Welcome to my semi-annual newsletter. It has been an eventful several months.

Giveaway!

If you are a Goodreads member or would like to be, you can register for a giveaway of the print edition of 13 DAYS: THE PYTHAGORAS CONSPIRACY. This celebrates the new 13 DAYS e-book release by StoneThread Publishing. More below.

The second Lynn Dayton thriller, STRIKE PRICE, was published in e-book April 2013 and in print May 2013. I am speaking at several launch events in Oklahoma, Dallas, and next week in California. If you’re in the Dallas area, please stop by the local authors’ panel at which I, Gary Vineyard, and Art Bauer (aka Richard Holcroft) are participating, November 9th at the Lincoln Park Barnes & Noble.

I do have some very sad news. One of the two partners of L&L Dreamspell, Linda Houle, unexpectedly passed away in early July. Lisa Smith, the remaining partner, did not want to continue to operate the company alone. She elected to close it. As a consequence, all Dreamspell e-book editions (about 200 authors, 350 books) were pulled offline, including both 13 DAYS and STRIKE PRICE. STRIKE PRICE continues to be available in print by consignment at certain bookstores and through Amazon. And of course, 13 DAYS remains in print as well.

The story doesn’t end there, however. I was pleased and excited in August when StoneThread Publishing offered to publish e-book editions of 13 DAYS in the fall of 2013, STRIKE PRICE in early 2014, and the third, fourth, and subsequent e-books of what is now the Lynn Dayton series.

And so, on September 25, 2013, StoneThread Publishing released a new e-book edition of 13 DAYS: THE PYTHAGORAS CONSPIRACY. It is available worldwide at Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and several other booksellers. Through Kobo, it can be found at IndieBound bookstores and at several international chains including WH Smith (UK), PaperPlus (New Zealand), and Chapters Indigo (Canada).

I have been a guest on several blogs: International Thriller Writers, the Dames of Dialogue, Omnimystery, Beth Groundwater’s, Jean Henry Mead’s, Susan Whitfield’s, and this week, a two-part article at Jenny Milchman’s Suspense Your Disbelief.

Reading

Since the last newsletter I’ve read about thirty books. I recommend Ben Coes to thriller readers: his most recent is Eye for an Eye. Ferdinand von Schirach’s newest, The Collini Case, is a marvel of clarity and depth.

In other genres, I may be one of the last people to have finally read, and of course like, The Life of Pi. A 1920s book by Henry Beston, The Outermost House about a year living at the tip of Cape Cod, was an engaging change of pace. While I don’t read much science fiction, the praise for Hugh Howey’s Wool is well-deserved.

Energy

In recent months, SEE subscriber article subjects have included Bakken companies—again, because the situation is so dynamic; Mississippi Lime (Oklahoma) companies; offshore drilling companies; and an acquisition and divestiture conference and a Bush Institute energy regulation conference. The free quarterly article is a straightforward look at the sources of energy that fuel the US today and what momentum means for future energy choices.

Please keep Linda Houle’s family and Lisa Smith in your thoughts and prayers.

Until the spring,
L. A. Starks
http://lastarksbooks.com


Fiction (in story order) by L. A. Starks

13 Days: The Pythagoras Conspiracy (Lynn Dayton Thriller #1)

  • Print ISBN 978-1-933285-45-0, published by Brown Books Publishing Group, May 2006.
  • E-book ISBN 978-1-30162-409-6, published by StoneThread Publishing, September 2013.

Short stories on Amazon Kindle

  • “Robert and Thérèse Guillard: Choices” involves an alternate subplot for 13 DAYS’ Parisian antagonist and how it feels to fly in a wingsuit. 2007. ASIN: B003NE6D74.
  • “A Time for Eating Wild Onions” introduces two key characters in the second Lynn Dayton book, STRIKE PRICE. The tragedy that befalls them profoundly shapes the next generation. 2007. ASIN: B003NE6DGA.

Strike Price

  • Print ISBN 978-1-60318-505-9, published by L&L Dreamspell, May 2013. At Amazon and the following bookstores: Hastings in Muskogee and Bartlesville, OK; Brace’s Books in Ponca City, OK; and Books Inc., Palo Alto, CA.
  • New e-book planned for early 2014.