New Releases | Self-Publishing Review

Exile (Bloodforge Book 1) by Tom Stacey

Exile (Bloodforge Book 1) by Tom Stacey is an epic fantasy novel that heralds the beginning of an exciting new series. The Verian Empire is in shambles – on the edge of war, in the past and on the horizon – a land where heroes no longer remain. Out of this chaos, new heroes emerge to fight the Echoes, demons in a human facade, who want to claim this land for their own.

Stacey is a born fantasy writer. Exile has all the elements of a strong epic fantasy: a detailed world that feels like a real place, complete with […]

Henry Baum2015-12-01T04:03:28+02:00December 1st, 2015|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Fantasy Book Reviews|

Celluloid by Holly Curtis

Celluloid by Holly Curtis Celluloid by Holly Curtis feels like a novel written in black and white – the color of old movies, and especially Film Noir. It’s not a crime novel, per se, but it is a novel permeated with the love of old movies. This is a film freak’s novel through and through, and the veneration of film shines on every page.

Jimmy Clifford is sick of his life – sick of his friend Oswald’s card games, sick of the drugs that don’t seem to be fun anymore, and the anti-depressants have stopped working. When he finds out that his cherished local […]

Henry Baum2015-11-23T04:07:17+02:00November 23rd, 2015|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Contemporary Fiction Book Reviews|

My Daylight Monsters by Sarah Dalton

My Daylight Monsters is the prequel novella to Sarah Dalton’s Young Adult Mary Hades series. Though the book is called a prequel, Dalton recommends in the beginning of the book to start with this short work, and it establishes Mary Hades as a riveting, exciting, and sensitive young adult heroine.

My Daylight Monsters finds 17-year-old Mary Hades being institutionalized after having “visions” of zombies and skull-headed monsters. As she’s in a mental institution, there’s always a nagging sense that Mary might actually be crazy – to the reader, and to Mary herself. Woven into this narrative are an interesting cast […]

Henry Baum2015-10-28T10:01:22+02:00October 28th, 2015|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Young Adult Book Reviews|

Golden Gloves: rap-novel by G. Petrov & M. Salita

Golden Gloves: rap-novel is one of the most unique reading experiences you’ll have. Written in rhyming verse, it tells the story of a Jewish immigrant from Odessa who wins a Golden Gloves boxing tournament. The book covers heady issues such as anti-Semitism, immigration, poverty, and the cut-throat world of amateur boxing.

A novel in verse could potentially get tedious, but Golden Gloves flows evenly. Another potential problem is that it could seem childlike, as rhyming verse is most commonly associated with children’s books. Because of the themes present, and the cadence of the prose, neither of these issues is an […]

Henry Baum2015-10-26T08:28:45+02:00October 26th, 2015|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Poetry Book Reviews, Sports Book Reviews|

Brighton Make-Believe by Michael Salita

Brighton Make-Believe by Michael Salita is a charming children’s book about using your imagination. Really, there cannot be enough books stressing kids to use make believe. In the neighborhood of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, three six-year-old boys are sick of playing sports all the time and want something else to do. They start making up stories about different animals in the neighborhood – dogs that run along rooftops and birds that live underground – and they travel around the neighborhood making up more and more outlandish stories about the neighborhood animals.

The main trouble with Brighton Make-Believe is it calls out […]

Henry Baum2015-10-15T07:20:20+02:00October 15th, 2015|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Children's Book Reviews|

Thirty Days to Thirty by Courtney Psak

Thirty Days to Thirty is a fun and emotionally-charged novel about a woman who’s just approaching thirty who loses everything: In the space of a few hours she gets fired from her job and then finds her boyfriend of six years has been cheating on her. Just when she thought her whole life was coming together and she was on the right track, everything falls apart, and instead finds herself living again with her parents. And so she gets innovative: she finds an old list of things she hoped to accomplish before she turned thirty, and with a few friends […]

Lysa Grant2015-10-07T06:12:51+02:00October 7th, 2015|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Chick Lit Book Reviews, Women's Fiction Book Reviews|

Warning’s Wane by Jaclyn Little

Warning’s Wane by Jaclyn Little is an inventive and moving literary novel about a strange world where touching someone makes both people disappear. Paul Danniers and his wife, Colleen, move to the town of Praxia Island, off the coast of Maine, and finds the residents terrified of disappearing, and fearing each other. Warning’s Wane is a meditation on intimacy and alienation that’s at once shocking and cerebral.

Poetic and supremely well-written, this is the type of self-published book there should be more of: literary, but also with a compelling high-concept idea at its core. At times, the narrative is a […]

Henry Baum2015-10-02T08:30:30+02:00October 2nd, 2015|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Literary Fiction Book Reviews|

Donald Trump: Zombie Hunter by Jon Davidson

Donald Trump: Zombie Hunter is the raucous and topical satire of the man of the moment, Donald Trump, as he wins the presidency, fixes everything overnight, and then is attacked by a hoard of zombies, all of which come in the form of his current opponents: Chris Christie and Rand Paul, among others. The story is filled with amusing references to moments from the campaign trail – such as Trump taking on John McCain’s heroism. If you’re a fan of the horror crossover genre, it’s a unique take that’s at once funny and revolting.