Book Reviews | Self-Publishing Review

Review: Old People by Stanley Yokell

This book is a collection of interconnected stories about just what the title says: old people. The loosely connected characters recur throughout the stories. One couple, Sam and Evie Jokel, are the primary characters, and they anchor the stories. The stories follow the Jokels from their retirement to Sam’s eventual move to The Rest Place, a retirement community in Boulder, but include many stories about other characters. Though the stories cover several years, the book is nicely organized from winter to winter, ending on New Year’s Day, reflecting the metaphor of life as one calendar year.

The first story, “Guilt […]

Avery Hurt2014-05-05T21:54:54+02:00July 16th, 2013|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Short Stories Book Reviews|

Review: Magick In The City by Zakariyya Ishaq

John Locke, partner in the detective agency Locke and Keyes Investigations, is in his office early one morning working on a letter to his landlord and business partner when Walter Lewis, a potential client, arrives and asks him to investigate the twenty-five-year-old disappearance of Lewis’ father. The case involves witchcraft and sorcery and hints at some even stranger goings-on. Locke refuses the case, not because it involves the occult (an area in which, as it turns out, he has some experience), but because he sees no hope for solving a twenty-five-year-old mystery. Unfortunately for Locke, this is one case he […]

Avery Hurt2014-05-05T21:56:27+02:00June 21st, 2013|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Thriller Book Reviews|

Review: Sign It Into Law: How To Put Your Petition On The Ballot by Victoria Stoklasa

Sometimes we forget that our responsibility as citizens requires more than simply voting from time to time (often only in congressional and presidential elections) and then sitting back and complaining about the results. This hands-mostly-off approach to democracy has resulted in our thinking of government as “Them,” when it really is—or at least should be—”Us.”

George Bernard Shaw quipped, “Democracy is a device that insures that we shall be governed no better than we deserve.” Stoklasa’s small manual helps citizens make sure that what we deserve is better than what we’ve come to expect.

Victoria Stoklasa, a political activist from […]

Avery Hurt2019-01-22T06:14:09+02:00June 20th, 2013|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Politics 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: Monster by Ben Burgess Jr.

This first novel by poet and spoken-word artist Ben Burgess, Jr. chronicles the love life of Ken Ferguson, a young man who responds to being dumped by a self-centered, materialistic girlfriend by giving up on love and instead devoting himself to pursing as many meaningless sexual conquests as he can manage—and he manages quite a dance card. Ken starts out as a very nice guy, but as he tries to keep himself from feeling any emotion, seducing and bedding women becomes almost a game to him. He gradually turns into a very different sort of person, the monster in the […]

Avery Hurt2019-01-22T17:49:12+02:00June 16th, 2013|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Erotic Book Reviews, Men's Fiction Book Reviews, Romance 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 Nothing Place by Jesse Relkin

This ambitious first novel by Jesse Relkin begins with 16-year-old Max arriving in Los Angeles from his hometown of Bend, Oregon to enter an in-patient drug rehabilitation facility. For the few days before he is due to report to rehab, Max stays with his Aunt Mercedes, her children, Erin and Mikey, and their nanny, Shannon. Max is determined to make the most of his few remaining days of freedom by getting in some partying while in LA. It turns out that his aunt, a mortgage broker who may be about to lose her job, her license, and perhaps her own […]

Avery Hurt2015-04-13T03:34:48+02:00June 15th, 2013|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Literary Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: EMMA By Michael Segedy

Brent Cossack is a former CIA member who has gone rogue. He takes his orders from a shadowy figure codenamed Sacco, and assassinates corrupt corporate figureheads. Then there’s Rick Clark, who’s working to bring the Cossack’s militant group EMMA to justice after a string of murders. As the novel jumps around in time, it pieces together Brent and Rick’s lives before putting them on a collision course with each other.