From Hollywood, California, to Heywood, Arizona, trouble follows her…
After her husband’s brutal killing and her fall from the Hollywood elite, the disgraced Samantha Rathbone moves to Heywood hoping to forget her past and live a quiet life of anonymity as Sam Jones.
When she takes a job at the local herbal shop, Sage Advice, and the owner is found murdered, Sam is pushed back into the unwanted spotlight when she becomes the number one suspect. As she wades through ugly family drama, the questionable business practices of others, and the lies embroiled in a small town, she searches for the true killer, hoping to save herself.
Will Samantha be able to find the murderer before she’s put away for a crime she didn’t commit?
Enjoy this free cozy mystery featuring a middle-aged sleuth staring her life over again!
I purchased an audiobook copy of Herbs and Homicide, by Carly Winter, and narrated by Nicole Scott from a Chirp Friday Freebie Deal. I’m offering an honest review. All opinions stated here are my own.
I chose this book because of the clever title. It turned out to be a cute cozy mystery which helped to lighten the mood following a series of thrillers and horror stories, and it was just what I needed. Nicole Scott does an excellent job of narration, making it easy to listen to.
Samantha Rathbone came to Heywood and became Sam Jones to escape all the Hollywood drama after her ex-husband’s murder, when his illegal activities spilled over onto her reputation and she became a pariah in Hollywood circles. But, when her employer and friend, the owner of Sage Advice herbal shop, is murdered, it threatens to throw her right back into the public eye, when she becomes the prime suspect. The only way to clear her name and stay out of the press is to solve the murder herself, so she turns into an amateur sleuth, digging up family and the community’s twisted histories to discover the true murderer, calling on her Samantha Rathbone Hollywood persona to handle anyone who steps out of line. The suspects are many, and Sam isn’t sure which way to point her finger, but she must get it right or she may pay the price for a murder she didn’t commit.
Easy listening and a clever storyline make this one cozy mystery you won’t want to miss. I give Herbs and Homicide five quills.
About Kaye Lynne Booth
For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; Books 1 & 2 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah and Sarah, and Book 1 in her Time-Travel Adventure series, The Rock Star & The Outlaw, as well as her poetry collection, Small Wonders.
Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press, where she edits and publishes two short fiction anthologies and one poetry anthology every year amidst her many writing projects. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.
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Kaye Lynne Booth does honest book reviews on Writing to be Read in exchange for ARC digital copies, (she also accepts print copies). Have a book you’d like reviewed? You can request a review on the Book Review tab above.
Ice Palace – Cripple Creek, Colorado – February 2026
The Ice Festival is an annual event in Cripple Creek, Colorado, where ice carvers sculpt spectacular figures from huge blocks of solid ice, competing for a $1,000.00 prize. The main thoroughfare, Bennett Street is closed off to vehicle traffic, leaving it open only to the foot traffic of visitors as the carvers sculpt their masterpieces. The sculptures are amazing, and viewing them at night, when they are all lit up with different colors creates an amazing walk through a fantasy world.
Each year has a different theme. I don’t make it to visit the Ice Festival every year, but I have made it a few times. I first visited the Ice Festival in 2015, when the theme was Story Time, but I was unprepared with no camera to photograph the amazing fantasy figures carved by these talented artists. I loved the Old West theme from 2016, (view them here), and in 2023, the theme was the Carver’s Choice, (view them here).
For the last three years, Cripple Creek has had an added winter feature to compliment the Ice Festival which is celebrated every February. Opening sometime each January, depending on the weather, Cripple Creek hosts the added attraction of a magnificent Ice Palace, with tunnels and slides and even a fire feature. 2026 hasn’t had a lot of snowfall, so the Ice Castle above may seem out of place. Tickets are a bit pricey and must be purchased ahead of time, for a specific time, and my trips to Cripple Creek are pretty spur of the moment, so I’ve never actually visited the Ice Castle, but have contented myself with photos from afar, which look like a huge snow blob from the outside. I will say, although difficult to photograph because of the glaring street lights, it does look pretty cool at night. But the real action lies within. Maybe someday.
The 2026 Ice Festival
This year’s theme was artist choice, I believe, so the subject of each sculpture varied. They had sculptures at both ends of Bennett Ave, with vendors of every kind in between on the main thoroughfare. At the far end, in front of the Double Eagle Casino, they had the traditional ice slide, but this old gal wasn’t doing it this year.
That end of the street didn’t have as many as the lower end, but some of them were pretty darned cool.
The signs you see tell the sponsoring business and you can scan them with your phone to vote for the sculpture you feel is best. Me, I just liked them all.
Down on the lower end of Bennett Avenue in front of the Triple Crown Casinos is where the majority of the sculptures were found. This is a competition and the artists compete for a cash purse prize.
Starting out with gigantic blocks of ice, these talented artists sculpt their amazing works with hand tools and chainsaws. Below is a photo of one master ice wizard adding finishing touches to his Sphynx face to finish up the Egyptian display. I visited on the last day of the competition, and he was about the only one still working his magic, creating icy desert images.
About Kaye Lynne Booth
For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; Books 1 & 2 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah and Sarah, and Book 1 in her Time-Travel Adventure series, The Rock Star & The Outlaw, as well as her poetry collection, Small Wonders.
Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press, where she edits and publishes two short fiction anthologies and one poetry anthology every year amidst her many writing projects. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.
