John Staughton, Senior Reviewer

A timely sequel to Paul C. Thornton’s first love note to luxury sea travel, Cruising Interrupted is a story of the cruise ship industry’s grinding halt in the spring of 2020 due to the pandemic. The author, an avid cruiser who deeply believes in the benefits, insights, and opportunities of luxury liner life, deals with his own concerns and expectations for the future of his beloved method of travel. Peppered with real-world accounts of debarkations and heartbreaking trip cancellations, as well as opinions from major travel influencers and destination marketers, this book is both hopeful and realistic. Whether Covid crushed […]

A diverse, captivating, and unpredictable collection, By the Way by Caperton Tissot is a stylistic scattershot of meticulously penned stories that probe the depths of personality. From pastoral mysteries and down-country dramas to transcontinental thrillers and twist endings, Tissot demonstrates her versatility, while maintaining a patient and powerful style all her own. Largely dialogue-driven, the writing of each tale brings to life an eclectic cast of characters – original figures pursuing their quiet desires, taking chances, falling in love, or bearing the weight of the past. Straightforward and thoughtful, though occasionally playful, this intimate collection summons a dozen different worlds, […]

Presenting a compelling and optimistic approach towards living one’s best life, The YOU Beyond You by Ramzi Najjar is both a philosophical and practical guide to enlightenment and self-improvement. The author methodically dissects the classic problems that can affect our body and mentality, while also suggesting new perspectives and tools we can each use to shift our purpose, happiness, and expectations. While much of the language is abstract and cerebral, there are concrete principles and ideas throughout that can be put to immediate use, regardless of which journey you may be on. Despite a dearth of references or traditional proof […]

Elegant, heartfelt, academic, and profound, Short Stories of Space by Piers Horner is an entrancing and contemporary journey through the cosmos. Explicating some of the most interesting astral events of this unprecedented past year, this collection of autobiographical essays captures the author’s deep love for science and space, while also breaking down complex and mind-boggling phenomena into digestible and memorable pieces. Though the writing centers on the stars, different stories also touch on key elements of history, religion, philosophy, technology, politics, and physics, revealing an author with a keen sense of storytelling and an impressively deep well of knowledge.

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