SPR | Self-Publishing Review

On the Margin of the Sky by Dee Plecic

Dee Plecic’s autobiographical account of life in a war-torn city presents a world where racism and religious tyranny gradually replaced multiculturalism and tolerance is an amazing tale of one woman’s endurance.

In 1992, the city of Sarajevo, the capital of the Balkan country Bosnia and Herzegovina, fell under siege in the Bosnian War. The center of a multi-ethnic, multi-national power struggle among Serbs, Croatians, and Bosnians erupted, bringing the term “ethnic cleansing” into modern-day vocabulary. The author lived in Sarajevo during much of that time, and describes the daily conditions in harrowing detail: snipers firing on people getting water at […]

SPR2018-07-05T12:41:04+02:00July 2nd, 2018|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Memoir Book Reviews, Non-Fiction Book Reviews|

Are You Happy? by Lea Colleens

Are You Happy?: A Guidebook to Earning Happiness is a wonderfully illustrated book that offers sage advice and some handy metaphors that distill our behavior in the pursuit of happiness.

Colleens starts by breaking down human behavior by looking at the three types of ‘brain’: the dog brain, the reptile brain, and the master brain. While scientifically vague, it is true that there are parts of the brain that stem from the time humans were reptiles, or when we were bottom-feeding mammals. It is with these classifications that Colleens describes the behaviors that lead away from happiness– ego driven, pleasure-seeking, […]

SPR2018-07-03T11:55:10+02:00July 2nd, 2018|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Self-Help Book Reviews|

Fid’s Crusade (The Chronicles of Fid Book 1) by David H. Reiss

Fid's Crusade (The Chronicles of Fid Book 1) With the current saturation of superhero stories in films and television, Fid’s Crusade offers a fresh perspective on the genre.

Terry Markham is a Bruce Wayne-ish character who runs a company that creates and develops technologies that are used to help those in need. Under that guise, however, Terry Markham moonlights as Dr. Fid – a kitted-out supervillain who despairs at how the world treats superheros, despite their frequent failures.

The novel is immediately engaging because it feels like Dr. Fid is talking directly to the reader, as if in a diary – a personal touch that is often missing […]

SPR2018-07-02T11:48:40+02:00July 1st, 2018|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Superhero Book Reviews|

Clouds: On the Wind by Gary W. Burns

Clouds: On the Wind by Gary W. Burns Clouds: On the Wind is another lovely book of poetry by Gary Burns, adding another naturalistic collection to his oeuvre.

Splitting the collection into four parts – “Clouds Moonlit,” “Cloudy Day Doorway,” “Windswept,” “Wind Song” – was an ingenious idea by Burns, as it has the effect of moving the reader through space, from night into day, as if on a gust of wind. The illustrations at the beginning of each poem are also a delight, and enhance the imagery, rather than leading the reader.

The opening poem, “Quietly There You Be,” is a tone-setter. An undercurrent of longing runs […]

SPR2018-06-28T13:08:32+02:00June 26th, 2018|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Poetry Book Reviews|

An Interview with Dan E. Hendrickson: Author of The Good Fight

Dan Hendrickson was born in Sheridan Wyoming near the rustic Big Horn mountain range in 1962 to Carl and Helen Hendrickson. Dan went to school in the Sheridan School District graduating from Sheridan High School in 1981. He spent his athletic time participating in boxing, martial arts, wrestling and a little track. His father Carl owned a small eight lane bowling alley that he ran until Dan was 12 years old. After losing the business to the bank he was forced to go back to school and finish his masters in English. Dan picked up on his father’s love of […]

SPR2018-06-25T08:27:33+02:00June 25th, 2018|Categories: Interviews|

From Hell to Happiness by Christopher Cooper

From Hell to Happiness: How to Heal When Your Loved One Is Terminal Sorrow and hope are equally mixed in From Hell to Happiness: How to Heal When Your Loved One Is Terminal, an inspiring memoir about life with a cancer sufferer by Christopher Cooper.

Cooper and his wife Jenn were enjoying a happy, successful life in their early 30s, with two sons and good career prospects. Then Jenn was diagnosed with a serious form of cancer and the long-term outlook was grim: even with heavy chemo treatments and surgery, she might likely have a fatal recurrence of the disease.

Cooper describes his day-to-day struggles: how to tell the boys what was […]

SPR2018-06-19T09:31:44+02:00June 19th, 2018|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Health Book Reviews, Memoir Book Reviews, Non-Fiction Book Reviews|

An Interview with Michael Sussman: Author of Incognolio

Abandoned by a cackle of laughing hyenas, Michael Sussman endured the drudgery and hardships of a Moldavian orphanage until fleeing with a traveling circus at the age of twelve. A promising career as a trapeze artist was cut short by a concussion that rendered him lame and mute. Sussman wandered the world, getting by on such odd jobs as pet-food tester, cheese sculptor, human scarecrow, and professional mourner while teaching himself the art of fiction. He now lives in Tahiti with Gauguin, an African Grey parrot.

Tell us about your book.

When a strange title for a novel hijacks his […]

SPR2018-06-15T11:03:58+02:00June 15th, 2018|Categories: Interviews|

Please Stay by Greg Payan

Please Stay by Greg Payan Please Stay: A Brain Bleed, A Life In The Balance, A Love Story by Greg Payan tells the story of the random and almost fatal brain aneurysm suffered by the author’s wife, Holly, a 39-year old college professor, showing life’s fragility, but also its potential for great strength.

The book is touching and engrossing, and much more than a memoir of an illness. Constructed through actual email correspondence, the reader is unaware just what might happen next, offering a harrowing but compelling account of this tragic experience. Woven together with Greg’s own heartfelt recounting of that time in his life, […]

SPR2018-06-15T10:06:10+02:00June 15th, 2018|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Health Book Reviews, Memoir Book Reviews, Non-Fiction Book Reviews|