Book Review: “Wings of Tabat”
Posted: August 15, 2025 Filed under: Book Review, Books, Epic Fantasy, Fantasy, Fiction, Review | Tags: Book Reveiw, Cat Rambo, Epic Fantasy, Wings of Tabat, Writing to be Read Leave a comment
About Wings of Tabat
In the final book of Cat Rambo’s magical Tabat Quartet, we return to the city of Tabat, where Humans and magical Beasts co-exist—but uneasily. The exploited Beasts, used for both their labor and their very bodies, are finally fighting back, and turmoil abounds in the city.
At the same time, as Tabat prepares for its long-predicted elections, multiple factions are jostling for power—all of them preparing to oust the Duke. And the mysterious Circus of the Autumn Moon has departed from the College of Mages and is nowhere to be found.
Bella Kanto, once Champion of Tabat before being exiled for crimes she did not commit, has come home to her beloved city, carried by Dragons. If she is found, exiled Bella could be thrown into the Duke’s dark prisons.
Adelina, Bella’s former lover and best friend, has married Merchant Mage Sebastiano, but the two are still learning what it means to be in love with each other—and how to survive together.
Meanwhile, freed of his curse, Bella’s former companion Teo has escaped Lucy’s grasp, but finds the city an unwelcoming place nonetheless.
Now Bella must determine how to defend Tabat from a terrifying menace: the transfigured Lucy, transformed into a dangerous demigod. Monstrous in her power and angry at the city she feels has betrayed her, Lucy destroys the Duke’s castle and other vital parts of Tabat, raining down destruction and chaos, and threatening to eradicate the city entirely.
Now that she is reunited with her friends and family, can Bella manage to recapture her magical tie to Tabat in time to defeat Lucy before she destroys the city?
Purchase Link: https://www.amazon.com/Wings-Tabat-Quartet-Book-ebook/dp/B0FHC3M47Z
My Review of Wings of Tabat
I received a digital copy of Wings of Tabat, by Cat Rambo, from WordFire Press in exchange for an honest review. All opinions stated here are my own.
Wings of Tabat is the last book in The Tabat Quartet, by Cat Rambo. I had a hard time getting into the story because I was busy trying to figure out all the characters, with which I was unfamiliar because I hadn’t read the first three books. The author included a note to bring readers up to speed, but not knowing the characters and the world made it difficult to understand what has come before. Although some series books do well as stand alone, this series is epic fantasy, and there is need to be oriented in the world to be fully committed to the characters, so I recommend reading it through from the beginning.
Tabat is currently ruled by the Duke, but the city is in unrest and the upcoming elections threaten to change all that. The beasts are tired of being slaves and being treated as less than the humans, and there are humans who feel the state of things, where beasts are concerned, is wrong and needs to be corrected.
The champion of Tabat, Bella Canto, has been exiled by the Duke. Something has happened to a young girl, Obedience, to turn her evil and give her great power, turning her into Lucy, who is bent on revenge to all who have wronged her, as she sees it. Now, she has returned to Tabat to wreck havoc on the Duke and the city at large, and make the people she holds responsible pay.
But Bella Canto has also returned to Tabat, hoping to reclaim the city that she loves, and once loved her. As it turns out, she may be the city’s only hope, if she can gather the city’s magic once more.
Once I felt a connection with some of the characters, I was able to better get into this epic tale. I give Wings of Tabat 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 her Time-Travel Adventure novel, 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. 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 ARCs. Have a book you’d like reviewed? You can request a review on the Book Review tab above.
