James Grimsby | Self-Publishing Review

Review: Reflection: Book One by W. Scott Causey

★★★★★

The year is 2126, and thanks to the efforts of CEO Carlton Ferguson and his revolutionary creation of Reflection Technology, the world is all but free of the tyranny of crime. Truth reigns supreme as Reflection can show the user any event within a forty-eight hour window. But Carlton knows that the world isn’t ready to hold the key to such power yet, and even less so as his company begins to advance the window from hours to days. He and he alone covets the control of the system, until the United States government offers him a once-in-a-lifetime deal […]

James Grimsby2016-03-25T06:04:10+02:00March 10th, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Science Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: The Little Scary Book by Kevin Duncan

★★★★½

The Little Scary Book by Kevin Duncan is a horror story collection, with ten stories for “anyone who was ever young.” This extremely brief description is surprisingly effective at summarizing the piece; the collection is meant for the slightly younger scare-fans out there, though with just as much for an older reader to enjoy. Slip back into the shoes of your younger self for a whole bunch of frights.

It’s very simple book in look and form, though frankly quite terrifying at first glance with its text-less black-and-white depiction of a warped skull. Even as an adult, readers could […]

James Grimsby2019-01-22T11:01:18+02:00March 8th, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Horror Book Reviews, Middle Grade Fiction Book Reviews, Short Stories Book Reviews|

Review: The Ring of Gallows by Gary Whorley

★★★★ The Ring of Gallows by Gary Whorley

Jake Achilles is an old-school cop: when sh*t hits the fan, he’ll shoot first and ask questions later, and he’ll break the law to protect it. When Jake and his partner, Kruger Odysseus, follow the cooling trail of a beguiling murder, they might just be digging too deep. As gangs form dangerous new alliances, mysterious happenings crop up all over the city, is the New York city of Elysium really all it seems to be, or is there something yet darker below the surface? What will happen when a jealous curse is foolishly let loose? The mystery of The […]

James Grimsby2019-01-22T15:35:52+02:00March 8th, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Crime Fiction Book Reviews, Detective Fiction Book Reviews, Noir Book Reviews, Paranormal Book Reviews|

Review: Martin Dash by Andy Bailey (Book 1 of Day-to-Knight)

★★★★★

Martin Dash is beautiful, charismatic, charming, and universally adored by everyone who meets him. He’s almost a perfect man, except for the one thing he lacks: emotion. Eternally devoid of any real semblance of empathy, self-identity, or passion, Martin Dash can only wander through his gifted path with nothing to give in return for the adoration and wonder afforded to him by fate.

Anyone who truly comes to know Martin Dash could agree that there lies nothing below his heavenly veneer; anyone except her. One woman claims to see something deep inside the man, and takes on a journey […]

James Grimsby2016-03-25T05:49:13+02:00March 5th, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Thriller Book Reviews|

Review: Gray Panthers: Dixie (Gray Panthers Book 3) by David Guenther

★★★★ Gray Panthers: Dixie by David Guenther

In the far-flung future, Earth is under constant siege by the myriad military threats of the larger cosmos. Only a few battle-hardened groups of the US Army Special Forces hold up the interplanetary fight against mercenaries, villains, and invaders. On the planet Dixie, one such group holds the line with the help of the legendary Gray Panthers, with an Earth official to save and a population ravaged by war and disease to defend. It’s time for the Panthers to break out the guns and save humanity once again in the third book of the Gray Panthers series, Gray Panthers: […]

James Grimsby2016-03-25T04:59:39+02:00March 4th, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Science Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: Seasons of Pain by Imowen Lodestone

★★★½ Seasons of Pain by Imowen Lodestone

Content warning for violence, sexual and partly graphic; general sexuality; abuse, substance use, and some forms of self-harm.

Jesse M. Lelrick is a Witch; well, she was a Witch. To anyone who asks, who has any right to ask, she’ll tell them flatly that she doesn’t do that anymore, she gave up her powers, and now she’s just your average college girl. She knows it’s a lie; she was cast out by her kuven and her personal struggles merely pushed her to distance herself from the practice, yet it’s still inside her, pushing for space between depression, self-destruction, and […]

James Grimsby2016-03-09T08:10:07+02:00March 4th, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Horror Book Reviews|

Review: Motions and Moments: More Essays on Tokyo by Michael Pronko

Motions and Moments: More Essays on Tokyo by Michael Pronko

Continuing on from his previous book, Beauty and Chaos: Slices and Morsels of Tokyo Life, Michael Pronko presents more stories and snippets of life in Tokyo from the perspective of an expat American. Motions and Moments: More Essays on Tokyo reflects on the unique flavors, distinct cultures, and the functional paradoxes of the Japanese capital in 42 more essays from Pronko’s 18 years of Japanese life. Altogether, the book provides a light, solemn, and amusing collection of autobiographical moments and views on the vibrant and fascinating Land of the Rising Sun.

Pronko has an intriguing outlook on his surroundings: […]

James Grimsby2019-02-11T09:26:00+02:00February 26th, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Essay Book Reviews, Travel Book Reviews|

Review: Prince Dragonslayer by C. G. Cactus

★★★★ Prince Dragonslayer by C. G. Cactus

While you could call 20-something Florida resident Prince something of a dreamer, he could never have dreamed something like this; waking up on a bed of straw in place of a normal, comfortable mattress, he’s quickly greeted with his brother, or at least, a man identical to his brother who now claims to be a wizard-in-training, complete with staff and wizard hat.

Quickly, the dapper doppelganger yanks him from his rest to continue their apparently urgent quest. Armed only with a mismatched pajama set and a sense of unrelenting confusion, Prince joins his newly-wizarding, evidently-amnesiac brother Ricky on a […]

James Grimsby2016-03-06T03:43:11+02:00February 24th, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Fantasy Book Reviews|