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Did you know you can sponsor your favorite blog series or even a single post with an advertisement for your book? Stop by the WtbR Sponsor Page and let me advertise your book, or you can make a donation to Writing to be Read for as little as a cup of coffee, If you’d like to show your support for this author and WordCrafter Press.
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This post is sponsored by the Time Travel Adventure Series and WordCrafter Press, spotlighting the upcoming release of The Rock Star & The Outlaw 2: Double Visions.
The Kickstarter campaign offers digital copies for less than retail price and exclusive signed copies, posters, goodie bags and more. We’re halfway through and almost 60% funded, so we need your help to reach the funding goal of $500. Support the Kickstarter and get your discounted and exclusive merchandise through the link below.
About Bewilderness – To be released August 11, 2026
Dr. Abby Corman has a bold idea: open a stable doorway between our world and an uninhabited parallel Earth. A new world we can use to mine resources to end poverty, grow enough food to end all hunger, and allow for population growth to end overcrowding. What could be a more noble aspiration for a brilliant young scientist?
But the path to hell is paved with good intentions…
The Gateway is in a secure lab in a huge office building in New York. Ultra-modern, totally secure, impenetrable by industrial spies or foreign agents. Once it goes into lockdown for the Gateway test firing, it becomes the world’s largest and most unbreakable vault.
Locked doors, though, can do more than keep bad things out. They can trap bad things in.
The Gateway spins completely out of control, sending infinite Earths onto a collision course with ours. Now, our reality is cracking apart, allowing creatures from Earth’s distant past and monsters from parallel worlds to emerge, turning New York into a hellscape.
Abby Corman did not open the Gateway, but she is the only one who knows how to close it. But an alien Hunter and her pack of deadly hellcats have stepped into our world, and they will stop at nothing to kill Abby. Because in a universe of parallel worlds, one Earth’s savior can be the worst criminal other Earths have ever known.
I received a digital copy of Bewilderness, by Jonathan Maberry from the publisher, WordFire Press, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions stated here are my own.
I chose to review Bewilderness because Jonathan Maberry is the author, and I know his stories are of a quality to be admired. In this, I was not disappointed. Mayberry has created a first-rate science fiction novel and a situation where literally anything is possible. This story has cinematic potential, and I wouldn’t be surprised to find it in theaters in the future. The book is a solid, well written, well thought out story with fleshed-out characters and almost non-stop action to keep those pages turning.
Abby Corman is a scientist of the highest caliber, assigned to a top-secret government funded project, called Gateway. Only, she’s not just assigned to it, she created it. They are preparing for the test run of the Gateway machine, which cab tap into uninhabited parallel worlds, offering unlimited resources to replenish Earth’s dwindling supplies, and ending world hunger. But when their funding is threatened and her partner panics and fires her, locking her out and bringing in another scientific mind, who may understand the project, but has no regard for safety protocols, and they fire the Gateway, bypassing the test run. Something goes terribly wrong, leaving the Gateway cycling through thousands of strange parallel worlds, and allowing creatures from those worlds to enter this one, turning New York into a pre-historic disaster zone. It’s up to Abby to set things right, making her way through a veritably impenetrable fortress turned upside down, and running from an alien huntress and her pack of hell cats, who is determined to stop her.
Cutting-edge suspense will keep you on the edge of your seat as you follow Abby in her quest to save the world. I give Bewilderness five quills.
About Kaye Lynne Booth
For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; Books 1 & 2 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah and Sarah, and book 1 in her Time-Travel Adventure series, The Rock Star & The Outlaw, as well as her poetry collection, Small Wonders and The D.I.Y. Author writing resource.
Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press, where she edits and publishes two short fiction anthologies and one poetry anthology every year amidst her many writing projects. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.
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Kaye Lynne Booth does honest book reviews on Writing to be Read in exchange for ARC digital copies, (she also accepts print copies). Have a book you’d like reviewed? You can request a review on the Book Review tab above.
Today we’re going to take a look at two versions of the same movie: The Running Man, based on the novel by Stephen King, writing as Richard Bachman. It’s been a long time since I read this book, since it was released back in the 1980s, but I can tell you now that the movie which just came out with Glen Powell and Josh Brolin is definitely closer to the original story line of the book. That puts it higher in my opinion than the 1987 movie with Arnold Swarzenhegger and Richard Dawson, although the first movie is a good story in its own right.
In the reality TV show The Running Man, the only objective is to stay alive.
This “slam-bang action suspense” (Gilbert Cruz, Vulture) from Stephen King is now a major motion picture from Paramount.
Ben Richards has no job, no money, and a young daughter who urgently needs medical attention. Desperate, out of options, he signs up for The Running Man, “the biggest show in the country.” It’s an ultraviolent competition where the stakes could not be higher. Ben must stay alive for thirty days while an elite strike force, trained to kill, hunts for him. If he can survive for a month, he wins a billion dollars. No contestant has ever lasted longer than eight days. Can Ben Richards win this ultimate game of life and death?
The Running Man (2025) with Glen Powell and Josh Brolin
Ben Richards is a man with a conscience and a family, and when he speaks out against the networks in this futuristic world where the networks run the show, he falls from the group of haves, into the category of the have nots. Blackballed from working for the networks, with a sick child to care for, he tries out for the reality shows as a way to earn the money for the much-needed medicine to save his daughter’s life, and is cast in a spot on the deadliest game of all: The Running Man. Contestants must survive for thirty days, evading the Network Hunters, with everyone in the city out to collect the bounty. The running man has no friends because to help him is to risk their own livelihood. The Network is everywhere and ratings are everything.
