Tag Archives: Self-Published

January 15, 2026 · 1:00 am

A Review of Homeless

Title: Homeless

Author: Neil Shooter

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: November 9, 2013

Genres: Science Fiction

Length: 15 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

Winter didn’t end, but his world has. Is he completely alone? In a world gone cold, what can keep the spark of life shining?

Content Warning: Animal attack. Murder. A character who eats a dead, raw rat. Possible mental health problems depending on how one interprets certain scenes.

Review:

Sometimes the world ends with a whisper, not a bang.

The first half of this tale was an excellent example of what the post-apocalyptic genre can be like. The unnamed protagonist has somehow survived a catastrophe that killed the vast majority of humans and should have killed him, too. His limited information about what happened only made his struggle to survive even more poignant as I had no idea what else might await him after the months of hardship he had already endured. I loved the fact that the reader was limited to what this character knew about the world and could only make rough guesses about the things he had yet to discover.

Unfortunately, I struggled with the second half of this tale due to how unbelievable I found certain scenes. Their themes were so exaggerated when compared to what happened earlier that I kept wondering if there was a piece of the puzzle I was missing. Was the narrator holding something back from the audience? Was he unaware of an important detail that would make later scenes feel more logical? There were answers to these questions that I thought made sense, but I kept wishing that Mr. Shooter would give us a few more hints about which direction he intended his audience to go.

With that being said, my ultimate conclusion about what happened was an interesting one and did help me to find some closure for this character. Whether or not it was what the author intended, it made sense given what I knew about the protagonist early on as well as some of the clues about his personality that were revealed later on. If my interpretation was correct, this was a more realistic assessment of what this catastrophe would actually be like for the surivors than many books in this genre tend to create.

Homeless was a wild ride.

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Filed under Science Fiction and Fantasy

Tagged as 2010s, Book Reviews, Horror, Neil Shooter, Post-Apocalyptic, Self-Published, Short Story

January 8, 2026 · 1:00 am

A Review of Sunset

Title:Sunset Book cover for Sunset by P.B. Cannon. Image on cover shows a gorgeous orange and yellow sunset in the sky overhead a distant pine forest on an overcast day. The light appears to be dancing in the clouds almost because of how it gently touches everything.

Author: P.B. Cannon

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: September 3, 2022

Genres: Science Fiction, Mystery

Length: 25 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

Charlotte, North Carolina, is an area where earthquakes are uncommon, but one bright morning it is struck by one so vigorous that it forms deep crevasses in the ground, knocks out communications, and leaves the city in disarray. Can a bodyguard and the bodyguard’s two clients who were about to board a private plane along with a tag-a-long passenger, get to the bottom of why their trip to Columbia, South Carolina has been so disastrously interrupted? They don’t know, but having no choice because all air traffic has stalled, along with the three employees from the small airport that was handling their flight, they begin a journey to find out.

Content Warning: An earthquake.

Review:

Airports are no place for any funny business.

Some of my favorite scenes were the ones that explored the relationships between the main characters and how their experiences with the world differed from how many men see it. Science fiction hasn’t always done a good job at writing female characters or delving into the nuances of what it means to be part of a minority group, but this is thankfully changing with newer generations of authors in this genre who have the life experience and compassion to write such things.

I struggled with the abrupt ending of this short story. While some of the conflicts were resolved, other ones were still left up in the air by the time the final sentence was completed. I’m not the sort of reader who requires everything to be wrapped up neatly, but I did find myself wishing more had been explained in that final scene so that I could better understand what the characters might encounter next. There was still so much that could have been done with it.

The explanation for the earthquake was strong and memorable. Even though I can’t go into a lot of detail about it for plot twist reasons, the scientific principles behind it intrigued me and made me want to learn more about the subject. Other readers who have stronger backgrounds in science can share their own thoughts about how realistic it is, but I thought it was well done and possibly could be something that happens in real life. (Oh, if only I could write more about this topic in this paragraph!)

Sunset kept me guessing.

