Book Reviews | Self-Publishing Review

Review: The Gods Wait by John von Dorf

★★★★

In The Gods Wait by John von Dorf, you’ll find pessimists fighting to be optimistic about romance, a waitress’s vivid inner world, an internet troll’s thoughts on philosophy, and many other slices from diverse, scattered lives.

A collection of well-drawn characters seek fulfillment and meaning through various mediums, including film, insults, and food. Each obsession demonstrates the individual’s need and desire for grander meaning than their obsession actually delivers. The only voices with new ideas are shut down by the intentional defamation or self-congratulatory ignorance of other would-be intellectuals. Each character is defined as much by their hates as […]

Mindy Hood2018-02-06T07:05:04+02:00December 21st, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Literary Fiction|

Review: The Prize by Geoffrey M. Cooper

★★★★

Deceit…scientific fraud…betrayal…murder. The highly-competitive world of medical research is exposed in The Prize, a gripping page-turner by Geoffrey M. Cooper.

Thirty-six-year-old Pam Weller is a junior faculty member at Harvard’s prestigious Langmere Institute for Neurological Disease who, along with her team, are looking for an effective drug that prevents the development of Alzheimer’s disease. The stakes are high as it could mean a Nobel Prize but more importantly for Pam, it would mean guaranteed tenure. There’s just one problem, though: Eric Prescott, a leading neuroscientist at the Institute for Advanced Neuroscience is also trying to discover an Alzheimer’s […]

Marta Cheng2020-02-21T06:27:10+02:00December 20th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Geoffrey M. Cooper, Medical|

Review: Serendipity by Thomas J. Thorson

The big picture that we’re taught in school is rarely the completely accurate picture, and curiosity can bring you down some fascinating and unforgettable rabbit holes. In Serendipity: Seemingly Random Events, Insignificant Decisions, and Accidental Discoveries that Altered History by Thomas J. Thorson, readers are welcomed into a long and disparate list of historical tales that exemplify the uncertainty of life, and the unbelievable ways that luck has influenced our common existence.

The book is a series of stories about well-known historical events and figures, but these are stories that few have ever heard before. Did you know that Handel, […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2021-12-22T03:32:20+02:00December 18th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: History, Social Science, Thomas J. Thorson|

Review: The Last of the Sages (The Sage Saga Book 1) by Julius St. Clair

★★★

When the world is threatened by the sinister forces of evil, heroes always rise from unexpected places. In The Last of the Sages, the first book of the epic Sage Saga by Julius St. Clair, readers are pulled into the mystical world of Allay, where magic and danger are everywhere, and where the life of young James is about to change forever.

After being told by his father that he is being sent to the Sentinel Academy – the mysterious training center that shapes young men of the kingdom into warriors – he decides to run away, but […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2018-01-31T10:05:59+02:00December 18th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Fantasy|

Review: The Colonials by Tom Durwood

★★★★

The Colonials by Tom Durwood is an exciting and ambitious work of historical fiction for young adults, where teenagers come of age during a violent time, ultimately changing the course of history.

The year is 1775 and a large number of complex characters are at play: young Will Oldenbarnevelt is the second-born son to a wealthy Dutch shipping merchant, Jiayi Wei Ying is Yunhe jiating of the Chinese Grand Canal clan, Countess Clotilde Ushakov is the eldest niece of Ekaterina Alexeevna, Empress of all Russia, Leo Krummensee-Grabmaler is heir to the House of Hohenzollern…and many others, giving a sense […]

Marta Cheng2017-12-15T10:34:29+02:00December 14th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Historical Fiction, Young Adult|

Review: HARDBARNED! by Christopher J. Driver

In Hardbarned!: One Man’s Quest for Meaningful Work in the American South, an amusing and insightful memoir by Christopher J. Driver, readers are invited to commiserate with a hardworking American in a tough world, trying to pursue the happiness of writing over potential riches doing anything else.

Before this book was born, Driver spent years staring down some of the hardest questions of the last generation, namely: What am I supposed to do with this degree? What do I want to do with my life? Am I ever going to find a job that makes me happy? While these […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-02-11T09:36:08+02:00December 14th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Memoir, Non-Fiction|

Review: Sundown by Carl H. Mitchell

★★★★½

When the world stops working and the oil runs out, no one is exactly sure what sort of chaos will unfold, but author Carl H. Mitchell has a pretty good idea. Sundown: Engineering Gives the Devil a Sunburn is an ambitious and entertaining peek into what lies ahead for the world. A corrupt Supreme Leader is pulling the world’s strings in dangerous directions, the fabric of American democracy has crumbled, and survival is becoming more important than maintaining any semblance of society.

The novel begins with a bang – or rather a strangle – of the vice president of […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2021-06-14T04:56:07+02:00December 6th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Carl H. Mitchell, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction|

Review: Soul’s Fury by Sattar Memon

★★★★

Blending spirituality, philosophy, suspense and engaging literature can be a tricky challenge for some authors, as it can lean too far in either direction – pedantic prose to promote a belief system or a convoluted narrative that doesn’t espouse a clear message. However, in Sattar Memon’s second novel, Soul’s Fury, the balance is surprisingly well done.

While the author has written a number of books in the past, the majority of these have been directly related to spirituality, healing through faith, or other alternative philosophies. That being said, his 2012 book The Ashram was another fictional narrative and […]