Category: self-published

Book Two of the Marionette Series (New Release!)

As he steps into The Capitol headquarters, now an unlikely consultant to investigator (and childhood sweetheart) Holland Lyle, Fitch Farrow’s newfound freedom after his recent trial is short lived. While he’s officially tasked to help fight crime and his own gang the Bloody Hex, Capitol’s leader Maximus (in name and in deed) has other plans for him, to ensure his political vision for the city’s future comes to fruition. Fitch is given the seemingly impossible task to murder eight people in four weeks: despite his attempt to project a cleaner, crime-free image, he is still Marionette after all, he used to kill for a living… Swearing allegiance to The Capitol while still being involved with his gang is no mean feat and, as it turns out, his former boss Grimm would like to keep those eight people alive, involving Fitch and his brother Donovan in a cunning kidnapping plan inevitably doomed to fail. With too many strings to pull simultaneously and too many secrets to hide – especially from Holland Lyle – Fitch’s endurance will be put to the test, as he comes to terms with the fact that he cannot escape who he’s become…

Marionette was born here. An identity carved out of terror and pain so deep and dark it swallowed everything that came before.

‘Capitol Matters’ is as well written as its preceding instalment ‘Pulling Strings’, in Cameron’s direct, frill-free style, with characters voices consistently maintained throughout. When it comes to Cameron’s writing, there is a roughness and honesty to it that is as recognisable as a signature on paper. The story itself flows seamlessly and at a natural and consistent pace: while there are no major plot twists, events keep coming at you in a perfect mix of action, reflection and revelations.

We absolutely loved how the author has developed her main character Fitch Farrow, of whom we see the increasingly ‘human’ nature (he is a witch with telekinetic powers), as he slowly comes to realise that, while he cannot escape the life he lives, it is one he hasn’t chosen for himself. In this context, the love/hate relationship with his ‘spiritual’ father Grimm – a description that is hardly fitting given Grimm was the one introducing Fitch to a life of crime and murder – is particularly well developed, as Fitch is torn between wanting to free himself from this cruel man’s grip while also acknowledging that Grimm essentially made him. You cannot help but root for Fitch once again, and be as bitterly disappointed as he is when he suddenly realises he’s always been a pawn in someone else’s chess game. The best part of all this is – and it is down to Cameron’s skilful writing – that the author never tells us all these things directly, but they do come out organically through masterfully written dialogues.

We thoroughly enjoyed the book and read it in a few days, although we cannot help but wonder where the story is actually going… with two books published and two more to go, we feel that even if a series of actions take place within each book (there would not be a plot otherwise) not much is actually happening, making it a little hard to engage with the wider story and see where Cameron could take us next, or if two more books are even enough to complete the story arc.
However, this is not a good enough reason to abandon the journey Cameron is taking us on and we look forward to reading the remainder of the series.

On a parting note: to fully understand the story in all its nuances, we advise you to read Book One first. Check out our review of ‘Pulling Strings’ here.

‘Capitol Matters’ is available for purchase at: https://amzn.to/3RaszLs.

/This book contains graphic content and is best suited for adult readers./

A New Redhead Adventure By Ivan Scott Awaits!

