Book Reviews | Self-Publishing Review

Review: Insane Angels by Edward Nicholls

Miracles happen in the most unlikely places in Insane Angels by Edward Nicholls, a whip-smart peek into higher powers, both human and divine.

The only thing that can make a hangover worse – or at least weirder – is finding a halo inexplicably hanging above your head, and that is precisely the predicament of the otherwise unremarkable Michael Flagg, setting an original and smirking premise for this tongue-in-cheek novel. Though Michael considers himself a bit of a mad chemist, this seemingly heavenly accessory goes beyond garden-variety bizarre, and it doesn’t take long for the world to notice. Whether he’s being […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2024-04-09T16:15:57+02:00February 17th, 2024|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Contemporary Fiction, Satire|

Review: Om Vel Way by Seval Seer

Eye-opening, mind-expanding, and relentlessly hopeful, Om Vel Way: Be Happy and Make Happy by Seval Seer is a well-crafted guide for the journey of self-actualization.

Part memoir and part spiritual textbook, the author patiently explicates much of what he has learned over decades of study and presents practical techniques for readers to apply those lessons in their own lives. With the pursuit and expansion of happiness as the book’s overarching goal, the intuitively structured narrative leads readers through the steps of increased awareness, self-actualization, and the elimination of suffering. Deeply rooted in a myriad of spiritual and religious traditions, but […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2024-04-02T16:43:33+02:00February 15th, 2024|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Self-Help, Spirituality|

Review: Fog & Fireflies by T.H. Lehnen

Children with the hearts of seasoned warriors must save their world from being swallowed by sinister magic in Fog & Fireflies by T.H. Lehnen, a mesmerizing and thought-provoking fantasy.

In this remarkably imagined fantasy world, isolated villages drift like lost ships in a fiendish fog, which forever threatens to invade these islands of humanity, but is chased off by noise, children, and the light of fireflies. The sentient, phantom-filled fog is deadly once you reach a certain age, which leaves the duty of protecting the towns to the youngest denizens of the realm. To survive, one must learn to trust […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2024-02-08T16:17:01+02:00February 7th, 2024|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Fantasy|

Review: The Wandering Pianist by Congyu Wang

Heartwrenching, humanistic, and beautifully told, The Wandering Pianist: From the Street to the Concert Hall by Congyu Wang is a humbly penned memoir that grips the imagination and offers renewed hope to artists and lost souls alike.

Swimming smoothly through time, the narrative weaves tales of Wang’s upbringing and childhood challenges with the humbling successes of his later life and moments of desperation along the way. From the humblest of beginnings to the grandest stages of Europe, Congyu demonstrates a remarkable belief in himself and a relentless determination to persevere. Despite facing doubt and derision from his family, as well […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2024-02-07T14:18:39+02:00February 6th, 2024|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Memoir, Music|

Review: Clans by Frederick Albert

Showing the rise and fall of beliefs in two men connected by loyalty and brotherhood, Clans by Frederick Albert is a modern-day musing on race relations and the gap of ideologies still fracturing America.

Jimmy Brett is doing all right for himself, enjoying the fruits of early internet success, including a fancy Jaguar and a sprawling house he can almost afford, but he’s still missing someone to share it with. When a blast from his romantic past reappears, it feels like the chance at happiness he’s always dreamed of, but the timing is awkward.

Jimmy has just come into possession […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2024-03-26T14:35:06+02:00February 5th, 2024|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Contemporary Fiction|

Review: A Summer of War by Lynn Mason

A breathless tale of violence and love, A Summer of War by Lynn Mason is a gripping plunge into the jungles of Vietnam, told through an evocative and refreshing lens.

When a misogynistic military bureaucrat tells reporter Chris McKenna that the Mekong Delta is no place for a woman, she smells a story, so she bounds her way into the fiery battlefield of South Vietnam. In “a war gone awry,” being a female member of the press at a forward operating base is a hard row to hoe, but she has the essential support of Paul, her photo-snapping sidekick who […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2024-03-22T12:15:40+02:00January 31st, 2024|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Historical Fiction, War|

Review: Drakomunda by Guy Quartley

Warlocks, demons, serpents, and shadows collide in Drakomunda by Guy Quartley, a riveting plunge into a fresh universe of magic, myth, and murder. Ambitious fantasy fans will quickly sink into the endless battles and betrayals, romances, tribal rebellions, and surreal scenes of dark magic that come alive through Quartley’s evocative prose.

The novel is broken up into various novellas and short stories set in the same fantasy realm, sometimes centuries or millennia apart, yet subtly intertwined with sinister talismans, legends, bloodlines, and sorcery. Murderous amulets, necromantic madmen, enslavement spells, sky demons, and witches’ curses blur into a kaleidoscope of fantasy […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2024-03-19T12:34:35+02:00January 23rd, 2024|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Fantasy|

Review: The End of the World: Rise of the After Lord by H.S. Gilchrist

Bitter enemies become unlikely allies and chart a new course for the shattered remnants of humanity in The End of the World: Rise of the After Lord by H.S. Gilchrist, a stunning work of genre-bending sci-fi.

Cut off from the mind-controlling force that has dominated her existence, a mechanized killing machine wanders the wasteland, reckoning with mortality and nearly forgotten sentience. A brother and sister, horrifically traumatized by their own dark secrets, encounter this enemy on the edge of death, and an unexpected peace is struck. When their mutual enemy comes to collect, however, their uncertain alliance is sealed in […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2024-01-26T15:24:53+02:00January 21st, 2024|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: H.S. Gilchrist, Science Fiction|