Book Reviews | Self-Publishing Review

Review: Timing the Infinite by Nathaniel Schmeling

For those who look or think about the world differently, life can be a minefield of isolation, confusion, despair… and occasionally hedonism, but it also offers the potential for bizarre, one-of-a-kind storytelling. In Timing the Infinite, author Nathaniel Schmeling embarks on a brilliant linguistic roller coaster ride, one packed with import, introducing a myriad of unforgettably weird and profound characters.

Stranger is an apt name for the protagonist, as he seems to represent a massive bundle of “otherness” and embraces the unknown. A brilliant programmer with a multilayered façade of nihilism and perceived freedom, he is actually an existential […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-03-08T10:06:15+02:00February 22nd, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Nathaniel Schmeling, Science Fiction, Visionary Fiction|

Review: The Journey from Poor Procrastinator to Invested Millennial by Jeremy Kho

Author and entrepreneur Jeremy Kho advises his readers to start investing now for the bright future we would all like to have in The Journey from Poor Procrastinator to Invested Millennial.

Kho creates a clear picture of procrastinators – those who continue to delay making the moves that would garner them positive prospects for financial security. It might be a perfectionist who can’t get started on a project until everything is in place, or a “thrill-seeker” who likes the danger of waiting to pay a bill until the very last minute. Maybe it’s someone who feels too busy to […]

Barbara Scott2018-03-22T07:05:14+02:00February 16th, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Business|

Review: Confessions of a Bar Brat by Judith A. Boggess

Growing up too fast is a reality that many people must face, but for Judith Boggess, the author of Confessions of a Bar Brat: Growing Up in Rosendale, New York, adulthood was forced on her at a particularly young age. Falling asleep to the raucous sounds of a bar beneath you isn’t ideal for the maintenance of childhood innocence, and this memoir tells the visceral, and often disturbing truth of what it was like growing up in that strange place during a tumultuous time.

Boggess is an unflinchingly honest narrator of her own life, depicting the constant challenge of […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2018-05-09T10:16:33+02:00February 14th, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Memoir, Non-Fiction|

Review: Hello, Agnieszka (Between Two Worlds Book 2) by Evy Journey

Life has a funny way of exposing even the best-kept secrets and when it does, it has the potential to devastate. Such is the case in Hello, Agnieszka, the standalone second book in the Between Two Worlds romance series by Evy Journey.

Agnieszka (Agnes) Halverson has been a devoted wife and mother to her husband, Charles, and their three children, all grown now with lives of their own. Their only daughter, Elise, is shocked after receiving a phone call from her father who tells her that her oldest brother, Peter, had just tried to commit suicide. The next day, […]

Marta Cheng2018-03-19T12:32:32+02:00February 5th, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Evy Journey, Romance, Women's Fiction|

Review: Awaken to the Wilderness (The Edge of the Known Book Five) by Seth Mullins

★★★★

Awaken to the Wilderness by Seth Mullins follows the band, Edge of the Known, on a grueling 180-day tour, which may be the undoing of band leader, Brandon, who has never been one to handle the trappings of success and fame very well. Here though, Brandon may be coming to terms with his life and art, realizing there’s always a wilderness, but you can always find meaning and contentment within the struggle.

Unlike the four earlier books in the series, Awaken loses a fair bit of its pretension and philosophizing, focusing more on the antics and experiences of a […]

Henry Baum2018-02-16T11:42:57+02:00February 4th, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Contemporary Fiction, Music, Seth Mullins|

Review: The Journal by R.D. Stevens

Looking up to your siblings is something to which many people can relate, but in The Journal by R.D. Stevens, that sibling connection is particularly powerful and rare. On the cusp of adulthood, Ethan Willis is compelled to discover what happened to his sister, Charlotte, a wild adventurer who was last heard from in the depths of Southeast Asia. Despite his lack of worldliness, Ethan sets out to follow in her footsteps – or at least get on the right continent to begin his search.

In classic Bildungsroman style, Ethan embarks on a journey without a clear goal in sight, […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-01-22T04:35:58+02:00February 1st, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Coming Of Age, Contemporary Fiction, Young Adult|

Review: Atom by Stephen C. Sutcliffe

In Atom by Stephen Sutcliffe, a young man named Michael is trying to find his place in the world – and make his mark on it – in dramatic fashion. His belief that atomic development will inevitably lead to the end of humanity drives him to plan an unforgettable attack – an undeniable statement about the risks of atomic proliferation that no one can ignore.

He and his friends, similarly young and wealthy white men with an axe to grind against nuclear weapons and modernity, devise a plan to make their own nuke and demonstrate the terrifying capacity on American […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2018-03-16T10:12:15+02:00February 1st, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Thriller|

Review: Coffee Shop University by Mario Kfoury

Mario Kfoury’s debut work of nonfiction, Coffee Shop University, is a thought-provoking exploration of spiritual, philosophical, and intellectual self-discovery.

Divided into three parts, the book chronicles the arrival of the author in the U.S. in 1987 from war-torn Lebanon. Settling in Los Angeles, he and his friend, Elrob, quickly embraced the bodybuilding culture of southern California while working as security officers. It’s during this time that Kfoury attended a meeting of Native Americans where he was introduced to a spiritual smudging ceremony, which subsequently inspired him to read extensively on Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism, among others.

The second part […]