John Staughton, Senior Reviewer | Self-Publishing Review

The Wood Sprite by James Dobie

A viciously bullied teen, Mia Chandler, gains a mysterious and lethally effective guardian in The Wood Sprite by James Dobie, a chilling second installment of his Wallowa Lake series. Despite her protector’s initial promise to help, Mia soon learns that blood demands sacrifice, and that her mysterious new friend did not come into her life by accident. As the foundations of Mia’s family begin to fall apart, she and a devoted local detective team up to unravel the bizarre curse, and put the pieces of a broken life back into place. Haunting and enthralling, this fast-paced supernatural thriller could use […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2024-01-24T18:02:15+02:00January 24th, 2024|Categories: Editorial Reviews|

The Blythe Girl by Alex Webster

The Blythe Girl by Alex Webster Obsession and desperation lead to scandalous deeds and sinister consequences in The Blythe Girl by Alex Webster, a fantastically dark period drama.

William is a Regency gentleman torn in two – determined to fulfill the duties of husband and father, but also driven to the edge of madness by an infatuation cut tragically short. When William’s long-suffering groundskeeper offers him the chance to bring the headstrong Miss Blythe back to life, he makes that fateful choice, unaware of the ulterior motives behind the supernatural proposition. Miraculous as her revival initially seems, the veil of death is not crossed lightly, and […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2024-01-24T17:53:30+02:00January 24th, 2024|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Historical Fantasy Book Reviews, Historical Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: Drakomunda by Guy Quartley

Drakomunda by Guy Quartley

Warlocks, demons, serpents, and shadows collide in Drakomunda by Guy Quartley, a riveting plunge into a fresh universe of magic, myth, and murder. Ambitious fantasy fans will quickly sink into the endless battles and betrayals, romances, tribal rebellions, and surreal scenes of dark magic that come alive through Quartley’s evocative prose.

The novel is broken up into various novellas and short stories set in the same fantasy realm, sometimes centuries or millennia apart, yet subtly intertwined with sinister talismans, legends, bloodlines, and sorcery. Murderous amulets, necromantic madmen, enslavement spells, sky demons, and witches’ curses blur into a kaleidoscope of fantasy […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2024-03-19T12:34:35+02:00January 23rd, 2024|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Fantasy Book Reviews|

Starmen by Francis Hamit

Starmen by Francis Hamit A richly imagined tale of cowboys, aliens, and an ethnographic clash of cultures, Starmen by Francis Hamit is a genre-bending adventure with enough historical touchstones to brilliantly blur the line between fact and fiction.

In this slightly alternate universe, legendary anthropologist George James Frazer travels to El Paso, Texas in 1875 as a young man, acting as the ‘advance man’ for an aeronautical angel from Liverpool with a dirigible at her command. His academic fascination with native cultures, myths, and traditions soon leads him into the secretive world of the local Apaches, as well as the investigative purview of the […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2024-01-23T15:32:04+02:00January 23rd, 2024|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Historical Fantasy Book Reviews, Historical Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: The End of the World: Rise of the After Lord by H.S. Gilchrist

The End of the World: Rise of the After Lord by H.S. Gilchrist

Bitter enemies become unlikely allies and chart a new course for the shattered remnants of humanity in The End of the World: Rise of the After Lord by H.S. Gilchrist, a stunning work of genre-bending sci-fi.

Cut off from the mind-controlling force that has dominated her existence, a mechanized killing machine wanders the wasteland, reckoning with mortality and nearly forgotten sentience. A brother and sister, horrifically traumatized by their own dark secrets, encounter this enemy on the edge of death, and an unexpected peace is struck. When their mutual enemy comes to collect, however, their uncertain alliance is sealed in […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2024-01-26T15:24:53+02:00January 21st, 2024|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Science Fiction Book Reviews|

Shitamachi Scam by Michael Pronko

Shitamachi Scam by Michael Pronko Following the money from a sleazy rip-off ring leads to bigger and more dangerous fish in Shitamachi Scam by Michael Pronko, a high-stakes hunt for justice in Tokyo.

In a city where real estate is profitable enough to kill for, a group of clever con artists are scamming older people out of their pensions, identities, and even the deeds to their homes. The authorities are aware of the scheme, but the seemingly juvenile sagi group has ties to powerful people and surprisingly sophisticated methods, so cracking the case proves more challenging than expected. With multiple bodies in the morgue and […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2024-01-17T17:10:16+02:00January 17th, 2024|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Thriller Book Reviews|

Dreaming Under an Electric Moon by Kris Powers

Dreaming Under an Electric Moon by Kris Powers Modern society’s culture of entertaining escapism becomes a nightmare realm of mind control in Dreaming Under an Electric Moon by Kris Powers, a gritty and sinister sci-fi mystery.

Two agents of the nearly defunct FBI, Mason and Zahra, are given a seemingly open-and-shut murder case, but their prime suspect reveals a dark secret – the real killer was actually inside the victim’s mind, puppeteering the young boy to his death. In this tech-mad carnival mirror of America’s fractured future, citizens can escape the brutality of life by existing online in a fully immersive augmented reality, but like any digital space, […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2024-01-16T17:58:43+02:00January 16th, 2024|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Science Fiction Book Reviews|

Here, Where Death Delights by Mary Jumbelic, M.D.

Pulling back the curtain on the profession of death investigation, Mary Jumbelic, M.D. has crafted a gripping and original memoir in Here, Where Death Delights. Reflecting on the unexpected tragedy that defined her young life, and expounding on her consequent decades of work as a medical examiner, this memoir is an intimate exploration of mortality and the lifelong task of processing grief. Open and honest discussions about death are often avoided or seen as taboo, which makes Jumbelic’s journey through morgues, crime scenes, and the maze of human emotions such a revelation, written with a deep sense of sensitivity […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2024-01-17T12:31:37+02:00January 16th, 2024|Categories: Editorial Reviews|