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Filed under Science Fiction and Fantasy

Tagged as 2020s, Book Reviews, Hard Science Fiction, Mystery, P.B. Cannon, Science Fiction, Self-Published, Short Story

January 1, 2026 · 1:00 am

A Review of New Year

Book cover for “New Year” by Neal Shooter. Image on cover is a very bright yellow background that reminds me of the glow of a lightbulb. It’s so bright it all but obscures the title and author.

Title: New Year

Author: Neil Shooter

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: November 26, 2019

Genres: Science Fiction

Length: 12 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 5 Stars

Blurb:

Life on Mars is a constant struggle, and not at all what Naamah expected. The Mission backers melted away, and the four new Martians are alone. To survive Mars, she must come to terms with her past, her present, and her future.

Content Warning: Religion, pregnancy, miscarriage, and stillbirth. I will be discussing these topics in my review.

Review:

Nothing is more important than hope.

It’s uncommon for me to find stories with this setting that talk about the challenges of trying to become and stay pregnant in such a hostile environment, so I was excited to see what Mr. Shooter was planning to do with these topics given how important they were for the characters and their fledgling community. While this meant that some scenes were sad ones, I thought the author handled the topic nicely and realistically given the characters’ circumstances and the tragedies they’d already endured. If only i could read a few more instalments to find out what happened next.

I’ve struggled with the ambiguous nature of some of Mr. Shooter’s other stories, but in this case it worked out beautifully. Life on Mars would rarely if ever be straightforward, especially for couples who are attempting to bear children but have little if any medical assistance with pregnancy or birth. When combined with the many dangers that would be present for a new colony on that planet, of course Naamah and her companions would struggle to know what the future brings and what they should do to make it as pleasant as possible.

The religious themes in this short story were strong and critical in order to understand the ending, but I wouldn’t classify this as belonging to the inspirational genre due to the protagonist’s misgivings about that topic at times. This is something I’d recommend to people who are interested in religion from an academic or philosophical point of view as it did sometimes take a critical approach to certain negative consequences of believing that one is the messenger of God and that feelings always should be taken more seriously than concrete evidence. Readers who are able to step into Naamah’s shoes may find rewarding themes and messages, though! Just don’t go into this expecting a Sunday School lesson.

New Year made me yearn for more.

2 Comments

Filed under Science Fiction and Fantasy

Tagged as 2010s, Book Reviews, Neil Shooter, New Year’s Day, New Year’s Eve, Self-Published, Short Story

December 25, 2025 · 1:00 am

A Review of A Happy Christmas Ceilidh

Title: A Happy Christmas Ceilidh (The Shrouded Isle)

Author: Zoe Tasia

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: December 1 or 23, 2022

Genres: Fantasy, Holiday, Romance, Contemporary

Length: 82 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 stars

Blurb:

It’s their first winter holiday together on the Shrouded Isle…
American widow Becca, her two daughters, and her Scottish boyfriend, Greg, are looking forward to celebrating.But trouble comes…
As an elf on the shelf moves of its own volition, a snowman attracts too much attention, and an elderly neighbor is in dire need of Christmas cheer.To make matters worse…
Becca and Greg find perfect gifts for each other. Unfortunately, neither can afford the price.Hilarity ensues as they struggle to find solutions for their problems. A Happy Christmas Ceilidh is a heart-warming tale about what happens when love brings a family and a community together.Content Warning: References to the main character being widowed and raising two kids on her own.

Review:

Nobody should be alone for the holidays.

This novella had a wonderful sense of community. That is to say, the characters genuinely cared about their neighbours and went out of their way to not only ensure that everyone’s needs were taken care of but that many of their wants were as well. This is one of those things I love about Christmas-themed stories given how warm and fuzzy it makes me feel to hear about everyone being treated with kindness, inclusion, and compassion. After all, isn’t that what Christmas is all about?

I found it a little confusing to jump among multiple narrators while reading this, especially given the subplots that only some narrators were interested in exploring. No sooner did I adjust to one perspective than someone else would show up in the following chapter to talk about something that may or may not be related to what had just happened. As much as I wanted to give one a higher rating, these issues were an obstacle to doing so.

