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GUEST POST: Chronic Illness in Death Rights by Shannon Knight

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On May 8, 2025

In Books, Miscellany, News/Misc.

Shannon Knight popped into my email inbox last week (technically, it was an email from Shannon, not Shannon herself) with a Guest Post. This was great news for me–I love Shannon’s Guest Posts, and I appreciated the night off from writing. Then I read this post, and it deals with one of my favorite aspects of her new novel. What could be better? I really appreciate this post for several reasons, and I hope you enjoy it. Also, be sure to check out the books mentioned–you’ll be pleased that you did.

Chronic Illness in Death Rights
by Shannon Knight

So, I write action-adventures. Therefore, cerebral essays like this run the risk of giving readers the wrong idea. Thus, the cautionary intro wherein I explain that my stories are meant to blow your hair back, but I also believe in depth. Let’s be real—it makes the story more fun.

Death Rights, my latest, has the misfortune of being a middle book. That’s right, folks. You’ve got to read book one first, or what’s even the point? And yet, I’ve discovered that I’m the type of writer who likes to make something really new with each book, and being in a series didn’t stop me. Death Rights has quite a bit of civil rights focus, which I wrote about in another article. For you all, I’d like to talk about disability and chronic illness instead.

Like a lot of people, I got Covid in 2020. Like a lot of people, I never returned to health. I spent about two and half years mostly bedbound. Now I’m mostly housebound. Along with Long Covid, I gained a couple other diagnoses, including myalgic encephalomyelitis, which is quite a mouthful, so people like to call it ME (just say the two letters). ME is classified as a neurological disease with medical history associated with the name beginning in the 1930s. ME appears post-trauma, most commonly after a viral infection. Therefore, the Covid pandemic is creating a significant number of new ME patients. ME is incredibly debilitating and comes in a spectrum of mild to severe, with “mild” being immensely rough and “severe” being so bad that people not experiencing it tend to be unable to even believe that something so awful is possible. This spectrum, interestingly, creates more problems as the differences between cases can be so profound as to make them seem like entirely different illnesses.

Cover of Death Rights by Shannon Knight When I spent those years in bed, I had a support group of other people with the same sickness. The group chatted and shared experiences using Slack, so I could talk with them in my bed by typing into my phone. I found and shared an article about these Chinese women, best friends, who had bought a house together. They had each been renting apartments, but for the same money, they could own and share a full house with a garden and gazebo. We started daydreaming about this prospect. Wouldn’t it be lovely? When you become seriously ill, you tend to lose your income, which often means losing your housing. You also tend to lose your friends and even family. Spouses, especially men, quickly abandon their sick partners—so much for “in sickness and in health.” People were selling everything they owned. They were moving back in with elderly parents. Often, family that they moved in with were not understanding. They thought that if they just tried a little harder, they could stand or walk or participate in some gathering. The group talked about wishing they could pool money and live together somewhere where they didn’t have to explain their sickness to someone who couldn’t comprehend it. They imagined how well they might heal or simply live without added stressors.

I created a home that exists in Grave Cold, book one of Grave Chronicles, but features in Death Rights, book two, where a group of people with ME live together. We meet three members of the household. The set-up of the household was something I had daydreamed. When your immune system is not functioning properly and a virus has devastated your life, the very last thing you want is a new viral exposure. Yet, the Covid-19 pandemic showcased how very ready other people are to expose a vulnerable person. Psychology reports explained that people would hide their own positive status as a viral carrier for personal convenience. Additionally, asymptomatic carriers accounted for 60% of the cases, so anyone who felt and appeared healthy, could also be an active carrier. On top of that, people who had felt their own Covid experiences were not difficult decided that it wasn’t important if they exposed other people to Covid. They felt they had the right to choose what level of viral exposure another person should experience. Therefore, the house setup included a carriage house, or separate house structure, so all deliveries could be dropped there, all visiting could happen there, and the main house could remain a safe refuge for a vulnerable group of people. Similarly, a backyard space allowed for gathering or outdoor activities for the residents able to step outside, and a beautiful space for those able to look outside. All of the floors and paths were designed to accommodate wheelchairs and walking aids.

As Grave Chronicles is science fiction, I was able to include a variety of positive technology meant to clean the air. I believe upgraded systems of this sort will be a true part of our future. Just as we have learned to clean the water, we must clean the air. We have learned the lesson, but we still need to follow through on the widespread implementation. However, I didn’t want the updated technology to exclude the need for additional protective gear, such as respirators, because it was important to show characters taking small steps to protect and care for each other. Let’s normalize care and empathy. Let’s accept that it’s right and good to take steps to benefit people, even if the advantage is entirely for others.

