Tag Archives: Self-Published

October 15, 2026 · 1:00 am

A Review of The Case of Elmwood Ranch

Title: The Case of Elmwood Ranch

Author: Deanna Grey

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: July 15, 2026

Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance, LGBTQ+, Horror, Contemporary

Length: 432 pages

Source: I borrowed it from the library.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

Elmwood Ranch is Octavia Daniel’s dream. A safe place to land after years on the road. But once she signs the paperwork and receives the keys, the nightmare begins.

Shadows move on their own, strange accidents become the norm, and injured ranch hands refuse to work a second longer. Octavia doesn’t believe in ghosts, but she can’t deny something’s wrong with the land she’s sunk her entire savings into.

Rae Jones is in the business of ending nightmares. She comes from a family of successful paranormal investigators. But she’s set herself apart from the Jones sisters by making their legacy into a commercial success.

After years of enjoying said success, she’s hit a wall. Whether it’s burnout or a full-blown existential crisis, she doesn’t know. One way to try to avoid a downward spiral? Take every interesting job she can get. And that includes one from a very stand-offish, nonbelieving horse rancher who thinks she’s a scam artist and the things she hunts don’t exist.

Octavia and Rae must figure out how to work together if they have any hope of solving what’s truly going on at Elmwood. As they build trust, they begin to build something more. Something that could either help or harm their chances of making it out of this haunting alive.

The Case of Elmwood Ranch is a sapphic paranormal romance featuring bisexual leads. This book is intended for 18+ readers.

Content Warning: Childhood bullying, neglectful parents, paranormal violence and injuries due to said violence, parent’s death by helicopter accident (not depicted), character paralyzed by by a car accident (not depicted), and sexual content.

Review:

INTRO

I loved the main paranormal storyline and thought it was well executed. It’s difficult to know how much to share about it in my review as the blurb skirted around the lore surrounding it and I don’t want to accidentally share spoilers. What I can say about it is that the characters took a methodical approach to gathering evidence about the haunting using both their intuition and certain types of modern technology that made it fairly easy for them to take note of the odd things happening on the ranch. It was nice to see how seriously they took this mission. Sometimes characters in this genre become so wrapped up in figuring out what’s happening that they lose track of their common sense, so it was nice to see an example of people remaining cautious and sensible while also attempting to figure out what is actually happening on a property where people who have been left alone there have been harmed on multiple occasions.

As excited as I was to read this tale, the slow pacing made it difficult for me to justify a higher rating. I sometime struggled to remain highly interested in the storyline due to how much time it took for everything to develop and how often the protagonists focused on things that didn’t seem to be advancing any of the storylines very well. In my opinion, trimming back on those sections heavily would have made this a five-star read as the concept itself was incredibly intriguing and I did like the character very much as well. I hope to read more from Ms. Grey in the future and that I will be able to give her next book a much higher rating as she had a creative and descriptive writing style that was otherwise right up my alley.

Most of the storyline was concerned with who or what was haunting Elmwood Ranch. The sapphic romantic subplot, while obviously important for both plot and character development reasons later on, took longer to develop and was rarely if ever the main focal point. This was a good decision in my opinion as I tend to enjoy romantic works more when they are a small part of a book instead of the main course, but it is something I wanted to take note of in my review for readers who may or may not agree with my preferences there as this is definitely a subjective topic.

The Case of Elmwood Ranch made me wish for a sequel.

Characters:

Octavia Daniels – MC. Lives at Elmwood Ranch in Alpine Peak, Colorado.

Wilson – her older brother.

Rae – MC

Nico – her trans male friend.

Jonah – her assistant. Him and his family are relatively new hunters in the Guild.

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Filed under Science Fiction and Fantasy

Tagged as 2020s, Book Reviews, Contemporary, Dark Fantasy, Deanna Grey, Horror, LGBT, Paranormal, Romance, Self-Published

September 24, 2026 · 1:00 am

A Review of Intercepted Wishes

Title: Intercepted Wishes

Author: Mike Sutton

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: March 10, 2014

Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal, Contemporary

Length: 7 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 2.5 Stars

Blurb:

Wishes are made. Some take time to be granted. Getting in the way is like walking into traffic.

Content Warning: Rape.

Review:

Luck is real.

Brian genuinely came across as a happy-go-lucky teen or maybe young adult to me. He had clearly had a pretty good life up until this point, and his assumptions about how the world works were as naive as they were cheerful. While I was obviously disturbed by his decision to steal money from the fountain, I was curious to learn more about his justification for doing so and about what he decided to spend that pocket change on.