If you read my descriptions of these two films it may sound like the big difference between these two films is the fact that Richards is a willing contestant in one and is forced to play on the other. While this is one big difference, the 1987 film also differs in the game playing field. While the book and the 2025 movie play the game out in the real world and members of society may earn prizes by reporting contestants’ whereabouts, the 1987 film veers from the plotline with a contained playing field and sensational hunter characters to be cheered by members of the audience.
“Arnold didn’t look like somebody who had been missing many meals. He was ripped,” King says. Also, “he doesn’t seem like an Everyman. He seems like Arnold. And Glen seems like a regular guy: You would believe him in this part. He’s handsome, but he’s not a Clark Gable, big movie star kind of guy. He’s a regular guy who’s just better looking than most of us.”
The Running Man (1987) with Arnold Swartzenhagger and Richard Dawson
Ben Richards (Arnold Swarzenhegger) is an ex-military good guy who defied orders and refused to kill innocent, unarmed people. When he is sent to prison for his alleged crimes and makes a spectacular escape, he catches the attention of Network Executive Damien Killian (Richard Dawson), who sees his rating potential. In this futuristic world, where the Networks run the show, (pun intended), you don’t sign up to be a contestant on the reality shows, and after his recapture, Richards is forced to play The Running Man, a reality game show, where the hunters play for keeps, and the networks will do anything for ratings.
I think the 2025 movie actually has more nonstop action than the 2005 film, each has its own merits.
Both versions are good stories. Both are entertaining. And both are full of surprises. As a huge fan of the story’s original author, I lean more toward the version that is closer to the storyline in the book.
About Kaye Lynne Booth
For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; Books 1 & 2 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah and Sarah, and Book 1 in her Time-Travel Adventure series, The Rock Star & The Outlaw, as well as her poetry collection, Small Wonders.
Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press, where she edits and publishes two short fiction anthologies and one poetry anthology every year amidst her many writing projects. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.
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Did you know you can sponsor your favorite blog series or even a single post with an advertisement for your book? Stop by the WtbR Sponsor Page and let me advertise your book, or you can make a donation to Writing to be Read for as little as a cup of coffee, If you’d like to show your support for this author and WordCrafter Press.
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This segment of “Everyone is a Critic” is sponsored by the Time Travel Adventure Series and WordCrafter Press.
When a Girl with a Guitar Meets a Man with a Gun, It’s Time to Travel
It’s that time of year again. Time for the annual sponsor drive on Writing to be Read.
I offer sponsorship for this blogsite to help support the time and effort required to assure we can continue to bring you great content. Sponsorship money helps cover the costs of the annual hosting fee, and other services required to keep our content going. Right now, the WtbR blog team contributes not only content, but time and effort without any kind of much deserved compensation. My goal is to be able me to compensate the members of the team for the content they contribute.
Don’t just click ‘like’ on those blog posts you enjoy so much. You can be a sponsor for as little as $5 for a single segment, or you can sponsor your favorite blog series for a full year, (12 segments), for only $50. Advertise your blog, your website, or your book right here on Writing to be Read. When you become a sponsor, your ad, with a direct link to your blog or website appears at the bottom of the Writing to be Read post, and you pick which blog series you’d like to sponsor:
“Writer’s Corner”, with Kaye Lynne Booth
“Everyone is a Critic”, with Kaye Lynne Booth
“WordCrafter News”, with Kaye Lynne Booth
“Poetry Treasures”, with Robbie Cheadle
“In Touch With Nature”, with Robbie Cheadle
“Read and Cook”, with Robbie Cheadle
“Undawntech”, with DL Mullan
“Lindsey’s Writing Practice”, with Lindsey Martin-Bowen
“Mind Fields”, with Arthur Rosch
You find out more about sponsoring for Writing to be Read by visiting the Writing to be Read Sponsor Page. Sponsorships are first come, first serve, so hurry to be sure you can sponsor the blog series of your choice.
We can’t do it without you, so help us keep all the great content of Writing to be Read coming strong.
I’ve run a few Kickstarter campaigns in the past, and I’m running one this month for my Time Travel Adventure Series and the release of the second book, The Rock Star & The Outlaw 2: Double Visions. It began yesterday, March 1, and will run through March 28th, 2026. (Little secret: March 3rd is my birthday, but your gift of support lasts forever.) If you’d like to check it out, and maybe even support this author with a pledge, you can check it out here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kayelynnebooth-wcp/the-rock-star-and-the-outlaw-2-double-visions
I started down this road back in 2023, when I successfully funded two campaigns, including one for the first book in this series, The Rock Star & The Outlaw. I chose to sell my books through Kickstarter because the buzz is, that Direct Sales and Kickstarters are the successful author’s future. Since the WordCrafter website isn’t set up for direct sales as yet, Kickstarter looked to be the best option.
We’ve Come a Long Way Baby
When I first started writing books, the publishing world was entering a transition phase. Traditional publishers had run the show for a very long time, and if you were an author, you peddled your book to literary agents. Once you found one of those, they would peddle your book to publishers and hopefully, found it a home with one of the Big Five. Or, you could peddle your book to smaller, independent publishers and try to find a home for your book yourself. Either way, very few authors found a way in, and even fewer made the best seller lists. If you were fortunate enough to be picked up by a traditional publisher, you might get a substantial advance when you signed your contract, which the book would have to earn out in sales before you could receive any further royalties. If the book didn’t earn out, you never saw another dime. But this was the way the publishing industry worked. You didn’t get in without making it past the gatekeepers; the agents and publishers who held all the power.
