Writing, Publishing, and Marketing

Nemaha Ridge Publishing Group, LLC has been my main publishing platform for several years. In the last six months, I have prioritized publishing business issues. These include contracting for the creation of new (very cool) book trailers and Amazon A+ graphics, adding more reader reviews to my website, doing slight revisions to The Second Law and (soon) Strike Price, and, gratifyingly, obtaining official US copyrights for all four Lynn Dayton thrillers. Copyright numbers are included in the metadata below.

I’m also pleased to announce that, effective January 2026, all four Lynn Dayton thrillers are now available as Amazon Virtual Voice Audible audiobooks. I found picking narrator voices and getting the “flow” just right to be fascinating exercises. I hope you’ll try one.

I’m pleased to say that the Goodreads group, A Good Thriller, has selected Winner’s Curse for its Book of the Month feature for July 2026. I’ll be online, answering questions, discussing characters, plot points, and much else. If you’re on Goodreads, I hope you’ll chime in!

There’s little to report on the next book in the Lynn Dayton series until I finish revisions for Strike Price. I have identified settings and outlined a few scenes, but I have not yet created a complete outline or schedule. Stay tuned.

Energy

Personal note: My father, who supported both my writing and my energy engineering and investment work, died at the end of September 2025. This has required me to stop writing investment articles for Seeking Alpha to focus on personal, legal, and financial family responsibilities.

If of interest, for my prior energy investment articles, see: Laura Starks’s Analysis | Seeking Alpha

In the trifecta of energy factors (sustainable, affordable, secure), the emphasis lately has been on security/reliability as well as affordability. Concern over the increased need for raw energy to power data center growth and building pipelines to facilitate larger liquefied natural gas exports have given way to grappling with the decimation from the Iranian war.

Since the start of the war last week, energy facilities from wellsites to refineries have been bombed. Transport costs have increased as oil tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz (between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman) chokepoint has emptied. Iran is on the north side of the Strait of Hormuz, a strait through which about a fifth of the world’s liquefied natural gas and a fourth of the world’s oil historically pass.  Actual and threatened Iranian counterattacks on countries throughout the Middle East coupled with its threat to the strait have led to countries seeking other routes and other sources of LNG and oil.

Map Credits: TomTom @ OpenStreetMap

We can expect energy prices (which most of us will experience via gasoline prices) to stay slightly elevated for at least a few weeks. For example, whereas natural gas was drifting down around $2.50/MCF and oil was sub-$60/bbl, natural gas is now $2.95/MCF and oil (West Texas Intermediate at Cushing) is $75.60/bbl.

Reading

Since the fall 2025 newsletter, I have read eighteen books, three of which were nonfiction. Additionally, both Mystery Writers of America and International Thriller Writers recently announced their award finalists. So, there remain several books to check out in the months ahead, along with continuing series by my favorite authors.

Books I especially enjoyed reading in the last six months were:

*Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann
*Red River Roads by Anna Downes
*Sharp Force by Patricia Cornwell;
*The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman;
*The Life and Death of Rose Doucette by Harry Hunsicker;
*The Proving Ground by Michael Connelly;
*In the Time of Five Pumpkins by Alexander McCall Smith;
*Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xialolong;
*After Anna by Lisa Scottoline; and
*Far and Away, by Amy Poeppel.

And for the one non-fiction: if you have visited Japan, are interested in the country, or liked Marie Kondo’s first book on organizing, I recommend the (very calming, upbeat) Letter from Japan by Marie Kondo about key aspects of Japanese culture, from onsens to manga to shrines to language itself.

As always, you can find my book reviews on Goodreads.

If you want additional copies or want to dive into those in the series you haven’t read, you can find Lynn Dayton thrillers online at Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon. All are available in audiobook (Virtual Voice), e-book (Kindle) and print editions.

Until next time,
L. A. Starks

Fiction (books) by L. A. Starks– in reverse order (The Lynn Dayton Thrillers):

WINNER’S CURSE: A Lynn Dayton Thriller
Publisher: Nemaha Ridge Publishing Group, LLC.
Print ISBN 9780991110759, August 2024, $22.95.
US Copyright Number: TX 9-557-407
E-book ASIN B0DBFKG71J, August 2024, $9.98.
Audiobook with Virtual Voice narration: B0DWTCYLQ1, January 2026, $1.99.

THE SECOND LAW: Lynn Dayton Thriller #3
Publisher: Nemaha Ridge Publishing Group, LLC.
Print ISBN 9780991110742, October 2018, $22.95.
US Copyright Number: TX 9-557-834
E-book ASIN B07JLDGTVL, October 2018, $8.12.
Audiobook with Virtual Voice narration, ASIN B0FB6X5H11, May 2025, $1.99.

STRIKE PRICE: Lynn Dayton Thriller #2
Publisher: Nemaha Ridge Publishing Group, LLC. 3rd revised edition
US Copyright Number: TXu 1-816-738 and Cover Copyright Number: TX 9-559-240
Print ISBN 9780991110704, March 2014, $18.95.
E-book ASIN B01K5Y406A, August 2016, $8.99.
Audiobook with Virtual Voice narration, ASIN B0F2RM2MV1, March 2025, $1.99.

13 DAYS: THE PYTHAGORAS CONSPIRACY-Lynn Dayton Thriller #1
Publisher: Nemaha Ridge Publishing Group, LLC. 2nd edition
US Copyright Number: TX 9-555-017
Print ISBN 978-0991110711, August 2016, $18.95.
E-book ASIN B015LI65GI, September 2015, $7.99.
Audiobook with Virtual Voice narration, ASIN B0CTXNVNY2, February 2024, $3.99.

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.
  • “Josh Rosen & Bubbe” gives insight into the series character Josh Rosen and his relationship with his grandmother when she falls ill. 2014. ASIN: B00O854YKA, $0.99. (Amazon Kindle)
  • “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)
  • “Gumbo Filé,” which also provides some of the backstory for THE SECOND LAW, was originally published in DREAMSPELL NIGHTMARES, 2010. (out of print)

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.