Writing

Winner’s Curse: A Lynn Dayton Thriller: I’m in rewrite/proof/format stage—so yes, FINALLY—I’m projecting a June launch for the fourth in the series. Look for more information soon about Winner’s Curse, including the cool new cover. I will also post information about events, like signings and interviews, on the website linked above.

Strike Price, Lynn Dayton Thriller #2: The second in the Lynn Dayton series shares some settings and themes with Oscar-nominated Killers of the Flower Moon. While KFM focuses on predators who killed the Osage for their money, Strike Price turns on the current-day economic wherewithal and cultural presence of the Cherokee Nation. Strike Price mentions two other First American nations (of the 39 headquartered in Oklahoma) in addition to the Cherokee and the Osage: the United Keetoowah Band and the Poncas.

If you and/or your friends are on Goodreads, through mid-April I am running a giveaway for a hundred signed copies of Strike Price.

13 Days: The Pythagoras Conspiracy, Lynn Dayton Thriller #1 Audiobook – 13 Days is now available in audiobook format! I was pleased to be invited as a beta-tester to publish using Amazon’s new Virtual Voice. The process is easy and—attractive for authors—costless. (The high cost of hiring voice talent has kept me and 96% of KDP authors from doing audiobooks because it is usually not possible to earn back the cost.) I noted that the voice choices sound natural, and authors can edit for pronunciation and speed. Like Kindle e-books, this is an interesting breakthrough for Amazon. I hope to apply Virtual Voice to other books in the series.

Reading

Since the fall 2023 newsletter, I have read fifteen books: two nonfiction and thirteen fiction.

In searching for international settings, I read two good, and different, books both titled Black Wolf. The thriller by Kathleen Kent draws on her time in Belarus; the mystery by Juan Gomez-Jurado is set in Spain. I recommend both.

I enjoyed the latest Precious Ramotswe book by Alexander McCall Smith. In a Far and Lovely Country is set, like the rest of the series, in Botswana. I read other thrillers and mysteries with international settings: The Decagon House Murders (Japan), The Missing Head of Damasceno Monteiro (Portugal) and The Sanctuary (Denmark).

I recommend adding to the top of your TBR stack Julie Heaberlin’s incredible newest: Night Will Find You, with Texas-beautiful settings in Fort Worth and at the McDonald Observatory. And for those of you (us) who like Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, do read the extraordinary international thriller The Assassin’s Manuscript, by William J. Carl III. I was fortunate to briefly work in a critique group with him; I know how much research, erudite religious knowledge (including Greek), and rewriting went into making this a fascinating, action-filled book. The Assassin’s Manuscript is another top-of-the-TBR-stack recommendation.

Energy

I write three paid articles a month for the public (free) Seeking Alpha platform and six a month for a Seeking Alpha Marketplace subscriber platform, Econ-Based Energy Investing (EBEI). The public platform link: Laura Starks’s Articles | Seeking Alpha

Until next time.

L. A. Starks

Fiction (books) by L. A. Starks– in reverse order:

Upcoming:  WINNER’S CURSE: A Lynn Dayton Thriller

Published:

THE SECOND LAW: Lynn Dayton Thriller #3
Print ISBN 9780991110742, published by Nemaha Ridge Publishing Group LLC, October 2018, $18.95. E-book ASIN B07JLDGTVL, published by Nemaha Ridge Publishing Group LLC, October 2018, $8.12.

STRIKE PRICE: Lynn Dayton Thriller #2
Print ISBN 9780991110704, 2nd edition published by Nemaha Ridge Publishing Group LLC, March 2014, $18.95. E-book ASIN B01K5Y406A, published by Nemaha Ridge Publishing Group LLC, August 2016, $8.99.

13 DAYS: THE PYTHAGORAS CONSPIRACY-Lynn Dayton Thriller #1
2nd Print ISBN 978-0991110711, published by Nemaha Ridge Publishing Group, LLC, August 2016, $18.95. E-book ASIN B015LI65GI, published by Nemaha Ridge Publishing Group, LLC, September 2015, $7.99.

Short stories by L. A. Starks, in reverse chronological order

  • “Risk Reduction,” in RECKLESS IN TEXAS, Metroplex Mysteries Volume II, March 2023. Print ISBN 979-8385749362, $11.99. E-book ASIN: B0BW2KJPJW $4.99.
  • “Incurable” bubbled up as I developed one of the antagonists in THE SECOND LAW. 2020. ASIN: B08L9RY4T5, $0.99. (Amazon Kindle)
  •  “Josh Rosen & Bubbe” gives insight into series character Josh Rosen and his relationship with his grandmother when she falls ill. 2014. ASIN: B00O854YKA, $0.99. (Amazon Kindle)
  • “Gumbo Filé” in DREAMSPELL NIGHTMARES, 2010. (out of print)
  • “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, $0.99. (Amazon Kindle)
  • “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, $0.99. (Amazon Kindle)

Flash Fiction by L. A. Starks

“Why Are You Running?” in A YEAR OF SHORTS and DOG DAYS OF SUMMER anthologies.

*A YEAR OF SHORTS: FLASH FICTION, Print ISBN: 979-8519555579, June 2021, $5.99. E-book ASIN: B096Y7WBH6, June 2021, $1.99.

*DOG DAYS OF SUMMER: FLASH FICTION, May 2021, E-book ASIN: B095J998Q9, $0.99.

Thank you for your support of earlier editions. The covers have changed but the books and short stories are the same. Electronic and print editions published by L&L Dreamspell, Brown Books, and StoneThread Publishing are out of print.