This short story needed more development in my opinion. There were some fascinating ideas packed into it, including the thought that stealing coins from a fountain can affect someone’s fate in ways that they couldn’t possibly have anticipated, but they were never fleshed out enough for me to fully understand what was going on. This was particularly true for the ending which I found confusing and disturbing. As much as I wanted to give this one a much higher rating, I had too many questions about the world building and plot development to justify doing so.

The paranormal elements were memorable and sometimes funny. I liked the fact that Brian didn’t have any warning about the consequences of his actions as this piece was honestly too short for that sort of foreshadowing to be effective in my opinion. Instead, he faced the consequences of his actions rapidly and in increasingly surprising ways. Had the ending matched the humorous tone of the beginning and middle, this would have been an even better read. This is sometimes how things play out in real life, too, so it was interesting to see natural consequences in action.

Intercepted Wishes had a creative premise.

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Filed under Science Fiction and Fantasy

Tagged as 2010s, Book Reviews, Contemporary, Fantasy, Mike Sutton, Paranormal, Self-Published

September 17, 2026 · 1:00 am

A Review of Catch-All Drawer

Title: Catch-All Drawer

Author: Manuel Sánchez

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: October 9, 2025

Genres: Science Fiction, Alternate History, Historical, Contemporary

Length: About 97 pages.

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 4 Stars

Blurb:

A delight for the senses that will surprise you on every page. A journey filled with irony, sensuality, and human passions. Catch-all Drawer is an anthology of eight fiction stories where the author transports us with vibrant language to a world full of sensations, fantasy, and extraordinary situations: A fascinating woman in ancient Egypt, Virgil’s curious pet in Imperial Rome, the animal jungle of modern multinational corporations, the sensual dream of a red lantern, a mischievous worm, the circus of politics, the madness of a selfie in Australian waters, or the misadventures of a couple in the solitude of erotic contact social networks immerse us in stories of wild and addictive beauty.

Content Warning: Brief references to sex and infidelity.

Review:

A little bit of everything can add up to a full meal.

I loved the satirical take on modern workplace politics in general in “The Gazpacho.” Honestly, this was my favorite story of the collection because of how well it described both the joys and frustrations of working with the same group of people over a long period of time. While the specific setting here was in an office, I think the vast majority of the plot would have turned out more or less the same had it been in a restaurant, medical setting, warehouse, store, or just about any other place of work because of how keenly the author focused on the personalities of the characters as they interacted with one another and dealt with sometimes ridiculous rules.

Kudos to the author for experimenting with the science fiction genre so much in this book. While not every tale was to my taste, most of them were and I must tip my cap to him for being so willing to try new things and see what may or may not resonate with his readers. “A Selfie,” which followed a couple who decided to swim with the sharks on their honeymoon to Australia, was one such example of this. I struggled to understand why these characters were not only willing to take so many risks with their safety but also unwilling to learn from their past mistakes. It would have been helpful to have more character development here so that I could understand their perspectives better.

The email format of “The Worm” made me smile. It’s a writing style that pops up on occasion in what I read, and I’m always interested in seeing where new authors take it because of how much it reminds me of the old epistolary novels that share so much in common with this newer form of storytelling one message at a time. Another interesting thing about this piece was related to how trustworthy I found the protagonist. Other readers should decide for themselves what they think of him, of course, but I thought this was a good example of how to create a main character who is simultaneously fascinating and deeply unlikable (in my opinion, of course).

Catch-All Drawer was my introduction to Mr. Sánchez‘s work, and my curiosity has been piqued to see what else he might write in the future.

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Filed under Science Fiction and Fantasy

Tagged as Alternate History, Book Reviews, Collections, Contemporary, Historical, Manuel Sánchez, Science Fiction, Self-Published, Short Story

September 10, 2026 · 1:00 am

A Review of The Corner of My Eye

Title: The Corner of My Eye

Author: Rudolph Kohn

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: February 14, 2023

Genres: Paranormal, Contemporary

Length: 7 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 4 Stars

Blurb:

Moving into a new house can be stressful, and it can be refreshing. But what do you do when you start to hear strange sounds and see hints of motion out of the corner of your eye? What happens to your mind when all of your efforts to get to the bottom of these strange phenomena comes up with nothing? A short Lovecraftian story about figments of your imagination, or perhaps reality.

Review:

Always ask questions if something seems too good to be true.

