New Releases | Self-Publishing Review

I Am Not Dumb and I Am Not a Stinky Butt! by Joyce Knock

I Am Not Dumb and I Am Not a Stinky Butt! by Joyce Knock is a spirited children’s story about one boy who’s taken a bit too much from a particular bully. A boy is teased by the class bully, Freddy, when he answers a question wrong in class (Freddy calls him “stupid”) and then when he falls down on the playground (he’s called “crybaby”), and then he’s called the name in the title. Finally having enough, he confronts Freddy in class and all the other kids offer their support, silencing the bully. It’s a sweet and important story, in […]

Henry Baum2015-12-29T10:27:08+02:00December 28th, 2015|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Children's Book Reviews|

Second Chances by Lincoln Cole

Second Chances by Lincoln Cole Second Chances by Lincoln Cole is a novel about big issues: racial discrimination and injustice, alcoholism, spousal abuse, and struggling to survive when society is stacked against you. The novel begins with Lakeisha who is facing virulent racism at an elementary school. When Lakeisha goes missing, her daughter, Nichole, must start caring for her younger siblings and picking up the pieces of a shattered life. She works with Richard, an attorney who got into the job with good intentions but has steered away from helping the common good, and he’s facing a crisis of his own. Nichole’s problems force both […]

Henry Baum2015-12-28T05:28:25+02:00December 24th, 2015|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Contemporary Fiction Book Reviews|

The Sixteen Burdens by David Khalaf

The Sixteen Burdens by David Khalaf is the incredible first novel in a series about a fantastical alternate Old Hollywood. The stars of yesteryear weren’t just talented, they possessed supernatural abilities, and now they’re being kidnapped. Gray Studebaker – a street urchin who sells map to the stars – discovers the stars’ secret, and aims to save them from a nefarious adversary who is trying to steal their talents in order to create an unstoppable army.

The main thing to say about this book is: Wow. This is the kind of book you hope will get attention, so please pay […]

Henry Baum2015-12-12T14:45:47+02:00December 12th, 2015|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Fantasy Book Reviews, Historical Fantasy Book Reviews, Hollywood for Authors|

The Peril Protocol by Robert Thornton

The Peril Protocol by Robert Thornton is a page-turning thriller about a renowned doctor who’s accused of being a serial killer. Dr. Hope Allerd is working under Dr. Erril, researching a miracle cure for meningitis. A reporter shows up on the scene and accuses him of the seemingly impossible: being the worst serial killer since Jack the Ripper. When women start showing up dead at the hospital, and the reporter is outed for being a serial plagiarizer, Dr. Allerd doesn’t know who to trust. But it gets worse. Allerd discovers that she’s slated to be the murderer’s next victim, and […]

Henry Baum2015-12-12T14:27:06+02:00December 12th, 2015|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Thriller Book Reviews|

A Spiritual Journey by Susan Kapatoes

A Spiritual Journey is Susan Kapatoes’ memoir about communing with the divine, and finding evidence of the divine in her life, such as in friendships and love. The book is not so much a spiritual treatise investigating different spiritual traditions, so much as a personal memoir about personal spiritual growth. Though she has her first spiritual awakening after picking up a Christian Bible, her story is not centered around Christianity specifically, but a more-universal take on the meaning of God.

Kapatoes’ story is gripping because she perceives an absolute reality to her spiritual awareness. Her awakening is not merely intellectual, […]

Henry Baum2015-12-12T13:55:48+02:00December 12th, 2015|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Religious Book Reviews, Spirituality Book Reviews|

The Life Engine by Rick Baker

The Life Engine The Life Engine by Rick Baker is a pulse-pounding and thought-provoking thriller about two mismatched people on the run from the American government and a sadistic killer. Ian Wolfe is a down-on-his-luck former CIA agent who is tasked with investigating April Gentry, a female Indiana Jones and then some, who has access to a life-saving plant in the Amazon rainforest. Pharmaceutical companies aren’t so interested in having this come to market, and send an assassin to rectify the problem. Meanwhile, an associate of April hacks into a government database and downloads top secret information. Ian and April become closer as […]

Henry Baum2015-12-11T08:07:11+02:00December 11th, 2015|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Thriller Book Reviews|

B The EXXtinction by Santiago Mantilla

B The EXXtinction by Santiago Mantilla B The EXXtinction by Santiago Mantilla is a dystopian science fiction novel proposing the provocative question: what would happen if men go extinct? Despotic ruler Queen Estevez starts a civil war to exterminate the male population. What she didn’t count on is how many males and females are bonded together, and don’t want to join her crusade. Noah and his daughter, Talayeh, find themselves in the middle of the rebellion, and the subtitle of the novel is brought to light: “The Only Hope for Man Is a Woman.”

As in many dystopian fantasies, there’s a kernal of truth to what […]

Lysa Grant2015-12-04T12:30:26+02:00December 4th, 2015|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Dystopian Fiction Book Reviews, Science Fiction Book Reviews, Speculative Fiction Book Reviews|

Long Plastic Hallway by Joyce V. Harrison

Twenty-somethings Ellis, Bax and Chloe set out for a roadtrip only to quickly find they have no money. Busking to get by, Ellis eventually makes his way to Los Angeles and into the cut-throat music business, and all the highs (literally) and lows you find there. A story as much about friendship as it is about the music industry, Long Plastic Hallway is a generation-defining book that’s as fun to read as it is for these characters to live.