SPR’s book reviews of new self-published books
Art and Faith by Cherie Burbach
At its most basic, Art and Faith: Mixed Media Art with a Faith-Filled Message is a portfolio for Cherie Burbach’s mixed media art, but this is no simple collection of images. It’s art with a message. Burbach first uses her testimony as an introduction, giving both new readers and longtime followers a glimpse at the Christian faith that acts as an inspiration for her creative gifts.
The expository passages in the book are brief and to the point, but they provide personal insight into Burbach’s background and the reasons she strives to bring hope to others through her creative skills. […]
Evelyn Dunbar and Other Comedies: Five One Woman Plays by Josie Peterson is a collection of comedic monologues that act as short one-woman shows. In the collection, you’ll find an overworked waitress in a restaurant run by characters from Wuthering Heights, a classical music DJ who can’t stay on topic, a faded screen legend, and other eccentric, yet eloquent, characters.
The Jellyfish Monster by Bryan Kwasnik, with illustrations by Jackie Hahn, is a sweet good-natured children’s book about Billy, who’s playing at the shoreline and comes upon a jellyfish creatures with arms and legs who he dubs the Jellyfish Monster. The Jellyfish Monster takes Billy on a journey through the undersea world, where sea life acts a lot like humans, and Billy gets to participate in things like a shark race, and getting swallowed by a whale.
Astronomical by K. G. Bethlehem is a science fiction novel in which Earth is separated into two separate provinces run by the X-Police and Space Core who attempt to keep the peace. Colonel Harrison is given the mission of exploring the outer reaches of space to find allies in the war against Jupiter, and attempt to locate his predecessor, who is missing. While on the mission, his craft travels through a wormhole and comes upon a civilization in the midst of an uprising, putting the entire crew in danger. Meanwhile, back on Earth, things are disintegrating in a similar fashion, […]
Devon’s Blade by Ken McConnell is a short novel companion to McConnell’s Starforgers series. Commander Devon Ardel is sent to a planet that’s mainly comprised of water to head a struggling starfighter squadron. The squadron is no match for their much better equipped adversary, especially since they are utilizing a newer and deadlier fighter. Devon has to rally the troops and adapt new inventive strategies if her squadron isn’t going to be wiped off the map.
Midnight Heat by J.L. White, the second book in the Firework Girls series, focuses on Chloe and her romance with the handsome Grayson. Basically left at the altar, Chloe has a passionate hookup with Grayson on what would be the night of her wedding. It’s all too much, given she’s on the rebound, so she flees the turmoil, regretting every moment, because her connection with Grayson is far more than sexual. So she wants him back in her life, only to find 9 months later that the love of her life is now hooked up with her best friend.
Golden Notes by Samuel Joeckel is a love letter to music. Starting in 1981, it follows the life of young Cali Sky, a musical prodigy on the piano, and then guitar, which she discovers in her bedroom closet, unleashing an odyssey of musical exploration. The child of hippie parents, Cali Sky branches out to the punk movement of the moment – first covering Agent Orange, and moving on from there. Through her broadening horizons on the musical front, she begins to explore deeply her friendship with her musical cohort, Brodie, and further understand her parents’ past.
Quiescence Terminated by Allan Greenbrier is a harrowing terrorist thriller, following the life of Sam, desperate to make his mark on the world to free himself from a life of desperation, leading to a chilling culmination of his distorted beliefs.