Our Mission
Basalt Sea Press is an independent literary publishing house devoted to stories that rise from the land, memory, and mythic imagination of the American West. We specialize in mythic fiction, historical realism, and hybrid narrative forms that draw from Indigenous oral traditions while embracing contemporary literary craft. Our work honors the power of story as both inheritance and evolution — a living continuum that reaches from ancestral voices into the hands of modern readers.
What sets Basalt Sea Press apart is our commitment to mythic resonance with literary precision. We publish books that feel timeless yet urgent: stories shaped by the basalt deserts, lava beds, forests, and river canyons that define the region’s spirit. Our flagship project — The Native Myths of the American West (The Spiral Cycle) — introduces a new model of mythmaking, blending cultural memory, ecological insight, and deeply human storytelling. Each title stands alone, yet all are connected through a shared cosmology that invites rereading, reflection, and dialogue across cultures.
Basalt Sea Press launched in 2025 with a focused purpose: to establish a literary home for mythic and land-rooted storytelling in the American West. Our Founding Year (2025–2026) is dedicated to developing the foundational works that define our house aesthetic — beginning with The Spiral Cycle, our twelve-book flagship series, and The Book of Spirals, its companion guide. This first cycle establishes the tone and standard for the press: work that is bold, resonant, and crafted with care. Additional authors and anthology contributors will be welcomed beginning in 2026, as we expand our catalog and open submissions more broadly.
Basalt Sea Press operates with the editorial standards of a traditional literary house while offering the openness and support of a modern small press. Our seasonal anthologies and fiction initiatives create space for writers to be published, recognized, and considered for major literary accolades — including Pushcart Prize nominations. We seek work that risks something, matters deeply, and endures.
We stand for stories that carry the echo of oral tradition; stories that bridge the sacred and the everyday; stories rooted in place, memory, and transformation; stories that remember — and help us remember — who we are.
Basalt Sea Press: Where myth, memory, and mastercraft meet.
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Our Team
Basalt Sea Press is a small, independent press operated through a collaborative model in which editorial, production, and design responsibilities are handled in-house. Rather than dividing work into public-facing individual roles, we manage the full publishing process collectively, with an emphasis on continuity, craft, and care.
Editorial — In-house development, acquisitions review, and line editing.
Production — In-house typesetting, formatting, print preparation, and metadata management.
Design — Visual branding, cover design, and interior layout completed in partnership with Black Rock Media.
