New Releases

SPR’s book reviews of new self-published books

The Inconsistencies: A Comical Tragedy In Two Parts by Ilango Villoth

The Inconsistencies: A Comical Tragedy In Two PartsIn The Inconsistencies: A Comical Tragedy in Two Parts, Ilango Villoth has essentially rewritten Tolstoy’s A Confession and Melville’s Moby Dick in his own words. The book’s two parts follow the same basic structure and formula as the original works they reference, but diverge on a line by line basis.

Villoth’s ability to imitate an archaic writing style is quite remarkable, and it’s easy to be fooled in believing The Inconsistencies could have been written over a hundred years ago. The biggest “inconsistency’ here, perhaps, is the fleeting sense that one is actually reading Moby Dick or A Confession[…]

2017-09-25T12:10:52+02:00September 23rd, 2017|Categories: New Releases|Tags: |

Black Sky: On Addiction and Awakening of the Human Being by Dr. Y

Black Sky: On Addiction and Awakening of the Human Being by Dr. YA dark saga of alcoholism, Black Sky: On Addiction and Awakening of the Human Being is inspiring, educational, and at times, horrifying.

The author, identified only as Dr. Y, recalls the first time he passed out drunk – at age 12. He successfully finished medical school, with a failed marriage as a casualty of his secret problem. As a physician, he married again, enjoyed financial success, all while consuming alcohol daily and writing himself illegal opiate prescriptions.

Finally charged with a felony, he found himself in a years-long struggle with the DEA and his private demons of addiction. His recovery […]

2018-05-09T10:17:21+02:00September 22nd, 2017|Categories: New Releases|Tags: , , |

Magdalena Gottschalk: The Crooked Trail by M. Gail Grant

Magdalena Gottschalk: The Crooked TrailSet in the quaint town of Lily Brooke, Magdalena Gottschalk: The Crooked Trail by M. Gail Grant, is a novel filled with intrigue, suspense, and adventure for MALB (The Mystical Alliance of Lily Brooke) who find they need to set the town free from a dark secret. A fun supernatural read, at its core this young adult novel is a heartwarming story about friendship and family.

The adventure begins when the trio takes a Saturday morning walk through the woods, led by strange chanting and voices that only Magdalena can hear, revealing that there may be a demonic presence in […]

2019-01-11T14:52:27+02:00September 21st, 2017|Categories: New Releases|Tags: |

Lionhearts: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel by Ray Keating

Lionhearts: A Pastor Stephen Grant NovelIn Lionhearts by Ray Keating, the seventh installment in the Pastor Stepehn Grant series, readers see their pious hero, Pastor Grant, defending his country, faith and the bedrock of morality in a new setting – his home soil. When radical terrorists begin attacking Christians around the country, this man of God with a loaded Glock puts his own life on the line to fight back against the encroaching forces of evil.

With tense, sharp writing and a rapid pace to much of this novel, Keating doesn’t leave much room to breathe. Blending philosophy and theology with heroics, this particular Pastor […]

Athena’s Owl by Robert Woolston

Athena’s Owl by Robert WoolstonFrom Napoleon to Thoreau to Edward Snowden to Hollywood, Robert Woolston’s essay collection, Athena’s Owl: Philosophy Articles on Personal Growth, Modern Society & Hollywood Cinema, provides an intelligent and well-observed study of humanist philosophies in their earliest forms, and their transposition into modern culture.

Each of these short essays covers some aspect of morality as originally conceived, and as later enacted in film or current world affairs. The three main sections demonstrate how the ethics of such systems as Stoicism, Pragmatism, and Transcendentalism can impinge on our lives and permeate even the realm of entertainment.

The harsh upbringing and […]

2017-09-21T04:28:11+02:00September 19th, 2017|Categories: New Releases|Tags: , |

Diary of a Dead Dreamer by N.C. Cummings

Diary of a Dead Dreamer by N.C. CummingsTold in a series of diary entries, Diary of a Dead Dreamer by N.C. Cummings takes us into a world of dreams, obsession, suspense, and murder.

When another student by the name of Sadie moves into the boarding house Elizabeth lives in, things change drastically. Her arrival seems to ward off Elizabeth’s nightmares of an old-fashioned female student, so long as they spend time together. Elizabeth’s devotion to Sadie takes the characters down a path they’re not sure they want to be on. After turning in an old diary thought to belong to the girl in her dreams to the […]

2019-01-11T14:52:37+02:00September 17th, 2017|Categories: New Releases|Tags: |

The Lake (A Berry Springs Novel) by Amanda McKinney

The Lake (A Berry Springs Novel Book 2)The Lake, the second installment in Amanda McKinney’s Berry Springs series, is a small town murder mystery at heart, seasoned with a side of romance and cyber-espionage. The novel follows FBI agent Ethan Veech, who is ostensibly on “vacation” in a small southern town, and white collar criminal Jolene Reeves, a bad girl with a heart of gold.

McKinney frequently swaps between following these two leads and several side character, which often means we know more about what’s happening then the characters themselves. The novel starts leisurely, taking ample time to set up the relationships between its characters before […]

2017-09-12T14:17:35+02:00September 7th, 2017|Categories: New Releases|Tags: |

Crusher by Blaine C. Readler

CrusherDarren is surprised to discover that he somehow volunteered to become the caretaker for his vegetative cousin. He’s even more surprised to find an alien hiding behind his computer. When the alien possesses his brain-dead cousin and demands that his head be put in a microwave, things get weird. When the alien demands rhodium to eat, things get complicated.

By the time Darren realizes that the Earth is about to be invaded by another, more malevolent, alien species, he’s really given up being surprised. Accompanied by an alien who has motor control akin to a two-year-old, a legal relative […]

2018-06-26T10:03:23+02:00August 30th, 2017|Categories: New Releases|Tags: |
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