Review Copies – Baskerville Book Reviews

Review: Serpentus

Dispatched to Stone Hill to oversee the city’s defenses among nebulous rumors of the Shadow Council’s threat, Owen Greenwaters must rely on the city’s guard and its natural defenses to protect the citizens.

But when an army of mythical hooded ones bolstered by a sea serpent and the Soulless arrive in the wake of a terrible storm, he knows there is little he can do beyond hope the walls hold – and pray to the gods he and Stone Hill’s people will survive.

They are outnumbered, outmatched, and without magical support. Owen is the only knight present in the city. They will be overrun.

The Soulless are merciless and rarely take prisoners, but Owen and the survivors of Stone Hill are exceptions…

And some fates are worse than death.

Review: The Shroud Key

Chase Baker is a true Renaissance Man. He’s also a man who knows how to find trouble. A part-time resident of Florence, Italy, his resume reads like a modern day Da Vinci or Casanova. Writer, private investigator, tour guide, historian, treasure hunter, adventurer, and even archaeological sandhog, Chase is also a prolific lover. Unfortunately for him, his dangerous liaisons all too often make him the target of a jealous husband.

Now, at the direct request of the Florence police, he finds himself on the trail of an archaeologist by the name of Dr. Andre Manion who’s gone missing from his teaching post at the American University. But having worked for the archaeologist several years ago as a sandhog on a secret but failed dig just outside the Great Pyramids in the Giza Plateau, Chase smells a renewed opportunity to uncover what just might be the most prized archaeological treasure in the world: The mortal remains of Jesus. But how will Chase Baker go about solving the mystery of finding both the archaeologist and the Jesus Remains?

With the help of Manion’s beautiful ex-wife, Chase will manage to secure an up-close and personal examination of the Shroud of Turin, not only to view the famous image of the crucified Christ, but to unlock the relic’s greatest secret, which is none other than a map, or a key, detailing the precise location of Jesus’s body.

Review: The Principles of Philosophy

Over the millennia, the great thinkers of the world have sought to come up with rules for how to live better lives, how to govern better, and how to understand the world around us. As they have written down their thoughts, they have discovered laws and techniques that can help further advance human thought and explain why the world is the way it is today.

This fascinating introduction to the world of philosophy will help make even the most complex ideas accessible to everyone.

In this book you will learn about:

The different schools of philosophy which have held sway over the years.
The most influential philosophers in history.
The key concepts in every area ranging from ethics to metaphysics to epistemology.

Review: Chronicles of Maradoum Volume 6

Dwarves and mutants.

Orcs and demonesses.

Tea trolls and tigers.

Bone-bound ghosts and lightning wolves.

Dip your toes into the exotic waters of Maradoum, exploring the realm through 11 stand-alone short stories set in the same world as the Convent Series, beginning with A Dead Wizard’s Dream.

From the brutality of dust-blown Ogbun Nagali and the barbarism of high society in Zamphia to the rotten heart of civilized Justiqua and the treacheries secreted beneath the soothing tropics of Ishambria, this high fantasy anthology is stuffed to the gills with witches and wizards, gods and monsters, tales of love beyond death and familial vengeance, coming of age and reunification, and questing warriors and even noble foes.

Featured in Chronicles of Maradoum, Volume 6:

A Worthy Foe
Dwarves and Mutants
The Floating Village
The Ghost of Clandillion Tower
How to Bribe a Magician
The Guru of Bebuniyaad
Drusilla the Demoness
The Fiddler and the Fossegrim
Tea Troll Madness
The Tigers of Talipalau
Wrath of the Cloud Emperor

Review: The Curse of Cain

The Curse of Cain: When a necromancer is admitted to Vilokan Asylum against her will, and she evokes the ghost of Cain’s murdered brother, Abel, he’ll have to do more than treat the patient… he’ll have to confront the ghosts of his past, literally.

Razing Cain:After agreeing with the new Vampire Council to take on their newest batch of younglings, and help them tame their blood cravings, things quickly get out of hand at Vilokan Asylum. Dr. Cain will need more than a “blood suckers” support group to get a handle on the issue. He’ll require the aid of Baron Samedi… of course, when the Baron is involved, his help almost always comes at a cost.

Cain and Angel: A fallen angel has a change of heart. He just can’t stomach the big guy “downstairs” and his propensity for torture, fire, and all that devilish crap. But he’s burned his bridges with the celestials, too. When he comes to Vilokan Asylum, he hopes Cain’s experience with the guy “upstairs” can help him find his own path on the narrow road between the warring leagues of angels. But when the Archangel Michael is sent to arrest the “unfallen” angel, Cain must approach the Divine for the first time in several millennia to advocate for his patient.
Go up and click ‘Read for Free’ or ‘Buy Now’ to be admitted to the Vilokan Asylum of the Magically and Mentally Deranged.

