SPR’s book reviews of new self-published books
Captain Mullet and the Compass Rose by Joel Ratner
Henry and Eddie come in and out of each other’s lives in Rock Key – they gather with friends at […]
Jai the Albino Cow by Gloria D. Gonsalves, Illustrated by Nikki Ng’ombe
Anjait “Jai” is the youngest of three cow siblings living in Kole Hills. Jai is different from her older brothers in that she has a white coat, pink eyes, and fluffy hair and suffers from Albinism. Other cows outside her family believe she’s cursed. One day, Jai is chosen to participate in a special dance called the Dance of the Cattle Kings in which no female has ever participated before. Cows from […]
Killer Competition by Tom Kranz
Bud Remmick has a short temper and a recent stint in jail under his belt, but after proclaiming himself a changed man, he slides into a position at a Philadelphia news outlet. It doesn’t take him long to realize that his star photographer is also a criminal, committing the very offenses that he then delivers a scoop on. Bud is also battling his demons and fighting for his family, and must find a path through new adversity without resorting […]
Read to Succeed by Stan Skrabut
Skrabut’s manual covers a wide breadth of topics related to reading, with an emphasis on self-improvement. Reading improves memory, enlarges vocabulary, increases knowledge, and is inexpensive or even free. Many of the founding fathers, US presidents, military leaders, and business leaders have been dedicated readers. Establishing reading’s relationship to success, Skrabut lays out a foundation for effective learning. For example, libraries can help organize reading interests, and one should choose books geared to their profession. Kindle and […]
Promises of Betrayals: The History that Shaped the Iranian Shia Clerics by Fazle Chowdhury
Partly due to internal factionalism, Chowdhury asserts, Iran and its oil reserves were traditionally an easy target for outside domination – Ottoman, British, Tsarist, Soviet, and American. After long centuries of oppression as a minority sect of Islam, the Shias finally rose to prominence after their successful 1979 rebellion. But Shia leaders now face major internal […]
Shifting Sands (A Pastor Stephen Grant Short Story) by Ray Keating
Pastor Steven Grant always manages to find himself in the middle of a thriller, and author Ray Keating has created yet another complicated plot for his favorite protagonist in Shifting Sands.
Although considerably shorter than many of this series’ full-length novels, this quick read features Pastor Grant and a cadre of his old friends taking in the sights of an outdoor volleyball tournament with a deadly secret. As is so often the case with Keating’s hero, it isn’t going to be a peaceful getaway for the intrepid holy man, not with a terrorist plot brewing amidst the sun and […]
The Unkillables by J. Boyett
Blending genres is a popular approach in modern literature, as these fusions have endless potential for new revelation, so clearly shown in The Unkillables, a surprising dark horse of a novel that pits cavemen against zombies, with a few time travelers thrown in for good measure.
Gash-Eye and Chert stand at the center of this strange story – she a clever Neanderthal prisoner, and he a stubborn Cromagnon ruler, bound by a child and their determination to survive in a rapidly changing world of zombies and death. Romance takes a distant backseat to the action of the tale, but […]
Transcending Vision: Christian Theology in an Age of Empiricism by Don McIntosh
The author speaks of the opposition of empiricism (that proof must come from experience) and foundationalism (that proof can be, and often is, accepted on faith). Faith, or fideism, is a virtue precisely because it offers no evidence. Jesus did not ask for intellectual understanding. The God of Christianity wants us to vest our hopes in Him, acknowledging that our […]