SPR | Self-Publishing Review

An Interview with Brian Meehl: Author of Blowback ’94

Brian Meehl is the award-winning author of seven novels, including the vampire comedies, Suck It Up and Suck It Up and Die. Blowback ’07 and Blowback ’63 are his first two books in the Blowback Trilogy. Prior to penning novels, Brian enjoyed a successful career writing for television, winning three Emmys, and performing Muppets on Sesame Street and in Jim Henson films, including “The Dark Crystal.”

Tell us about your book.

“So the last shall be first…” Although this book, Blowback ’94, is the last in the Blowback trilogy, it was the initial story that inspired the trilogy, […]

SPR2020-03-26T09:20:05+02:00March 26th, 2020|Categories: Interviews|

Review: The Growth and Collapse of One American Nation by Donald J. Fraser

Donald J. Fraser has created a detailed view of the early years of the American republic as it gradually narrowed towards the turmoil of civil war in The Growth and Collapse of One American Nation.

In the first decade after the founding of the nation, political parties – Federalism and Republicanism – developed almost immediately. In the mix, the fascinating George Washington was slightly right of center, believing that governance couldn’t rely on people’s nature since we often cannot control that nature, as he sometimes had trouble controlling his own.

By contrast, Thomas Jefferson, more to the left philosophically, […]

SPR2023-06-30T17:22:03+02:00March 10th, 2020|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: History Book Reviews|

Review: Memoirs of an Angel by Jim Huggins

How much do animals know? What can pets offer and share if given the chance? These are questions that are explored and answered in Memoirs of an Angel by Jim Huggins.

Having had a beloved dog in his life – a German Shepherd named Smokey who passed away in 2002 – Huggins began to feel lonely after Smokey was gone. Drawn to the breed and also driven by a passion for animals that have suffered abuse after his own childhood of feeling unwanted, Huggins began searching for a possible replacement. That’s when he learned about Cadie, a “boomerang” award winner […]

SPR2020-03-11T10:59:23+02:00March 8th, 2020|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Memoir Book Reviews, Pets Book Reviews|

Fall of the Raven by Thymournia

Fall of the Raven by Thymournia is an evocative collection of prose poetry and photography that is at once beautiful and melancholy. Elegantly and expertly constructed, the book consists of gothic black and white photographs of the titular raven with the author’s dark and despairing perspective on existence. Though the photographs have a varied mood that is haunting but not horrific, the prose poetry is almost relentlessly dark with no other feeling to break up the mood, giving it a monotone quality. Still, matched with the artful photographs, Fall of the Raven is a unique and powerful work.

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SPR2020-02-27T07:51:42+02:00February 27th, 2020|Categories: Editorial Reviews|

Review: Evolution Tested by CS Stephens

Author CS Stephens presents a delicately worded takedown of widely accepted truths related to evolution and natural selection in Evolution Tested: Evolution & Empiriism Viewed through Engineering Standards. Employing a unique engineering angle on empirical evidence and objective truth, this book attempts to challenge even the staunchest believers in the Darwinian tradition.

In the more than 160 years since Darwin released his theory of evolution through natural selection, there have been countless books tackling the validity and universality of the theory. The overwhelming support for and perennial buttressing of the theory through evidence of speciation events, genetic markers and […]

SPR2020-03-26T09:47:57+02:00February 27th, 2020|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Science Book Reviews|

Review: A Death Lived by Martha Calihan, MD

Recalling the final months leading up to her husband’s death, author Martha Calihan explores the spiritual meaning of death – its sorrows and blessings – in the moving A Death Lived.

The author’s husband Charles, who had survived cancer and a major heart attack, was rushed to the ER one fateful morning with pain in his right foot. Calihan, a physician, knew his condition could lead to an amputation, but after many complications, Charles returned home, seemingly recovered. The couple, who had known each other for most of their lives and been married more than thirty years, went back […]

SPR2020-03-19T11:15:36+02:00February 26th, 2020|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Health Book Reviews, Memoir Book Reviews|

An Interview with Marti Ward: Author of Casindra Lost

Marti Ward is an award-winning teacher, researcher and entrepreneur known for his serial startups and his interdisciplinary work from the behavioral, health and information sciences to environmental and robotic engineering – but he writes under several variants of his name. Marti hasn’t been into space yet, but has traveled extensively on this planet – living in half a dozen countries and speaking and reading a variety of languages with varying degrees of fluency. He hasn’t yet built an AI as sophisticated as Al – but is working on it, and has around 300 publications relating to AI.

Marti was brought […]

SPR2020-02-26T11:48:40+02:00February 25th, 2020|Categories: Interviews|

Review: Spirit Calling by Kathleen A. Heitkamp

An inspirational calendar with many unique features has been created by writer Kathleen Heitkamp to emphasize that there is a Supreme Being who watches over our lives, and that we can make a difference for ourselves and others by aligning our understanding with that universal force, in the inspiring Spirit Calling: Jump-Start Awareness, Meaning, and Joy Over 365 Days.

The author composed this book for a 365-day period, and has constructed an organized format for each day. Beginning with citing the date, she gives the segment a title, offers a quotation from the Bible or other wisdom source, and […]

SPR2020-03-18T11:05:33+02:00February 24th, 2020|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Religion Book Reviews, Spirituality Book Reviews|