Tag Archives: Self-Published

April 3, 2025 · 1:00 am

A Review of The Fifth

Book cover for The Fifth  by Rudolph Kohn. Image on cover shows the Milky Way at night. The sky is starry and feels endless.Title: The Fifth

Author: Rudolph Kohn

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: August 14, 2024

Genres: Science Fiction, Horror

Length: 11 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

A team of four astronauts have just left the Solar System, carrying several thousand of their fellow men and women for the first colonization attempt of a relatively habitable planet just a few light-years away. Just as they are getting ready to enter cold sleep themselves, they observe a strange reading on their sensors…

Review:

Was it an ordinary workday? Well, that depends on your definition of those terms.

Some tales work better if they’re plot focused, and this was one of them. Brief, necessary details were shared about the four astronauts who were finishing up a few last chores before putting themselves into cryosleep for their long journey to a faraway habitable planet, but that wasn’t the focus of the plot by any means. Instead, checking off the last few items and being interrupted by a computer alarm were what really mattered here, and I was engaged with every single scene along the way. This is a good story to read for folks who prefer to dive straight into the action and then work their way back to a bit of character development from there.

I struggled with the cliffhanger ending. It felt as though it could have easily gone on for at least a few more chapters in order to explain what was happening and how the twist was going to change the lives of the astronauts and the thousands of people in cryosleep they were protecting. No, I didn’t need to have every loose end tied up, but I would have liked to at least see more of the main characters’ reactions to the final scene and few more hints about what what happened next.

With that being said, that last sentence did grab my attention and make me read it over again a few times. It could be interpreted in more than one way, some of which landed firmly in the horror genre, and I enjoyed the process of coming up with possibilities and trying to determine which one was most likely. If any of my readers end up checking out this short story, I’d love to hear your thoughts about what the sentence meant and which interpretation you chose.

The Fifth made me want more.

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March 27, 2025 · 1:00 am

A Review of Nor Gloom of Night

Book cover for Nor Gloom of Night by C M Weller. Image on cover is a simple drawing of a white envelope that is being propped up by a purple, mouse-shaped cat toy that has a green patch on it’s back that’s possibly from where a cat bit the toy too much. Title: Nor Gloom of Night

Author: C M Weller

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: August 9, 2012

Genres: Science Fiction

Length: 23 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

Paul has been called a “glorified mailman” by his peers, but he sees it as a sacred duty. Now, with the “little problem” of a big rock through half his vessel, he has to do everything he can -including the unthinkable- to deliver. The mail must get through.

Content Warning: Accidental deaths of people and of one pet.

Review:

Being a glorified mailman isn’t half as easy as it may sound.

Paul’s grumpiness and low levels in trust in humanity as a whole was a little irritating to me until I understood where he was coming from, but I appreciated the chance to change my mind about him. Honestly, he had some good points to make about how some companies are willing to cut corners in order to save a few pennies even if they risk their reputations – or, a million times worse, the health and safety of their customers – in the process. It was also interesting to see how the rough portions of his personality were smoothed out by his deep love of his cat, Liz, as well as his wife and child. Of course someone might be grouchy if they were under as much stress as he was when the audience first met him! Getting to know him better was a good thing even if I would have taken a slightly different approach to his dilemma.

I struggled with the plot holes in this short story, especially in the final scene. As much as I wanted to give this one a higher rating, I had too many questions about the logistics of what happened to do so. This was especially true when it came to explaining how cryonic suspension works in this universe and what it was and wasn’t capable of doing for someone medically speaking. Yes, there is a certain suspension of disbelief that needs to occur when reading science fiction, but including more science in this fiction would have encouraged me to bump this one up by at least a star.

With that being said, the ending was fantastic. Science fiction can be a heavy genre at times depending on who one reads, so I was pleasantly surprised by how much hope could be found in this piece. That’s something I always love to discover in speculative fiction, especially these days, and it encourages me to hopefully read more from this author soon.

Nor Gloom of Night made me smile.

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March 20, 2025 · 1:00 am

A Review of The Broken Home

Book cover for The Broken Home by Rudolph Kohn. Image on cover shows part of a stone building with a window in it. Most of the rest of the building has been destroyed. These ruins are set against a cloudy desert background. A few rays of light are poking through and illuminating the scene and the few plants growing in the soil beneath it. Title: The Broken Home

Author: Rudolph Kohn

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: August 12, 2024

Genres: Science Fiction

Length: 16 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 stars

Blurb:

Over ten thousand years in the future, mankind has spread to the stars… but the Earth Empire was left behind, and the birthplace of mankind was lost–first to tyrants, and then to the obscurity of history. However, when an explorer stumbles onto the once-great planet, not a single person has survived. The planet itself goes up for auction, and the buyer seeks to understand what happened, so long ago. The Broken Home is a short story about the excavation of the greatest fortress the Earth Empire ever built.