Elise Wilson and Neha Patel are the two characters with ME that we spend the most time with. People associate the ill and disabled with poverty, homelessness, and a wide swath of negative ideas meant to blame them for their situation. If we blame them, then we can feel comfortable that this difficult situation will never happen to ourselves. This is part of ableism. When we blame and separate, then we give ourselves a reason to disassociate and rescind our good will and help. However, in order to have this lovely property with not one but two houses, lots of money had to be involved! As illness and disability can happen to anyone, then that includes those with wealth. Elise is the homeowner and primary person behind supporting the household. Neha had been a lawyer prior to becoming chronically ill. The story provides glimpses of each of them as real people. Neha likes gardening and decorates her rollator with anime stickers. Elise is protective and aims her energy at studies related to research and treatments for those suffering from ME.Cover of Grave Cold by Shannon Knight

In Grave Chronicles, ravens are long-lived people who send the dead to eternal rest. They’re a type of psychopomp. For their long lives to work, they have incredible self-healing powers, which become central to elements of the plot within the series. Self-healing also highlights a different angle of ableism, because there’s an idea that those who are superior do not get sick or will always recover from sickness. This connects with eugenics and ugly ideas that a person’s worth is tied to their abilities or contributions and not an inherent quality. Grave Cold includes some dark scenes in which the sick are seen as not trying hard enough. Death Rights builds off that notion, asking if those who don’t know and experience the desperate struggle of illness, disability, and old age are missing a core component of what it means to be human.

I hope readers of Death Rights are entertained by a thrilling adventure, but I also hope they feel moved by various moments in the story, and that after they’ve finished reading, some thoughts linger regarding chronic illness, how society treats the ill and disabled, the value of research and treatments for the chronically ill, and the inherent value that we all have simply by being alive. As you’re dwelling on these ideas, I hope you’ll do your best in your personal ways to help us all make this world a better place. Small actions can have ripple effects. The choices of a single person, even you, can change this world. We may not live long enough to see the full impact of the choices we’ve made in our lives, but that doesn’t mean we can’t strive even for the tomorrows that we ourselves will never see.

Grave Chronicles Protect the Dead Covers

Find your copies!

Grave Cold (Grave Chronicles #1) https://books2read.com/GraveCold

Death Rights (Grave Chronicles #2) https://books2read.com/DeathRights

Shannon Knight lives in the Pacific Northwest with her most excellent cat. Their adventurous lives include coffee, reading, ribbon games, and K-dramas. Shannon graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor’s in English. She is the author of Death Rights, Domestication, Grave Cold, Insiders, and Wish Givers. Sign up for her newsletter at https://shannonknight.net/.

 

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GUEST POST: How Reading Can Help You Grow a Short Story into a Novel by Reena Bhojwani

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On March 7, 2025

In Books, Miscellany, News/Misc.

Earlier today, I posted a spotlight about Reena Bhojwani’s novel Fragrant Soup. Now, I’ve got this look behind the scenes as Reena describes part of how she transformed this short story into a novel. I know she has more to say along these lines, and I hope she comes back to share some more. Either way, I’m very glad to present this Guest Post.

How Reading Can Help You Grow a Short Story into a Novel

I grew my short story of 5000 words into a novel with the same name that’s now over 62,000 words long.

So the question is how? And the answer is not linear. Although, one of the things I did very consciously and throughout was: reading.

I jumped in with both feet and scoured the Internet and the local libraries for books. I read some non-fiction  articles, blogs and memoirs, but I also tried to read within the genre I was trying to write, which brought me to various forms of Asian fantasy stories. I tried to keep it to Young Adult and Middle Grade Asian and South East Asian Fantasy stories because they were closest to my target. However, on the side I continued to read romance novels, thriller, horror and a bit of middle grade fiction but not specifically Asian fantasy. I needed to know what was out there so I would know how to answer the annoying question “What books are your books like?” And also “What books are you books not like?”

Some other reasons to read widely were:

For sensitivity: This was me reading as a writer to see how sensitive or potentially offensive subject matter was dealt with when I read within my genre. For example, how certain descriptive phrases were written or how certain (possibly) taboo concepts were covered by certain writers. Taking notes either on a separate page or on post-its to then stick into the book as I read started becoming a habit.

For style: Again, this would mean reading as a writer. To be aware of nuances in dialogue, description and pacing. When I read other genres, I noticed things like choice of narrative perspective, chapter lengths and other devices that I would otherwise have allowed to slip through the cracks. Why certain things were done and certain choices were made while others were not. This is where I started noticing there were several books written with snippets of Mandarin, but I didn’t come across any with Cantonese in them.