At that time, independent publishing carried a nasty taste with it. The world of independent publishing was filled with vanity presses that would publish your book for a cost, and they thoroughly took advantage of authors who tried to buck the system and bypass the gatekeepers. As publish on demand (POD publishing) gained popularity, it offered authors the opportunity to publish their work for much cheaper, but it also opened the door for anyone who wanted to, to claim authorship. Not everyone cared about quality, and authors who chose this cheaper route were likely to have skipped costly steps like editing, too. This flooded the market and gave independent authors a bad name, but traditional publishers still viewed them not as a threat, but a nuisance.
Traditional publishers stuck to their guns, and continued to do things the same way they always had, because that was the way it had always been. But as they began to falter, their advance payments grew smaller and smaller, and today, even if you get a traditional deal with one of the Big Three, you may not receive an advance at all. Indie authors began to hit the best seller lists, offering some real competition and traditional publishers began to take indie publishing more seriously. Suddenly, there was a new route past the gatekeepers. If your book hit the best seller lists, a traditional publisher might come knocking with an offer, even if you weren’t looking for one.
And why should independent authors go trad? With only small advances being offered, if at all, and less and less of the marketing efforts being put forth by trad publishers, there really was little reason to go with traditional publishing unless you were just after the literary prestige. An indie author, who did the work to publish and market their own work got to keep more of their royalties than the 40% traditional publishers were offering.
With the rise of aggregators, such as Lulu, Smashwords, and Draft2Digital, independent publishing became even cheaper for authors, and traditional publishing continued to look less and less appealing, at least to me. So today, authors can do it all. Write the story, publish the book, and market it, all by themselves. That’s a lot. So, of course, they can also choose to outsource any of the work, depending on how much they want to spend. Because it’s all up to them. The author is the boss and the choices are all theirs.
Now we are faced with more choices about where to sell our books. We can publish exclusively, placing them on Amazon in Kindle Unlimited, but to me, that’s putting all your eggs in one basket. We can publish wide and place our books on retail sites around the globe. Or we can sell direct from our website, start a store on Shopify, or sell through crowd funding on Kickstarter.
Many authors use a combination, selling direct or crowd funding and placing their books on retail sites, as well. This is what I perceive to be the future of book marketing. Direct sales are how authors can make the most money from their books, but retail stores have the visibility to get their books discovered.
Why do I say these are the future of book marketing?
Come along as we explore the pros and cons, below.
Direct Sales
Direct sales are the best way to go if you are able to set up a store on your site. Having an onsite store would be a bigger expense from the hosting site, in order to give your site monetary capabilities, so it is more expensive initially. I’m still struggling to get enough sponsors and donations to cover the annual costs of the Writing to be Read site on the current level, so the upgrade must wait, although this would be my preference for selling my books.
Why?
One big reason is authors who sell through direct sales cut out the retailer middle men and get to keep more money from each sale. So, when you can buy a book directly from the author’s site, you are supporting that author more than the person who buys the same book through a retail site. Because they don’t have to pay 30-70% of their royalties out to retailers, the savings can be considerable.
Authors may have to do all the marketing for their books, but these days, that may be the case even with traditional publishing, so why not do the work and reap the reward?
The Kickstarter Platform
Kickstarter is a crowd funding platform that can be a great way to finance all your creative projects, if done right. They keep a small percentage of each project that is successfully funded. So, while you are giving them a small cut of the royalties, they handle the collection and distribution of monies, and provide promotional materials in return. Plus, it gives.you access to the crowd funding community, which is big on creative projects and accustomed to supporting them. And if it doesn’t fund, it doesn’t cost you anything.
I like running Kickstarter campaigns upon launch because I can offer books at less than the prices set on retail sites, and exclusive offers, such as signed print copies or special edition books, which aren’t available anywhere else, so my readers benefit, too. I can also offer package deals, combining two or more books.
For those same reasons, it pays to support your favorite authors on the Kickstarter platform because you can get some really awesome deals on some really great books. I not only sell on Kickstarter, but I’m also a supporter of the projects of others. You can show your support, usually for as little as $5. It’s a great way to get books and other exclusive merchandise, and of course, I wrote reviews for all the books I bought to further show support for the author.
International bestselling author, Kevin J. Anderson, runs at least two Kickstarter campaigns per year, with some astounding results. Likewise, Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Katherine Rusch run several each year. As does author Russell Nohelty. But you don’t have to be a big name to run a successful Kickstarter campaign. I’m the proof of that. To date, I have run three successful campaigns and only one that failed to fund.
The Rock Star & The Outlaw 2: Double Visions Campaign
If you’d like to support this author and help to fund my current campaign for The Rock Star & The Outlaw 2: Double Visions, drop in via the link below. We have great deals on Books 1 & 2 of the Time Travel Adventure Series, including signed print copies, plus posters and goodies bags available only through the Kickstarter campaign. All support is greatly appreciated.
About The Rock Star & The Outlaw 2: Double Visions
In 1887, LeRoy is stuck, bringing trouble down on those around him. Sissy is kidnapped and he’s the only one who can save her.
She wakes up in 2030, in a future very different to the one she knows, one in which she may not have been born. Amaryllis will stop at nothing to find LeRoy fix what she messed up in the past.
She and a version of Monique which is different from the one she grew up with travel back to 1887 to try and make things right.
Add two time travel regulators from the future who are after the time module, and things begin to get wild.
