SPR’s book reviews of new self-published books
Before the Sun Goes Down by Clif Petty
Ancient beliefs and modern madness converge in Before the Sun Goes Down, a military thriller from Clif Petty that touches on everything from Native American traditions to the looming threat of global war.
Reuben Axtell is an unassuming college student, fumbling his way through the world, when his life is suddenly swept into conspiracy and confusion following the death of his friend Rains. What begins as a localized murder mystery – albeit a strange one – soon becomes a broad and sweeping thriller that goes far deeper than old ghost stories told around the reservation campfire.
Clif Petty captures […]
Moriarty Meets His Match by Anna Castle is a mystery novel woven and detangled by Sherlock Holmes’ famous nemesis, James Moriarty, and his complicated love, Angelina Gould.
Anna hates New York. She especially hates her new life, her new home, and her new stepfather, and if it weren’t for still being able to ski, Anna probably wouldn’t be able to handle it at all. When a chance encounter with another young skier leads fourteen-year-old Anna into another world – one of elves, sorcerers, monsters, and more – maybe New York isn’t so bad after all…
The Spoon Knife anthologies are an annual open collection run by NeuroQueer Books to give exposure to upcoming writers of neurodivergent, queer, and Mad literature. Spoon Knife 2: Test Chamber is, as the title suggests, the second such collection, and intends to stand as as a defiant monument to the experiences and efforts of marginalized communities who are bound to suffer in the midst of recent and current geopolitical climates.
Most people realize that the beauty industry may not be all beautiful under the surface. In Size Zero, a thriller by AC Moyer, the veneer is pulled back and then some revealing a world that is not just unsavory, but criminal. A cold case rears its ugly head when a girl who’s been dead ten years shows up on the runway as a grim fashion accessory. 
The Hook by Kathleen Doler is a compelling novel about a number of seemingly disparate subjects – surfing, addiction, news reporting, drug wars, and more. Dana, a business reporter, has a love of surfing, and her brother, a former professional surfer, has fallen on hard times due to drug addiction. While Dana tries to protect her brother from his addiction and a dangerous drug war, she finds solace in surfing, and ultimately comes to terms with herself and her difficult family history.
Meet the Unimaginables by Paul Slutsky is a science fiction novel about the most fascinating of topics: interacting with life on other planets. A scientist named Alan Norton gets the chance of a lifetime to explore the universe as part of the Search for Life program, with each new life form and environment more unimaginable than the last, and he’s soon thrust into a role that could change the fate of the entire universe.
The Way Gargoyles Play by Andrea Britt Cadelli is a moving and comprehensive work of self-help about overcoming personal suffering and achieving happiness. After her younger brother died, Cadelli found herself in a spiral of suffering, and here she tells tale of how she lifted herself out of the cycle. The book also includes Cadelli’s evocative poetry covering many of these same themes.