Literary Fiction | Self-Publishing Review

Review: All That Will Remain by Richard Snodgrass

An epic American drama, All That Will Remain by Richard Snodgrass is a stunning portrait of small-town life suddenly revealed by the lights of the broader world.

This is not the first time the author has proven his ability to gracefully transport readers across time and space – his body of work is an homage to eras long past, linked through themes of industry, resilience, power, and the murky, ever-shifting idea of the American dream. This latest offering is an intimate and revealing peek into a temerarious family of rugged survivors as they navigate the rapidly changing landscape of war […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2022-01-18T09:14:58+02:00December 5th, 2021|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Richard Snodgrass|

Review: CLass by Vid Lazer Hardt

A quirky commentary on small-town life and the epic dramas that play out on Main Street, CLass by Vid Lazer Hardt is a whip-smart novel like few others. Loosely set in Acton, Vermont, where the biggest news in years is that a big film production is coming to town, this patient community drama is unassuming, but deeply entertaining.

Hollywood hotshot Loudon Golden is in town to film “Hobohemia,” and is using regular townspeople to fill in the extra gaps, giving the production a meta sense of realism. Fiona is a young woman just trying to survive, and manage a growing […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2021-08-06T09:57:08+02:00July 19th, 2021|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Literary Fiction|

Review: The Book of True Believer by M. Funk

Author M. Funk dives deep into religion, power, love and deception with The Book of True Believer: A Tale of Awakening, a fearless and unforgettable novel that speaks to the fundamental flaws of human nature, exposing them with sharp and rare insight.

On the verge of leaving the world of faith healing forever, the enigmatic Jeremiah Promise is rejuvenated by the unexpected support of True Believer, a woman he had miraculously healed years earlier. Reinvigorated in his faith, and believing that their meeting was the sign he’d long been waiting for, he easily convinces her to join him on […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2021-06-28T02:00:43+02:00June 1st, 2021|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Contemporary Fiction, Literary Fiction|

Cessation by Michael DiBiasio-Ornelas

Michael DiBiasio-Ornelas dissects the perils of business, friendship, romance, failure, and America’s hollow dream in his thought-provoking novel, Cessation.

A gripping and emotional confession, this novel is also an artful vivisection of modern life, analyzing both the glitches in the matrix and the existential crises brought on by capitalism. The narrator, Aaron, is both in the machine and a self-aware critic of the system, trapped between the need for survival and the search for meaning. After his lowest point, with his business on the brink of collapse, he forms an inexplicable connection with Walker, a wanderer disconnected from the […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2021-04-01T10:30:39+02:00April 1st, 2021|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Literary Fiction|

Review: The Friends of Allan Renner by Dave J. Andrae

Readers are welcomed into the most intimate moments of a truly strange existence in The Friends of Allan Renner by Dave J. Andrae, a masterful piece of narrative fiction. Divided into seven very different but interconnected stories, this collection exposes the fascinating inner life of Renner through vignettes of his bizarre relationships. At times a heady blend of philosophy and cultural allusions, this is a dense semi-sci-fi read that cleverly roasts human nature, while also celebrating its temerity and curiosity.

Renner initially reads as an average protagonist, but an ironically extraordinary one, with a whip-smart memory, a deft tongue, and […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2021-01-20T10:46:28+02:00December 22nd, 2020|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Literary Fiction, Visionary Fiction|

It Happened in Silence by Karla M. Jay

Embedded firmly in the past, but echoing eerily in our present, It Happened in Silence by Karla M. Jay is a novel ripped from the American shadows, a visceral peek at the darkness.

Willow Stewart is a mesmerizing and relentless main character, though her relationship with her brother, Briar, is the unbreakable engine that drives this slow-brewing story. This interwoven tale of family, resilience, betrayal, and the moral evolution of a nation is powerful and stirring, but also subtle and humble in its storytelling. The novel is a striking meditation on America of the past and present, particularly when it […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2020-12-04T05:50:25+02:00December 2nd, 2020|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Historical Fiction, Karla M. Jay, Literary Fiction|

Review: The Actor by Mharlyn Merritt

Bizarre worlds collide with even wilder consequences in The Actor by Mharlyn Merritt, a non-stop ride through the realms of fame, sex, regret, and redemption. A burst of spontaneous brilliance from the first page to the last, this novel is a love note to the weird edges of celebrity, and a homage to a golden era of Hollywood that may have never existed outside the tabloids.

Known only as The Actor, the enigmatic protagonist finds himself in hot water after his lover mysteriously disappears, but that doesn’t stop him from shacking up with the next lit fuse of a person […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2020-11-02T04:20:29+02:00November 1st, 2020|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Contemporary Fiction, Literary Fiction, Thriller|

Review: This Book Is The Longest Sentence Ever Written And Then Published by Dave Cowen

Author Dave Cowen releases an epic text upon the world in This Book Is The Longest Sentence Ever Written And Then Published. An ambitious, self-reflective, and impressive achievement, this book is a stream-of-consciousness sprawl that is both addictive and admirable, exploring the writer’s insecurities, goals, personal history, and philosophy, without ever dropping a full stop.

Setting out on a seemingly mad and quixotic quest to write the longest sentence ever written, the author is determined to dethrone the endless sentences of James Joyce, Jose Saramago, and Jonathan Rotter – though Lucy Ellmann may have outdone him with the thousand-page Ducks, […]