When the time loops are crossed, things change, but not the way Amaryllis intended and pretty soon, everybody is seeing doubles.
If you’d like to know more about the second book in the Time Travel Adventure Series, we’ll be running a book blog tour March 23-27, 2026, right here on Writing to be Read. Join us for readings and guest posts about the inspiration and creation of this series, and a great giveaway of digital and signed print copies.
About Kaye Lynne Booth
For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; Books 1 & 2 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah and Sarah, and Book 1 in her Time-Travel Adventure series, The Rock Star & The Outlaw, as well as her poetry collection, Small Wonders.
Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press, where she edits and publishes two short fiction anthologies and one poetry anthology every year amidst her many writing projects. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.
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Did you know you can sponsor your favorite blog series or even a single post with an advertisement for your book? Stop by the WtbR Sponsor Page and let me advertise your book, or you can make a donation to Writing to be Read for as little as a cup of coffee, If you’d like to show your support for this author and WordCrafter Press.
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This segment of “Writer’s Corner” is sponsored by theRobbie’s Inspiration blog site, where you can find ideas on writing and baking with hostess, Robbie Cheadle.
After many delays, the long-awaited release of The Rock Star & The Outlaw 2: Double Visions will finally arrive on March 24, 2026. I’m going all out to launch this book with both a Kickstarter and a blog tour, run simultaneously. It’s such a wild and fun story, I’m really hoping to see it do well. The Kickstarter campaign will run March 1 through 28 and the tour will run March 23-27.
About The Rock Star & The Outlaw 2: Double Visions
In 1887, LeRoy is stuck, bringing trouble down on those around him. Sissy is kidnapped and he’s the only one who can save her.
She wakes up in 2030, in a future very different to the one she knows, one in which she may not have been born. Amaryllis will stop at nothing to find LeRoy fix what she messed up in the past.
She and a version of Monique which is different from the one she grew up with travel back to 1887 to try and make things right.
Add two time travel regulators from the future who are after the time module, and things begin to get wild.
When the time loops are crossed, things change, but not the way Amaryllis intended and pretty soon, everybody is seeing doubles.
Purchase Link:
The Rock Star & The Outlaw 2: Double Visions Kickstarter Campaign
It’s almost here! The Kickstarter campaign for The Rock Star & The Outlaw 2: Double Visions starts Sunday, March 1. The campaign goal is $500 and we’ve got lots of rewards and several tier levels to choose from. Of course, you can get early digital copies and signed print copies of the second book in my Time Travel Adventure series at considerably less than offered through distributors when the book comes out on March 24th. Book 1 will also be available for less than retail as an add on, as well as several digital books from my catalog. But the really fun stuff is the Time Travel Adventure Series Poster and the Rock Star & The Outlaw Goodie Bag, offered at the highest tier level. But you don’t need to spend a lot to show your support, with the lowest tier level is only $5.00 and add ons are as low as $2 each.
Backing a Kickstarter campaign is a great way to show support for your favorite authors, because it’s similar to direct selling, cutting out retailers, and allowing the author to keep more of the profit from their book. You can back the Kickstarter by picking a reward tier and making a pledge. Only after the campaign funds, do you owe the money pledged, and if it doesn’t fund, you don’t owe a thing. And, if the campaign does fund, you’ll get all the cool items included in your reward tier, plus any add ons that you chose.
By clicking on the link below and indicating your interest, you will be notified as soon as the campaign goes live on March 1, so you can back the project at the reward level of your choice. Digital rewards will be fulfilled immediately after the Kickstarter campaign ends, and tangible rewards will be delivered by the end of May. Your support is appreciated. Together we can make The Rock Star & The Outlaw 2: Double Visions a huge success.
The WordCrafter Double Visions Book Blog Tour will add the final send off for The Rock Star & The Outlaw 2: Double Visions at the end of the Kickstarter campaign, March 23-27. Meet my main p.o.v. characters and learn about the writing of the series in my guest posts, hear excerpt readings from the book, check out the reviews, and catch my review with DL Mullen on Undawnted. Of course, we’ll have a giveaway, three digital copies and one signed print copy.
Looking for Reviewers
I am looking for dependable reviewers to post reviews of The Rock Star & The Outlaw 2: Double Visions, (ideally, on the day of release to push the book up in the ratings). Reviews can be posted on Amazon, Goodreads, BookBub, and even on your own blog. If you send me a copy or a link before the blog tour starts, I can include them on the tour, as well. If you are interested, let me know in the comments and I’ll send you a digital copy for review.
2026 Read an Ebook Week on Smashwords
March 1 – 7 is the 2026 Read an Ebook Week on Smashwords. Select WordCrafter Press books will be discounted 25% – 75%, with many WP titles offered for free, only on the Smashwords Store. Below you’ll see a list of WP titles and their discounted prices. But, hurry! The sale lasts only one week. That’s one week to get these great WordCrafter Press titles at these great discounted rates.
