If you were intrigued by Texas Monthly‘s recent story about Conroe’s Defiance Press & Publishing, you might want to check out the works of some of Texas’s other independent publishers. Houston’s Arte Público Press published the first edition of Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street forty years ago and is still launching the careers of Latino authors. Corpus Christi–based Copano Bay Press specializes in long-out-of-print Texas history works such as 1894’s A Man From Corpus Christi: The True Adventures of Two Bird Hunters and a Dog in South Texas in the Year 1887. Perhaps the breakout Texas publisher of the twenty-first century, Dallas’s Deep Vellum started off translating international literature and then branched out with a variety of imprints, including one focused on books about Texas. Austin’s Octane Press publishes coffee-table books for engine enthusiasts; its self-declared subject areas include motorcycles, tractors, and, uh, “red tractors.” Frequent Texas Monthly contributor Loren Steffy’s Wimberley-based Stoney Creek Publishing has put out a dozen books, ranging from a look at illegal immigration and the construction trades to a debut romance novel from an 85-year-old woman.
This article originally appeared in the December 2023 issue of Texas Monthly with the headline “Not-So-Random Houses.” Subscribe today.