Sam Murdock, a minor league professional baseball player, is not doing so well: he is a good player, but not an exceptional talent, and his physical injuries are not helping. One day, at the end of a challenging match, his coach calls him in his office and delivers the terrible news: he’s being released from his contract. Goodbye and good luck.
It’s hard for Sam – it would be for everyone really. What now? Is there anything left to do? Maybe, maybe not. Only time will tell. Sam takes refuge in Kiawah, South Carolina, his hometown, where he can go back to his High School and coach the baseball team.
What Sam doesn’t know is that there’s been a mysterious man with a brown fedora observing him from afar for quite a while now. When this nameless man finally approaches him and introduces himself as Chris, the story he presents to Sam is incredible to say the least. ‘I am the Patron Saint of Travellers’ he says ‘and I work in the Lost Causes section of Heaven. I am here to help you.’
It definitely sounds like Chris just escaped the closest mental facility for criminally insane people. But it’s not like that. Chris has a sound proposition to make to Sam: ‘I will take you back in time and let you play baseball again. But it will only last for six months. After that you will be back to this exact moment in time in this exact spot, and your life will continue from here.’ While it does sound crazy, Sam has nothing to lose and all to gain from it. If nothing else, he will have a funny anecdote to tell on a night out. What he doesn’t know is that Chris is not joking, and in the blink of an eye, Sam is in Brooklyn, New York, year 1955, the left field rookie player of the Brooklyn Dodgers, his father’s favourite team. His knees are working perfectly, everybody has great expectations around his performance and he is debuting in the Major League in his father’s favourite team at a time when it was still in New York and not yet on Los Angeles.
If it’s a dream, it’s definitely one Sam doesn’t want to wake up from.
To make it even more special, there is a redhead in it. Her name is Brooklynn, like the borough, but with an extra n. She is in charge of team stats, and doubles up as escort for the less fortunate children the Dodgers invite to their stadium.
It’s a meeting written in the stars, but given the contract Sam stipulated with Chris, it might be a meeting destined to end…
Our verdict on ‘A Redhead In Brooklyn’: this is Scotts’s best work yet, as he’s come in leaps and bounds in the space of a few years. This book has everything: the plot (with a couple of twists that will leave your month hanging), the charm, the narrative, the fun, the cliffhanger and the happy ending. It’s a delicate romance that is not heavy on the romantic bit but works perfectly within the story, with lots of irony that makes the narrative light and funny. Overall, a wonderful read that will glue you to the page until the very last word. We highly recommend it.

‘A Redhead In Brooklyn’ is available for purchase at: https://amzn.to/4bwB0sB

A Paranormal Superhero Novella By Joseph Roy Wright

Jonathan Robinson died at birth but was quickly resurrected, which left him with a superpower he doesn’t quite know how to handle: the power to freeze time. Having tried to control his urge to take advantage of this “gift” when his parents were still alive (they died in a violent car accident he blames himself for), things change when Jonathan turns 19 and starts using his powers to steal from people and get rich. A mysterious figure has been watching his every move very closely though and wants to convince him to freeze time for the greater good. Meet ‘The Living Nightmare’, aka Richard Bailey, a man with the most terrifying skillset: planting evil thoughts and petrifying fears into people’s minds. The two engage in a battle for control over one another, one that Richard seems to be winning when Jonathan’s closest bonds are put at risk but… help is underway, in the shape of an equally mysterious group of men in black suits with unclear intentions… until the explosive end. Will Jonathan finally get to grips with the huge social responsibility his powers entail, or will he succumb to the will of others? 

The ability with which Joseph Roy Wright manages to pack loads of action in his relatively short books never ceases to amaze me: his stories always proceed briskly and there’s never a dull moment. In this particular case, the first-person point of view, intertwined with the main character’s constant interior monologue add an interesting layer of complexity to the narrative, as Jonathan is torn between egoistic personal gain and becoming a decent human by harnessing his gift to help others. 

In line with Wright’s signature storytelling style, the book does contain scenes of violence and violent deaths that might not sit well with everyone. However, these are not written with the intention to upset readers but just to add a little more colour to the story – they actually reminded me of good old-fashioned splatter movies. If I was to find fault with anything within the book, it would probably be the odd typo, something I wouldn’t expect from a writer as experienced as Joseph Roy Wright. 

I do recommend his books if you are a fan of the supernatural, the unexplained and the slightly disturbing or simply if you are after a quick and quirky read. And if you do like Wright’s writing, there’s plenty more to keep you entertained… you can have a look at his bibliography here. 

