New Releases

SPR’s book reviews of new self-published books

Tennis with God by Brian Cox

Tennis with God by Brian CoxIn Tennis with God: My Quest for the Perfect Game and Peace With My Father, author Brian Cox tells an engaging globe-trotting story about tennis, spirituality, and healing fractured relationships.

Born in Kenya, presaging a life of international wandering, Brian Cox was the son of a US embassy professional, ex-boxer, and tennis addict whose domination resulted in Brian learning the game of tennis early on. He lived in Yemen, Vietnam, and Colombia, and attended college in the US, continuing his interests in tennis and Eastern spirituality. For many years he worked with Dennis Adams, his spiritual advisor and surrogate father. […]

Generous Fruits: A Survey of American Homesteading by Barbara Bamberger Scott

Generous Fruits: A Survey of American Homesteading Generous Fruits: A Survey of American Homesteading by Barbara Bamberger Scott is a fascinating history of the homesteading movement, from early settlers in America up to the modern day. Written from a “walked the walk” perspective, Scott shows an obvious passion for her subject, unearthing the challenges, successes, and missteps that American homesteaders have faced over the centuries.

There are a great number of books on homesteading that cover the nuts and bolts of going “off the grid” – how to maintain an organic garden, how to generate electricity, and so on – but few, if any, cover the storied […]

2017-06-28T09:13:29+02:00June 28th, 2017|Categories: New Releases|Tags: , |

A Generation of Dark: A Prison Notebook by C.F. Villa

A Generation of Dark: A Prison Notebook by C.F. VillaAfter fifteen years in solitary confinement in a California SHU (Special Housing Unit), writer C. F. Villa offers short poems and essays chronicling his prison experiences, along with memories of childhood in an indigenous family.

Villa asserts that SHUs restrain, control and essentially torture those inmates who demonstrate most resistance. The picture conveyed by Villa of his enforced isolation is extremely depressing, yet he mixes endearing family photographs among the essays, along with poignant recollections of his mother. Remembering his twelve-year-old self, Villa recalls his grandfather who served in World War II, his father who always believed in him, taught […]

2017-06-27T06:48:35+02:00June 22nd, 2017|Categories: New Releases|Tags: , , |

1939: The Phantom Zeppelin (Churchill’s Children Book 1) by A.R. Grogan

1939 - The Phantom Zeppelin by A. R. Grogan The Phantom Zeppelin (Churchill’s Children Book 1) by A.R. Grogan is an engaging middle grade historical novel following the exploits of a group of aristocratic children during World War II who work undercover for Winston Churchill. Christopher Finch, the child of a diplomat, is at the story’s center, who becomes one of Churchill’s spies, leading to incredible adventures for the typical 12-year-old boy in this informative and engrossing first book in the series.

The Churchill’s Children series seems very much geared as an historical lesson, while not drowning younger readers in too much detail, and keeps readers engaged by Kit’s […]

2017-06-23T10:12:44+02:00June 22nd, 2017|Categories: New Releases|Tags: , |

The Little Black Book of Human Resources Management by Barry Wolfe

The Little Black Book of Human Resources Management by Barry WolfeBarry Wolfe presents a refreshing but often unconventional take on some of the little-discussed but real-life happenings in Human Resource offices in The Little Black Book of Human Resources Management.

Wolfe has walked the walk – currently serving as Vice President, Human Resources for a consulting firm – and talks the talk expertly. Anyone who has ever worked in a corporate setting will recognize his authoritative voice. He has organized his text with humor and verve, but still manages to be succinct. His advice is personable as well, almost as though he is speaking directly to participants in a […]

2017-06-21T08:01:13+02:00June 21st, 2017|Categories: New Releases|Tags: |

Memories Left by the Roadside by Paul Leestma

Memories Left by the Roadside by Paul LeestmaIn his second book of verse, poet Paul Leestma vows to go beyond his own experience, creating a new view of larger concepts of love and destiny. In this emotionally charged collection, the author delves into the mystical quality of memory and explores it in depth.

In Memories Left by the Roadside the themes are at once universal and also intensely personal: “As I have aged, so has my love for you”; “Do you still think of me when you hear our song?” There is palpable melancholy, as when he remembers the girl who lives on Rte. 29 with whom […]

2017-06-20T05:56:35+02:00June 19th, 2017|Categories: New Releases|Tags: |

Let’s Go Dancing in the Light by Gloria D. Gonsalves

Let’s Go Dancing in the Light by Gloria D. GonsalvesA poetess and storyteller, including children’s fiction, Gloria D. Gonsalves will touch hearts and minds with her evocative short compositions in Let’s Go Dancing in the Light: A Collection of Poetry and Prose for Soul and Spirit.

Admitting a leaning towards Christianity, Gonsalves embraces other faiths in this uplifting and well-rounded work. Some pieces exude the enigmatic quality of a Zen kōan, as in “To the Denizens of Now”:

There’s no year…Would we want a calendar?
There’s no finish line…Would we stop bustling?

Each piece in the collection speaks of gritty human experience, sensual and violent, poignant and unexpected, […]

2018-03-06T11:23:30+02:00June 16th, 2017|Categories: New Releases|Tags: , |

The Myrrosil Chronicles: Dawn’s Touch by Steven C. McCullough

The Myrrosil Chronicles: Dawn's TouchThe world of Myrrosil is one of radiant beauty and terrible evil, with only the wisest few able to make reliable assertions as to which is definitively which. It’s a magical place, and one full of secrets that should, arguably, never be discovered.

Enter Cyrus Farrington – romantic, quasi-adventurer, and altogether fed up and confused. Spirited away by the whims of fate and entangled in a shadowy plot, it falls on Cyrus to carry the burdens of the mysterious artifact known as Dawn’s Touch, and all that comes with it…

Dawn’s Touch is the first part of The Myrrosil Chronicles, […]

2017-06-15T08:13:36+02:00June 15th, 2017|Categories: New Releases|Tags: |
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