One of my favorite things about this tale was that almost nothing was revealed about the protagonist. The first paragraph mentioned that they had just bought a new home, but this was really the only piece of information shared about them. Everything else, including their sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, race, ethnicity, and a million other descriptive adjectives that could be used to paint a mental image of who they were as a person, was left blank. This meant that basically any reader out there could imagine themselves in this character’s shoes as they closed on their new home and gradually began to realize they weren’t the only occupant there.

I did find myself wishing that the last scene could provide a deeper explanation of what was already inhabiting the narrator’s new home, especially given the other knowledge this individual had acquired by that point. While I wouldn’t have expected to know everything by the final sentence, having even a few more sentences explaining what was going on would have encouraged me to choose a full five-star rating for this short story.

This started off as a fairly typical paranormal story but soon shifted into something a bit more frightening than is usual for this genre. I loved seeing the protagonist react to each new development as they attempted to figure out how to best handle a situation that was rapidly spiraling out of control. As much as I wanted that final scene to provide a little more guidance, it did end on a deliciously scary note and was well worth the read.

The Corner of My Eye made me shiver.

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Filed under Science Fiction and Fantasy

Tagged as 2020s, Book Reviews, Contemporary, Paranormal, Rudolph Kohn, Self-Published, Short Story

September 8, 2026 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Indie Books I’ve Reviewed Here This Year

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Thank you to dark.shelf.of.wonders and Books Are The New Black for submitting this theme!

One of the unfortunate consequences of the rise of large language models is how they anre impacting the indie and self-published corners of the bookish community. I’m seeing more and more authors from these sectors use LLMs not only to design their book covers but also to help write or even sometimes do all of the work of writing their stories. (This is something I know because many of them actually admit to it!).

I am morally opposed to the use of LLMs in general because of how harmful they are to the environment, the widespread theft of written and visual imagery that was used to create them, and the devastating number of people who have lost their jobs as a result of these things. Therefore, the number of indie and self-published authors I review on my blog is seeing a steady and probably permanent decline. As committed as I used to be to featuring authors that needed such exposure, I can’t ethically continue to do so under current conditions.

You have the right to your own opinion on this topic, of course, but I will only be approving kind and respectful replies here.

So this post is looking back at a happier time before all of that stuff started happening. Here are ten self-published books I’ve reviewed here in the recent past. To the best of my knowledge, no LLMs were used in the creation of them.

The links below will take you to my reviews of these stories!

1. Homeless by Neil Shooter

2. Love Bug by Zoe Tasia

3. Five Miles Out Of Black Creek by Neil Shooter

4. Amina by P.B. Cannon

5. Marginal Worlds by Alfred Bekker

6. Cosmophobia by George Saoulidis

7. Mayday Mayday Mayday by Holly Schindler

8. Beach House on the Moon byLeigh Kimmel

9. Chasing June by Holly Schindler

10. A Hundred Julys by Holly Schindler

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Filed under Blog Hops

Tagged as LLM, Plagiarism, Self-Published, Theft, Top Ten Tuesday

August 27, 2026 · 1:00 am

A Review of Science and Magic and Lions, OH MY!

Title: Science and Magic and Lions, OH MY!

Author: JD Bennett

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: October 31, 2025

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery, Horror

Length: About 45 pages.

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

***Intended for adult readers*****

Magic, Science, & Lions, OH MY! is a collection of short stories that include horrifying tales of a rapist eating monster, the staging of a war between fairy tale and folklore characters, and, of course, aliens.

Content Warning: Poisoning, politics, domestic violence, and murder. I skipped over the story about the rapist eating monster and so will not be including it in my review. (Yes, I read the rest of them!)

Review:

Some fairy tales have sharp teeth.

”The (Attempted) Murder of a Pot Head” showed what happened after the protagonist was poisoned at a family reunion and had to try to figure out who might have been the culprit and what their motivation was. There was a plot twist involved in the investigation of this crime that I don’t want to reveal in my review for spoilers reasons, but it was as clever as it was attention grabbing and showed off Ms. Bennett’s writing abilities nicely.

Anyone who reads the title of “The Confession” can almost certainly make an educated guess about what it is about. What surprised me about this piece was the complete lack of any fantasy, science fiction, or other speculative fiction elements to it. While I thought it included some interesting ideas and had a satisfying ending, it felt out of place in this collection due to that.

By far my favorite story was “Lion in the Mirror” due to how it blended real-life events like the repeal of Roe vs. Wade in the United States to some heavy fantasy elements of a storyline featuring a likeable and intelligent main character. This is the sort of storytelling that grabs my attention and doesn’t let go, and I loved coming up with various theories about how the fantasy themes could be reinterpreted as metaphors for various experiences that many women encounter in their lives, particularly for those of us who are part of one or more other minority groups as well.