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Everyone is a Critic: “Red Eye”
Posted: August 11, 2025 Filed under: Everyone is a Critic, Movie Review, Movies, Psychological Thriller, Thriller | Tags: Everyone is a Critic, Kaye Lynne Booth, Movie Review, Psychological Thriller, Red Eye, Writing to be Read 4 Comments
I stumbled upon this movie on Pluto TV and thought I’d give it a try. I don’t know what I was expecting when I chose it. At the beginning, I thought I’d picked up a romance, when the protagonist, Lisa (Rachel McAdams), meets a man, Jackson (Cillian Murphy), at the airport and they have a drink together. This impression was reinforced for me when he ends up on the same Red Eye flight and he takes the seat next to hers. My mind was quickly changed when his true intentions are revealed and it becomes obvious that this story is actually a smashing psychological thriller.
It is no coincidence that they met, or that they were on the same flight, for it turns out Jackson has been watching Lisa for quite some time, and his plans involve using her for his own dark purposes after making her his psychological hostage, threatening to do harm to someone she loves. It turns out Jackson is an international terrorist, making Lisa a vital part of his diabolical plan for a political assassination.
Both the main characters play their parts convincingly and I was easily sucked in and swept away in this gripping thriller. Directed by Wes Craven, this movie exceeds the B list in both the writing of the story and in the performance of the actors. I was pleasantly surprised by my discovery of Red Eye and if you enjoy psychological thrillers, you will, too.
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 her Time-Travel Adventure novel, 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. 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 Midnight Anthology Series and WordCrafter Press.
Midnight Roost: Weird and Creepy Stories: 20 authors bring your nightmares to life in 23 stories of ghosts, paranormal phenomenon and the horror from the dark crevasses of their minds. Stories of stalkers, both human and supernatural, possession and occult rituals, alien visitations of the strange kind, and ghostly tales that will give you goosebumps. These are the tales that will make you fear the dark. Read them at the Midnight Roost… if you dare. https://www.amazon.com/Midnight-Roost-Kaye-Lynne-Booth-ebook/dp/B0CL6FPLVJ
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Midnight Oil: Stories to Fuel Your Nightmares: Coming in October, 2025!
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Book Review: “Mason’s Missing”
Posted: August 8, 2025 Filed under: Book Review, Books, Crime, Fiction, Mystery, Review | Tags: Book Review, Mason's Missing, mystery, Teresa Burrell, Writing to be Read 4 CommentsAbout Mason’s Missing
Reluctant Allies, Small-town Secrets, & Stormy Weather
Old cowboy-turned-fixer TUPER is hired to find five-year-old MASON, who was likely taken by his father. But when Mason’s father is found dead, the boy is nowhere to be seen.
In a futile search during a cold Montana blizzard, TUPER and his hacker friend LANA pursue a quest that blurs into insanity
and murder. As wounded TUPER fights to stay alive in the bitter cold, LANA searches cyberspace and finds someone working hard to ensure secrets remain secret—especially Mason’s true identity.
Mason’s Missing is the first book in the Tuper Mystery Series and a gripping tale of suspense and redemption that will keep you hooked until the end.
Purchase Link: https://www.amazon.com/Masons-Missing-Tuper-Mystery-Book-ebook/dp/B075963GJB
My Review of Mason’s Missing
I purchased a digital copy of Mason’s Missing, by Teresa Burrell via a Saturday Bookbub deal. All opinions stated here are my own.
Mason’s Missing is tale filled with mystery from beginning to end. Right from the start, things begin not adding up, and the more Tupor uncovers, the more mysteries are revealed. Tupor is the protagonist, an aging cowboy turned investigator. A worried mother comes to him, asking him to help find her abducted son, Mason, pointing a finger at her estranged husband. But, when the husband turns up murdered, Tupor soon questions if the woman is who she says she is. And who is Mason, really?
This mystery kept me guessing until the end, where author Burrell ties things up nicely and all is revealed. I give Mason’s Missing 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 her Time-Travel Adventure novel, 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. 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 ARCs. Have a book you’d like reviewed? You can request a review on the Book Review tab above.