For inspiration: I ended up getting so many ideas for my story while I was reading other pieces of fiction. However, inspiration doesn’t mean plagiarising.  Sometimes I got an idea because there was a plot twist I was reading about or because a new character was introduced and I thought, “THAT’S IT! I can do that! EUREKA!” That doesn’t mean I took their character and shoved it into my narrative. It just made me realise that adding a character could help me make a certain part of the story work better. And equally, I had moments when I thought, “It makes sense now. This character/part/section has to go. It’s time to kill this darling.” Not because I knew they needed to go but because I realised.

While reading, I came across so many books in a series that I eventually realised I could turn my story into a series… and so I did! (Well, I started. I’ve only finished book 1 and the ‘Sneak Peek!’ Section of book 2!) Inspiration came come from content, style or just general concepts.

For what doesn’t work: The more books you read that you DON’T LIKE or that have been criticised in the field you’re interested in, the more insight you will get about what NOT to do, or what to watch out for or avoid, which is sometimes more helpful than what to do. The key is knowing not to get too caught up in it all. Take what you need and move on.

It’s important to note though that reading should happen all the way through in the ideal world, but there’s aren’t enough hours in a day and many of us can’t quit our day jobs or read through the night and function properly the next day, so some form of a balanced book diet with a frequency of your choice is best.

There are lots of tidbits of advice I have after I chose to grow my short story into a novel, so if you want to know more, you’ll have to comment on write to me and let me know. You can find me at www.inspiredmusehk.com.

You can find more information about Reena Bhojwani and her books at her website, Inspired Muse.

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GUEST POST: Upon Further Review . . . by Robert Germaux

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On January 30, 2025

In Books, Miscellany, News/Misc.

Last week when I posted about Robert B. Parker’s Hot Property by Mike Lupica, I quipped “Robert Germaux to demur in the comment section (or in a Guest Post if he has a lot to get off of his chest).” The novelist/essayist took me up on that with this post—he made a couple of points I intended to and brought up some things I hadn’t considered. Incidentally, I’m even more eager to read his next novel now (especially if something comes from his rethinking).

I’m more than grateful for this interaction. Bob’s been reading Spenser longer than I have been reading, and you can see Parker’s influence in his work—he’s definitely worth listening to on this front. (and he’s invited to respond like this to any of my Parker-related posts, like Robert B. Parker’s Buried Secrets by Christopher Farnsworth that should’ve been up last week)

Upon Further Review . . .

My immediate reaction after reading Hot Property was that I enjoyed Mike Lupica’s second attempt at a Spenser novel a bit more than I did Broken Trust, his initial entry into the series. That being said, I did have a few nits to pick. I thought the love scenes between Spenser and Susan were somewhat truncated. (I’m a retired English teacher. I’m allowed to use words like truncated.) It felt as though Lupica didn’t quite have the same grasp of that relationship as, for instance, Ace Atkins did in his ten Spensers. I also thought that some of the interactions between Spenser and Hawk bordered on the redundant, the same sort of generic back-and-forth we’ve seen before. And I would have liked a couple more (and a little longer) scenes at Henry Cimoli’s gym. Henry is somewhat of a surrogate father figure for both Spenser and Hawk, and the affection they both feel for him (coupled with good-natured insults) is always fun to observe.

Cover of Robert B. Parker's Hot Property by Mike Lupica

As I said, all of the above falls into the nits category, certainly nothing that would keep me from reading the book or recommending it to others. However, I had a bit more of a problem with two other parts of the book, one from a strictly objective point of view, the other admittedly entirely personal. HC stole my thunder on the former in his review when he mentioned being puzzled by the apparently close (and hitherto unknown?) relationship that Rita had with both Quirk (“. . . reached over with one of his big hands to take hold of Rita’s.”) and Belson (“Rita asked me not to tell you this . . .”). When I read those passages, I immediately wondered, when did this happen? I’ve been reading Spenser novels for fifty years now, and while it’s quite possible there have been times when Rita and Quirk, or Rita and Belson, bonded a bit, if so, it escaped my notice. On a lesser note, I thought the same thing about Vinnie when he asked Spenser, “How is she?” I don’t mean he shouldn’t care about Rita, but I think “How’s Rita?” would work better there, because I don’t recall any scenes in previous Spensers between Rita and Vinnie. Okay, maybe I dived a bit too deep into nits territory there, but I could see Vinnie asking “How is she?” about Susan much more than with Rita. In Crimson Joy (one of my least favorite Spensers), Vinnie is part of the gang that Spenser assembles to provide 24/7 protection for Susan while he tracks down a serial killer, so we know there was at least somewhat of a history there.

