But You Don’t Look Sick: The Real Life Adventures of Fibro Bitches, Lupus Warriors, and other Superheroes Battling Invisible Illness features 123 powerful voices living with invisible chronic illnesses— voices often stigmatized, ignored, or isolated by society. These pages are emblazoned with the words and art of those waging a war against a wide range of debilitating, and often unseen, illnesses. The reader will journey deep into the lives of the contributors, intimately sharing moments of pain, heartbreak, loneliness, strength, courage, humor, and survival. These voices are both revelation and revolution, an unstoppable force pieced together by writers and artists worldwide, demonstrating what happens when warriors come together to educate and fight for their truths to be heard.
“[But You Don’t Look Sick] exposes the gendered, racialized and class-based inequalities that persist within the realms of diagnosis and healthcare provision, while underscoring the urgency of activism, education and the ongoing fight for justice for individuals with invisible illnesses.”
– Dr. Tanfer Emin Tunc, Professor of American Studies at Hacettepe University
“‘But You Don’t Look Sick’ explores the forgotten, unspoken and ugly-beautiful nooks of chronic illness. Because there are profound moments of horror and beauty when you’re hovering between worlds, on days when you feel you can’t do it anymore, in the silent hours when you really question if you’re actually there, physically existing. . . Educate me. Educate all of us. We need it.”
–Beverley Butcher, Author of ‘Sisterhood of Broken Dolls’ included in the anthology ‘Disturbing the Body’, @boudiccapress, March 2021
“As a woman who has lived her life battling an invisible illness and chronic pain, I found myself swept up in the compelling collection, But You Don’t Look Sick: The Real Life Adventures of Fibro Bitches, Lupus Warriors, and other Superheroes Battling Invisible Illness. The raw truth in each person’s journey was heart wrenching, eye opening, and emotionally captivating. I found myself devouring this book piece after piece until I’d read the book all the way through.”
–Ravven White, Author of ‘I am Ravven'”
But You Don’t Look Sick: The Real Life Adventures of Fibro Bitches, Lupus Warriors, and Other Superheroes Battling Invisible Illness is available for purchase at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, IndieBound, Waterstones, Book Depository, and from other major online retailers.
Publication Date: November 4, 2021
ISBN-13: 978-1951724139
Join 158 writers and artists from across the globe as they journey Through the Looking Glass to unveil the truth about life with mental illness. Diverse, raw, and urgent, the poetry, prose, and artwork in this anthology dig deep into the experience of living with depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and other conditions, as well as the challenges of loving someone who struggles with such an illness.
Full of hope and despair, acceptance and rebellion, the creativity contained within these pages reflects the reality that we cannot walk around or behind the looking glass, but must walk through it unflinchingly to educate, foster compassion, and reduce the stigma so often associated with mental illness.
“Perhaps one of Indie Blu(e)’s most vulnerable anthologies, much like We Will Not Be Silenced, this latest anthology opens our eyes and hearts to the struggles of mental illness, without judgement… This is another reason to admire the work achieved by this indie publisher. The individual is cradled in an anthology but their truth and their story are never stifled. And so, it is a pleasure to read and enjoy Through the Looking Glass; to lend your eyes and ears to a myriad of talent all reminding us we are far from alone and that there is hope.”
Kristiana Reed, author of Between the Trees and Flowers on the Wall.
“Many editors of anthologies might balk at publishing such raw material, but the commitment of Indie Blu(e) is to give voice to what is so often silenced, sanitized, hidden, and there is in this enterprise something that gives us all hope. For by speaking out our deepest experiences of trauma, abuse and unhappiness there comes a sense of freedom, a sense of the possibility of recognition, connection, acceptance. And thus healing. We are not alone. Others are battling similar enemies. We are lovable. Our feelings are valid. We belong to the human race. We deserve to live.
. . . Many readers will nevertheless see the book as providing a bleak picture of the state of mental health and the paucity of effective support across the world. Indie Blu(e) Publishing, in describing itself as a progressive force, might hope that this collection becomes a resource in the path to social reform. Or perhaps they are more ambitious than that – honoring these voices from chaos and pain demands nothing less than a revolution.”