Behind Closed Doors: A Collection of Unusual Poems, by Robbie Cheadle – $2.99 (25%)
Feral Tenderness: Poetry and Photography, by Arthur Rosch – $2.99 (25%)
Shadow Blade, by Chris Barili– $5.54 (25%)
Baiting the Hook, by Chris Barili – Free
Hidden Secrets, by Kaye Lynne Booth – $1.99 (75%)
Last Calland Other Short Fiction, by Kaye Lynne Booth – Free
Small Wonders: Reflective Poems, by Kaye Lynne Booth – .99 (75%)
Women in the West Adventure Series, by Kaye Lynne Booth
Delilah – $2.49 (50%)
Sarah – $3.49 (50%)
Narrating the Paranormal Anthology Series
Whispers of the Past – Free
Spirits of the West – Free
Where Spirits Linger – Free
Lingering Spirit Whispers set – $3.49
Ask the Authors Writing Reference Series
Ask the Authors – Free
Ask the Authors 2022 – Free
Poetry Treasures Series
Poetry Treasures – .99 (75%)
Poetry Treasures 2: Relationships – .99 (75%)
Poetry Treasures 3: Passions – $1.99 (50%)
Poetry Treasures 4: In Touch with Nature – $1.99 (50%)
Poetry Treasures 5: Small Pleasures – $2.99 (25%)
The Midnight Dark Fiction Anthology Series
Midnight Roost: Weird and Creepy Tales – $1.74 (75%)
Midnight Garden: Where Dark Tales Grow – $3.49 (50%)
Midnight Oil: Stories to Fuel Your Nightmares – $5.24 (25%)
Themed Anthologies
Curses: Chronicles of Darkness – $2.99 (25%)
Tales From the Hanging Tree: Imprints of Tragedy – $2.99 (25%)
Once Upon an Ever After – $2.99 (25% off)
Visions – $3.74 (25% off)
Refracted Reflections – $2.99 (25% off)
About Author Kaye Lynne Booth
For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; Books 1 & 2 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah and Sarah, and book 1 in her Time-Travel Adventure series, The Rock Star & The Outlaw, as well as her poetry collection, Small Wonders and The D.I.Y. Author writing resource.
Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press, where she edits and publishes two short fiction anthologies and one poetry anthology every year amidst her many writing projects. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.
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Did you know you can sponsor your favorite blog series or even a single post with an advertisement for your book? Stop by the WtbR Sponsor Page and let me advertise your book, or you can make a donation to Writing to be Read for as little as a cup of coffee, If you’d like to show your support for this author and WordCrafter Press.
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This post sponsored by WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services.
Whether it’s editing, publishing, or promotion that you need,WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services can help at a price you can afford.
My birthday is March 3! And this year, I have a birthday wish that you can help to fulfill.
After two long years of waiting, the second book in my Time Travel Adventure series, The Rock Star & The Outlaw 2: Double Visions is finally ready to release. I’m doing the launch for this one a little different and run the book blog tour simultaneously with a Kickstarter campaign. Buying through the Kickstarter is better, because you can get digital copies much cheaper than you can through retailers, or exclusive items, like signed print copies and merchandise that isn’t available anywhere else. And, when you buy through the Kickstarter, I get to keep more money from the sale than I do when they sell through retailers. My funding goal is $500, but I wouldn’t cry if we exceeded that by far.
I haven’t run a Kickstarter in a couple of years, so it feels good to get back in the saddle. It is wonderful to watch those pledges rise, and there is nothing like the feeling of success once your campaign funds.
So, that’s my birthday wish; to successfully fund The Rock Star & The Outlaw 2: Double Visions Kickstarter campaign. And while I doubt that it will fund in only two days, (it would be nice, but doubtful), if it funds before the end of the campaign, on March 28th, I will still consider my birthday wish fulfilled. You can help give me my birthday wish by clicking on the link below and indicating your interest. Once I have at least ten followers, my following will be shown publicly. All you are doing now is expressing interest. Then, you will be notified when the campaign launches on March 1, and you can show your support at the reward level of your choice.
You can back the project for as little as $5, and every little bit counts when the pledges are building. You don’t need to pay your pledge until after the campaign ends, and if it doesn’t fund, you owe nothing. But my wish is that the campaign funds and maybe even exceeds the goal, which is why I’m asking for your support.
Won’t you please help give this old gal the best birthday ever?
About The Rock Star & The Outlaw 2: Double Visions
If you read the first book, you may not need any coaxing to buy Book 2. But in case you haven’t, let me tell you a little about The Rock Star & The Outlaw 2: Double Visions. This is a ‘gotta have it’ time travel story; a truly wild and crazy ride.
In 1887, LeRoy is stuck, bringing trouble down on those around him. Sissy is kidnapped and he’s the only one who can save her.
She wakes up in 2030, in a future very different to the one she knows, one in which she may not have been born. Amaryllis will stop at nothing to find LeRoy fix what she messed up in the past.
She and a version of Monique which is different from the one she grew up with travel back to 1887 to try and make things right.
Add two time travel regulators from the future who are after the time module, and things begin to get wild.
When the time loops are crossed, things change, but not the way Amaryllis intended and pretty soon, everybody is seeing doubles.
About Kaye Lynne Booth
For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; Books 1 & 2 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah and Sarah, and Book 1 in her Time-Travel Adventure series, The Rock Star & The Outlaw, as well as her poetry collection, Small Wonders.
Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press, where she edits and publishes two short fiction anthologies and one poetry anthology every year amidst her many writing projects. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.
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Did you know you can sponsor your favorite blog series or even a single post with an advertisement for your book? Stop by the WtbR Sponsor Page and let me advertise your book, or you can make a donation to Writing to be Read for as little as a cup of coffee, If you’d like to show your support for this author and WordCrafter Press.
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This post is sponsored by the Time Travel Adventure Series and WordCrafter Press.