A Supernatural Sci-fantasy Serial Novel By AJ Cerna

17-year-old Luna wakes up in the middle of the night and her house is on fire. It would be enough to scare the hell out of anyone, but not her, because this is not the first time it happens, and a massive ‘oops, I did it again’ immediately comes to her mind. So, when she finds herself sitting at the police station inside a room with Detective Chu, it is not a surprise either: they’ve met before, and Detective Chu seems to hold a special grudge against her. Despite that, Detective Chu has a compassionate mote towards Luna when he has to deliver the news that her mother, who left home several years ago, has been found dead in the Salton Sea, still inside her car. Having spent too much time under water, it is impossible to determine when and how she died, but it’s highly likely it happened very close to the date she left her family behind.
This is not an easy pill to swallow for Luna, whose life is already ‘the sobbing cliché’, as she herself defines it: her father’s presence lacking from day one, with his addiction to muze, a narcotic sold mostly on Skid Row, and her mother’s disappearance pinning another nail in the coffin. Going through several foster families didn’t make her life any easier, and neither did her borderline-criminal activities. And now this. It’s all too much.
Then she is out. Literally. The amount of information and emotions she has to deal with is overwhelming, her mind becomes frenzy, her body becomes heavier and then she is out. When she opens her eyes again, she is on the street, a few blocks away from the police station, there are no walls around her and no Detective Chu asking her questions or delivering bad news. It’s like she went through a magic portal she doesn’t have any recollection of. There is nothing left to do but going back home with her father. At least there she will have a space to regroup, check-in with herself and think about what to do next.
In her old neighbourhood, she meets an old acquaintance that in the meantime has progressed up the criminal chain, she has a brush with him, but she is rescued by this scary presence – a giant head, as big as an elephant, that has a translucent blue shade and literally sucks the life out of him. Luckily, though, she comes in contact with Hiro, some kind of guru when it comes to the world of Spectres, what they are and how they work, and they reach an agreement: Hiro will take the Spectre with the blue head off her hands if she does some work for him. How not to accept? But is it really the wisest decision? And what will she find out along her journey?

Spectral is set in a nearby future, after a Civil War that transformed the US and the way the people live. The plot is intriguing, and the structure of the book itself taps into the world of mangas, where each volume tells one episode of a longer story. The idea of publishing in weekly instalments, like serial novels were published at the end of the 19th century is intriguing and at the same time very modern (think about platforms like Substack, Wattpad or even Kindle Vella). However, it might also be a double-edge sword: reading the book episode-by-episode at regular intervals is very appealing, reading all episodes one after the other becomes quite an ordeal, because once grouped all together, the episodes reach the staggering amount of 600+ pages. In a world where the attention-span of each one of us is becoming shorter and shorter and challenged by external factors, a book this long has to be extremely extremely gripping to be read seamlessly until the end.
Overall, a great narrative effort by author A. J. Cerna, so we really suggest you to give it a go.

The entire series is available for purchase at: https://amzn.to/3yszBVx

A Dystopian Novel By Kollette Stone

It’s the year 3019 (or thereabouts) and the America Kenna Carson inhabits is a place where children can only be conceived following government approval. To ensure this happens, young women are placed an internal device called heranon, which is removed when their family building plans are officially authorised.

The fact that Kenna is the town’s Mayor daughter, runs a successful psychology practice and is married to a promising surgeon doesn’t really matter when, turning 28, her application is rejected. ‘These things happen’ her mother and sister tell her, ‘You’ll try again and be successful next time’. Kenna, however, is unable to move on from this traumatic experience to the point that she calls into question the health of her marriage, her family ties and even her self-worth.
Her inability to accept a system that is exclusionary by design will cause a dark, unstoppable chain of events that will turn her from model citizen to protest leader, and potentially an outlaw.

The future Kollette Stone depicts in ‘Just One Woman’ could be ours: deteriorating climate conditions leading to the need to preserve nature at any cost, strict birth control policies to ensure society progresses at the right pace (even if this means distorting the very meaning of family) and government overreach more generally. Overall, this is a book that cannot be disliked: it is well written and the story flows fairly well, so it can easily be read in two to three days (or less).

However, the devil’s in the detail… It takes a very long time, and an astounding 150 pages, for Stone to set the scene: the narration really picks up about half-way through, after one has perhaps gotten tired Kenna’s often childish behaviour – constantly dwelling on her possibly failing marriage – and the excessive detail with which her days are described. To be able to deliver on the much-anticipated finale (a happy one) without writing Homer’s Odyssey, Stone had to rush slightly in the last third of the book, with new revelations coming at the reader thick and fast, which might appeal to some. 

When it comes to the female main character, I personally preferred much more the ‘determined Kenna’ leading a battle for social change to the ‘whining Kenna’ popping up way too often: while I cannot imagine a tougher situation that seeing motherhood denied (at least for those women who wish to build a family), Kenna simply comes across as a weak, needy woman. This is why I found it very challenging to warm up to her or any other character: Stone barely scratches the surface when it comes to character development, which I think is a fatal error given the themes she deals with.

Despite all of the above, I do suggest you pick up a copy today, especially if you like a quick and quirky read: the story is original, pleasantly written and definitely thought-provoking. Let us know what you think!