The personal thing? Well, I’m a writer. To date, I’ve written five mysteries about a Pittsburgh PI named Jeremy Barnes and two about a Pittsburgh police detective named Daniel Hayes. Since both JB and Daniel work in Pittsburgh (not one of your bigger cities), it figures that these two guys might connect at some point, and in fact, I’ve had each one make a quick reference to the other at least once. But I’ve never even considered the possibility of some sort of “crossover chapter” involving them, mainly because I write each character from the first-person perspective. So imagine my surprise upon seeing that Lupica has at least two occasions when Spenser and Jesse Stone have fairly long conversations. And yet . . . after rereading those chapters with, I hope, a much more objective eye, I had to admit that Lupica pulled it off. It made me rethink the possibility of a JB-Daniel meeting in the Jeremy Barnes novel I’m working on at the moment. We’ll see.

Overall, there is so much to like about Hot Property. I thought the conversations between Spenser and Susan where they discussed his relationship with Rita were very good. I especially enjoyed the scene that touched on Spenser’s thoughts on mortality. Getting some backstory on Rita was also interesting, and I wasn’t expecting Cecile (one of Hawk’s former lovers) to be back in his life. Could Lupica have something in mind there for a future book?

I still think Lupica did a better job with the Sunny Randall books than he has (so far) with Spenser, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to snatch up that next Spenser as soon as it’s available. I am, and I hope there are more to follow.

You can find more information about Bob and his books at his Amazon Author Page.

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GUEST POST: Death Mythology IN SPACE! by Shannon Knight

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On September 26, 2024

In Books, Miscellany, News/Misc.

I love it when I’m feeling a little overwhelmed with things and someone stops by without prompting to say “hey, you want a Guest Post?” The answer, by the way, is almost always yes. That’s exactly what happened last week when Shannon Knight asked if I was interested in this. It helps when the person is someone like Shannon so I know the post will be a good one.

Death Mythology IN SPACE!

Insiders is a big space opera adventure with plants, but I couldn’t resist pulling death mythology into it. I’ve got excuses! I’d completed all this research for Grave Cold, which I wrote prior to Insiders, including developing some completely unrelated story lines and then discarding them. I’d especially dug deep into the oracles, or sybils, of Greece, so I had this story thread I wanted to build on. Meanwhile, my agent was pitching Wish Givers to editors, and the editors kept asking for more, particularly more religion and more politics. Repeatedly, I rewrote Wish Givers to align with different editors’ visions (adding another POV character, redoing everything as YA, etc.). As I started Insiders, I was full of confidence. I had two books in my agent’s hands, so I could try some new things, and if editors wanted more, more, more, I could write that!

Cover of Insiders by Shannon Knight Insiders begins on Kerberos Station, where a highly contagious, world-killing virus is actively spreading. (Another note, I wrote this prior to SARS-CoV-2. I considered not publishing Insiders at all simply because the plot contained a virus, even though the symptoms do not align with COVID-19.) Kerberos is the Greek three-headed dog who guards the Underworld, keeping the dead inside and the living out. I liked the idea of referencing Kerberos for many reasons. On one level, Insiders deals thematically with the notion of being inside, and on Kerberos Station, we start with an insular group of pipe crawlers, who live within the pipes of the station. Leaving these pipes is difficult on many levels for young Sachi, and linking her life-and-death choice with evading Hades’ Underworld guardian appealed to me.

Imperatrix Persephone, an antagonist in the story, leads the intergalactic, powerful Elysium Empire. I chose Greek Persephone, in part, due to an entire back story that I may yet write into a novel related to the ancient Greek oracles. More simply and directly, Persephone is a death goddess who I thought most readers would recognize. The Elysium Empire links with the Eleusinian Mysteries, secret rites connected with the cult of Persephone and her mother, Demeter. The mysteries are fascinating in part because of the strict secrecy held regarding what they involved. To this day, we do not know what the mysteries shared. Nevertheless, scholars believe that the mysteries revealed what happens after death. I realize references to the Eleusinian Mysteries would likely only be noticed by readers with an interest in history, myth, or both. Personally, I quite enjoy making connections between the distant past and the far future. Again, Insiders is a space opera with, for example, a carefully crafted scene allowing for the realistic fiery explosion of a spaceship in space. (Yes! Fire in the void!) Readers do not need to understand and sift through various mythological references to enjoy the story. Pew, pew, pew!

In Insiders, Imperatrix Persephone enjoys special powers due to the Eleusinian Mysteries, which involve a certain “beetle” entering her body and living symbiotically with her. The imperatrix conducts others into the mysteries by bestowing beetles upon them. These beetles crawl in through the nasal cavity. Then their hosts’ human bodies become capable of surviving extreme environments that cause death in other creatures. In other words, the Mysteries and the beetles offer a sort of immortality to those who obtain them. I thought it was fun to suggest an alien connection between the Eleusinian Mysteries of the ancient past that would allow them to continue into the far distant future.