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LINDSEY’S WRITING PRACTICE: Punch Up Your Writing with Parallelism
Posted: August 6, 2025 Filed under: Lindsey's Writing Practice, Writing | Tags: Lindsey's Writing Practice, Parrallelism, Writing, Writing to be Read 2 Comments
Many superb professional writers—poets, playwrights, novelists, and essayists—often use parallelism to structure sentences in an eye-catching way. Note how various forms of parallelism can engage readers with its sounds, rhythms and imagery. And you can do this, too, First, examine these samples of experts using parallelism to structure sentences. (I ask students to choose two different sorts of repetition and create their own sentences using that specific repetition format—but with their own words and sentences.):
1. THE REPETITION OF KEY WORDS
A. Basal repetition—the repetition of key particles, especially prepositions and articles.
“I have a dream my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
—Martin Luther King, “I have a Dream”
B. Conceptual Repetition—the repetition of major conceptual terms, particularly nouns, verbs, or adjectives.
“There warn’t no color in his face, where his face showed: It was white; not like another man’s white, but a white to make a body sick, a white to make a body’s flesh crawl—a tree toad white, a fish-belly white.”
—Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
NOTE—This format is my favorite. And here’s my sentence employing Conceptual Repetition: Her eyes were deep blue: not a cornflower blue, not like a typical sunny-sky blue, but deeper than that, a blue as deep as an ocean, a blue that lured you into them—a blue that held you so tightly you couldn’t resist them.
C. Parallel Modification—using the same word to modify two different words in a sentence.
“False face must hide what the false heart doth know.”
—William Shakespeare, Macbeth
D. Isocolon—precise word-for-word repetition of two or more members (phrases, clauses, and so forth) with the exception of one or two words.
“. . . He did not know the Somali proverb that says a brave man is always frightened three times by a lion: when he first sees his track, when he first hears him roar, and when he first confronts him.”
—Ernest Hemingway, “The Short Happy Life of Frances Macomber”
2. THE USE OF OPPOSITE WORDS (ANTITHESIS)
“The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.”
—Proverbs 22:7 (KJV)
3. THE REPETITION OF GRAMMATICAL ELEMENTS
A. Nominal
“The hazy sunlight, the warm and drowsy air, the tender foliage, the opening flowers, betokened the reviving life of nature.”
—Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi
B. Verbal
“Suddenly one of these gypsies, in trembling opal, seizes a cocktail out of the air, dumps it down for courage, and, moving her hands like Frisco, dances out alone on the platform.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
C. Participial
“They move in orderly lines around the box, crowding one another precisely, without injury, peering down, nodding, and then backing off to let new people in.”
–Lewis Thomas, The Lives of a Cell
D. Infinitival
“Manny Greenhill is hoping to get Miss Baez to write a book, to be in a movie, and to get around to recording the rock ‘n’ roll songs.”
—Joan Didion, “Where the Kissing Never Stops”
E. Gerundive
“And with her cries came the sound of hoofs and the beating of wings and the roaring of lions.”
—Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
F. Adjectival
“His features are strong and masculine, with an Austrian Lip, an arched Nose, his Complexion olive, his Countenance erect, his Body and Limbs well proportioned, all his Deportment majestick.”
—Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels
G. Adverbial
“The Bible’s account of Moses is, alas, as geographically perplexing as it is spiritually enlightening.”
—National Geographic
Now it’s your turn: Select at least two of these format and write a sentence emulating the form by repeating the a specific word in the format one of these writers used. Good luck—and have fun.
About Lindsey Martin-Bowen
On Halloween 2023, redbat books released Lindsey Martin-Bowen’s 7th poetry collection, CASHING CHECKS with Jim Morrison. Her 4 th collection, Where Water Meets the Rock, was nominated for a Pulitzer; her 3rd, CROSSING KANSAS with Jim Morrison was a finalist in the QuillsEdge Press 2015-2016 Contest. In 2017, it won the Kansas Writers Assn award, “Looks Like a Million.” Writer’s Digest gave her “Vegetable Linguistics” an Honorable Mention in its 85th Annual (2017) Contest. Her Inside Virgil’s Garage (Chatter House Press 2013) was a runner-up in the 2015 Nelson Poetry Book Award. McClatchy Newspapers named her Standing on the Edge of the World (Woodley Press/Washburn University) was one of the Ten Top Poetry Books of 2008. It was nominated for a Pen Award.