‘Just One Woman’ is available for purchase at: https://amzn.to/4dylvC7

A Mythological Tale By JJ Taylor

In Greek mythology, Medea is not a positive figure. She is usually depicted as a sorceress, she was a priestess of Hecate, goddess of night, magic, graves and ghosts, she is the granddaughter of Helios and Circe’s niece, another figure with very few positive connotations (she was an enchantress very well versed in herbs and potions) who transformed her enemies, or whoever offended her, into animals.
According to the myth, Medea grew up in a hostile environment: since she was a child, her father had to deal with the notion she would have been her brother’s death, and that had always been cause of big resentment towards Medea, both from her father and her brother. According to the prophecy that accompanied the Golden Fleece, owned by King Aeëtes of Colchis, which is Medea and Absyrtus’s father, the kingdom was staying in the family only as long as the Golden Fleece did too. If this, for whatever reason, was going to pass into different hands, King Aeëtes was going to lose his first born to the hand of his daughter, and this would have been the case even if Medea was going to get married against her own will.
When Jason comes asking for the Golden Fleece, King Aeëtes promises he will have it only if he passes three very hard tests. If you pass them, says the King, then you can have the Fleece. He clearly set them up so that Jason is doomed to fail, but Medea offers him a solution: I will help you, if you promise you will take me with you. Jason accepts, partly because he needs the Fleece, partly because it’s hard to ignore the sparkle between the two of them. With Medea’s help, Jason is victorious, Jason moves his band on the Fleece and Medea packs her possessions and flees with him.
She is almost free from her father and his unjustified persecutions. But her brother is sent to follow her, and she knows their destiny is now sealed. Eventually, she kills him and cuts him into pieces, that she throws one by one into the sea, forcing her father to slow down his chase to collect all his son’s parts and grant him a proper burial to avoid him entering Hades’s reign.
Medea is finally free. She follows Jason to Corinth, were they settle and eventually marry, and they have two sons. But the sparkle between them is not a long lasting affair, and soon their relationship cools down, taking a turn for the worse when Medea brews a special potion to revive Jason’s father youth, but Pelias, instead of getting younger, dies. It’s the end for them, cemented by Jason’s will to remarry with Creusa, King Creon’s daughter. The official version is that, in this way, Jason’s sons will have a better future. But Medea is not having any of that and kills them both, then leaves Corinth and finds refuge in Athens, where eventually she marries King Aegeus and has one son, Medus, who will eventually reign over Colchis, Medea’s place of birth, giving her the rights of a Queen, like she should have had since the beginning.

Contrary to many other descriptions of Medea, this one, despite being extremely faithful to the facts as they have been transmitted to us across the centuries, depicts a strong-willed woman that has to fight in a world were only men are considered of value. She is stubborn and brave, and all the things she does, even the most nefarious ones – like dismembering her own brother – are forced by the situation, there is never real pleasure in them; she spends most of her life being used by the goddess Hecate which she serves, until the goddess discards her like a rag when Medea turns older. Despite the darkness and tragedy that surround her life in every aspect, Medea maintains a shade of humanity through it all, like the feeling of longing for her maid and special friend Alkippe or the way she treats every person she meets with the same respect.

It’s a brilliant read, presented in a superb prose, that deserves to be savoured and absorbed with calm and an open mind. A great example of a strong female character, and I found this passage simply amazing:

“You are power. You are change. You are an avenger, a fury in mortal form, born of the sun god, the goddess of the water, and serving the goddess of the underworld. And that makes you more dangerous than any priestess in any temple. Between your own power and that of the goddess filling you, you will burn through this life like a fire started by lightning in a land parched of water.”

‘Medea’ is available for purchase at: https://amzn.to/3UhbbFF

An Urban Fantasy Novel By Quinn Cameron (Book One of the ‘Marionette’ Series)

Fitch Farrow, aka Marionette, kills people for a living, using his telekinetic powers. He has not chosen this way of life willingly, but he’s very good at it. He’s been part of criminal (witch) organisation the Bloody Hex since his early teens, so he can barely remember what it means to have an ordinary life and that’s fine by him. Until his younger brother Donovan, as human as it gets, is about to be initiated into the gang through murder. To protect him, Fitch faces arrest and incarceration, a trial and potentially death, while pushed by the establishment, The Capitol, to accept a deal and expose the Bloody Hex. Spoiler alert: that is not going to happen. An epic prison escape, a surprising yet very welcome ‘not guilty’ verdict for Fitch and a mysterious plague come next, as the tables quickly turn. What will Farrow do next? Whatever it takes, surely. 

