Cate Baum | Self-Publishing Review

Review: S3 – Science, Statistics and Skepticism by Fourat Janabi

Fourat Janabi’s passionate and entertaining look at the 3 pressing S’s of this universe: Science, Statistics and Skepticism, is, as the subtitle to this work testifies, an art of differentiation.

In this age of memes and virals on Facebook – which always seem to me to be the blind leading the blind – telling us how bad GMO crops, vaccines and theories of evolution are, Janabi once again pulls up a chair and takes a really hard look at something most people “liking” memes on Facebook don’t do – facts from qualified and independent scientists on the subjects that lately […]

Cate Baum2014-05-05T21:53:42+02:00July 24th, 2013|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Science Book Reviews|

Review: The Woodpecker Menace By Ted Olinger

This charming slice of life from autobiographical writer Ted Olinger, set in Washington State’s Key Peninsula at the bottom of Puget Sound, is truly flavorful. Beautifully illustrated with scrawly ink blot style drawings from whimsily-named local artist Tweed Meyer, Ted Olinger has managed something rare and magical – to capture not only his own life in miniature, but that of the environment around him, in rich, deep language and poetic writing conjuring up the wilderness prose of Laurie Lee and Jon Krakauer – ten short stories like windows into Olinger’s life as he settles into Peninsula life with his young […]

Cate Baum2014-05-05T21:59:08+02:00June 19th, 2013|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Short Stories Book Reviews|

Review: Four Times Blessed by Alexa T. Liguori

Four Times Blessed is the story of Crusa, a young woman who lives closely with her large extended family, and is engaged to Andrew, a well-respected boy from her New England island, who falls for Lium, a bodyguard who is supposed to be watching her before her wedding. Her flawless life plan is about to go awry.

A sprawling tale focusing on Crusa’s aunt, who she refers to as her “ zizi” and the cooking and household chores as Crusa looks to form her adult life, this work is maybe a try at literary fiction.

However, without real arcs, as […]

Cate Baum2014-05-05T22:01:47+02:00June 15th, 2013|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Women's Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: The Day The Music Died By Blair Evans

Cameron Forsyth is a young man studying at music school in New Zealand looking for an impossible answer – what is random chance and what is talent? Is he being deluded in his love for music? What is the secret to music’s magic and what has been twisted out of shape by academics and the media?

Along with his few eccentric misfit friends, he struggles to prove his points to musty music professors after a revelation from a guest speaker at the university that turns his life on its head, and alters his perception of what music is forever.

The […]

Cate Baum2014-05-19T18:27:44+02:00June 11th, 2013|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Literary Fiction Book Reviews, Music Book Reviews|

Review: Random Rationality – Expanded Edition by Fourat Janabi

When I reviewed the first edition of this book here on SPR, I wrote,” Unassuming, universally written with sharp wit and charm, the first pages catch and you want to read on. Although Janabi never professes to be an expert… ”

In this, the special extended version of his book, I want to take that back. Janabi is something of an expert.

In this reworked version of “Random Rationality”, the book has more meat, more substance, more catch – this second edition elevates what was an interesting and entertaining read to greatness – I cannot put my finger on what […]

Cate Baum2014-05-06T22:14:47+02:00May 17th, 2013|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Economics Book Reviews, Science Book Reviews|

Review: Don’t Look Back by Rita D’Orazio

“Don’t Look Back”, the debut novel from Rita D’Orazio tells the story of Katerina Balducci, the youngest sibling of three children in an Italian-American Catholic family, and chronicles the ups and downs of family life during her childhood with a moody mother, slighting Katerina for her unplanned birth and throwing abusive diatribes at her which shape her as a person at such a young age, as well as recounting the challenging events that require her to grow up fast.

Culturally intricate with lots of Italian heritage and detail, D’Orazio often gives the reader a feast of words, “Mama makes the […]

Cate Baum2014-05-06T22:15:52+02:00May 13th, 2013|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Women's Fiction Book Reviews|

Is The Self-Publishing Content Swell Leading To Mediocre Content on Kindle?

Fred Crawley of The New Statesman chews over the rise of self – published content on Kindle from an original angle – is the concept of “own-brand” consumerism affecting self-published books? Are standards slipping to give way to instant gratification? Should proofreading standards be higher? Discuss…

In the digital video shops we increasingly use as our sources of film entertainment, these movies are ranked alongside genuine big-budget efforts, with only a paragraph of description and a cover design (usually the most professional component of the whole project) to distinguish them from the real deal. In this sense, we have all

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Cate Baum2014-01-30T18:14:13+02:00April 19th, 2013|Categories: Member Blog|

Three Self-Published Photographers Talk About Their Experiences

“It was like a journey into the unknown”: Photographers with self-published books talk about their experiences, from The Observer’s Sean O’Hagan

Cristina de Middel worked as a photojournalist in her native Spain for eight years before deciding she wanted to create “fictions” with her camera and created The Afronauts, which was self-published in May 2012 in an edition of 1,000 and has since become a self-publishing phenomenon, winning her a place on the Deutsche Börse shortlist and now changing hands for over £1,000 a copy. “I had no clue what would happen when I made the book,” she says,

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Cate Baum2013-04-17T22:04:03+02:00April 17th, 2013|Categories: Member Blog|