Content Warning: References to an ancient war and death.

Review:

Anyone can learn from the past if they listen closely.

Science fiction fans who have been immersed in this genre for a long time will probably be able to figure out what is happening in this tale fairly quickly, but that isn’t a criticism of this piece. Not everything needs  shocking plot twists in order to be worth reading! What mattered more was seeing how Jenkins and Marley reacted to what they discovered about humanity’s past when they returned to Earth to see if there was anything interesting left behind there. I sympathized with the mixture of emotions they experienced as they uncovered something that no living person was aware of. Honestly, I probably would have behaved the same way if I were in their shoes!

As this short story was heavily centred on its plot development, I would have liked to see more attention paid to how humanity evolved over ten thousand years. That is a long period of time in which all sorts of incredible – or terrible – things could have happened, and I found myself wishing for more details about what the characters knew about their recent and distant past. This easily could have been expanded into a novella or full-length novel, and I would have happily read a much longer version of it.

One of the things I liked the most about this piece was how it reacted to the idea of history being something that is always changing as new information is added and old assumptions possibly being reinterpreted by the newest generation. Some things might be lost in the mists of time depending on record keeping and how much current historians know about a specific era, but that doesn’t mean it’s hopeless. There is always the possibility of change as this field develops and new perspectives are considered. I know this paragraph is vague, but I’m trying to avoid spoilers while also sharing the wonder of how quickly our assumptions can shift given the right variables. That is to say, keep an open mind while reading this!

The Broken Home piqued my curiousity.

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March 13, 2025 · 1:00 am

A Review of Apis

Book cover for Apis by Liz Boysha. Image on cover shows a drawing of a black woman who has patches of something gold and glowing on her skin. She’s holding her chin up with one hand has she looks thoughtfully and happily off to the viewer’s right. There are blue, purple, and yellow flowers woven into a halo-like object above her head. Title: Apis

Author: Liz Boysha

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: August 15, 2020

Genres: Fantasy, LGBTQ, Contemporary

Length: 166 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

A woman wakes up to find bees are living inside her. It’s a love story.

Content Warning: References to growing up in multiple foster homes. Rape. Attempted sexual abuse. Miscarriage. Bee stings. Stabbings. Fainting. Anaphylaxis from bee stings. A house fire that resulted in a child being orphaned. Metastatic breast cancer. Infertile foster parents who disrupt the placement of their foster child after getting pregnant.  Miscarriage. TI will not be discussing any of these topics in my review.

Review:

Hope isn’t a thing with feathers in this universe, but it does have wings.

The world building left plenty to the imagination which fit Astrid’s personality and backstory nicely. She wasn’t the sort of person who would ever stick her nose where it didn’t belong, and she appreciated the same treatment from others. Her fierce desire for independence coloured everything she said and did, including her limited interest in what was happening around her unless it personally affected her in some way. This was a slightly unusual choice, so I commend Ms. Boysha for taking that risk in writing a character who, in a different set of hands, could come across in a much harsher light. There is something to be said for characters who have strong boundaries and aren’t afraid to enforce them, and I hope to meet more characters like this in the future.

One of the things I struggled with as I read part one was how many different traumatic things kept happening to the characters, particularly the protagonist Astrid. Including one to a few of them would have been enough to keep the storyline moving forward, but to have wave after wave of awful experiences that were shared but generally never resolved was too much for my tastes. This is something I’m saying as someone who reads horror and is accustomed to a decent level of scary and disturbing scenes. Other readers may disagree, of course, but I think this would have been a stronger work if Astrid had been given time to process and heal from a smaller number of painful experiences.

With that being said, I was intrigued by how Ms. Boysha used these scenes as possible fodder for the metaphor she was exploring. (I say possible because I believe there are other explanations that could also be just as valid). Trauma of any form can resurface months, years, or decades later in ways that may not make immediate sense to someone who isn’t aware of the backstory. Yes, I’m being vague here, but the details are best teased out by other readers for themselves so you can form your own theories about what this tale means. I found it meaningful to draw parallels between Astrid’s early life experiences and how her life unfolded after the events of the first scene.

Apis filled me with questions.