Rhoda Thomas taught psychology, sociology and counselling for nearly 40 years. She is co-founder of Live Poets Society, a socialist poetry group in Wales, UK. Imago is her most recent poetry collection.
Through The Looking Glass: Reflecting on Madness and Chaos Within is available for purchase at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, IndieBound, Waterstones, Book Depository, and from other major online retailers.
Publication Date: May 19, 2021
ISBN-13: 978-1951724085
Kali represents the perfect metaphor of the great dissenter desperately needed in today’s times, to rise above subjugate society. Kali, a goddess of strength and destruction, represents energy in its purest and feral form. Goddess Kali is an embodiment of the unfettered, and uncontrolled energy, who like nature, can create and destroy with equal ease. She is the perfect feminist icon the world needs today.
“The Kali Project draws in the voices of women as women – teachers, mental health workers, writers, doctors, lawyers, bankers, social workers – adding a sharper understanding of the inner realities that patriarchal structures seek to silence, sanctified by society, religion, community, and class. With entries from children and teenagers, to poems by internationally well-known writers, the gamut of experiences is vast and reiterates the idea that art and poetry are the essential vehicles which carry the hurt and, in the process, also healing within them.”
-Charanjeet Kaur, Former Chief Editor and Features Editor of Muse India, currently Contributory Editor for Indian writing in English of MI. Consultant Editor of SPARROW (Sound & Picture Archives for Research On Women) Newsletter.
“The Kali Project is a unique piece of art. It stands testimony, bridging the gap between India and the rest of the world, informing the ignorant and aware alike, of the power and enduring talent of Indian women.
. . . I suspect all women can tap into Kali’s positive energies and relate to the value of her fierce, unrepentant feminine energy. I appreciated this the most, reading The Kali Project; the convergence of women pulling together, creating, birthing, speaking without repression. . . We are all Kali.”
Dr. Belinda Román, Economist/Researcher/Historian
The Kali Project: Invoking the Goddess Within / Indian Women’s Voices is available for purchase at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, IndieBound, Chapters/Indigo, Waterstones, Book Depository, and from other major online retailers.
Publication Date: January 8, 2021
ISBN-13 : 978-1951724061
As the World Burns: Writers and Artists Reflect on a World Gone Mad is an anthology of poetry, prose, essay, and art inspired by the unprecedented events of the year 2020. It embraces fierce and raw creative works relating to life during the Covid-19 pandemic, Black Lives Matter, Donald Trump, and the economic uncertainty and horror of the last eight months. One hundred and fourteen writers and artists spanning ten countries and 30 states are represented in this powerful volume. It is both a story of survival and an act of resistance.
“As the World Burns is an outstanding collection of prose, poetry, and art that brilliantly illuminates the monumental events weighing upon our world, it’s communities and families, friends, and neighbors. The anthology gives a voice to myriad emotions that have settled into hearts and souls worldwide, yet stick in our collective throats, unable to be spoken, leaving a wake of communal helplessness. As The World Burns has accomplished the difficult task of translating our grief, fear, anger, disillusion, and uncertainty, into a glorious tapestry shining with strands of hope. The commonalities feed our sense of community, optimism, and promise (Allie Nelson – Redbird “there is not much constant in nature but effervescent change, I am the bones of winter, and it’s only in planting beauty that we can hope”).
Within each piece, I found a passion that echoed my perceptions, whether the subject matter was racial injustice (Robert Okaji – If We Burn “and which assemblage of words could reorder these deaths into comprehension”), pandemic (Aakriti Kuntal – Forward “because sometimes just breathing again is moving on”), climate change (Rachel Tijou – I Don’t Recognize This World “earth crumbles with the weight of our greed”), police brutality (Erin Van Vuren – Revolution “You were never meant to be a tragedy. You are, and always have been… a revolution.”), greed (A. Shea Holding On “if we only held on to life every day like we do when we are afraid of losing it.”), or political division (Dustin Pickering – The Price of Power “being is timeless and belongs to us all”).
