Sun Rider Press

18/11/2024

Five years ago today I started this imprint ✨ what began as 20 first chapters with a lino print cover has turned into four very special and unique limited run books with three more on the way!

12/11/2024

In 2011 I spent a year hitchhiking, couchsurfing and working illegally across Asia and Europe.⁣
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We picked oranges for $3 an hour, worked for salacious Blueberry farmers, got jobs for a day in desert towns, hitchhiked our way from La Tomatilla to Oktoberfest, and a tonne more. Then I went rouge and had the worst (& only) couchsurfing experiences of my life in Morocco. ⁣
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A couple of years later, a friend with an old voice recorder asked for one of these stories as we sat in a smoky bar in Amsterdam. After I told it he said, ‘you should write that down–it’s hilarious.’⁣
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And so I did, and then I wrote 11 more. This resulted in a short story collection called trippin’.⁣
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Looking back, the stories elicit both pride and a cringe or two. Turns out you see the world very differently when you’re 20 compared to 34. But you’ve got to start somewhere, and in every way these are the roots of my affinity with both traveling and writing⁣
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I don’t think I’ll ever publish the full 12 stories, but I’d love to pick the best 2 or 3 and turn them into some limited edition, homemade mini books. Maybe use a typewriter and some homemade binding skills (which I’m yet to learn).⁣
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What do people think? Any ideas on little pocket size short stories that you’ve seen out and about that you rate? Let me know

07/11/2024

They say writing is the best form of time travel 💛⁣
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Our first release, the haphazard cycling escapade from Bristol to Bordeaux is still one of our faves. It’s raw and real. There’s no glossy bikes or PBs. Just a pack of d***y early 20-year-olds searching for somethin’ and using bikes to get there.⁣
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Let me know if you wanna join the waiting list for the third edition! X

05/11/2024

All our books are limited edition, hand-signed and numbered, like all books should be ✨ ⁣⁣
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We’re all about celebrating creativity and the individualised products we produce. Call it quality over quantity – an approach that’s been actively avoided by major platforms like Amazon.

31/10/2024

The man, the myth, the legend. Jack Few’s back in his natural habitat, signing books in a 16th century crypt with the oldest letterpress collection in the COUNTRY. You can order his book, An Eastern Tailwind, now thru the SRP website. 2nd edish! ✌️

29/10/2024

Mini manuscript parcels of my first fiction novel, Sunshine Hotel, heading out to new readers for another feedback round ✍️⁣

23/10/2024

Yo, I’m back in the office and things are feeling rather surreal currently.⁣
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A few months back a random manuscript slid into sunrider’s DMs. Turns out it was from a highly-revered historian and traveller. ⁣
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I’ve now had the honour of getting first eyes on his story – and believe me, it’s next level.⁣
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It seems there’s three projects in the works atm (not sure how that happened) but needless to say they’re giving me fuel to carry on this little book publishing journey. ⁣
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Stay tuned for more updates 👀

20/10/2024

👋 My name’s Mike and I started this travel publishing imprint five years ago. It’s travelled with me from Bristol to Melbourne, Waiheke Island, and back again!
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At first it was just a name and digital platform to publish my own first book, but now we’ve published four books, with three more on the way. Each is limited edition, hand-signed and numbered, as a way to celebrate the book as a special artefact, especially in a world where Amazon produce on mass at low quality to fill their pockets.⁣
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It’s been challenging to stay motivated at times and I’d be lying if I said I’d made any money from it. But I know I can’t stop. I truly think there’s an appetite for the stories of everyday people with extraordinary tales. The intention is to challenge the idea of what travel is, and how it’s often portrayed by glossy influencers. And honestly, I’m still passionate about this five years later. I feel things are only just getting started.⁣
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It’s great to have you along for the journey 🌏⁣
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18/10/2024

The second edition of An Eastern Tailwind is flying out the door faster than Jack’s wheels on the Indian tarmac. Just look at that cheeky grin. Get in touch or visit the SRP website to grab a signed limited copy. 💥