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March 6, 2025 · 1:00 am

Newlywed Questions: A Review of The Ring and the Knife

Book cover for The Ring and the Knife by Benjamin Parsons. Image on cover shows a black and white drawing of a shirtless white man and a white woman who is wearing a long, flowing dress. They are standing in a graveyard during a time of year when there are no leaves on the trees. It’s probably very cold there, so why don’t they have the common sense to dress warmly for the weather? She looks pensive and he’s pointing at something behind them and trying to get her to turn around and see what it is. Title: The Ring and the Knife

Author: Benjamin Parsons

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: March 11, 2023

Genres: Romance, Paranormal, Historical

Length: 32 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 4 Stars

Blurb:

Something happened to William Mortimore in Berecombe churchyard, many years ago – something he can’t quite remember. When he unexpectedly finds himself that little country village again, fragments of the past start to haunt him – and lure him to uncover a forgotten secret.
Berecombe – why does William remember the name of that little village? When was he there before? What happened to him that day in the churchyard, long ago? Why can’t he remember? Why does he feel compelled to return? As the questions smother him, he searches to understand the dreadful, portentous meeting his memory has supressed – the terrible secret of his own past.

Content Warning: Murder. I will not discuss it in my review.

Review:

Cemeteries are as full of answers as they are of new questions.

Romance isn’t a genre I visit very often, so it’s quite the compliment for me to mention how much I loved this one. William and his wife were deeply in love and determined to enjoy their honeymoon when the audience met them in the first scene. I looked forward to getting to know them better and was pleased with what was shared. Newlyweds are so full of hope that this particular pair created a nice contrast between their happiness and the sad things that were happening in the churchyard they decided to visit.

There was a plot hole involving William’s past that I wish had been given more time to develop as the order of events for it never quite made sense to me. Some of these moments were shared non-linearly, so it took me a little bit to piece them together and come up with a reasonable explanation of what must have occurred. If more attention had been paid to this issue, I would have happily gone for a full five-star rating.

With that being said, I enjoyed the plot twists that were revealed later on. They created a satisfying mixture of romantic and paranormal themes that made me wonder what else the characters were about to discover about that quiet little pocket of the countryside that felt so peaceful but was simultaneously filled with intrigue and uncertainty, too. What a treat it was to dig more deeply with them as they pushed forward to figure out why William’s memory had a large blank spot in it.

The Ring and the Knife was romantic and eerie.

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February 27, 2025 · 1:00 am

A Review of Winter’s Chill

Book cover for Winter’s Chill by J D Savage. Image on cover shows a yellow late 1800s or early 1900s style house with a large porch on the right and a turret on the left. The house is covered in snow as it is the dead of winter.Title: Winter’s Chill

Author: J D Savage

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: January 18, 2025

Genres: Horror, Paranormal, Contemporary

Length: 61 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

Melinda Wilson receives news that her mother has died by suicide. Not believing that her mother committed suicide, she returns to her childhood home along with her best friend Greg Creston. As she digs into her mother’s death, strange things to start happen. As Melinda digs deeper to find the truth she finds her father’s diary. Inside she finds information that would destroy the family name and rock the town to its core. As things get dangerous who will survive winter?

Content Warning: Death. Discussion of suicide as a possible cause of death. Murder. Brief references to blood.

Review:

Winter is full of frights.

The atmosphere was well done. There’s something about old houses that can be a little eerie even if they don’t have anything malevolent hiding in the corner, and this only becomes a stronger feeling when reading about homes that do have a paranormal presence. I especially enjoyed the descriptions of the cold areas of the house as that could have easily been explained away by the fact that historical buildings can often be cold and drafty during the winter. To encourage the reader to continue to believe there was a less ordinary explanation for that was a smart decision and one that kept me reading.

This story would have benefited from another round of editing in my opinion. One of the characters was introduced with a last name but later referred to by a  completely different last name. Had he been earlier shown to be a liar, I would have assumed that this was yet another example of him misleading others.  He was always written as a truthful person, though, so I can only assume this was an error and not a hint about his moral character. There were some punctuation errors sprinkled through it as well that I found distracting. As much as I would have liked to choose a higher rating, I wasn’t able to do so due to these issues.

Not everyone is lucky enough to come from an upstanding family, especially when one digs more deeply into their heritage. Some of the most interesting scenes were the ones that explored Melinda’s feelings about the information she discovered about the past and how it could destroy the good name her family had in the community. No one should be held personally responsible for the actions of their ancestors, of course, but there is also something to be said for seeking out the truth and making amends as much as one possible can once they know what really happened.

Winter’s Chill was a scary read for a snowy night.