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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 “Lindsey’s Writing Practice” is 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.
Stop by and see what we have to offer today: https://writingtoberead.com/readings-for-writers/wordcrafter-quality-writing-author-services/
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Call for Submissions: Into the Deep Dark Woods
Posted: August 5, 2025 Filed under: Anthology, Call for submissions, Dark fiction, Short Fiction, Stories | Tags: Call for submissions, Into the Deep Dark Woods, Short Fction, Stories, Western State Colorado University, Writing to be Read 4 Comments
The 2025-26 cohorts for Western Colorado State University’s Master’s in Publishing program have put out a call for submissions. As always, this call is a paying gig, so be sure to READ THE SUBMISSION GUIDELINES AND FOLLOW THEM. If you’ve got a story that fits, or a story idea that you want to bring to life with this theme, then get busy writing and polishing because the deadline is October 15th, 2025. You can find their submission guidelines at the link below.
https://wordfirewestern.moksha.io/publication/into-the-deep-dark-woods/guidelines?fbclid
Good luck and happy writing! 🙂
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Writer’s Corner: Independent Author (Key Word – Independent)
Posted: August 4, 2025 Filed under: Book Covers, Indie Publishing, Publishing, Self-Publishing, Writer's Corner, Writing | Tags: Author, Books, independent publishing, Publishing, Self-Publishing, Writer's Corner, Writing, Writing to be Read 6 Comments
Author’s Note: This was mistakenly published last Monday, along with the “WordCrafter News” post, so you may have already seen it. I’m re-publishing it on its scheduled day for those who may not have caught it on the earlier date. I’m not sure what happened, but please forgive the misposting.
I studied the craft of writing in the master’s program at Western State Colorado University from 2012-2016. At that time, the term ‘independent author’ left a bad taste in most author’s mouth. Times were rapidly changing in the publishing industry as independent publishing grew in popularity among authors who were tired of waiting to be discovered, which often took many years, and sometimes, not at all. But at that time, the term was associated with poorly written and cheaply manufactured books which were flooding the market by authors who not only wanted to bypass the gatekeepers of traditional publishing but also wanted to use independent publishing as a short cut, skipping over editing, as well, which in most cases, was badly needed.
As I said, things were rapidly changing in the publishing industry, and today, we’ve seen the ‘Big Five’ traditional publishers, dwindle down to the ‘Big Three’, as they struggle to try and keep up with those changes as independent authors take advantage of new technology which make it possible to publish themselves both cheaper and easier. With digital eBooks and aggregates like Draft2Digital, which use P.O.D. (Publish On Demand) for print books, there are no up-front costs to publish your work, and once everything is ready to publish, the whole process can be done in just a few hours. The rise of independent authors has forced traditional publishers to change and adapt, or become extinct.
The key word in ‘Independent Author’ is Independent. Independent authors don’t need to wait for someone to take interest in their work, but we must remember that this also makes us a business and we’re the boss, and we are solely responsible for the quality of the product we put out. Independent publishing should not be used as a short cut to avoid having your book edited, because in most cases, it’s pretty obvious.
That being said, many authors today chose independent publishing because of the control it gives them. Like I said, we are our own bosses. That means we can control the quality of our work, and everything else: title, cover, price, production, and promotion. Certainly, this was one of the main reasons that I chose to become an independent author after gaining a five-year contract for my first novel and finding that having a publisher wasn’t giving me any advantage in selling Delilah. The cover they had given me was not representative of the character or the story, and as far as I could tell, they provided little or no promotion. I began WordCrafter Press and started publishing collaborative projects long before that contract ran out, and when it did, I revised Delilah to be the first in my Women in the West series. I had to learn new skills to provide my own covers, and find people willing to edit my work in an exchange of services due to my limited budget, but when the book was re-released, I sold more copies a month than my publisher had in five years.
