SPR | Self-Publishing Review

Northwoods Pulp Reloaded by T.K. O’Neill

Capturing the raw energy, resilience, and murky lawlessness of a bitter wilderness, Northwoods Pulp Reloaded by T.K. O’Neill is a stirring and wild collection. Told with a reverence for the culture, traditions, and demands of a part of the country that most will never experience, this homage to cold-weather rebels makes for a thrilling read. For any reader who has ever pointed their fortunes north and let their moral compass waver, or loves reading about well-crafted antiheroes, O’Neill’s collection is an intense but entertaining dive into another world.

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SPR2022-01-19T02:31:25+02:00January 19th, 2022|Categories: Editorial Reviews|

Review: Saving Me First III by Hui Beop

In the third volume of her self-help series, author Hui Beop takes a dynamic look at Korean and other medical systems to help us analyze how and why we feel and act the way we do in Saving Me First III: Unlocking What’s Always Within Us.

Hui Beop’s manual begins in full spin, declaring that each of our five major organs – kidney, heart, liver, lung, and stomach – is essential for life and each carries within it both physical and psychological or emotional tendencies. One whose health is dominated by a strong heart, likes to have an audience […]

SPR2022-01-17T04:32:23+02:00January 15th, 2022|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Self-Help Book Reviews, Spirituality Book Reviews|

Lessons Learned from Creating a Fantasy Box Set

Your first book is probably the most important story of the collection, but if you are a new author, it will not be as well-written as the later books. Like most new writers, I stumbled along and changed my mind about story arcs, improving my writing skills as I went. After publishing the first two stories of my series, it occurred to me it might have been wise to withhold publication and release the series all at once so I could change characters’ backstories or names if it made sense for later stories.

I waited to release the last three […]

SPR2022-01-11T04:05:03+02:00January 11th, 2022|Categories: Member Blog|Tags: Book Formatting Tips|

Review: Healing the Stormy Marriage by R. Christian Bohlen with Helen M. Bohlen

Author R. Christian Bohlen and his wife Helen M. Bohlen address some of the most difficult problems a marriage can face with a resounding, positive note, in Healing the Stormy Marriage: Hope and Help for You When Your Loved One Has Mental Health or Addiction Issues.

Not long after Christian married Helen, seemingly the woman of his dreams, 35 years ago, problems began to arise. Helen, who was born with a handicapped leg, also harbored mental illness, evidenced, as she herself suspected, by the fact that she could remember her happy times at camp as a child, but almost […]

SPR2022-02-15T05:22:41+02:00January 10th, 2022|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Relationships Book Reviews, Religion Book Reviews|

Review: The Story of You by Gerald Schaefer

In The Story of You, a brightly illustrated book for thoughtful children, author Gerald Schaefer finds straightforward yet colorful ways to help overcome many of life’s negative moments.

Schaefer opens his story with a welcome to our world of flowers, hummingbirds, and other natural phenomena, which help to build the notion of the connectedness of all life. He states that trees and flowers, for example, “appreciate” being looked at; our gaze perks them up in various ways, and makes us feel good, too. Inside each of us is another self, an “invisible you,” Schaefer reveals; though it can’t be […]

SPR2021-12-07T03:49:22+02:00November 17th, 2021|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Children's Book Reviews|

Review: Calm for Surgery by Dr. Chris Bonney MD FANZCA

With experience-based information and a lively sense of humor and humanity, Dr. Chris Bonney, doctor of anesthesiology, advises readers on how to have the greatest success, fewest pains and fears, when anticipating and undergoing surgery, in Calm for Surgery: SuperTips for a Smooth Recovery.

Dr. Bonney explains that there are a number of major issues with which a prospective surgery patient might be grappling: general anxiety, fear of needles, worries about pain, and nervousness about being in a hospital setting without a sense of personal control. To some extent these anxieties are justified by the myriad possibilities, such as […]

SPR2021-12-22T07:33:56+02:00November 15th, 2021|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Health Book Reviews|

Review: The Roar of Ordinary by J.C. Foster

A sibling’s love embraces those he has lost, most especially the brother with whom he grew up and shared ambitions, dreams, and a remarkably mature philosophy in The Roar of Ordinary: Brothers, Sisters, War, and Fate, an emotive memoir by J.C. Foster.

The saga of Foster’s family could begin when his father Chuck, in mid-adolescence, rebelled against his overbearing father and struck out on his own as America was struggling under the deprivations of the Great Depression. That independent spirit undoubtedly influenced both Foster and his younger brother Steve. Two tragic deaths left Chuck alone with an invalid daughter […]

SPR2021-12-01T08:06:22+02:00October 12th, 2021|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Memoir Book Reviews|

An Interview with Beth Hersant: Author of Of Starlight and Plague

Beth Hersant holds a Masters Degree in English Literature and has worked as a poet, essayist, playwright, and author. Her first novel, Good Neighbours, received worldwide critical acclaim. She lives in Norfolk, England with her husband and children, two labradors, and a cat who believes he’s a ninja.

Tell us about your book.

It began, as big events often do, with small things – a little girl, a little dog, a microscopic virus that leads to a tragedy no one should ever have to face. Having lost his daughter to rabies, Dr. Aaron Pickman tries to derive some meaning […]

SPR2021-10-07T06:20:57+02:00October 7th, 2021|Categories: Interviews|