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February 20, 2025 · 1:00 am

A Review of Priye

Book cover for Priye by Lynn Strong. Image on cover shows a drawing of a striped grey and white kitten looking up and just to the right. It’s not quite making eye contact with the viewer. Behind the cat is a black doorway and, above the doorway, and golden wall that has been subtly carved with dozens of small circles and petal-like shapes that repeat themselves in pleasing patterns. Title: Priye

Author: Lynn Strong

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: December 3, 2024

Genres: Fantasy, Alternate History

Length: 63 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 4 Stars

Blurb:

Wander the world of the Catsprowl with a Miyazaki-style look through the eyes of a catfolk kitten in a large, multicultural, multi-religious city which is full of book-keepers and bath-houses, priests and prophets and pigeons, and even one small kitten’s nemesis: soap and water. (This is one of the three novellas collected in Chai and Cat-tales.)

Priye

For a small alley-kitten, human words make a tricky tangle of misunderstandings that bite back. Purring and hissing and yowling are much more clear.

A human named her Priye, though, and he taught her that it means someone who is darling, someone who is treasured.

Growing up in the nooks between three cultures is hard, but Priye wants to make her own way. And she wants to repay the kind people who feed small hungry kittens.

But it’s not always easy to hunt when everyone else is bigger and stronger and faster. The humans who named her like soap and water entirely too much.

But maybe they have a point about sharing things instead of hunting things? (They absolutely do not have a point about soap, though. Soap is the most horrible thing ever.)

For the neurospicy folks who struggle with the words people expect, this one is for you. For the disabled folks and those who need to hear that your value isn’t in your work output, this one is for you too.

Content Warning: An accidental injury.

Review:

Cozy fantasy is underrated.

Xenofiction is one of those micro genres I’m always excited to discover! The world looks different when viewed through the eyes of a kitten who is regularly flabbergasted by the ridiculous things humans say and do. Honestly, my favourite scenes in this piece were the ones that described silly human customs and choices in vivid detail without Priye quite understanding the significance of them in that moment. What a fabulous opportunity to view the world from a different perspective while wondering if the main character might someday understand some of these things a little better.

I would have liked to see a little more attention paid to the world building, especially when it came to what cats are and are not capable of doing in this universe. Without giving away too much information, the cats in this world are different from the ones in ours in a few significant ways, and I was surprised that those moments were given more time to shine. There was more the author could have done with these details, and I would have gone for a full five-star rating if that had happened.

The conflict was understated and suited the plot nicely. It was exactly the sort of thing I’d expect a kitten to eventually have to deal with, and I liked the way her feline and human companions rallied around her once it occurred. This remained firmly in the cozy niche of the fantasy genre while still leaving room for a reader to wonder what might happen next. It was a smart balance between providing a challenge for Priye to overcome and remaining true to the playful and relaxing vibes of this tale as a whole.

Priye made me yearn for more.

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February 13, 2025 · 1:00 am

A Review of The Witch of Cromer

Book cover for The Witch of Cromer by Benjamin Parsons. image on cover shows a black, white, and grey drawing of a woman wearing a long white dress and white veil. her long hair whips out behind her as if she’s facing the wind. She’s holding a wand in one hand and a large crab in the other and gazing intently at the crab. Around her neck is a large black scarf with white crosses or x’s on it. Title: The Witch of Cromer

Author: Benjamin Parsons

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: December 2, 2011

Genres: Fantasy

Length: 34 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 4 Stars

Blurb:

Besotted Steven is so desperate to make Bridget love him that he decides to try supernatural means to win her heart. But is he ready to face the consequences of dabbling in witchcraft? And dare he try to outwit the famous and fatal Witch of Cromer? Part of the collection The Green Lady and Other Stories.

Content Warning: Murder

Review:

Love is a gift…right?

While this wasn’t specifically set during Valentine’s Day, the themes reminded me of the pressure society puts on people to couple up. Steven believed his life wouldn’t be complete unless he could share it with Bridget, and he was determined to convince her to feel the same way. Unrequited love is a painful but normal chapter in life for many of us, so I enjoyed the author’s take on what could happen when this feeling slammed up against the societal expectation that everyone ought to find their special someone.

There was a small but purposeful mistake Steven made early on that I wished had been revisited in greater detail. Would his fate had been different if he had made a different choice instead, or would he have ended up in the same place in life either way? I’m the sort of reader who looks forward to pondering about these sorts of loose ends, but in this particular case I think the storyline would have been even stronger if the author had spent even a few sentences on in the final scene to give the audience some hint as to what he thought might have happened if that earlier moment in Steven’s life had turned out differently.