01/10/2024

Umm did I just edit a professor’s manuscript? 🤪

13/09/2024

In 2013 I embarked on a haphazard cycling trip through France on sh*tty bikes with five friends. We wanted to cycle to Toulouse for a Tame Impala concert, but besides that had zero plan. As fate would have it, things derailed pretty quickly. ⁣
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I had a few note books on the road and started writing almost immediately, knowing that there’d at least be some story to tell. Little did I realise at the time how eventful it would be.⁣
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Sadly I shelved the book for five years after we got back, and when I picked it back up again I had to write the last third from memory as I had zero notes to go off. I pressed on and in December 2019 finished the entire production process. It was sunrider’s first release and my first novel.⁣
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Looking back, I’m super proud of it. The story isn’t polished or glamorised, and that’s what I find endearing. It’s just five 22-year-olds pedalling around Europe with no cash and no clue. But it was a dream. And yep, we made it to the concert 🤘

03/09/2024

Relics from the past, pre Sunrider. Past me recognised the fragility of writing travel notes on an iPhone and then losing them, so I sent them to my old hotmail address and then printed them out for extra security 😅 Included is an old story cover sketch, and a copy of an early print-run of this story (from a collection released in 2013 called trippin’,) with a handmade lino print cover. I remember I used to put these in unlikely places like churches (content def not appropriate) and in actual bookshops (without asking). Included is also lino prints from when I made one-chapter samples of On Vélo (which later became our first proper release) ✨

01/09/2024

Now stocked and rubbing shoulders with Bristol’s most underground presses and David Shrigley ‘s comic nihilism over at ‘Other Worlds Are Possible’ in St Nics! 🌟

19/08/2024

I recently received an unsolicited manuscript from an Antipodean writer (a first). It’s about Himalayan history, the India and Hippy Trail of the 1970s, and a man’s search for Mount Kailash, Tibet’s most mysterious mountain. I just might release it 😋

04/08/2024

First interview in the bag for the next book project on Bristol migrant stories 🌞 Thanks to Goda from Lithuania for easing me into it and being such a willing conversational companion! ⁣
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We covered a lot of ground in the hour we spoke – from early life in Lithuania, her voyage to UK to study, how different languages impact our identity, the hidden superpower of the van community in Bristol, and more.⁣
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Looking forward to more chats with folk from all parts!

25/07/2024

Meet - a celebration of Victoria, a single-mother in her mid 30s, and seven-year-old Emilie, who walked 3,000km across New Zealand, from Cape Reigna to Bluff on the Te Araroa trail. The journey signified Victoria’s recovery from complex PTSD developed in childhood, and alongside building an unbreakable mother-daughter bond and connection to their fellow country-people, they raised $20,000 for the Mental Health Foundation and Federated Mountain Clubs of NZ. It also amounted to an epic thru-hiking travel memoir called Adventures with Emilie. ⁣
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Victoria brings the reader on this journey through a series of flashbacks, interspersed with joyful accounts of time spent in the backroads of New Zealand with her daughter. It’s a story of resilience, determination and adventure, where readers learn about the healing power of nature while also gaining a fresh perspective of the natural world that surrounds us through a child’s perspective. It’s a single mother coping with the ongoing impacts of childhood trauma while simultaneously providing a very different life for her own young daughter.⁣
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Victoria is such a warm individual who would love to connect with anyone and everyone interested in their journey – especially any news publications on this side of the globe who may like to share their story 💛

23/07/2024

19/07/2024

FRESH BOOKS HOT OFF THE PRESS! Here stands painter, traveller and writer extraordinaire, Jack Few ( ) with the second pressing of An Eastern Tailwind, his epic cycling expedition from north to south India. Part memoir, part philosophical journey to the heart of the self, place, and people, this book truly a special creation. Head to our website to nab yourself a copy, all hand signed and numbered. Pre-orders will now be sent imminently 🚀 xx