SPR’s book reviews of new self-published books
The Fantastic Phantasmic Detective Agency: And the Rebel Realm by D.L. Dugger
The Fantastic Phantasmic Detective Agency: And the Rebel Realm is the first delightful installment in the paranormal fiction series for middle-grade readers by D.L. Dugger.
Billy, Toby and Abby, twelve-year-old sleuths of The Fantastic Phantasmic Detective Agency, help a ghost called Mary find her cherished locket but in pursuing its disappearance, the friends soon find themselves locked in a mortuary run by a shady mortician. After escaping and returning the locket to her, a grateful Mary informs them that her friend needs help finding her missing brother. The three seek the help of a crabby medium, unaware that he’s made […]
A Kiss of Little Consequence by B.C. Hartwell is a novel filled with adventure and romance waiting at every turn. Parker Moon, a guide with Tourcey Travel Company, is convinced that he is destined to find true love and that it might just be on one of the tours he leads. Relying on his “vibe” he finds himself drawn to different females, hoping against hope that one of them will be “the one.”
Gary Burns’ Bridges: To There is an evocative collection of poetry, but lacks the visceral immediacy of his earlier collections of meditative poetry, such as Clouds: On the Wind.
Eaters and Overlords by award-winning author Blaine Readler is a contemporary science-based novel that will keep the reader guessing from the first word to the last. An interesting take on human and alien interaction, the novel makes the reader reconsider some previous notions about alien life that are so common to other books in the genre.
Pro athletes, stolen millions and murder make for an irresistible cocktail in Santa Fe Mojo, the first murder mystery in the Vincent Malone series by Ted Clifton.
The Serpent and The Wolf opens to a rather amusing bait and switch. When the reader thinks they are in a distant Viking land, a bloody battlefield in full swing, the director yells ‘Cut!’ and the modern world of the story takes shape. The opening sets the tone for the rest of the novel: a sometimes-slapstick mixing together of worlds and genres.
The Amaranth Chronicles: Deviant Rising by Alexander Barnes and Christopher Preiman welcomes readers into a beautifully crafted world full of imaginative imagery and rich characterization.