With that being said, the fantasy subplot was subtle during most of this piece and fit the characters and setting well. There’s something amusing about needing to figure out if something otherworldly is actually happening or if the characters are somehow misinterpreting uncommon but plausible events. As much as I’d love to dive into this subject even more deeply, it’s best for other readers to discover for themselves what was really going on here.

A Happy Christmas Ceilidh was full of holiday cheer.

3 Comments

Filed under Science Fiction and Fantasy

Tagged as 2020s, Book Reviews, Contemporary, Fantasy, Holiday, Novella, Romance, Self-Published, Zoe Tasia

December 11, 2025 · 1:00 am

A Review of A Visit from Naughty Claus

Title: A Visit from Naughty Claus (‘twere the Night After Christmas)

Author: RyFT Brand (Robert F Thompson)

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: December 1, 2011

Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary, Holiday

Length: 3 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

Bad kids get coal; really bad kids get a visit from Naughty Claus. Free until December the thirty-first—Happy Holidays!

Can’t seem to stay off the naughty list? Does your behavior make the bad kids cry? Do you cheer when you find a lump of coal in your Christmas stocking? If so you’d better forget watching out and just start running, because Naughty Clause is coming to town. A Visit from Naughty Claus, a dark and dreary tale of Christmas woe in verse that follows the fateful Christmas night when a boy who just couldn’t behave gets his just deserts, and it ain’t Christmas pudding with a sprig of holly in it either. Ready to start behaving?

Content Warning: a terrible tantrum and an even worse consequence for that tantrum.

Review:

Christmas comes in many forms.

This poem is so short that my review of it may very well end up having more words in it than the poem itself! It’s a riff of The Night Before Christmas, but the point of it can still be made if there are any readers who aren’t already familiar with the original. I enjoy seeing how modern authors reinterpret old classics and thought this was a realistic take on what Christmas can be like for some families who aren’t exactly picture perfect.

The beginning explained how the narrator’s family was attempting to deal with a child who seemed to be keen to destroy Christmas for everyone in that household. I say attempting because the parents were trying but didn’t seem to have the gumption to really put their feet down and get their child to stop destroying presents and ruining the house. As I was reading, I wondered if the youngster had been spoiled during his short lifetime or if he had something going on with his mental or physical health that was contributing to these tantrums. Yes, I know I’m probably wildly overthinking this, but it was interesting to come up with various theories about what was going on with him.

As for the ending? Well, you’ll have to discover that for yourselves. It made me wish Mr. Thompson would reappear on the literary scene and write a sequel to this short, funny piece. There was more he could do with it, and I would have found it amusing to find out what happened next. In the meantime, I’ll just have to use my imagination and encourage all of my readers to check out this playful piece of poetry as Christmas looms nearer.

A Visit from Naughty Claus made me chuckle.

A Review of Come December

Title: Come December

Author: Holly Schindler

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: December 7, 2022

Genres: Holiday, Paranormal, Contemporary

Length: 24 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 5 Stars

Blurb:

A sweet, short holiday tale about opening yourself up to magical possibilities. Natalie is new to town, and feels invisible and painfully alone…until a mysterious stranger in a cemetery changes everything. Come December is the first installment of Forever Finley, a collection of stand-alone episodes or short stories that released once a month throughout 2016. Subsequent releases include: January Thaw, Forget February, Dearest March…, April’s Promise, Mayday Mayday Mayday, Chasing June, A Hundred Julys, Under the August Moon, Song for September, October Omen, and the Forever Finley Finale (Pale November / December Bells). Stories can be purchased individually, or readers can purchase all installments in Forever Finley: An Episodic Novel.

Content Warning: Grief and loneliness.

Review:

Loneliness only makes the holidays even harder.

