John Staughton, Senior Reviewer | Self-Publishing Review

Review: Nightmare City by P.S. Newman

The line between dreams and reality is shattered in Nightmare City by author P.S. Newman, the first book in her new Nightmare City series.

Los Angeles has collapsed into a dystopian roller-coaster, one in which the stuff of nightmares crosses over into the real world. To prevent complete destruction, the world has changed, and hunters patrol this new landscape, eliminating the horrors from the depths of dreams. Eden Maybrey is one of these shade hunters, someone who walks the night with sword in hand, cleaving horrific visions from reality.

This is a world where every shade is tracked back to […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2020-01-31T09:01:59+02:00December 2nd, 2019|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Fantasy Book Reviews, Urban Fantasy Book Reviews|

Cape of Storms by Bianca Bowers

Childhood innocence and grown-up cruelty clash in Cape of Storms by author Bianca Bowers, a gripping coming-of-age tale woven through one of the darkest periods in South African history. Rosalinde is the precocious and endearing protagonist, an 8-year-old whose life is shaken and eyes are opened over the course of two shocking decades. With the South African landscape as a beautiful but sinister setting, this novel is a gripping and unforgettable account of one of humanity’s great failures, told with sensitivity and eloquence from a uniquely powerful perspective.

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John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-12-03T08:55:45+02:00December 1st, 2019|Categories: Editorial Reviews|

1969: A Brief and Beautiful Trip Back by Sea Gudinski

1969: A Brief and Beautiful Trip Back by author Sea Gudinski is an authentic and immersive journey back to the sixties heyday.

When the enigmatic Dave rolls back into town with a legendary stash for sale, Rhiannon Karlson has no idea that her life is about to change forever. Thrown thirty years back in time in the midst of a wild DMT trip, Rhiannon finds herself tuning in, turning on, and dropping out in San Francisco at the peak of the Love Revolution. From Grace Slick buying her a beer to an epic trip to Woodstock ’69, this book is […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-11-27T09:27:01+02:00November 26th, 2019|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Historical Fiction Book Reviews|

Did You Hear About Stuart’s Desert Burial by David Bath

No matter how far you go, you can’t run from the past, a hard truth that Stuart James discovers in Did You Hear About Stuart’s Desert Burial?: A Dark Tragicomedy and Cautionary Tale by David Bath. Getting roped into a half-baked scheme to rob a Vegas club, Stuart has no idea the chaos that Jenna and Gabe are about to bring down on his head for a payday. With whip-smart dialogue and visceral narration that would make Hunter S. Thompson proud, this is a savage and unpredictable scramble through morality, love, and deeply desperate times.

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John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-11-26T09:33:58+02:00November 25th, 2019|Categories: Editorial Reviews|

Purposeful Evolution by Ron Deming

The age-old conflict between undirected randomness and intelligent design gets a new referee with the thought-provoking Purposeful Evolution by Ron Deming.

Deming argues that many examples of rapid, seemingly reactive adaptations in species must be the result of some interaction or assessment of the environment, rather than the gradualism of natural selection, which can often take thousands of generations and hundreds of thousands of years. This “purposeful evolution” theory attempts to break down the binary of Darwinian evolution vs. creationism, instead considering the relationship and reactivity of organism to environment over a much smaller time scale.

Backed up with dozens […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-11-22T08:56:14+02:00November 22nd, 2019|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Science Book Reviews|

Review: Shadow Tag, Perdition Games by L.E. Fraser

The Perdition Games series by L.E. Fraser continues with Shadow Tag, a brutal and unpredictable thriller that will keep readers looking over their shoulder, and questioning the sage advice of their medical professionals. The tangled threads of this plot are brilliantly woven into a web of corruption, cruelty, revenge and perseverance.

Tasked with investigating a sinister crime under the guise of an internship at a psychiatric hospital, Samantha McNamara is dragged back into a dark, cult-filled corner of her own past. Reece Hash, Sam’s fiancee, is simultaneously investigating a string of cases that may have been perpetrated by a […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2020-01-28T10:50:21+02:00November 20th, 2019|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Thriller Book Reviews|

Hidden Talents by Maryanne DiMarzo, Amy Acker and Rodica Ceslov

With decades of leadership experience between them, authors Maryanne DiMarzo, Amy Acker and Rodica Ceslov deliver a full-on master class in Hidden Talents: Practical Tools and Inspirational Stories to Unleash Higher Levels of Leadership Performance, exposing the fundamentals of leadership and stripping away the business jargon for a clear and engaging read.

The world is changing rapidly, as is business and industry, and in order for leaders to remain on the cutting edge and avoid becoming obsolete, professional evolution is necessary. The authors also understand that some skills are timeless, and must be adapted, rather than forgotten. Their book […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-11-20T11:07:05+02:00November 20th, 2019|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Business Book Reviews, Leadership Book Reviews|

Something in the Water: Book One: Drowning by Dean Comyn

Steeped in sinister plots, apocalyptic threats, and political subterfuge, Drowning is the riveting first book in Dean Comyn’s Something in the Water series. When a priceless new technology and its creator go missing, a new British task force snaps into action to prevent what could be a devastating catastrophe. This thriller is timely and hard-hitting, combining well-researched procedural police elements with high-stakes anti-terror action. Dripping with attitude and brimming with tension, Comyn’s debut novel sets a promising stage for the series to come.

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John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-11-19T08:05:35+02:00November 19th, 2019|Categories: Editorial Reviews|