On account of humans inducted into the Eleusinian Mysteries being able to survive deadly environments, the Elysium Empire presides over a series of death worlds. I casually termed them as death worlds due to their environments being antithetical to life. Each world is named after an Underworld from Earth culture with a designated ruler entitled with the name of the coordinating death god. Therefore, we meet Sammael ruling over the planet Sheol and Izanami reigning in Yomi. Izanami’s ship is the Jeweled Spear, in reference to the Japanese creation myth in which Izanami uses the spear to create land. In Insiders, the Elysium Empire is full of mythological I-spy moments for readers who enjoy myth. Links connecting the past with the future ground stories in a world we recognize. These connections also help reveal how our cultural understanding of the world partially shapes how we see the universe and beyond.

At its heart, Insiders is a book about coming together. Humanity faces obstacles of all kinds. Many are of our own creation. Some we could have never predicted. As individuals, it’s easy to focus on our very personal difficulties. The human mind isn’t capable of stepping back and encompassing all the injuries or injustices of the entire planet. However, we don’t need to do that. We do, however, need to step away from an us-and-them dichotomy that divides everyone into insiders and outsiders. With grit and creativity, we can acknowledge that we’re all in this together and aim our hearts and minds towards solutions.

 

Find a copy of Insiders.

Shannon Knight is a science fiction, fantasy, and horror author living in the Pacific Northwest. Mythology ties into most of her stories. Sign up for her newsletter at https://www.shannonknight.net/. Her page about Insiders is here.

That good-lookin’ cover image is the work of Isabeau Backhaus, incidentally. Go check out her portfolio, you’ll be glad you did.

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Top 5 All-Time Desert Island Books with K.R.R. Lockhaven Part 2

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On May 16, 2024

In Books, News/Misc., Top 5 All-Time Desert Island Books

Top 5 All-Time Desert Island Books
“K.R.R. (Kyle Robert Redundant) Lockhaven used to love writing as a kid. Starting at about ten years old, he wrote about anything from dragons to sentient jellybeans. Somewhere along the line, he lost that love. But now as a firefighter, husband, and father of two sons, he found it again. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find the really good stuff from back then…

“Kyle is a huge proponent of summer camps for burn survivor kids. [A portion] from every book he ever sells will go to the Washington State Council of Firefighters Burn Foundation, sponsors of Camp Eyabsut. For more info, or to donate money or time, go to www.campeyabsut.org.”

I’m truly delighted to close out the second run of this series submitted by authors with the return of K.R.R. Lockhaven to the series. He wanted to take another shot at this after last year. Who am I to deny him that?

Desert Island Part 2

In his infinite mercy, the Irresponsible Reader has allowed those of us stranded on deserted desert islands to double the number of books we can have during our stays. The first five books I chose can be found here (you should probably warm up with a few gentle eye rolls before you read it). In the last installment, I picked several of my favorite books, as well as a guide to building a boat from scratch so I could eventually get back home to my loved ones. In this edition, I’m going strictly with books I haven’t yet read. Also, I finally got my delete key fixed so there won’t be any embarrassing blunders this time. I can write stuff like poop poopy poopoo and simply erase it….

Damn.

Apparently, my stupid delete key is broken again.

Anyway, on to books 6-10 that I would take to a desert island:

6. What to Say When You Talk to Yourself by Shad Helmstetter, Ph.D.
What to Say When You Talk to Yourself Cover
When I’m stranded on said island, there will be a serious lack of people to talk to. So, I’d better learn how to talk to myself, right? But what does one say to one’s self? I wouldn’t have a clue where to start. This book will show me the way.

Its description says it’s “Considered by many to be one of the most important and helpful personal growth books ever written.” As an author, I know it’s impossible to lie on the book description, so this is fantastic. Many, it says. More than two people consider this to be one of the most important and helpful personal growth books ever written. I’m sold!

But seriously, it looks kind of good. Eliminating negative self-talk will be important for me on the island.

7. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
House of Leaves Cover
I have been fascinated by the idea of this book for a while, but I feel like I’ll never be able to give it the time and effort it demands of readers. Until now! Once stranded on the island, I’ll have more time than I know what to do with.

If you haven’t heard of this book, a picture might help you get the basic gist:
House of Leaves Sample
This is just one example of the strange formatting of the book. It’s an epistolary metafiction written in an academic format that focuses on a story within a story and is rife with exhibits, appendices, and footnotes. All of this sounds a bit daunting, but, again, I’m going to have lots of time to kill. From what I can gather, the book is about a larger-on-the-inside labyrinth in a house, so it has some serious Piranesi (written by Susanna Clarke) vibes, which I love.

8. Cain’s Jawbone by Edward Powys Mathers
Cain's Jawbone Cover

In a similar vein to House of Leaves, this book challenges the shit out of the usual novel format, only this one requires reader participation.

