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 Surreal Adventures of Anthony Zen by Cameron A. Straughan

The Surreal Adventures of Anthony Zen by Cameron A. Straughan

Taking readers beyond the pale of comedy, decency, and reality itself, author Cameron A. Straughan delivers a gobsmacking adventure of weird whimsy with The Surreal Adventures of Anthony Zen. Following the banal yet brain-boggling events of one man’s larger-than-life existence, this collection of loosely-linked vignettes bends the limits of normality in an outlandish spree of storytelling.

The bizarre nature of the world that Straughan has created transcends the lines of farce in some ways, but there is always some strange sliver of reality that draws readers back. The idea of colleagues growing accustomed to Anthony forgetting to wear pants, […]

2023-06-06T16:38:10+02:00April 6th, 2023|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: , |

Review: Jetsam by Tracy Grogan

Jetsam by Tracy Grogan

Death-defying drama and an intimate character portrait make Jetsam by Tracy Grogan an addictive thrill for fans of the Divemaster Ricky series.

Leaving behind trauma and a shocking loss in North Africa, Ricky is eager to start a new job thousands of miles away, and turn a page in her unpredictable life. A three-month break on a luxury yacht seems like a dream job – an impressive salary and a string of cushy dives should be the perfect salve for her aching soul, but peace is not on the ship’s manifest.

As the scope and true expectations of her employment […]

2023-05-12T13:51:31+02:00April 5th, 2023|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: |

Review: Prince of Blue Flowers by Ryu Zhong

Prince of Blue Flowers by Ryu Zhong

The roots of evil run deep in Prince of Blue Flowers by Ryu Zhong, a sprawling and fantastic opening chapter to the Adventures of Takuan from Koto series.

Demons, gods, emperors, and fatal negotiations with otherworldly beings populate these pages in a relentless weaving of magic, legend, and indigenous folklore. At the same time, the focal characters are unassuming and simple heroes on their own journeys of self-discovery. Whether it is Ta-Guan’s bizarre capers while hunting down the sun, or Hatsukoi pilfering melons, pranking blacksmiths, or artfully acquiring a governor’s horse, there is a childish pleasure imbuing nearly all the […]

2023-05-09T10:02:09+02:00April 4th, 2023|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: |

Review: Univirtual by Charles O’Donnell

Univirtual by Charles O'Donnell

More than 50 years in the future, the integration of technology, biology, and psychology reaches a fever pitch in Univirtual by Charles O’Donnell, a prescient and thought-provoking work of science fiction.

The division between real life and virtual reality has practically disappeared in this tech-obsessed world of tomorrow, but when the leaders of the Millennium Republic attempt to blur that line even further, unexpected heroes will rise to defend their humanity, and reality itself. Thematically, this novel is rife with details for tech enthusiasts to dive into, not to mention political junkies, and fans of dystopian fiction.

On the University […]

Gwydion by Robert J. Dornan

Gwydion by Robert J. Dornan

Author Robert J. Dornan spins a fairy-tale yarn that blurs reality in the undeniably original and entertaining fantasy, Gwydion. A princess besieged by dull suitors in a castle that feels more like a prison, Poppi is eager for anything to remedy her lonely life. However, when the enemy arrives at the royal gates, Poppi becomes a hunted leader overnight, and must use her newfound magical talisman to protect those in her care. More than three centuries later, that same princess shares her story with a skeptical reporter, bringing more than a touch of magic into his decidedly non-magical life. […]

2023-04-03T11:04:49+02:00April 3rd, 2023|Categories: Editorial Reviews|

Return Protocol by Nick Snape

Return Protocol by Nick Snape

In Return Protocol, the second mind-bending installment of Nick Snape’s Weapons of Choice series, a trio of battle-hardened heroes shifts the battlefield to a hostile alien home world. Armed with new light-speed tech, and a pacifistic AI ally, Noah, Zuri, and Finn bring their guns-blazing style of diplomacy to Havenhome, but they’ll need to embark on a harrowing mission to an ancient data repository, while outsmarting the dangerous predators and manipulative Masters along the way, if they ever hope to return to Earth from the immortality-obsessed planet. This is an eccentric, creative, and thought-provoking novel boasting original characters, futuristic […]

2023-03-31T18:06:49+02:00March 31st, 2023|Categories: Editorial Reviews|

Trouble at the Buckeye Festival by Alice Kanaka

Trouble at the Buckeye Festival by Alice Kanaka

Small-town mayhem and unlikely elderly investigators make for an original whodunit in Trouble at the Buckeye Festival by Alice Kanaka. Celebrating the spirit of adventure and mystery, regardless of age, Bumfuzzle and Cattywampus are a hugely entertaining duo at the heart of this whimsical novel. As they sleuth their way from strange festival mischief to an unexpected corpse in a closet, the stakes of their investigation keep getting higher and wilder, making this character-driven conspiracy hard to put down. Though the prose occasionally leads readers by the nose to clues and revelations, this is an undeniably fun and free-wheeling start […]

2023-03-31T09:31:55+02:00March 31st, 2023|Categories: Editorial Reviews|

Review: Project Manager’s Handbook by Valentyn Bannikov

Project Manager's Handbook by Valentyn Bannikov

A matter-of-fact breakdown of a complex, dynamic, and essential position, Project Manager’s Handbook: Walkthrough for Beginners by Valentyn Bannikov is a comprehensive guide with an original lens.

Beginning with the most basic definition of a project and scaling up the discussion to the innumerable nuances of running an effective project team, this book is intuitively structured and designed for all levels of experience. Even the simplest concepts are illuminated with a fresh rhetorical perspective, from the unique aspects that define a project, versus a basic act of production, to new frameworks for conceptualizing scope, time, and cost for individual situations.[…]

2023-04-18T14:48:40+02:00March 30th, 2023|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: |
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