SPR’s book reviews of new self-published books
The front end of the book is exposition-heavy, introducing readers to a future universe of new technology and jargon, from nanorobots, cryochambers, and spider-like construction robots to Lagrangian points, wormhole theory, and EmDrives. The daunting vocabulary quickly becomes natural, however, so even readers new to the genre will quickly become immersed and comfortable.
The sci-fi […]
Dr. Sarah Kennecott is a gifted medical examiner, but eccentric behavior and a brilliant mind in a woman is not appreciated in such misogynistic times. Finding herself an unlikely ally in a local private detective, Jack Harden, she is determined to see that justice is done for a murdered showgirl, even if that means doing it outside the boundaries of the law. In a town where violence, corruption, brutality and ignorance still reign, Sarah is a fiercely independent light and […]
This time around, Sarah must journey into one woman’s shadowy past to help her find peace from demons both inside and out. Pitting her nascent investigative skills against a sinister power that thrives in places of pain and suffering, the main character makes this quick thriller hard to put down. Sarah […]
As an orphan and an apprentice wizard of the mind at the Wizard Academy, Kyril has a lot to learn about his abilities and the complex world of the mystic arts. However, not all is right at the academy, and when Kyril is drawn into a new group of secretive apprentices led by a wizard named Targon, his best friend Sylvie fears that he is treading a dangerous path.
While this fast-paced adventure […]
A kaleidoscopic existence blooms to life on the pages of poet Brian Sluga’s new collection From Now to the End of Time. Self-described as stories, these widely varied poems create an eclectic dreamscape, blending recollections of youth with glimpses of romance and mythology, half-remembered nights out and elusive descriptions of emotion.
Moments of ecstasy are woven through self-reflection and painful losses, offering an unfiltered view of life through an honest, straightforward lens. “Virtue in My Heart” begins How do I always pour my heart out / then it gets trampled / a lingering feeling / on my journey. This sort […]
Phoebe is an impulsive 11-year-old determined to solve the mystery of her father’s disappearance, and sets off on a dangerous journey to Connecticut to find the truth. Sidney is a middle-aged proofreader mourning the loss of her mother and the emotional challenges of life after death. Already wrestling with grief, the slow demise of the publishing house that employs her may be too much to bear, leading Sidney to seek unlikely and potentially dangerous company.
These two stories initially lie very […]
Author Varsha Ravi weaves a magnificent tale of secrets, gods, love, and fallen kingdoms in her enthralling debut novel, The Heartless Divine.
When an immortal with amnesia named Kiran nearly bleeds out in the doorway to Suri’s apartment, she has no idea that her life is about to change forever, nor that the young man could hold the key to all her tragic pasts.
Leaping between Suri’s modern-day existence and her life centuries ago as an assassin princess, this novel is a time- and mind-bending plunge into mythology, family, the power of memory, and the tangled web of destiny […]
Rick Stein is flung 150 years into the past, landing in the year 2055, rather than 2212, and must find a way to change the world so he can save the future. The future Rick comes from is bleak, with Earth’s inhabitants being crowded into the few livable areas that remain as the planet collapses around them. The mid-21st century, by contrast, is an entrancing place of temptation and […]