Cain’s Jawbone, first published in 1934, is a puzzle that consists of a 100-page prose narrative with its pages arranged in the wrong order. I would prefer to take the second edition, which is a boxed set of page cards, to the island. To solve the puzzle, the reader must determine the correct order of the pages and figure out the names of the murderers and victims in the story. The pages can be arranged in 9.33×10157 possible combinations, but there is only one correct order, so this could be a great way to pass a LOT of time. The solution to the puzzle has never been made public, and, at the time of this writing, there have only been three people in the world who have solved it. That number will be four by the time I get home!

9. Legacy of Brick and Bone by Krystle Matar
Legacy of Brick and Bone Cover

I can’t believe I haven’t read this yet! What is wrong with me? I absolutely loved Legacy of the Brightwash, yet I have let this likely-wonderful book sit unread on my shelf for much too long.

For those who don’t know, Legacy of Brick and Bone is book 2 in the Tainted Dominion series. I would describe the series as dark Gaslamp fantasy. At times, it might be considered grimdark, but those labels are a whole different thing I can ponder while alone on the island. The first book in this series surprised me. I had heard all the praise about it but assumed it wasn’t going to be for me. The main reason, I suppose, was that I had heard a big part of it was romance. I have nothing against romance but it’s usually not something I seek out. I loved the romance in this one, though. I loved the romance, the worldbuilding, the complex characters, the action, the prose, and, most of all, the emotions. Matar is fantastic at writing and eliciting the entire spectrum of emotions. Letting out emotions will be important for me on the island.

10. In Defense of Sanity by G.K. Chesterton
In Defense of Sanity Cover

While alone on this island, my sanity will be in danger of slipping. Hopefully, I have some kind of ball I can befriend. If not, this book might help me defend my precious and fragile sanity.

In Defense of Sanity is a collection of essays written by the prolific G.K. Chesterton. To be honest, I wasn’t aware of Mr. Chesterton until researching books for this list. I thought, haha, a book about defending sanity will be perfect and funny and clever and everyone else will think so too and everyone will like me and respect me for my cleverness. What I didn’t expect was that this author would be a genius! At the time of this writing, the sample size justifying this assessment is rather small. I have only read two of his essays: Cheese and On Running After One’s Hat.

Cheese is a hilarious essay about how cheese doesn’t get the respect it deserves in poetry and literature. He goes on and on about cheese as if it’s the most important thing in the world (and he might be right!) I can only hope to have some cheese with me on the island.

On Running After One’s Hat is a slightly more serious rumination on life. In it, Chesterton challenges the idea of inconvenience, giving the example of chasing one’s hat in the wind. He chooses to see this act as an opportunity for fun and adventure instead of an embarrassing inconvenience. Throughout the essay, he challenges the reader to shift their perspective about…everything. The way someone looks at the world can greatly influence their mood as they go through the unavoidable ups and downs of life. Mr. Chesterton and I are kindred spirits in that regard. Perspective isn’t everything, but its power, in my opinion, is often overlooked. My favorite quote from this essay (and one of my favorite quotes full stop) is:

An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.

Being stranded on a deserted island will be quite an inconvenience. Maybe a bit of a perspective shift could do me some good!

Thank you, again, H.C.! Writing posts for your blog is always fun. It’s an honor to be asked to return 🙂

Lockhaven is the author of a hopepunk trilogy, a cozy fantasy, a nutty multiverse dragon novel, and its Choose Your Own Adventure-esque sequel. All of them are well-worth your time. Go check out his site to learn about them!

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Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay

GUEST POST: Grave Cold and the Art of the Sequel by Shannon Knight

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On May 16, 2024

In Books, Miscellany, News/Misc.

For an author that I’ve never read before, Shannon Knight’s name keeps showing up on this site. Almost one year ago, she was here talking about the cover design of her novel, Grave Cold. She’s back today talking about it’s sequel and some of the thinking that went into it. A lot of this lines up with what I assume goes into thoughts about a sequel, but there’s a lot more than that, too.

Grave Cold and the Art of the Sequel

Grave Cold novel set against a wall and grass

Grave Cold turned one-year-old on May 2. So far, Grave Cold has been my most accessible book. No surprise, then, that it’s the one that receives the most requests for a sequel. Writing sequels poses a unique challenge. Readers enjoyed certain aspects of the first book, so there are expectations that the author will serve the same delight in the second dish. Often sequels offer a comfortable familiarity. Readers can hang out with literary friends that they’ve already grown attached to and maybe meet a few new ones. The pattern of the primary elements from the previous book can be repeated: a big adventure, a mystery, a light romance, etc. Book one creates a recipe, and subsequent books contain the same ingredients in a new form.