With my recent computer issues, I was glad that I had control of my work and the decision-making process. Because I had limited computer time and was writing in longhand and doing most of my publishing and promotional tasks on my phone, I wasn’t able to keep up with my promotion schedule and had to push back the publishing dates on my own work in order to keep my collaborative projects on schedule and as the boss and decision maker, I was able to do that. It was a tough decision. I have the second book in my Time Travel series near ready to publish, and although I’ve outlined the third book in the Women in the West Adventure series, I’ve not yet begun to write it. Both of these books may need to be pushed back so far as to be added to next year’s production schedule, but I’m thankful for the freedom to do so. Had I been working with traditional publishers, my deadlines would have been set in stone, and I would not have been able to make them.
Just as the child who can’t wait to grow up soon learns that growing up means taking responsibility for one’s self, so the independent author is also responsible for creating and presenting their own work to the world. Hopefully, we all want that to be the best work that it can possibly be, and we will take the proper steps to ensure that it is, making the best decisions possible for our work. With freedom, comes responsibility, so use both wisely in your author journey.
Until next month,
Happy Writing!
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 her Time-Travel Adventure novel, 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. 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 the Robbie’s Inspiration blog site, where you can find ideas on writing and baking with hostess, Robbie Cheadle.
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Undawntech: Deep Fake Down
Posted: August 2, 2025 Filed under: AI Technology, Undawntech | Tags: AI Technology, Deep Fakes, Undawntech, Writing to be Read Leave a comment
Greetings, Undawntechs!
Since the public unveiling of Artificial Intelligence (AI), there have been an increasing number of disturbing images being published online. The combination of AI, imagery, and trickery is known as a “Deep Fake.” Deep Fake is an image or recording, which has been altered and manufactured to misrepresent a person to such a degree that others believe that the aforementioned person acted or spoke, but did not do so.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deepfake
In recent years, many people have become prey to depraved predators. Celebrities first were targets of lewd scenes, as well as videos, portraying them in a sexualized manner. Next, girls and women in a private capacity were victims of such unscrupulous and degrading behaviors turned into public fare. Thanks now to the Take It Down Act, the nonconsensual publication of intimate images is a criminal act and platforms must remove such items as a part of a “notice-and-removal” process at the depicted individual’s request.
Sexual content is not the only vignette that has been misused. Politicians’ speech and depictions have become fodder for the irregular warfare crowd. Irregular warfare (IW), is “a form of warfare where states and non-state actors campaign to assure or coerce states or other groups through indirect, non-attributable, or asymmetric activities, neither as the primary approach or in concert with conventional warfare.” Another form of this IW is fifth-generation warfare (5GW), 5GW encompasses non-kinetic military actions such as misinformation, cyberattacks, and social engineering, rather than traditional military force.
Also, see Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012: https://www.congress.gov/bill/112th-congress/house-bill/5736
www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/IF/PDF/IF12565/IF12565.5.pdf
stratheia.com/5th-generation-war-and-global-challenges
Welcome to the war you were unaware of that you are a repeat casualty. For years, governments around the world have conducted influence operations online and through the media. Rumors, speculation have created an unhealthy drive toward destroying people’s lives, livelihoods, and reputations.
In addition, the sphere of influence is a means of thought and behavior control over the general populace. Physicians were banned from social media after confronting the lies during the “pandemic.” Political operatives were deplatformed from online venues as well as banks. People knew that if they stepped out of line from the mainstream narrative that there were consequences.