‘Pulling Strings’, released this April, is the first novel in a planned series of four, to be published every other month until October.
The craft, care and attention to detail with which Quinn Cameron builds and tells the story from beginning to end is impressive, gifting us with a book so well-written that is actually challenging to fault. Fitch Farrow is not a character to be taken at face value: while his numerous crimes – we witness only a couple gruesome killings during the story – paint a picture of cruelty and recklessness, his unwavering commitment to ensuring his brother does not follow in his footsteps makes him an anti-hero you can only root for, also as human as it gets. Mastering the principle of ‘show, don’t tell’ beautifully, Cameron has an unquestionable ability to make all the characters within the story and the world they inhabit come to life. The narration moves along nicely and never gets dull or boring, although the imprisonment stint could have done with a slightly faster pace. Dialogues are witty, gritty and often packed with irony, the bitter kind that I personally love. 

Overall, ‘Pulling Strings’ makes for a fiery start to what we hope will be an exciting, captivating series. Whether you are into urban fantasy and dystopian settings or not, you’ll read it in no time and be hungry for more. The good news is, Chapter Two will be released on June, 1^st, so you don’t have to wait that long.

‘Pulling Strings’ is available for purchase at: https://amzn.to/3xHamOR

/This book contains graphic content and is best suited for adult readers./

A Dystopian Sci-Fi Novel By Nikki Haase (New Release!)

‘Elimination’ by Nikki Haase is a harrowing, challenging read that starts off bleak and only gets bleaker.

Jack Cortex is an experimental military creation – known as a ‘subject’ – held in some non-descript underground lab operated by the US government. He is one of a new breed of elemental super-soldiers in training and has been given the power to control water (with often devastating results), as well as quick healing and resistance to physical damage. The story tracks his tortuous time in the lab whilst the evil Dr Thaddeus attempts to ascertain what will harm/kill the subjects through a series of horrific experiments, and which subjects are the strongest through a series of one-on-one fights to the death – to what end, we aren’t exactly sure.

It begins with someone close to Jack dying, and ends in the same way, and it’s hard to identify any progress he makes in between. He is held in his cell, is taken away to be tortured or to kill someone (or both), then is returned to his cell. This happens over and over in the same pattern. Each time he defies the guards initially, then each time after torture/a killing spree, he gives in and acquiesces. The challenge of this set up is that the reader is constantly waiting for/expecting something else to happen, but it rarely ever does. 

The writing is clean and error free, and there are many passages that are well put together with a high level of detail bringing you into the torture and battle scenes as you feel Jack’s pain. The lead subjects share a bond through their suffering, and some of the moments between them are touching. There are also some clever ideas about how the subjects are able to manipulate the elements to their advantage – and kill people.

I must admit I found it a challenge to really root for the subjects, including Jack, because in the midst of all their torture they commit so many brutal murders and sadistic acts themselves and with such glee. Obviously, you feel bad for them in their awful situation, and can understand their desire to rebel, but many of their actions made them difficult for me to totally like/relate to.

Overall, it is a quick read and the story moves along at a real pace with no lulls. If you’re into gruesome torture scenes, and brutal descriptions of fights to the death, then there’s plenty here for you!

‘Elimination’ is available for purchase at: https://amzn.to/4azTfNA

(Review By Robin Stevens)

Book Four of the Phineas Mann Series By Mark Anthony Powers (New Release!)