This collection deeply reverberates my spirit of hope, that together, we can lift one another up and work towards regenerating a world that values life, nature, peace, equality, reason, and truth.”
–Laurie Wise, blogger, A Wise Woman Writes
As the World Burns: Writers and Artists Reflect on a World Gone Mad is available for purchase at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, IndieBound, Waterstones, Book Depository, and from other major online retailers.
Publication Date: November 7, 2020
ISBN-13: 978-1951724047
SMITTEN This Is What Love Looks Like is an anthology of love poetry by 120 lesbian and bisexual women ranging in age from 15 to 87 from around the globe. This is a book that should be gifted. In spite of its implied audience, Smitten is not just for women who adore women. It is for those whose hearts twist and skin prickles at romance, who know the flight of butterflies in their stomachs, who long for the feeling of home in another’s heart.
“This is poetry that penetrates into the heart of not only the experience of lesbian love, but into what love means to the human psyche. These are emotions that live in each of us; that they are expressed here with a uniquely feminine interpretation truly enriches the palette of lesbian literature.
Women poets have here found a stage upon which they can present their passions and intimate feelings openly and in unison. SMITTEN brings the beauty and intricacies of women’s love for each other into a unique and captivating presentation. With the publication of this volume, Indie Blu(e) remains at the forefront of giving lesbian literature a new and important direction.
Lesbian writers have long suffered the neglect of history and the close-mindedness of the world of literature and have yet somehow managed to rise above the indifference and the prejudice to express their distinctive creativity. The women represented in SMITTEN are strong voices confidently expressing their individuality. Perhaps Sappho verbalized it best when over two thousand years ago she wrote:
“May I write words more naked than flesh, stronger than bone, more resilient than sinew, sensitive than nerve.“
Yes, that is the kind of poetry to be found within the pages of SMITTEN.”
–Erik Klingenberg, blogger, nightpoetry
“Love doesn’t have just one “look” to it and I thank SMITTEN for reminding readers of that.
Love transcends race and gender.”
– Christy Birmingham, Versions of the Self
“Too often we sideline LGBTQ+ work as a genre of its own, when it should be mainstream; literary works which are written by people to be enjoyed by people, no matter what their race, sexuality, gender and/or religion.
Yet, until this happens, I applaud Daquin and Indie Blu(e) Publishing for brazenly making a stand. Until labels are but words and not identifiers, it is important that writers like those in this collection share their voices and stories, ever-lasting love and heartbreak, and their hopes and fears, to remind the literary world they will be heard, no matter what the response may be.”
–Kristiana Reed, Flowers on the Wall
SMITTEN This Is What Love Looks Like: Poetry by Women for Women an Anthology is available for purchase at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, IndieBound, Chapters/Indigo, Waterstones, Book Depository, and from other major online retailers.
Publication Date: October 27, 2019
ISBN-13: 978-1951724009
We Will Not Be Silenced: The Lived Experience of Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault Told Powerfully Through Poetry, Prose, Essay, and Art is the brainchild of Kindra M. Austin, Candice Louisa Daquin, Rachel Finch, and Christine E. Ray. The four indie writers and survivors felt compelled to organize a response after wide-spread, highly publicized cases of rape, sexual harassment, and misconduct. They chose to advocate, educate, and resist through art. The editors opened submissions for just two weeks to women and men around the world. The response from writers and artists was overwhelming: the final anthology includes 166 pieces of writing and art from 95 contributors around the globe.
“We Will Not Be Silenced‘ is a beautiful collection of devastating pieces, it is a siren call to survivors everywhere, and a book that should be showcased in every school, stocked on the shelves of every hospital, and sitting on the counters in every police station in the world. ‘We Will Not Be Silenced’ should simply be available to everyone and anyone who has ever been violated, and to everyone and anyone who would be brave enough to speak out and speak up in an era when victims still aren’t being heard.”
–Nicole Lyons, The Lithium Chronicles Volume One and Two
We Will Not Be Silenced is available for purchase at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, IndieBound, Chapters, Waterstones, Book Depository, and from other major online retailers.
Publication Date: November 27, 2018
ISBN-13: 978-1732800007
Indie Blu(e) Publishing 