The twist at the end was something I wondered about in advance, but it wasn’t the sort of thing that has to be a surprise in order to be satisfying. I liked the way it answered some of the most important questions this reader had while also leaving room for interpretation for most of the other stuff that wasn’t wrapped up succinctly. If this review inspires any of you to check out this tale for yourselves, I’d be excited to hear your takes on it as well as your theories about what might have happened next. There are so many details I had to leave out here in order to avoid spoilers, but this was a thought-provoking spin on love and romance for sure.

The Witch of Cromer was a wild ride.

 

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February 6, 2025 · 1:00 am

A Review of I Wish, I Wish

Book cover for I Wish, I Wish by C M Weller. Image on cover shows a wooden African mask whose dreadlocked-hair is actually made of spent bullet casings. It’s a cool and unsettling piece of art! Title: I Wish, I Wish

Author: C. M. Weller

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: October 4, 2016

Genres: Horror, Paranormal, Contemporary

Length: 10 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 5 Stars

Blurb:

They always say, “be careful what you wish for”, and Shannon knew that better than anyone. Yet, when the need is great, temptation looms. What would you do, if you had the chance for one wish to come true?

Content Warning: Bullying, destruction of property, and an unknown viral illness.

Review:

Justice comes in many forms.

Shannon was a likeable protagonist I immediately began rooting for. Not only was she significantly physically disabled, she was being raised by a low-income single mother who had limited help. There were so many things stacked against this family that I desperately wanted them to finally catch a break and have something go their way for one.  They needed a chance to thrive after all they’d been through together.

The paranormal elements of the storyline were subtle at first but grew stronger over time which was the perfect decision for this piece. I enjoyed seeing how Sharon slowly came to the realization that her wish might actually have been granted and that the plot twists were not a coincidence but were building up to something that both the protagonist and the audience would need to think about.

This tale had one of those glorious endings that made me say, “wait, what just happened?” I mean that in a good way as I immediately flipped back a couple of pages to see if my understanding was correct and if the final scene had really been wrapped up the way it had. In retrospect, it made perfect sense given everything that had happened before, but it also caught me off-guard a little due to how some of the earlier scenes played around with the audience’s expectations about what might happen next. It’s delightful to be surprised like that.

I Wish, I Wish made me question my assumptions about what I’d do to make the world a better place with just one wish.

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January 30, 2025 · 1:00 am

Winter Gloom: A Review of The Revenge

Book cover for The Revenge by Benjamin Parsons. Image on cover shows a black and white drawing of a pale-skinned and possibly white woman who has long, black dreadlocks that would drag on the floor if she’d let it do so. She is snarling and looking just up to the right of the viewer. She’s holding a folded-up rope in her left hand and some sort of weapon in her right hand. I shuddered when I looked at her. Very intimidating! Title: The Revenge

Author: Benjamin Parsons

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: March 20, 2023

Genres: Horror, Paranormal

Length: 32 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author

Rating: 4 stars

Blurb:

Who haunts the third floor of that shabby seaside hotel – and why? Do the dead thirst for revenge? And if they do – can they ever be satisfied?
In a run-down seaside hotel out of season, a ghost is seen haunting the third floor – a tempting treat for any idle supernatural enthusiast. But what drives the spirit to stalk through the night? What sort of tragedy has brought it back from the dead, hell-bent on revenge? Part of the collection The Green Lady and Other Stories.

Content Warning:

Review:

Gloomy days are perfect for a haunting.

The skeptical tone of this tale was one of my favorite things about it. The protagonist was intrigued by the rumours of a haunting that were being passed around the hotel, but he also had some understandable suspicions about what was going on. No, I’m not going to spoil anything by sharing whether or not his questions were valid or what various people might have actually witnessed. You’ll have to read this for yourself if you’d like to form your own opinions. What I can say is that it’s refreshing to read a ghost story – or maybe a “ghost” story – written about a character who think critically and doesn’t take much at face value.

While I believe I understand the chilling point the author was making, it would have been helpful to have more time to digest and comprehend the ending. Suddenly dropping off like that made me wonder if I’d missed something earlier. After reflecting upon it, I wonder if this was done intentionally to help the reader feel just as shocked as the narrator did, but I would have liked to have some confirmation that this was the impression I was supposed to walk away with. Understanding a storyteller’s perspective is so important, after all.

With that being said, I loved the way this piece captured the monotony of winter. Even though it was technically set in October, the dark, cloudy skies had already formed over the beach and seaside hotel. This could have easily occurred in January instead and it would have had the same damp and dark tone to it when every day like the one before it and there are months to go before its warm and sunny outside again.

I am hoping to review more of Mr. Parsons work in the future, so stay tuned.

The Revenge expects some audience participation…and I think that’s a good thing!

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