This command-and-control infrastructure has created a network of global corporate control, which was manufactured through libertarian governmental deregulation, changing laws to benefit only large transnational conglomerates, and the desire to dismantle nation-states for lawless regimes and a one-world government. The times of corporate neutrality without national laws are over. It used to be that the market decided who the winners and losers were in the products and services division of economies. Now, corporations are stepping into the arena as payment processors are demanding online games to be removed from consumption due to their “morality” clauses and other contractual nonsense, only used as specific political, social regulation.
www.sg.ethz.ch/publications/2011/vitali2011the-network-of
Wonder when the slippery slope was established? Look no further than President Ronald Reagan’s Executive Order 12564—Drug-Free Federal Workplace on September 15, 1986. This invasion of privacy has allowed employers and corporations to make your decisions for you. All in the name of just saying: no.
http://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/executive-order-12564-drug-free-federal-workplace
Isn’t that special?
Well, at least the peeping Toms of the world cannot publish their depraved fantasies about their victims anymore. We just have to worry about corporate “morality” envisioning a world where no one has rights, including of judgment and privacy, to justify their actions and existence.
Isn’t that a form of irregular warfare too?
Maybe it’s time we just said: NO, again.
——-~o0o~—oOo—~o0o~~——
The Reality Hackers
If you would like to read a dark fiction tale about how technology is used as a consciousness gateway, read my story, The Reality Hackers. This publication is available in novelette form on Amazon. Or, read the short story version in WordCrafter’s Visions anthology.
For more information, visit: http://www.undawnted.com/p/the-reality-hackers.html
About the Author
DL Mullan holds a Master of Arts in Teaching and Learning with Technology.
Her lecture, Spacescapes: Where Photography Ends; Imagination Begins, debuted at the Phoenix Astronomy Society, which then led to her Sally Ride Festival lecture invitations. Her presentation, Bridging the Gap between Technology and Women, won her accolades at a community college’s Student Success Conference. She has been a panelist at speculative fiction, science fiction, and other regional conventions. Her digital exhibition pieces have won awards at convention art shows, as well as garnered her Second Premium at the Arizona State Fair. Currently, Ms. Mullan’s artistic renditions are seen on book covers, blog sites, and various merchandise. As an independent publisher, she uses her technical background to innovate the way she perceives the creative arts.
As a writer, DL Mullan loves to stretch her imagination and the elasticity of genres. She writes complex multigenre stories in digestible and entertaining forms, be it poetry, short fiction, or novels. Her science, history, mythology, and paranormal research background is woven into her writings, especially in Undawnted’s Legacy Universe. Ms. Mullan’s creative endeavors are available in digital and print collections, from academia to commercial anthologies. She is also a record label owner, an electronic musician and award-winning poet.
Be sure to subscribe to her newsletters and follow her on social media. For further information, visit her at www.undawntech.com and www.undawnted.com.
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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 “Un dawn tech” is sponsored by The D.I.Y. Author and WordCrafter Press.ever before. Whether you pursue independent or traditional publishing models, or a combination of the two, being an author involves not only writing, but often, the publishing and marketing of the book.In this writer’s reference guide, multi-genre author and independent publisher, Kaye Lynne Booth shares her knowledge and experiences and the tools, books, references and sites to help you learn the business of being an author.
Topics Include:
- Becoming Prolific
- Writing Tools
- Outlining
- Making Quality a Priority
- Publishing Models & Trends
- Marketing Your Book
- Book Covers & Blurbs
- Book Events—In Person & Virtual
- And more…
Get your copy today: https://books2read.com/The-DIY-Author
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Mind Fields: “Ugly”
Posted: July 30, 2025 Filed under: Mind Fields, Poetry | Tags: Arthur Rosch, Mind Fields, Poetry, Writing to be Read 2 Comments
Unfortunately
There is really ugly
And I don’t mean an ugly look
I mean an ugly vibe a thing that got loose
Like a contagion
It wears a face
An ugly face
It is shrill
It steams like poop
That’s how ugly and
I’m having a tough time
Getting that shit out of my head. I mean
It’s everywhere
I can’t take a piss without hearing about ugly
Can’t wipe my ass without comparing uglies
And I’m a beautiful lad, trust me, I am.