Thanksgiving isn’t a common setting in the books I read, so I was intrigued when I realized that November and early December was when Natalie had the experiences she had here. I also appreciated the fact that she was such a lonely character as that isn’t a typical theme in Thanksgiving stories either. There is definitely something to be said for exploring a few of the many reasons why someone might find the holidays difficult and why not everyone is filled with cheer at the end of the year. I would read Thanksgiving and other holiday-themed stories much more often if this were commonplace.

This included a light, friendly paranormal twist that was in no way scary, so no worries to anyone reading this who might be a little nervous at the thought of reading about a ghost. It was an important part of the storyline in the sense that Natalie valued those conversations and the first friendly person she met after moving, but it could also be read as a metaphor for adjusting to a new town and having to start all over again with making friends and putting down roots.

The romantic subplot, too, was handled gently, so I also want to reassure anyone who doesn’t usually enjoy that genre that this is a sweet introduction to it. Romance is interesting to me when it’s a small part of a much bigger story whose main conflicts involve other aspects of life, and that’s exactly what happened in this tale. If you ask me, this is a great example of how to seamlessly incorporate romantic elements without allowing them to overshadow everything else that’s going on with the characters, so kudos to Ms. Schindler for finding the perfect balance here for everyone from diehard romance fans to those of us who are more hesitant about the genre but occasionally willing to visit it.

Come December was a heartwarming and life-affirming Thanksgiving read.

A Review of The Ghosts of Christmases Past

Title: Ghosts of Christmases Past

Author: Leigh Kimmel

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: December 25, 2024

Genres: Science Fiction, Holiday

Length: 34 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 4 Stars

Blurb:

These are troubled times. The Flannigan Administration’s hostility to clones has reached a boiling point, resulting in the Expulsions. All of NASA’s astronaut clones have been sent to lunar exile in Shepardsport. Christmas is approaching, and Brenda Redmond is helping put on a musical adaptation of A Christmas Carol. But the three ghosts who visit Scrooge in the classic Charles Dickens story aren’t the only ghosts haunting the corridors of Shepardsport. Even as Brenda is trying to get her young players ready, she must also track down the source of the strange visions that are coming unbidden to the settlement’s inhabitants. A novelette of the Grissom Timeline.

Content Warning: Pregnancy and military (Air Force). I will not discuss these topics in my review.

Review:

There’s nothing quite like celebrating the holidays far from home…especially when far from home means living on a distant moon!

I enjoyed the way this short story explored how the characters honored old family traditions while also creating new ones that took note of where they currently lived. Finding that balance is something immigrants and refugees must do during their adjustment phase, and it makes for some pretty interesting reading for those of us who have experience moving from one country to another one.

It would have been helpful to have stronger plot development in this piece, especially towards the end. As much as I enjoyed seeing how the conflicts were set up in the beginning and middle, they were resolved a little too quickly for my tastes later on. There was space here for additional scenes that explained each character’s point of view and how they came to a resolution, and I would have chosen a full five-star rating if this had been allowed to occur.

The science fiction elements of the storyline were well written and kept my interest levels high. Some aspects of them were explained in detail while others were left up to the reader’s imagination. This meant that while some of my questions were answered fairly early on there were still plenty of things to wonder about as I continued along. While I was satisfied with the number of answers I received, I do suspect that people who are already familiar with these characters will glean even more from this tale than I did.

This is part of a series but works perfectly well as a standalone work.

Ghosts of Christmases Past has piqued my curiosity.

A Review of I Found the Boogeyman Under My Brother’s Crib

Title: I Found the Boogeyman under My Brother’s Crib

Author: Ben Farthing

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: September 24, 2024

Genres: Horror, Contemporary

Length: 112 pages

Source: I borrowed it from the library.

Rating: 2 Stars

Blurb:

How do you protect your family from an urban legend?

Rachel hears a stranger laugh in her baby brother’s nursery.

She races in to see a dark figure slip beneath the crib, disappearing into an eerie reflection of her brother’s room.

Mom and Dad don’t believe her. They accuse Rachel of making excuses for breaking their strict rules about healthy sleep.

But Rachel knows what she saw.

The Boogeyman wants her baby brother.

The Boogeyman wants to drag him away into his eerie realm beneath the crib.