When a Woman with a Guitar Meets a Cowboy with a Gun, It’s Time to Travel
For many years I have been a birdwatcher, mostly due to the fact that there are so many different kinds of beautiful and fascinating birds that visit my yard and make the surrounding forest their home. But one thing about my flighty little friends is that many are skittish and don’t willingly do photo ops. But, every once in a while, the perfect opportunity arises and I get a really good picture. The rest of the time, the photos I get may be barely passable, if at all.
The good ones, like the one above of a red-tailed hawk, each have a story behind them, or at least the birds featured in them do. The story behind the photo above is a sad one. The only reason I was able to get close enough to get that photo was that the hawk had run into some power lines and electrocuted itself, disabling it from taking flight. I took several photos while waiting for the rescue workers from a local bird sanctuary to arrive. Unfortunately, they were unable to save him. He was a beautiful and majestic bird.
The young flicker in the photo below was another rescue that I made one spring day. The baby bird somehow ended up in my water garden pool, which is only has a small amount of water in the winter. In the photo, you can see its wet feathers, which were preventing him from flying back out, so it huddles by the drainpipe, cold, wet and afraid. I donned a pair of gloves and removed him gently, setting him on the ground to dry.
Young Flicker perched on a drainpipe
Not all my photo opportunities result from rescues and not all result in good photos. Flickers are in the woodpecker/sap sucker family of birds. Other birds in that family visit my mountain home, such as the downy woodpeckers, shown in the photos below. These guys just stop by from time to time for a bite to eat from my suet cakes. The one on my trellis must have been during mating season as he was flying from spot to spot on the trellis making strange clicking sounds to attract a mate.
Then we have my resident ravens, who are very camera shy, but I manage to snap one every once in a while. The ravens are characters. They fly by and yell at you, “Caw! Caw!” and I’m just crazy enough to caw back at them. They watch the activity around my yard, often fly by real low to tease the dog, and steal things that you leave lying about, especially if it is shiny. One watches from the trees when I walk the dog, and wait until we are right below, then screams out a caw and flies away, thinking it a pretty good joke he played.
They are social birds. They frequently gather in large groups in neighboring horse fields, sometimes with their crow cousins, and jump up and down, cawing and acting silly. I call these little bird parties Raven Raves. Ravens mate for life, and at first, I had four resident birds, but a neighbor kid shot one down with a bb gun one summer. Those ravens flew madly, cawing and cawing for days afterward. They were in mourning. 😦
Most of the photos I get of the ravens are in flight, and they appear as small specks of black against a sky of blue and white. They don’t sit still often when they know you are watching. But I did get one nice photo of a pair perched in my tree, and a carefully placed game camera near my feeders caught a single raven swooping in to steal a bite.
Another bird rarely caught on camera except in flight are turkey vultures. As carrion eaters, turkey vultures have gotten kind of a bad rep. Their role in nature isn’t pretty, and neither are they, with their bald red heads, which actually serves a purpose of cleanliness for the birds. Just think how bad they would be if their bloody meals stuck to the feathers on their heads. They are commonly seen riding the wind currents on blustery days. I am not a fan of wind, but they truly enjoy the weather that makes me want to stay inside.
Other resident avians include juncos, chickadees, nuthatches and blue jays, which are her year round, and robins make their appearance each spring. Visiting birds include evening grossbeaks, colorful western tanagers, rock doves, and western bluebirds.
The blue jays are the neighborhood bullies. They fly in in flocks and take over the trees, chasing the littler birds such as juncos and chickadees away while they devour all the food I put out. They are a noisy bunch. That’s for sure.
The chickadees are what I call my little forest bandits, with their little black masks around their eyes. They are bold little birds, as the picture of the chickadee on the deck shows. That little guy was about an inch away from my foot. I have had them land on my hand and one summer, I sat and read in a sombrero with birdseed in the brim and the chickadees came and landed on the hat. They are real characters, and the inspiration for my children’s book, Charlie Chickadee Gets a New Home.
Nuthatches are my little acrobats, able to go down the tree trunk headfirst or even navigate branches completely upside down. Their black and white coloring reminds me of formal dinnerware. They are so cute. They are the inspiration for the character Nicholas Nuthatch in the above-mentioned book.
Juncos are mostly winter birds, although I see one or two occasionally in the summer. In the winter they flock in, feeding mostly on the ground rather than hitting the feeders in the trees, although they certainly are able.
I feel like I have raised several generations of robins. I watch the babies grow up each spring, then I see them return and have their own brood the following spring. I know because I get to know their markings.
But my favorite seasonal residents are the hummingbirds that stop by on their tract up from South America. These tiny birds are really amazing when you think about the massive distances they travel. I have two different kinds of hummingbirds that visit my mountain home. First arrivals in the spring are the rufus hummingbirds. Then, mid-summer we see the Allen’s come in, which are louder and more aggressive than the rufus, and the skies around my home become an ariel warzone as the Allen’s guard all the feeders. Apparently, they don’t like to share, but their arial antics never cease to amaze me. And of course, they are the inspiration for my children’s book, Heather Hummingbird Makes a New Friend.
Hummingbirds mate twice a year, so I get to welcome in two sets of new generation youngsters, and twice a year I get to enjoy their amazing courting dance as the males dive and swoop in their arial courting dance. They build their nests of grass and bark, and they are very well camouflaged. In fact, even with hummingbirds by the dozens every year, I’ve only once been able to spot a nest.
One fall we had a really early snow which caught us all by surprise, including the hummingbirds, which were huddled on snow cover branches, stuck and unable to fly in the storm. I placed a feeder under my porch so they could get to nourishment in a sheltered area and boy was it a big hit, as you can see in the video below.