The thing with Grave Cold (and a lot of my books) is that I worked pretty hard to create something new, something unfamiliar, something unique. The surprises of the magical system and the ravens’ role in death are revealed in Grave Cold. To deliver the same experience, I need a new reveal for the death mythos, which would be fun to create, but readers wouldn’t have the same level of surprise. For Grave Cold, I also set up a long-lived character who retains a strong connection with his medieval culture, and I placed him in the future. My initial plans included subsequent novels set in the past. For one, I’d had my eye on Venice during the bubonic plague. I lived in Venice for three years, so I would enjoy writing a novel set there, and I’ve already got the lived experience of the location. But then I wrote a plague into Insiders, and THEN a pandemic hit our current world, and I suspect we’ve all had enough of plagues. Plus, a sequel set in the past would not have the same science fantasy flavor that Grave Cold featured. Snap! I’ve also imagined a sequel set in the distant future, with our medieval man sent on a task in deep space. I’m pretty keen on this story, but I think it would also miss the primary readership of near-future Grave Cold. And, yet, wouldn’t those death rituals of the far future offer surprises! And wouldn’t Nyle be all up in his medieval discomfort dealing with it!

My limited self-publication experience has taught me that a large portion of readers (perhaps most?) prefer the familiar to the unique. Therefore, the logical sequel choice would pick up with our characters shortly after the last book left off. Nyle and Cait could pursue a new biopunk adventure together. I could develop the next book cover based off the previous one, using another photograph from the same photographer and model. Everything would fall in line prettily, and readers would have a higher likelihood of satisfaction.

As it stands, my next book has been written in an entirely new genre. Are you curious? Maybe I’m a standalone kind of author. Have you read Grave Cold? If so, what kind of sequel are you yearning for? If not, you should meet Nyle and Cait. One is a man born in Anglo-Saxon England pulled by the cold call of death. The other is a beautician who thinks she’s genetically modified, but really she’s a necromancer. Together, Nyle and Cait must save the dead from the living. Check it out!

If you’re like me and haven’t read Grave Cold yet, go check out Shannon’s page about it.

Also, I’ve mentioned that I haven’t read the book twice in this post. I’m actually planning on starting it later today.

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GUEST POST: Books and More Books by Robert Germaux

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On May 15, 2024

In Books, Miscellany, News/Misc.

When I ask for help with some project or another, one of the first and surest names I’m going to see is Robert Germaux. And this latest call for Guest Posts was no exception. Today’s Guest Post is from his collection, Grammar Sex 4 (Seriously?): Yet Another Book of Essays About Life and Stuff. I should stress I didn’t know he was going to talk about me when I picked this one from a list of titles, but it’s an added pick-me-up for me.

Books and More Books

Grammar Sex 4 Cover
My wife and I have a lot of books. Well, actually, I should walk that statement back a bit and just say that Cynthia and I have been buying books for decades. Whether we have “a lot” depends, of course, on one’s perspective. Compared to some people we know, we do, indeed, have a lot of books, but compared to others, like H.C. Newton, book blogger extraordinaire out in the Boise area, we don’t have a lot of books at all. Perspective. Anyway, here’s a rough count of the number of books currently taking up space in casa Germaux. We have about one-hundred-ten hardbound books, down considerably from a good many years ago when we donated several boxes of books to a nearby library. We also have sixty or so paperbacks. And, of course, we have around seventy-five eBooks (a number that fluctuates almost weekly) stored on our various devices. However, as you’ll soon see, those electronic literary efforts don’t factor into this essay.

For some time now, we’ve been thinking about downsizing. We love our four-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bathrooms home, but we’re ready to stop having to deal with the routine maintenance issues that go with home ownership, let alone the not-so-routine issues (frozen pipes a few Februarys ago, a big maple tree that had to be removed from our front yard this summer, etc.). So we’re looking at a move back to apartment life, where someone else can deal with those burst pipes in the middle of a Pennsylvania winter while the Germauxs are soaking up the sun on some tropical island.

Back to the books. When we finally make that move to an apartment or townhome, we know a lot of the “stuff” we’ve accumulated over the past three decades won’t be making that journey with us. Some of the decisions about what things will make the cut and what things won’t will be easy. Certainly, we won’t be taking all four of our flat-screen TVs. Yeah, we have four flat-screens. (See “What Would Henry David Think?” in More Grammar Sex.) And wherever we end up, I’m sure we won’t need all the furniture we currently have, or all the lamps, not to mention some of the souvenir mugs we’ve purchased over the years on vacation trips, plus a whole lot of other stuff that I can’t think of at the moment. Some of that stuff we’ll probably put in one of those storage units you can rent, but a lot of it we’ll end up giving away to local charities. The books, though, will require a little more thought.