The Vilokan Asylum of the Magically and Mentally Deranged is a paranormal romp, diving into a world of voodoo, werewolves, vampires, and magic. Dr. Cain is a snarky werewolf, an Old Testament character brought to life in a modern day fantasy setting. Readers of Monroe’s Legacy of a Vampire Witch or The Legend of Nyx have met Dr. Cain before. Now, we get a deeper look into the world of magic and mayhem that is the Vilokan Asylum.

Review: Our Global Lingua Franca

Across continents and cultures, English has emerged as the shared bridge language that connects business, arts, sciences, and entertainment worldwide. In this thought-provoking and impassioned manifesto, a globally experienced EFL educator sheds light on the humanitarian importance of continuing to spread English as a universal means of communication—most notably in parts of the world where educational standards are lacking.

This polemical and informative guide challenges prevailing English as a Foreign Language programs that most often leave learners struggling to attain conversational English fluency, despite years of enforced study and superficially good grades, test scores, and other accolades. It boldly delves into the overlooked consequences of bad English education for cultural, economic, and individual growth that disempower foreign English learners everywhere.

Our Global Lingua Franca is an essential companion for both native and non-native English instructors navigating the challenges of sub-par language learning. It will validate your frustrations about learning and teaching under the conventional approach to EFL. Intelligent without being overly academic, it offers invaluable outside-the-box advice on reading, writing, listening, speaking, grammar, vocabulary, and pragmatics to help you impart conversational English fluency and beyond.

Review: Children of the Night

“A page-turning read that leaves readers dazed and breathless…a thoroughly engrossing tale marked with intrigue, mystery, magic and murder.” (The Prairies Book Review)

For fans of the most famous gothic monsters comes a fantastical YA retelling.

Venice, 1865: Sixteen-year-old Ayanda Draculesti doesn’t remember her early life – all she knows is that she was found as a small child, wandering the streets of Venice with an intricate medallion and a mangled left arm. But Ayanda is unique – even though she’s alive, she has the powers of a vampire. She has the strength and speed to battle them, and most importantly, the will. She won’t let another child die.

Ayanda isn’t the only young Unnatural in Venice. Ghostly Yurei is in hiding, fleeing the captors determined to turn him into an assassin. Jette Jekyll and Belle Frankenstein are on the run from alchemists who want them dead and dissected. Their paths and Ayanda’s collide when a brutal enemy surfaces that threatens them all: one of the Greater Dead, a vampire that slithers through Venice murdering everyone she encounters.

Ayanda is determined to stop this Dead creature before she kills again. Yurei, Jette, and Belle aren’t. Why should they risk their lives to save people who see them as monsters? All they’ve ever known is hate and fear. They owe the world nothing.

But Ayanda can’t defeat a Dead creature alone.

Review: The Goblin Queen

This queen was never a princess.

Rejected as a child, Rangalan found family, friends and a home with the goblin folk of the mountains. Now hunted by the man who first rejected her, Rangalan’s father, King Longhorn, there’s nothing Rangalan will not do to protect her friends. That all sounds very serious. It’s not. It’s actually all rather silly, utter nonsense if you ask me. Listen to it if you must, but don’t say I did not warn you.

Re-Review: Bolivar’s Sword

Bolivar’s Sword is the fabled weapon of the greatest hero of the Krykker race—and Rabigar needs it.
There’s just one problem. Rabigar has been exiled from his homeland, never to return, on pain of death.

Belwynn has escaped from the clutches of Ishari. But her brother Soren, and her friends, have not been so lucky. Who will help her in a rescue attempt that seems certain to fail?

Meanwhile, the armies of Ishari are on the march, aiming to smash the resistance of the Brasingian Empire. Will the fragile coalition hold? Or will the dark forces that have been unleashed destroy their world? As war comes to Dalriya, the stakes couldn’t get any higher…

Bolivar’s Sword continues the action-packed series, The Weapon Takers Saga. If you like multiple character storylines, set in a rich and detailed world, you’ll find this Epic Fantasy tale hard to put down.

Review: Chronicles of Maradoum Volume 5

Pirates and vampyres. Sunken catacombs and monsters’ crèches. Plagued riches and eldritch eggs. Demon summoners and bridges to other worlds.

The alien but oddly familiar realm of Maradoum welcomes you home with a magical medley of stand-alone short stories set in the same world as the Convent Series, beginning with “A Dead Wizard’s Dream”.

From the ancient mysteries of Gorodzmeya – the lizard city in the desert – to the deities who protect the people of Quing Tzu, from the hidden treasures of Shimyahein to the sacking of the Spardican coast, this sword and sorcery anthology will keep you at the edge of your seat with stories of comeuppance and revenge, of mighty warriors and creatures of evil, of the lost finding family, of omens and urchins, and of portals to realms beyond what is known….

Featured in Chronicles of Maradoum, Volume Five:

Shazarad the Terrible
Nymph Eggs
The Shark and the Shadowers
Catacombs and Crèches
God of Gold
The Giant and the Sea Urchins
Vampyre Coven
The Adventures of Captain Mayhem
The Curupira’s Curse
The Nightmare Bridge
The Lost City