Then there are the birds which just drop by occasionally to say hi and partake in the seed and suet cuisine at my bird sanctuary. Frequent visitors include Rock Doves, Bluebirds (which are much smaller than Blue Jays), Western Tanagers, and Sparrows.
Although they do not appear in my yard, the waterfowl in the area is pretty amazing, too. Below, are photos from my many trips to nearby Lake DeWeese, Canon City’s Centennial Park, or Salida’s Sand Lake.
I also see wild turkeys in the area, and they have wondered onto my property on occasion. They travel in flocks and roost in the treetops.
Two Wild Turkeys at the side of the road
That’s what I have to share for this month. Are any of you at there birdwatchers? Tell me about the birds in your area.
Until next time…
About Kaye Lynne Booth
For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; Books 1 & 2 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah and Sarah, and book 1 in her Time-Travel Adventure series, The Rock Star & The Outlaw, as well as her poetry collection, Small Wonders and The D.I.Y. Author writing resource.
Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press, where she edits and publishes two short fiction anthologies and one poetry anthology every year amidst her many writing projects. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.
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This post is sponsored by the My Backyard Friends Kid’s Book Series and WordCrafter Press.
The My Backyard Friends kid’s book series is inspired by the birds and animals that visit the author Kaye Lynne Booth’s mountain home. Beautiful illustrations by children’s author, poet, and illustrator, Robbie Cheadle, bring the unique voices of the animal characters to life.
Dr. Rowan Ashford is an elite equine trauma surgeon—precise, ambitious, and on the run from a career-ending crisis. Her task is simple: travel to the snowy isolation of Montana, save a prize stud named Legacy, and earn enough to wipe out a crushing, $500,000 debt. The only thing standing between her and financial freedom is Jake Wild, a formidable, stone-cold rancher whose only priority is the bottom line—the crippling ledger of Wild Acres.
Haunted by his father’s legacy of failure, Jake views Rowan as a temporary, high-cost asset. He’s determined to keep the brilliant, fiery surgeon who saved his horse at arm’s length, fearing that any emotional attachment will lead to the ultimate loss. But when a brutal winter blizzard traps them alone in the isolated ranch house, the fight for survival quickly ignites a desperate, undeniable passion.
Under the pressure of a life-or-death rescue, Jake’s stoic shell shatters, revealing the vulnerable man beneath. Rowan forces him to choose: cling to the past and the fear of commitment, or embrace a future where their passion is matched by a powerful, multi-million dollar partnership. The seduction of Wild Acres is fierce, but the vow they make in the firelight is forever.
I received a free digital copy of Wild Seduction, by Amber Everly, from the review program on Sandra’s Book Club in exchange for an honest review. All opinions stated here are my own.
I chose this book because I liked the cover. The cover image and the title told me the story would be western romance, which is right up my alley. Although I’m not a big romance reader, in 2018, I was a judge for the Western Writers of America Spur awards and romance was my category, so I can honestly say I’ve read a lot of western romance.
Luke Wild is a traditional rancher, who values the old ways handed down by his father. He bears the weight of his father’s legacy, but feels inadequate to carry it on, especially when the ranch is failing and on the verge of going under. Rowan is the headstrong veterinarian who can save his prize horse and the ranch with all her modern medicine and equipment, if he’ll give her control to do so. Two strong willed characters, they go head-to-head in the struggle to save the horse and accept each other for their strengths.
In Wild Seduction, Everly follows classic romance story structure, for the most part, and romance tropes, making this book 1 in the series. She veers from the standard his view/her view with alternating chapters by adding more than main two P.O.V. characters, Luke and Rowan, including brief chapter viewpoints of brothers Nick and Mike , and that of foreman Pete. We don’t hear a lot from these other characters, and I found it kind of distracting, as I couldn’t see the author’s purpose in including them. If they were being introduced because their stories will be told in subsequent books in the series, they did not feel important enough here, I felt like they were just there to make the reader aware of the characters, but that could have been accomplished through the viewpoint of Luke, and not felt out of place. That being said, I felt the alternating chapters worked well to let the story unfold.
I had some difficulty relating to the characters for a couple of different reasons. One, I am not familiar with the ranching world or the veterinary world, but Everly did a great job of introducing me to these other areas and educating me in an unobtrusive way. But also, these character’s insight is way too clear to be believable. Luke knows he’s his own greatest obstacle because of his feelings of obligation to tradition and his father’s ways. Rowan knows the faults that are holding her back, giving both of them clear choices to make. But I find most people are not that honest with themselves and must struggle to identify and admit what’s blocking them before they can deal with it, and I don’t see that happening with either of these characters. Usually everyone around can see the trouble before the main character does. But these two know who they are and what they want quite clearly, leaving the path to creating a romance with their opposites on a straight path with few surprises.
A classic western romance with a good volley between character point of views. I give Wild Seduction four quills.
About Kaye Lynne Booth
For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; Books 1 & 2 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah and Sarah, and Book 1 in her Time-Travel Adventure series, The Rock Star & The Outlaw, as well as her poetry collection, Small Wonders.
Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press, where she edits and publishes two short fiction anthologies and one poetry anthology every year amidst her many writing projects. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.
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Kaye Lynne Booth does honest book reviews on Writing to be Read in exchange for ARC digital copies, (she also accepts print copies). Have a book you’d like reviewed? You can request a review on the Book Review tab above.
