SPR’s book reviews of new self-published books
Elephant Walk (The Brigandshaw Chronicles Book 2) by Peter Rimmer
Elephant Walk (The Brigandshaw Chronicles Book 2) by Peter Rimmer is a rich and entertaining work of historical fiction set in England and Africa. Beginning at the onset of World War I (whereas Book 1 was set in the tail end of the nineteenth century), Elephant Walk finds Harry Brigandshaw settled in the Dorset countryside after graduating Oxford when he receives a telegram, which brings him back to Africa. When his brother is killed in the war, Harry enlists and finds success in the service, but also great danger for himself and his family.
Elephant Walk defines the term “epic.” […]
Bullet in the Blue Sky by Bill Larkin is set after a huge earthquake decimates Los Angeles. A group of police officers, FBI, and Army personnel search through the city ruins for Detective Gavin Shaw. No one is quite aware of just what makes Gavin Shaw so important, and they have to navigate a city rife with looting, murders, and other dangers to continue with the rescue. When the group catches up with Shaw, he reveals that there’s more than meets the eye with the earthquake and the city’s destruction. A kind of crime-ridden “Saving Private Ryan,” in which men […]
They’re the Firework Girls — a group of beautiful, fiery, sometimes explosive women. Sam is the last one of the last of her friends without a man. It’s not a bad deal. There’s a lot more going on in her life than men, and to tell the truth, she’s never had a problem getting some when she feels like it.
In this unique, engaging novel, three teenage sisters move from America to the English countryside to stay with their eccentric grandparents after the mysterious disappearance of their mother. Through a series of strange and magical events, Charlemagne, Cairo, and Penny Agonistes discover that their grandparents and the other local residents are time travelers from a lost age and civilization. Each sister experiences flashbacks that link her to a life and identity in the world of Seraphina, where class and religious differences are threatening to boil over into mass annihilation. Meanwhile, in the present, the girls discover a mysterious “aunt” locked […]
It’s the year 2035, a decade after a series of cataclysmic environmental events led to the breakdown of society and its resurrection by a global corporate/political force called “The Autonomy.” The Autonomy’s elite upper class rule with an iron fist, keeping the masses starving and working 14 hour factory shifts until their bodies become deformed. Everyone is forced to wear government-issued “iNet” glasses which supply mind-numbing entertainment and access to “The Faith,” the government-sponsored religion, while having their locations and activities monitored.
In her latest collection, Still Dreaming, Ellie Rose McKee weaves together poetry and prose to consider themes of loss and longing, dreams, and family secrets. One story concerns a coffeehouse with a mysterious regular customer, while two different stories deal with young women in distress, one on the verge of losing her sight, another considering ending her life after suffering a traumatic event.
Gideon Quinn is a man with many enemies, and he’s not afraid of making a few more in pursuit of his goals. Wrongly convicted of treason and sentenced to an often-short life of hard labor, an uncommon deal is struck that grants Gideon one last chance to clear his name, or at least get back at the ones who sent him to his death. Traveling to Nike City with his pet draco, Elvis, Gideon uncovers a plot to fracture his world that runs deeper than anyone could imagine. The planet Fortune has Gideon on a short supply of its namesake, […]
Fishing In Valhalla by Rodney Lynch is a comic novel about a nowhere town in Minnesota, centering on Reno who works for a former male pornstar, Ramrod McKenzie. Over a hot, 90’s summer, the convenience store run by Ramrod is robbed, throwing Reno’s life into disarray. An arresting and very funny book peopled by a list of eccentric, but believable, characters, Fishing in Valhalla is an entertaining and surprisingly touching novel about striving to be the best you can be when your world is falling apart.