Alban Lake Publishing holds a "drabble" (100-word micro-flash) writing contest from time to time. I recently placed second in one the contests. In addition to being awarded one Hauran dollar, I was given a free copy of the novella Janitorial Service by Robert Collins (Alban Lake Publishing, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 2013). The novella is available in perfect-bound trade paperback from the publisher for $7.50 http://store.albanlake.com/product/janitorial-service/.The list price of $7.50 is outrageously high for a trade paperback novella of only eighty-four pages by an unknown author published by an unknown small press. Afterall, best-selling novels by well-known authors published by well-known houses are available for less.
Another issue is the quality of the editing. The novella contains so many typos and errors in basic grammar (conservatively about one every other page) that at some point I stopped reading so much for the plot as for spotting the next mistake. If a small press cannot provide marketing, it should at least provide impeccable editing. Otherwise, an author might as well self-publish for vanity.
The sci-fi/western/hired assassin plot is predictable, contrived, and more than a bit pretentious. The protagonist, Jake Bonner, is a one-dimensional cliche, but no more so than the other characters, from Jake's own boss to the unbelievably naive mob bosses he is assigned to sweep away as part of his "janitorial service." The story barely held my interest--just enough to keep me from performing my own janitorial service on the book. Knowing the novella's short length in advance also helped me find the stamina to read the entire masterpiece.
My hopes were briefly raised when, on page 66 of 84, the hero says, "...this is about to get interesting." Jake winds up captured and at the mercy of one of the crime bosses--the first event that did not fall exactly Jake's way and as he predicted--but the suspense was severely dampened by knowing that Jake had the ability to teleport out of the situation if it became too dangerous, which is just what he ends up doing.
In conclusion, if someone lends you a copy or you otherwise come across one for free (say by winning a drabble contest), and you have nothing much better to do or just want a break from reading headier stuff, Janitorial Services might be worth the read--emphasis on "might."
