John Staughton, Senior Reviewer | Self-Publishing Review

Water is Wider by Marie Green McKeon

Two seemingly unconnected lives swirl around each other in Marie Green McKeon’s emotive second novel, Water is Wider.

Phoebe is an impulsive 11-year-old determined to solve the mystery of her father’s disappearance, and sets off on a dangerous journey to Connecticut to find the truth. Sidney is a middle-aged proofreader mourning the loss of her mother and the emotional challenges of life after death. Already wrestling with grief, the slow demise of the publishing house that employs her may be too much to bear, leading Sidney to seek unlikely and potentially dangerous company.

These two stories initially lie very […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-12-20T07:19:08+02:00December 19th, 2019|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Contemporary Fiction Book Reviews|

The Heartless Divine by Varsha Ravi

Author Varsha Ravi weaves a magnificent tale of secrets, gods, love, and fallen kingdoms in her enthralling debut novel, The Heartless Divine.

When an immortal with amnesia named Kiran nearly bleeds out in the doorway to Suri’s apartment, she has no idea that her life is about to change forever, nor that the young man could hold the key to all her tragic pasts.

Leaping between Suri’s modern-day existence and her life centuries ago as an assassin princess, this novel is a time- and mind-bending plunge into mythology, family, the power of memory, and the tangled web of destiny […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-12-19T07:21:32+02:00December 19th, 2019|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Fantasy Book Reviews, Visionary Fiction Book Reviews|

Time Travel Rescue by Tom Kranz

Author Tom Kranz catapults readers through two wild futures in Time Travel Rescue: Escape from the 21st Century, a new science fiction novel that feels timely and unexpectedly relevant.

Rick Stein is flung 150 years into the past, landing in the year 2055, rather than 2212, and must find a way to change the world so he can save the future. The future Rick comes from is bleak, with Earth’s inhabitants being crowded into the few livable areas that remain as the planet collapses around them. The mid-21^st century, by contrast, is an entrancing place of temptation and […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-12-18T11:58:27+02:00December 18th, 2019|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Science Fiction Book Reviews, Time Travel Book Reviews|

Kicked in the Head by a Horse by Ronnie Cassano

Human history is peppered with periods of extreme darkness and abject evil, eras of injustice and cruelty that forced people to confront their own morality, and Ronnie Cassano taps into this grisly fodder for his new story collection, Kicked in the Head by a Horse.

These stories criss-cross the globe and leap between centuries, tied together by simmering conflict and characters exposed to crises of faith and times of trouble. From a foreigner battling his way through the brutal violence of Scandinavian culture to a beloved regular drinking away his sorrows and poverty, this is not a hopeful collection, […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-12-18T08:21:31+02:00December 18th, 2019|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Short Stories Book Reviews|

Strange Entities by Chris Carvell

For readers seeking a mind-bending and consciousness-expanding read, Strange Entities: Quantum Processes linking Creation and Consciousness: An exploration connecting Material Reality and Non-Material Reality by Chris Carvell should top their reading list.

There has been a great deal of discussion in recent decades about quantum physics and mechanics, as well as superposition, quantum entanglement, quantum tunneling and many other highly academic niches that can boggle the average, non-physicist reader. This book attempts to simplify a massive range of related topics and find the logical connections between the quantum scale and the universal scale.

Essentially, if our consciousness is contained in […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-12-17T08:21:41+02:00December 16th, 2019|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Science Book Reviews|

Sisters of the Perilous Heart by Sandra L. Vasher

Sandra L. Vasher combines the mysterious allure of eternal life with grand human drama in Sisters of the Perilous Heart, the first book in her Mortal Heritance series. Set thousands of years in the future when immortality and magic are far from fiction, this book boasts an original plot, a captivating protagonist, sharp clever dialogue, and immersive descriptions. Despite the high-fantasy elements, the binding themes of this novel are the universally relatable fear of death, the search for meaning, and friends who become family. An undeniably strong start to a unique and compelling series.

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John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-12-17T07:52:55+02:00December 16th, 2019|Categories: Editorial Reviews|

Review: World Climate: Causes, Effects and Solutions by Terje Instefjord

In World Climate: Causes, Effects and Solutions by author Terje Instefjord, some of the most recent reports and publications by respected climate experts and organizations are broken down and explained in accessible, yet credible language.

While there is some amount of extrapolation and guesswork in any global model, despite our advanced technology related to this subject, this is not a book of catastrophic rhetoric or partisan leanings. Instead, it is a well-constructed and readable book that sits squarely between a dense governmental report topping hundreds of pages and a concise summary in a news article.

From the World Meteorological Organization […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2020-02-07T09:55:08+02:00December 13th, 2019|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Environment, Science Book Reviews|

The Traitor by Ray Keating

Author Ray Keating delivers a timely, high-octane, and well-penned thriller with his latest novel, The Traitor. The inimitable Pastor Stephen Grant must unexpectedly navigate the shadowy waters of international espionage to keep his country safe and strong. With a gripping plot that feels torn from last week’s headlines, Keating knows how to capture his readers immediately and never let go. Pastor Grant continues to surprise as a character and the dialogue hums with authenticity, making the newest Pastor Stephen Grant Novel another hit in this ever-growing series.

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John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-12-12T07:54:01+02:00December 11th, 2019|Categories: Editorial Reviews|