I don’t like ugly but it’s the opposite of beautiful
And what can you do? That’s the way shit works: there
Isn’t one thing without the other. So if ugly has to exist
I better change myself to accommodate
Make rom in my spirit for such crap cuz it isn’t going away
Any time soon.
About Arthur Rosch
Arthur Rosch is a novelist, musician, photographer and poet. His works are funny, memorable and often compelling. One reviewer said “He’s wicked and feisty, but when he gets you by the guts, he never lets go.” Listeners to his music have compared him to Frank Zappa, Tom Waits, Randy Newman or Mose Allison. These comparisons are flattering but deceptive. Rosch is a stylist, a complete original. His material ranges from sly wit to gripping political commentary.
Arthur was born in the heart of Illinois and grew up in the western suburbs of St. Louis. In his teens he discovered his creative potential while hoping to please a girl. Though she left the scene, Arthur’s creativity stayed behind. In his early twenties he moved to San Francisco and took part in the thriving arts scene. His first literary sale was to Playboy Magazine. The piece went on to receive Playboy’s “Best Story of the Year” award. Arthur also has writing credits in Exquisite Corpse, Shutterbug, eDigital, and Cat Fancy Magazine. He has written five novels, a memoir and a large collection of poetry. His autobiographical novel, Confessions Of An Honest Man won the Honorable Mention award from Writer’s Digest in 2016.
More of his work can be found at www.artrosch.com
Photos at https://500px.com/p/artsdigiphoto?view=photos
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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 “Mind Fields” is sponsored by the Roberta Writes blog site, where you can find the poetry, photos, videos, and book reviews by Robbie Cheadle and so much more.
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Book Review: “The Poison Dart”
Posted: July 18, 2025 Filed under: Book Review, Books, Crime, Fiction, Mystery, Review, Thriller | Tags: Book Review, Geri L Dreiling, mystery, The Poison Dart, Writing to be Read 11 CommentsAbout The Poison Dart
The ripple effects of an overdose send shock waves through a community.
A sweeping drug bust upends lives, exposing the cartel’s deep reach into the Midwest.
A quest for a better life threatens to destroy a family.
As Debbie Bradley digs deeper into each story, startling connections emerge. When fates collide, who will survive?
My Review of The Poison Dart
I received a digital copy of The Poison Dart, by Geri L. Dreiling, from the author, through Sandra’s Book Club, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions stated here are my own.
The Poison Dart is a Debbie Bradley mystery. The name of the series didn’t intrigue me, but the title of the book did. So, I was a little disappointed to finish the story with no poisoned Dart to be found…, although a poison frog which they make poison darts from did make an appearance. In after thought, I found the title misleading and felt the author didn’t deliver on the promise of the premise.
That being said, it is a decent story that keeps you guessing. Debbie Bradley is a reporter on the crime beat who is determined to get her story. What appears to be a story about a fentanyl laced heroine overdose, takes her deep into cartel territory as she follows her leads to discover the source of the tainted drugs.
Just out of rehab, Caleb Webb is ready to celebrate, as he reunites with old pals Macie and Alex, but things go wrong quickly when Caleb’s ride turns overdose and Macie’s Narcan doesn’t bring him around. But, Debbie has a feeling that Macie isn’t being totally honest with the police, but who is she trying to protect? And what isn’t she telling them?
After Caleb’s parents and brother, Connor accuse Macie of being the source, and murdering him, Macie confides in Debbie, that she’s carrying Caleb’s baby and doesn’t know where to turn. Because she is a long term addict, her parents are fed up, and Caleb’s family thinks she killed him. Debbie wants to help the girl, who is hesitant, not knowing who she can trust.
Although the title is misleading, I give The Poison Dart 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 her Time-Travel Adventure novel, 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. 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 ARCs. Have a book you’d like reviewed? You can request a review on the Book Review tab above.