Rachel’s not going to let that happen.

I Found the Boogeyman Under My Brother’s Crib is a tale of urban legends, liminal spaces, and things that go bump in the night, from Ben Farthing, the “King of Creepy” (MJ Mars, author of The Suffering).

Content Warning: Kidnapping and child abuse.

Review:

Nobody can get away with being naughty forever.

The narrator captured the frustration of being a sixteen-year-old who doesn’t always feel like adults are listening to her well. While my parents were thankfully nothing like Rachel’s, just about every teenager at least occasionally has a conversation with their parents that doesn’t make sense. Sometimes you grow up and understand the adult perspective better, but not all parents make the sorts of decisions that are in their children’s best interests and that can be seen from another perspective in five, ten, or twenty years.

This novella would have benefited from more character and plot development. The premise was strong in the beginning but later scenes didn’t build on it in the ways I hoped they would. It petered out instead of explaining why the characters behaved the way they did and what the boogeyman was truly capable of which was disappointing to me. I had been anticipating this novella all autumn due to how much I enjoy this series in general and expected to give it a much higher rating than I ultimately did.

With that being said, I thought the ideas in this tale were interesting ones and could see how they may have been meant to fit together. It was interesting to learn the historical context of the boogeyman in this universe and what people hoped would happen when they talked about him. There was a twist involving this antagonist that was fun and would have encouraged me to go for a higher rating if it had been given more time to develop.

This is part of the I Found series that can be read in any order.

I Found the Boogeyman under My Brother’s Crib had a creative premise.

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Filed under Science Fiction and Fantasy

Tagged as 2020s, Ben Farthing, Book Reviews, Contemporary, Horror, Novella, Self-Published

October 23, 2025 · 1:00 am

A Review of I Found a Lost Hallway in a Dying Mall

Title: I Found a Lost Hallway in a Dying Mall

Author: Ben Farthing

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: June 18, 2024

Genres: Horror, Paranormal, Contemporary

Length: 162 pages

Source: I borrowed it from the library.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

Somewhere among the shuttered stores…

Lisa hears a call for help.

She finds her senile old coworker, Saswin, lost in an abandoned hallway. He’s talking to a circle of mannequins, their limbs twisted and fused in unnatural ways.

When Lisa looks away, she swears the mannequins have moved…

And that this abandoned hallway has grown longer.

After Saswin disappears down the impossible hallway, Lisa goes to find him, but she’s unprepared for the horrors that await her in the mall’s forgotten depths.

I Found a Lost Hallway in a Dying Mall has been compared to creepypastas like NoSleep stories or SCP entries. It’s a chilling tale of identity, liminal spaces, and the horror of leaving the past behind, from Ben Farthing, “The King of Creepy” (MJ Mars, author of The Suffering).

Each book in the I Found Horror series is a STANDALONE. They can be read in any order.

Content Warning: Disability from a stroke. Dementia. Emotional abuse. Mannequins.

Review:

Everything declines eventually.

This was a good example of how the horror genre doesn’t have to include a single drop of blood in it in order to scare its audience. Dying malls are eerie enough on their own if you ask me, and adding in mannequins that are anything but the inanimate objects they’re supposed to be only added an additional layer of dread to the setting. The explanation for why such innocuous things could suddenly become terrifying was well done, too, and made me wish for a prequel or a sequel as there was still plenty of space to explore how this dying mall transformed into something so unlike its formerly cheerful self.

Lisa’s illogical decisions were the only thing holding me back from giving this book a higher rating. My first impression of her was of an intelligent woman who used her wisdom to try to make the world a better place if or when she had the opportunity to nudge it in that direction, so it was confusing for me later on when she began making choices that put her and those around her in danger. This didn’t seem to match the dependable Lisa I’d already met and grown to like, and there was never quite enough character development for me to reconcile these different aspects of her personality.

