Writing
Hurrah! Nemaha Ridge Publishing Group, LLC has released the last (yes, thank you for your patience) e-book edition of the first Lynn Dayton book! 13 Days: The Pythagoras Conspiracy (Lynn Dayton Thriller #1) is finally out in e-book editions again after an 18-month hiatus. It can be found at Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, and stores around the world to which Kobo distributes (FNAC in several European countries, Paper Plus in New Zealand, Feltrinelli in Italy, Livraria Cultura in Brazil, Collins in Australia, and soon in Japan and the UK.) Following an e-book bargain model, it is only $4.99US or its overseas equivalent.
- US Amazon page for the Kindle e-book
- US Barnes & Noble page for the Nook e-book
This excitement required a chunk of time—along with my visit to Appleton, Wisconsin to attend a writers’ technical conference—so I am still writing the third book. Of course, both 13 Days: The Pythagoras Conspiracy and Strike Price are available in print editions. Books: http://lastarksbooks.com
Reading
In the last six months I read 36 books. Texans especially will groove to The Grid, Harry Hunsicker’s newest thriller. Every Fifteen Minutes is a great mystery from Lisa Scottoline. The English Spy, Brushback, and The Mask are superb novels, the newest from Daniel Silva, Sara Paretsky, and Taylor Stevens, respectively. I also liked Alaska-set Protocol Zero, although it’s annoying that the author uses a pseudonym.
In nonfiction, Bill Browder’s Red Notice is a stunningly good book about doing business in Russia—which was lucrative until it resulted in a death threat. I also highly recommend a book that lays out the case for meeting the energy (and thus, life) needs of all seven billion of us on the planet: Alex Epstein’s The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels.
Energy
What’s good for consumers is hurtin’ news for oil and gas producers. Prices remain at historic lows: $45.70/barrel for oil and $2.56/thousand cubic feet for natural gas. More than 200,000 people have lost their jobs in the energy business as a result.
Extra oil supply, particularly from Saudi Arabia, and potentially from Iran, competes with U.S. supply and globally outpaces demand for products. In the U.S. the Marcellus gas field is living up to its super-giant reputation. The EIA predicts it will produce 16.3 billion cubic feet a day in October, or 36% of total US production. Before 2008, no one guessed the extent of the Marcellus, so its acceleration to over a third of US supply is astonishing.
And coal companies have been especially devastated by the combination of stringent regulations and competition with low-priced natural gas.
The investor website Seeking Alpha published two of my articles in the last six months: one about industrial/frack sand company U.S. Silica Holdings and a second about small Bakken producer SM Energy.
Energy: http://starksenergyecon.com
Social Media
My websites listed above are the home bases for everything I do online.
If you haven’t already, I hope you will connect with me on Goodreads, Twitter, Facebook, and/or LinkedIn. I predominantly use Goodreads and Twitter for books and reading, with some posts to Google+, LinkedIn, and Facebook. For energy issues, in addition to my website I post to Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.
Have an exciting fall and winter of reading,
L.A. Starks
http://lastarksbooks.com
Fiction (books) by L. A. Starks–in reverse order
Strike Price (Lynn Dayton Thriller #2)
- Print ISBN 978-0-99111-070-4, 2nd edition published by Nemaha Ridge Publishing Group, March 2014.
13 Days: The Pythagoras Conspiracy (Lynn Dayton Thriller #1)
- Ebook ISBN 9780991110735, published by Nemaha Ridge Publishing Group, LLC, September 2015.
- Print ISBN 978-1-933285-45-0, published by Brown Books Publishing Group, May 2006.
Short stories by L. A. Starks on Amazon Kindle–in reverse order
- “Josh Rosen & Bubbe” gives additional background on series character Josh Rosen and insight into his relationship with his grandmother when she falls ill. 2014. ASIN: B00O854YKA.
- “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.
- “Robert and Thérèse Guillard: Choices” is a story about 13 DAYS‘ Parisian antagonist and how it feels to fly in a wing suit. 2007. ASIN: B003NE6D74.