Magic, Science, & Lions, OH MY! kept me on my toes.

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Filed under Science Fiction and Fantasy

Tagged as 2020s, Book Reviews, Fantasy, Horror, JD Bennett, Mystery, Science Fiction, Self-Published

August 20, 2026 · 1:00 am

A Review of All the Little Hedgehogs

Title: All the Little Hedgehogs

Author: Leigh Kimmel

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: April 29, 2023

Genres: Science Fiction, Horror, Alternate History

Length: About 20 pages.

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

In Soviet Union, genetic engineering does you. Yona wondered why everyone kept steering him toward a military career, until one of his teachers noticed his aptitude for genetics. Now he’s the personal student of Academician Voronsky, working in a secret genetic engineering facility in a closed town. However, Yona keeps having to spend as much time babysitting the Academician’s adopted son Kolya as actually doing genetics. When this extra assignment becomes a frustration, Yona learns just how quickly privileges can be retracted. And then he starts learning just how deep the secrets of the Soviet human genetics program really goes. A story from the Grissom timeline (Gus on the Moon universe). Caution: Contains intense material that may be disturbing to some audiences. Reader caution advised

Content Warning: Pregnancy, birth, cloning, and brief references to infanticide.

Review:

DNA only tells part of the story.

Genetic engineering is one of those topics I often like to see covered in the Science Fiction genre because of how many different ways it can be approached. While I don’t want to go into too much detail about what exactly what happening in this facility, I thought the narrator asked some interesting questions about how important genetics are to how someone turns out that might be of special interest to any readers out there who might be related to people who are incredibly different from them in crucial ways. That is to say, you can be a blood relative of someone and share very little in common with them.

I struggled with the violent content in this short story due to how unnecessary it felt for plot development. Horror is a genre I’ve been moving away from, so this made be of greater interest to readers who still like to read that sort of stuff. Still, there was one particular scene I thought was egregious and could have easily been cut out without ruining the effect of the chilling world Yona knew in general.

The descriptions of the medical facilities were my favourite part of this short story. They were given so much attention that I could easily imagine what it would be like to visit or work there. One bright moment that stood out to me the most involved how the fetuses interacted with each other before birth. I could have read many more pages about them if such a thing were possible due to the funny things they did to each other.

All the Little Hedgehogs made me shudder.

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Tagged as 2020s, Alternate History, Book Reviews, Horror, Science Fiction, Self-Published, Short Story

August 13, 2026 · 1:00 am

A Review of Seed

Title: Seed

Author: P.B. Cannon

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: November 2o, 2012

Genres: Science Fiction, Romance, Historical

Length: About 137 pages.

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 4 Stars

Blurb:

Abandoned on an alien planet, Second must learn to co-exist with a group of primitives in order to survive. A tale of the acceptance of differences and of unconditional love.

Content Warning: Polyamory, sex scenes, pregnancy, birth, and bullying for physical disabilities and differences.

Review:

Love comes in many different forms.

I enjoyed seeing how much trust the author put into assuming readers would figure out some things on our own. Not every aspect of these characters’ lives was spelled out plainly, and a few of them could only be uncovered by taking note of subtle clues that fit together in specific ways once one was well into Second’s adventures. There’s something to be said for believing that one’s audience is intelligent and patient enough to do such things, and it’s one of the reasons why I keep returning to Ms. Cannon’s work over and over again.

While physiological differences between Second and the people they met on the alien planet they visited were described in detail, I would have liked to see a little more attention paid to the world building as well, particularly as it related to culture and religion. Second had grown up with certain assumptions about how society worked that weren’t always well fleshed out but that did have a heavy impact on how they interacted with nomadic people they met on their travels. This could have easily been a five-star reading for me if more time had been spent on such things.

The romances were handled nicely and I thought they contributed a lot of character development to this novella. This is something I’m saying as a reader who only occasionally dips my toes into this genre and is not easily impressed, but the author put in all of the work that was required in order to make these subplots flow smoothly with the main storyline. They were ultimately well done.

This is a prequel to a series, but it also can be read as a standalone work.

Seed was heartwarming.

