#indie
#publishing
#indie
#publishing
RESCUED ME/ME RESCATƠ by Nestor "The Boss" Gomez is nearing launch! We got our signed preorder copies Tuesday, got them signed Wednesday, and are packing them up to ship tomorrow...never a slow day in indie publishing. (Super grateful to Andrés Colmenares for the lovely cover work!)
October 24, 2025 at 5:40 PM
RESCUED ME/ME RESCATƠ by Nestor "The Boss" Gomez is nearing launch! We got our signed preorder copies Tuesday, got them signed Wednesday, and are packing them up to ship tomorrow...never a slow day in indie publishing. (Super grateful to Andrés Colmenares for the lovely cover work!)
"...a story of substance and style, power and passion" by "one of the city’s most interesting and increasingly powerful writers." Super grateful to Rick Kogan for this writeup of Bill Hillmann and his new book WHITE FLIGHT!
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/21/b...
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/21/b...
‘White Flight’ is a new novel from the boxer, storyteller and professor Bill Hillmann
In Bill Hillmann’s new novel “White Flight” (Tortoise Books), you will encounter a story of substance and style, power and passion.
www.chicagotribune.com
October 22, 2025 at 3:54 PM
"...a story of substance and style, power and passion" by "one of the city’s most interesting and increasingly powerful writers." Super grateful to Rick Kogan for this writeup of Bill Hillmann and his new book WHITE FLIGHT!
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/21/b...
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/21/b...
Super useful, tbh. (And no, that wasn't sarcasm, Average Reader!)
this is the most useful short-form video i've ever seen
www.youtube.com/shorts/aALT9...
www.youtube.com/shorts/aALT9...
What’s it mean “The average American reads at an 8th grade level?”?
YouTube video by GenericArtDad
www.youtube.com
October 3, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Super useful, tbh. (And no, that wasn't sarcasm, Average Reader!)
"The book business may be centred in New York, but the logic is pure Las Vegas." An excellent piece by @tajjaisen.bsky.social that perfectly captures the ethos we're trying to avoid.
I spent the summer reporting this essay on why it seems harder than ever to sell a book right now—especially if it isn't a debut and comes with the dreaded "sales track." I'm grateful to the writers, agents, editors, publishers & experts who spoke to me for this piece: thewalrus.ca/the-publishi...
The Publishing Industry Has a Gambling Problem | The Walrus
Companies keep betting on the next bestseller. Literature is poorer for it
thewalrus.ca
September 26, 2025 at 6:12 PM
"The book business may be centred in New York, but the logic is pure Las Vegas." An excellent piece by @tajjaisen.bsky.social that perfectly captures the ethos we're trying to avoid.
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Your occasional reminder that Ursula K. Le Guin and Philip K. Dick were in the same year in the same high school, liked each other’s writing, but never met in person.
September 13, 2025 at 6:19 AM
Your occasional reminder that Ursula K. Le Guin and Philip K. Dick were in the same year in the same high school, liked each other’s writing, but never met in person.
Reposted
I know people are pretending it’s not or like it makes you weak or something, but kindness is punk as fuck.
September 13, 2025 at 8:29 PM
I know people are pretending it’s not or like it makes you weak or something, but kindness is punk as fuck.
Reposted
"On the last episode of his show before he was killed," Kirk told "his audience, falsely, that “one in 22 Black men will be a murderer in their lifetime” and that “by age of 23, half of all Black males have been arrested and not enough of them have been arrested.”
wrote on charlie kirk for the newsletter this weekend
Opinion | Charlie Kirk Didn’t Shy Away From Who He Was. We Shouldn’t Either.
www.nytimes.com
September 13, 2025 at 6:06 PM
"On the last episode of his show before he was killed," Kirk told "his audience, falsely, that “one in 22 Black men will be a murderer in their lifetime” and that “by age of 23, half of all Black males have been arrested and not enough of them have been arrested.”
Reposted
fifteen years in and I’m still mad at anyone who described Inception as mindbending. “wow this flour is so spicy!” that’s how you sounded
September 13, 2025 at 8:30 PM
fifteen years in and I’m still mad at anyone who described Inception as mindbending. “wow this flour is so spicy!” that’s how you sounded
Reposted
Absolutely awesome email we received from an Oklahoma bookseller about ALL TRAP NO BAIT. We are conquering the country, one state at a time! (Starting in the middle.)
September 9, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Absolutely awesome email we received from an Oklahoma bookseller about ALL TRAP NO BAIT. We are conquering the country, one state at a time! (Starting in the middle.)
Absolutely awesome email we received from an Oklahoma bookseller about ALL TRAP NO BAIT. We are conquering the country, one state at a time! (Starting in the middle.)
September 9, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Absolutely awesome email we received from an Oklahoma bookseller about ALL TRAP NO BAIT. We are conquering the country, one state at a time! (Starting in the middle.)
Reposted
The people cry out with a voice that is often still confused but is becoming ever louder and clearer:
death to the tyranny of the release date
death to the tyranny of the release date
Worst thing to happen to book crit was getting mercilessly synced to pub dates. writer gets 97% of the coverage they're ever getting by the end of week 2, & if the book is widely reviewed (positive or not) in prestige places some of your would-be audience burns out on takes & skips the book itself.
September 8, 2025 at 10:50 PM
The people cry out with a voice that is often still confused but is becoming ever louder and clearer:
death to the tyranny of the release date
death to the tyranny of the release date