John Staughton, Senior Reviewer

About John Staughton, Senior Reviewer

Providing exceptional writing, editing and publishing services to hundreds of international clients, ranging from nutritional copywriting and long-form ghostwriting to substantive editing, assessment/analysis of academic texts and structural/content editing for bestselling novels.

Review: The Tree that Grew Through Iron (The Panagea Tales Book 1) by McKenzie Austin

The Tree that Grew Through Iron

In The Tree That Grew Through Iron, the first book in The Panagea Tales, McKenzie Austin has created a remarkably inventive and magical novel that transports readers to a future where the world as we know it is no more.

After the natural world is destroyed by the greedy hunger of men for industrial achievement and production, a new system of survival must be established. In the landmass of Panagea, Time Fathers rule over each of their divisions, ensuring that time flows smoothly and industry proceeds uninterrupted. Nicholai Addihein – a Time Father and the story’s protagonist – discovers […]

Review: The Foundry: Dianis, A World In Turmoil by Frank Dravis

The Foundry: Dianis, A World In Turmoil by Frank Dravis

There is a certain appeal to sci-fi that bridges both time and space, with the genre containing relatable characters, as well as fantastic elements of which humans can presently only dream. In The Foundry, author Frank Dravis has constructed a marvelous new sci-fi and fantasy adventure, perfectly in balance between reality and imagination, establishing a rich new universe in this genre-bending series.

Dianis is a small, out-of-the-way planet, easily overlooked on the galactic scale, but what it holds within – an incredibly rare and valuable mineral – puts it on the front line of an all-out war for domination […]

2020-02-17T12:04:16+02:00July 9th, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: |

Review: A Smuggler’s Path by I.L. Cruz

A Smuggler's Path by I.L. Cruz

A delightfully creative adventure, A Smuggler’s Path by I.L. Cruz stands alone in a very crowded fantasy genre, boasting a youthful, energetic spirit and a wonderful new world to explore for readers of fantasy.

The Enchanted Isles are the place where magic fled when the world of men became too dangerous for mages. When the fires of the Spanish Inquisition burned, it was time for the magic-wielders to find safer shores. However, after struggles and violence arose between the three founding sisters of the isles, the freedom of this magic disappeared. It once more became a sacred thing, something to […]

Review: Tell Me When I’m Dead by Steven Ramirez

Tell Me When I'm Dead

The zombie genre has exploded in recent years, and unfortunately, so many similar stories have begun to run together, making it less of a desirable avenue for both writers and readers. However, there is still hope for this genre niche in the form of Tell Me When I’m Dead by Steven Ramirez. The first book in a trilogy, this slow-burning thriller does far more than simply promote an everyman into a zombie-killing hero, introducing readers to a uniquely compelling protagonist.

Leading this novel from start to finish is Dave Pulaski, who is not the type of character you’d expect to […]

Review: Dead is All You Get (Tell Me When I’m Dead Book 2) by Steven Ramirez

Dead is All You Get

A stellar sophmore installment to the Tell Me When I’m Dead series, Dead is All You Get ups the ante considerably, avoiding so many of the common clichés in zombie tales, for an original and well-rounded work of zombie fiction.

The first book in the series largely focused on the outbreak and the battles that our unlikely alcoholic antihero must fight to protect his new family and make it out on the other side alive. This second installment takes this basic plot and expands it into something truly shocking.

The zombie contagion was actually a covert government operation […]

Review: Even the Dead Will Bleed (Tell Me When I’m Dead Book 3) by Steven Ramirez

Even The Dead Will Bleed

Finishing a trilogy always comes with a certain amount of pressure, as the disparate narrative threads must all come back together, and if loose ends are left untethered, it can often seem anticlimactic for a loyal reader. Fortunately, Steven Ramirez didn’t struggle at all with this challenge, and delivers a knockout final installment with Even the Dead Will Bleed, the last book in the Tell Me When I’m Dead series.

As with the prior two novels, the action is carried not only by a stunning unique protagonist – flagrantly flawed Dave Pulaski – but also by a plot that […]

Raging Falcon by Stephen C. Perkins

Raging Falcon by Stephen PerkinsIf the paranoia surrounding mind control and global-scale governmental conspiracies was ever shown to be true, this world could tear itself apart at the seams. In Raging Falcon, the debut novel of author Stephen C. Perkins, it just might happen. For readers who enjoy genre-bending fiction, this story makes for an adventurous and sometimes exhausting read for a premise that is at once fantastical and plausible.

In the world of this novel, magic is alive and well in the deepest core of global politics, and psychological sorcerers have managed to infiltrate every level of society, orchestrating the greatest trick […]

Genesis II by Allen Ling & Christian Boe

Genesis II by Allan Ling and Christian BoeGraphic novels may have spent decades in the shadow of comic books, but the genre continues to expand and progress, as shown in the electric new graphic novel, Genesis II, by Allan Ling and Christian Boe, a stunning artistic and storytelling achievement.

The core of the story is the friendship between two young boys who grow up to be incredible scientists in a strange, dystopian future. Joining forces to battle for freedom, they draw on their lifelong friendship and the strength that has brought to both of them, taking on a monster who would see the world’s population eliminated.

In […]

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