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Filed under Science Fiction and Fantasy

Tagged as 2010s, Aliens, Book Reviews, Novella, P.B. Cannon, Science Fiction, Self-Published

July 30, 2026 · 1:00 am

A Review of Outopos

Title: Outpos

Author: Rudolph Kohn

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: April 26, 2023

Genres: Science Fiction

Length: 9 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 5 Stars

Blurb:

The war between artificial intelligence and mankind is almost over. VeeTwo agreed to finish the war in exchange for a plot of land with abundant resources, but a strange intruder with a cryptic message interrupts her plans.

Content Warning: Brief references to war.

Review:

Every battle must eventually end.

There was a philosophical bent to this tale that I found intriguing. This is something I’m saying as a reader who is only an occasional visit to this corner of the literary realm, so it’s a rare compliment from me. Those of you who regularly read this sort of stuff may be even more into it than I was despite my stellar rating as there very well could be moments I missed that fans would pick up on more easily. VeeTwo, the protagonist, was a thoughtful and kind robot who I’m glad I got to know, especially once their life became much less predictable after they arrived home from the war. Few things are as satisfying as seeing a character you feel connected to experience something that tests their value system in all sorts of unexpected way.

War isn’t generally a topic I enjoy reading about, either but I liked the way Mr. Kohn veered around the bloody aspects of it to explore what happens when one side has won and there are no more battles to fight. This is generally something that’s saved for the final scene or maybe not even discussed at all, so it was amusing to see it become the main focal point of a short story for once. What a creative way to explore what it means to live a good life, and not to mention an author grabbing my attention with two topics that are a little outside of my comfort zone. Bravo!

The ending was what convinced me to give this a full five-star rating. It wasn’t quite a plot twist due to some subtle foreshadowing earlier on, but it did fit the themes of this piece beautifully and gave me everything I was hoping to find from the characters. I especially loved how it not only resolved the main conflict but also left space for a sequel if the author ever decides to write one. Regardless of whether or not that happens, I’ll be thinking about these characters and their society for a long time.

Outpost was a wild and immensely satisfying ride.

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Filed under Science Fiction and Fantasy

Tagged as 2020s, Book Reviews, Rudolph Kohn, Science Fiction, Self-Published, Xenofiction

July 2, 2026 · 1:00 am

A Review of A Hundred Julys

Title: A Hundred Julys

Author: Holly Schindler

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: June 29, 2016

Genres:Romance, Paranormal, Contemporary

Length: About 35 pages.

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

Forever Finley Episode / Short Story #8: Mysterious sightings—and a legend of unrequited love—draws Finley’s newest resident into the midst of the folklore surrounding the town.

Norma Johnson, owner of Finley’s only antique store, has always felt she was mysteriously drawn to the small town. Forced to host the July vintage car show, she bumps headlong into the legend that has surrounded Finley for a century—and in so doing, gains a new perspective on the far-reaching effects of love…

A Hundred Julys is part of 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, and Chasing June. Stories following A Hundred Julys include 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.

Review:

The past and present can have more in common than you might think!

Some of my favorite scenes were the ones that compared Norma with Amos, the ghost who had been haunting Finley for well over a century. Both of these characters had lost romantic partners and never quite moved on from that loss. While I can’t go into much more detail about this without sharing spoilers, I thought it was a marvellous way to connect the past to the present and help to explain why Amos hadn’t found peace in the afterlife yet.

I would have liked to see more plot development in this tale. There was so much more the author could have done with Norma as a character, especially given the many similarities between her and Amos despite the very different eras and cultures they came from. Had a few more pages been added to explore these themes, I would have easily chosen a much higher rating given how much I’ve come to love these characters and this setting over the past eleven months.

The romantic subplot was handled nicely. I enjoy the foreshadowing of it that appeared quite early on and looked forward to discovering how it would unfold as the characters who were involved in it slowly realized the newest possibilities in their lives. There’s something to be said for a slow burn like this, especially for individuals who aren’t even entirely sure that they’re open to falling in love at that point in their lives.

A Hundred Julys was romantic and just a little otherworldly.

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Filed under Science Fiction and Fantasy

Tagged as 2010s, Book Reviews, Contemporary, Holly Schindler, Paranormal, Romance, Self-Published, Short Story

Tag Archives: Self-Published

A Review of The Case of Elmwood Ranch

A Review of Intercepted Wishes

A Review of Catch-All Drawer

A Review of The Corner of My Eye

Top Ten Tuesday: Indie Books I’ve Reviewed Here This Year

A Review of Science and Magic and Lions, OH MY!

A Review of All the Little Hedgehogs

A Review of Seed

A Review of Outopos

A Review of A Hundred Julys

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