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Review in Practice: “$10k Secrets”
Posted: July 14, 2025 Filed under: Advertising, Anthology, Book Review, Book Sales, Books, marketing, Nonfiction, Review in Practice | Tags: $10K Secrets, Adriana Tica, Alex Mathers, Ana Calin, Book Review, Claudia Faith, David McIlroy, Derek Hughs, Jari Romer, Karen Cherry, Landon Poburan, Nick Wolney, Philip Hofmacher, Review in Practice, Russell Nohelty, Sinem Gunel, Substack, Veronica Llorca-Smith, Writing to be Read, Yana G.Y. 14 CommentsMost authors would love to make $10k a month from their writing business. I know I would. I’m always looking for ways to increase my writing income. So when I was offered a free copy of a book titled $10k Secrets, I snatched it up without a second thought.
This free book is not a How To, but rather a collection of essays by different creators, marketers, and entrepreneurs who share their methods of generating $10k a month from their work. Many can be applied to a writing business, even if the author of the piece references coaching or teaching, etc…
Many give testimony to the value of an email list, (an area in which I’m lacking), or Social Media Following, which we all know is important. Most of them involve use of the Substack platform, which I am not familiar with, but the principles can be applied on other platforms which I do use, or plan to use in the future. I’ve been toying with the idea of using a subscription platform for some time now and I’ve been looking at the Ream platform to publish my Playground for the Gods science fantasy series. Since Ream is geared more toward fiction writer’s, and my understanding of Substack is more of a newsletter platform, the two are quite different, but I see possibilities for adapting some of the Substack concepts suggested.
I realize that all my past attempts at doing a consistent newsletter have been dismal failures, and my email list is non-existent. The essay by Claudia Faith which shares how to grow your newsletter through story telling sparked some ideas for me on this subject, too. I know this is a weak area for me, so perhaps a new newsletter platform is the solution.So, I’ll be checking out the Substack platform in the near future.
However, I have to wonder if my audience would be receptive to the idea of either a subscription newsletter or a subscription for a story in serial form. I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts in the comments, especially if you have used either of the two platforms.
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But, growing a substantial email list is not the only way to build your income, and among the fifteen featured essays author Phillip Hofmacher shares how he does it by marketing online courses and digital merchandise, Ana Calin shares how to do it with brand deals, Landon Poburan shares how to do it with free content, high- ticket offers and diversified income streams, Karen Cherry shares her method using niche B2B content, Jari Roomer shares how to build and launch a $10k mini-course, Nick Wolny shares how to write big ticket service proposals, and Sinem Gunel shares how to use a webinar to generate $10k in sales each month.
Many of these methods are still out of my grasp, but I picked up tidbits from each essay which could be useful and tucked away those that might be useful down the road. The essay by Russell Nohelty shares how to take content from blog to book to create monetized content was of particular interest. I’ve taken blog content and transformed it into a book with the Ask the Authors series, which began as a two month long, weekly blog series interviewing different authors. It’s a lot of work- first to create the blog content, and then compiling it all into book format, but this essay made me consider giving it another try.
What I didn’t like about this strategy was the fact that in order to publish on Amazon, the content could not be available for free online, so before publishing each book, all that blog content had to be pulled down. I don’t like having to disassemble my blog to publish a book. The last Ask the Authors book I published was in 2022, so I’m wondering if this is still the case. Definitely something to look into.
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 her Time-Travel Adventure novel, 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. 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 “Review in Practice” 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.
Get Your Copy Now.
Heather Hummingbird Makes a New Friend (Ages 3-5): https://books2read.com/MBF-HeatherHummingbird
Timothy Turtle Discovers Jellybeans (Ages 3-5): https://books2read.com/MBF-TimothyTurtle
Charlie Chickadee Gets a New Home (Ages 6-8): https://books2read.com/MBF-CharlieChickadee
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