In the latest instalment of Powers’s medical thriller series, we find our beloved main characters, Phineas and his wife Iris, a few years in the future. However, it’s not the idillic and peaceful setting we envisioned for Dr Mann, one made of happy memories and holidays in the sun… Phineas has in fact Parkinson’s disease.
The strong, energetic and resolute man, who pulled a whole hospital ward through the difficulties brought about by a terrible hurricane and subsequent blackout, is now a fragile little man, who gets weepy when he talks and has to wear a oxygen mask at night to help him breathe. Despite his poor health, Phineas is still perfectly conscious of his surroundings, and the fact that his wife Iris lost weight doesn’t elude him. Talking about a woman’s weight is like walking on egg shells, so Phineas tries to not to think about is too much; ‘maybe it’s just my impression’, he says to himself. But his wife’s weight loss becomes more and more evident and Phineas has to address it. While taking care of Phineas nowadays is a full-time job, and the couple is not getting any younger, Iris needs to seek medical attention.
Almost on a whim, Phineas had previously applied to take part in a Duke University clinical trial for patients with Parkinson’s disease, and he is eventually invited to enrol. It’s an experimental procedure and not an easy one, but Phineas can only benefit from it, because, in case of success, his life expectancy and quality will increase. If this does not happen for him, at least he would help future patients. While finalising all the tests he has to do before he can start, Iris comes back with her own test results: they are not a death sentence, but not positive either. She is offered a very risky treatment, which drives Phineas to utilise his medical expertise in an attempt to save her, while also saving himself. Will our beloved couple, fighting a terrible battle against two serious diseases, make it?

This time there are no hurricanes, or pandemics to stop, this time the story is much more personal. The clinical descriptions of a Grey’s Anatomy manual (without the medical jargon) are intertwined with a delicate plot made of everyday details and the common problems any couple that has been together for a long time encounters. This contributes to making Iris and Phineas more human, more real: we feel for them, we struggle with them and we definitely hope for the best, genuinely concerned for their wellbeing.

Powers’s style is light and well defined, with a prose that gets better and better with every book, creating a distinctive voice. This is, in my humble opinion, the best book of the series. For sure it’s the most personal one. Unfortunately, it might be the last – or one of the last – Phineas Mann novels, purely because he is getting old.
It’s never easy to let a character go, especially one I have grown fond of over the last couple of years.

This book is an absolute delight to read, and it would be really interesting to see what Powers can do with different characters in a non-medical setting, because I am sure he has the potential to produce pure fiction without any doctors involved, or even an enthralling thriller. Stay tuned to find out!

‘The Desperate Trials of Phineas Mann’ is available for purchase at: https://amzn.to/4aLNJqO

For more information on Mark’s work to date, visit his website: https://hawksbillpress.com

Delving into Prequel One of the ‘Naturae’ Series

Risking Destiny is a prequel to Foster’s Naturae Series. In this book, a fae Queen and a Viking Yarl fall in love despite conventions that don’t allow the fae to have relationships with humans. Sigurd, the Viking, is kidnapped by the fae after his people invaded an island in Orkney and killed many of the humans that were under Queen Lana’s care, but the Queen finds that her relationship with the tall Viking does not go the way she expected.

Ordinarily, I don’t read books featuring fae, and especially vampires, but I gave this book a chance, and I’m pleased that I did. There is mention of vampires, although none appear, but the fae received their Lifeforce from humans in a worship ceremony, and occasionally drink the blood of animals in a vampire-like way to top up their Lifeforce.

The story intrigued me, although I would have preferred a little more of the Viking side of it to have been included. As a prequel to a series I hadn’t read, the book stood strongly on its merits, and at the end, two young fae are pupated whom I presume go on to be important characters in the series. For people who have read some of the Naturae books, I’m sure this backstory will add to their enjoyment of them.

There is a subtle subtext of societal conventions and how love refuses to be constrained by them, but in the end, needs must, and the Queen, Lana, is forced to make difficult decisions that place expediency ahead of her own desires.

The historical fiction element was blended into a fantasy setting by the clever use of a fantasy world that cohabits our Earth, hidden from sight by a mysterious mist. The worldbuilding and interplay between the two realms was good throughout, and when the fae ventured into the humans’ realm, the dangers of them being spotted created some nice tension, especially Queen Lana, who proved to be something of a reckless risk-taker.

Despite this genre being well outside my comfort zone, the book proved easy to read and I thoroughly enjoyed the story. Anybody who reads my reviews will know I’m picky about typos and the like, and I can’t deny that there are quite a few. Most people probably don’t notice them, and the story is entertaining enough to make them seem unimportant.

Give this a read, whether you’ve read the Naturae series or not. If you haven’t, then, like me, you’ll probably end up curious enough about it to move on the first book of the series.

‘Risking Destiny’ and the whole Naturae Series are available for purchase at: https://amzn.to/4ckORDb

(Review By Hayley Price)