In our effort to help facilitate the discovery of hot new titles that might interest overseas publishers for rights deals, we offer the occasional selection of “starred” reviews from BlueInk reviews, a service which reviews self-published books. These are all books that BlueInk Review feels “merit your attention,” and “are of exceptional quality and particularly worthy of representation.”
Fiction
The Bishop Meets Butch Cassidy: Recollections of Scottie Abner, as told through Ralph Reynolds
Butch Cassidy takes a star turn in this slim novel, but the real story revolves around protagonist Scottie Abner and his friendship with a young cowboy looking to go straight after riding with the Wild Bunch. Set in a Mormon town in the West, the story is filled with feisty, colorful characters, authentic period dialogue, and a plot that keeps the pages turning at the speed of Cassidy’s trigger finger. Read review.
History
Humanity in the Midst of Inhumanity by Shahkeh Yaylaian Setian
An eloquent cri de coeur by an author whose parents survived the infamous Armenian Genocide, this engrossing narrative provides not only detailed political and cultural background to the event, but harrowing personal testimony from survivors via 16 of their descendants. Read review.
Paranormal
Walking Through Walls and Other Impossibilities: The Hybrid Agenda by Milton E. Brener
Brener examines a plethora of evidence in order to answer two questions about UFOs and aliens: Why are they here? And what makes Earth worth the bother of these superior beings? The author combines extensive research with an almost folksy narrative style, resulting in a book that, while it may not convince skeptics, is as good as any title on the subject and far more skillfully written than most. Read review.
Self-Help
What Makes People Tick & Why: The Answers Are in the Face by Naomi R. Tickle
Imagine if a flared eyebrow or pointed chin could tell you which careers best suit you, how to avoid fights with your partner and what makes your child happiest. Tickle’s book does all that and more through a thorough examination of the 2,700-year-old Chinese art of physiognomy, or study of the face, that includes drawings, photos and celebrity examples. Fascinating, entertaining and easy to follow. Read review.
BlueInk Review was founded by Patti Thorn, former books editor of the Rocky Mountain News, and Patricia Moosbrugger, literary agent and subsidiary rights specialist. They offer serious, unbiased reviews of self-published books. Their starred reviews appear on Publishing Perspectives the first week of every month.