With that being said, I loved the exploration of disability and aging in this piece. Lisa and Hank had reached a point in life where their physical health was beginning to slow them down in ways they could no longer explain away as a bad day. Adjusting to that wasn’t easy for them, especially when they began to face the small moments in life that would have been effortless a few years ago but not required some planning and energy management in order to accomplish.

I Found a Lost Hallway in a Dying Mall was thought provoking and makes me hope that Mr. Farthing will release some more stories soon.

4 Comments

Filed under Science Fiction and Fantasy

Tagged as 2020s, Ben Farthing, Book Reviews, Contemporary, Horror, Mannequin, Paranormal, Psychological Horror, Self-Published

October 2, 2025 · 1:00 am

A Review of October Omen

Title: October Omen

Author: Holly Schindler

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: December 7, 2022

Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance

Length: 42 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 4 Stars

Blurb:

Forever Finley Episode / Short Story #11: Superstitions float around us constantly. We choose to believe or discount them based on where our hearts happen to be at that particular moment.

Kelly Marx, Finley’s premiere wedding planner and dress designer, is on a mission to get access to a Civil War-era shawl for Natalie, the latest bride to hire her. But Mary, the elderly owner of the shawl, isn’t the only force to come between Kelly and her goal. When the shawl goes missing, Kelly also encounters mysterious characters and a slew of bad omens—but what does it all add up to? What does it foretell? Where will Kelly’s skeptical heart lead her?

October Omen is the eleventh installment in Forever Finley, a series of stand-alone episodes or short stories that released once a month throughout 2016. Previous releases include: Come December, January Thaw, Forget February, Dearest March…, April’s Promise, Mayday Mayday Mayday, Chasing June, A Hundred Julys, Under the August Moon, and Song for September. Stories following October Omen include the Forever Finley Finale (Pale November / December Bells). Stories can be purchased individually, or readers can purchase all installments in Forever Finley: An Episodic Novel.

Content Warning:

Review:

Many things are possible as daylight melts into dusk.

This was a cozy read that made me want to snuggle under the covers and drink a hot cocoa. The conflicts the characters faced, while important, were ultimately pretty low stakes and relaxing to read about. This wasn’t one of those books where the fate of the entire world lays in the hands of one unsuspecting hero. Instead, it was about sewing, wedding planning, and maybe encountering a few friendly ghosts along the way. There is definitely something to be said for fiction about the simple joys of life, and I look forward to continuing on with these characters in the future.

I found myself wishing for more answers as I dove into my third experience in this universe. Take the genre classifications like romance, paranormal, and fantasy lightly because these books have gently broken many of the tropes associated with all of them so far. Sometimes the descriptions felt more like a dream than a story in that conventional dialogue, character development, plot development didn’t always show up the way I expected them to. Sometimes there are holes in this series that, at least so far, have asked readers to accept certain things without explaining why they were written that way. I don’t mind some of that in moderation, but it was a little excessive for my tastes at times and it is something to keep in mind for readers who have firmer expectations about the genres they read.

Such a whimsical writing style does have its advantages as well, though. If you are curious about stepping into any of these genres, perhaps even for the first time, this could be a good place to begin. There was nothing scary or explicit in this tale. The hauntings could have other explanations depending on how a reader interpreted certain key moments, and the romantic elements of the story were sweet and gentle. It often felt like the literary equivalent of trying various samples of ice cream at an ice cream shop before committing to buying a cone or even an entire pint of which ever flavour – or genre – you might prefer.

This is part of a series that can be read in any order.

October Omen was a heartwarming start to Halloween season.

2 Comments

Filed under Science Fiction and Fantasy

Tagged as 2020s, Book Reviews, Fantasy, Halloween, Holly Schindler, Paranormal, Romance, Self-Published, Short Story

Tag Archives: Self-Published

A Review of Homeless

A Review of Sunset

A Review of New Year

A Review of A Happy Christmas Ceilidh

A Review of A Visit from Naughty Claus

A Review of Come December

A Review of The Ghosts of Christmases Past

A Review of I Found the Boogeyman Under My Brother’s Crib

A Review of I Found a Lost Hallway in a Dying Mall

A Review of October Omen

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