About forty of those hundred or so hardbound books we own are Spenser novels by Robert B. Parker. I discovered Parker back in the mid-seventies when I happened upon The Godwulf Manuscript (the first Spenser mystery) while wandering the stacks in our local library. I was immediately hooked, as was my wife when she read the book, and over the years, we’ve purchased every new Spenser as soon as it was released. We also have most of those books in paperback (because they were much easier to take with us on vacations). And with the advent of eBooks, we also have most of the Spensers in that format. Thus, I’m sure we’ll eventually be donating our hardbound Spensers, and probably the paperbacks as well, to any library that wants them. Although there’s one hardbound Spenser that’s definitely going with us when we move: Hush Money, which Parker signed for Cynthia and me when we heard him speak at the Mystery Lovers Bookshop in Oakmont, PA, in the spring of 1999. And if you’ll forgive a purely personal side note, the aforementioned H.C. Newton has on a couple of occasions said my Jeremy Barnes character has a “Spenser-like vibe,” probably the greatest compliment anyone has ever paid this boy’s writing.

In addition to that autographed Spenser novel, there are other hardbounds we’ll be keeping, mainly gifts Cynthia and I have exchanged over the years, books with sentimental value because of the notes we’ve written in them. I’d like to share just two examples of those notes here.

On my 61st birthday, the love of my life gave me a copy of About Alice by the award-winning humorist Calvin Trillin. The book, written in 2006, consists of a series of essays in which Trillin writes lovingly about the love of his life, Alice, an author and educator who died five years earlier. Inside the front flap of that book, my wife (an educator herself) wrote the following:

She’s a teacher. He’s a writer.
It’s a love story. I hope you like it.
Love,
Cindy

Yeah, I’m not the only one in the family with some writing chops.

A couple of years later, Cynthia and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary with a week in Paris. My wife, a total foodie whose culinary skills I’ve mentioned in previous essays, was in her element on that trip. I’m not going to say that we dined at every sidewalk café and Michelin-starred restaurant while we were there, but we did try to sample as many of that city’s gastronomic offerings as could be squeezed into a seven-day stay. And just a few years later, for her birthday, I gave Cynthia a copy of Paris, My Sweet by Amy Thomas. Here’s the note I wrote to my wife:

I mean, c’mon, 263 pages crammed with delightful descriptions
of both the City of Light and mouth-watering delicacies-
Amy Thomas might as well have just gone
ahead and dedicated the thing to you.
Love,
Bob

So we’ll be keeping that book, too.

One more, okay? This one’s very special to my wife. My book Love Stories is a semi-biographical novel based on the six weeks Cynthia spent in Europe the summer before her senior year in high school, a time when, unbeknownst to her, one of the boys in her tour group fell deeply in love with her. (We later learned that Dean was actually on his way to see Cynthia four days before our wedding. If you wanna know more about that, and the fictional narrative I created about Cynthia and Dean reconnecting twenty years later, you’re going to have to spring for the $2.99 to buy the book. Or just email me and maybe I’ll send you a free copy.) At the end of Love Stories, I tell my readers that the book wouldn’t have been possible without the journal my wife kept every day during those six weeks in Europe. And she had that journal because her father gave it to her shortly before she departed on that journey, urging her to keep a daily diary during her travels. At least half of what I wrote in Love Stories came directly from that journal. Cynthia’s father was an educator, but he was also quite a writer himself. Between 1942 and 1976, he wrote what he described as a number of “random thoughts and observations” on whatever topic caught his attention. Shortly before his death in 1976, Dad wrote the last entry in Meanderings and Mementos, a collection of those random thoughts of his, most in one poetic form or another. The family had Meanderings and Mementos published as a tribute to Dad’s life. In the beginning of the book, he said he was dedicating it to his children (Kathleen, Maureen, Cindy and Mike). Then he added this:

Personal Thanks To-
My daughter, Cynthia Ann, who frequently
urged her father to assemble a collection
of his own brainchildren.

I still love holding an actual book in my hands, flipping through the pages, going back to a previous chapter with a flick of my wrist, but as Bob Dylan said, the times, they are a-changin’, and the days of Cynthia and me lugging a stack of books through an airport on a vacation to some far-off land are over. Sometimes, boys and girls, you gotta go with the flow.

What about you? How many books are in your library? Which ones can’t you bear to part with, for whatever reason? Even if, like Cynthia and me, you’ve been making the move to eBooks, it wouldn’t hurt to keep a few of those old hardbounds around, sort of a nod to the past, to a time when getting a book meant going to a bookstore, or maybe a library, where you could wander the stacks just to see what was there. If you’ve ever done that, maybe you were lucky enough to spot a book that caught your eye, a book by an author who went on to write a few dozen more books you couldn’t wait to read. If you’re planning to downsize anytime soon, I’ll understand if you decide to hang on to one or two of those books, just to remember the first time you leafed through those pages and fell in literary love with a character or a setting or a plotline. Believe me, I’ll understand.

You can find more information about Bob and his books at his Amazon Author Page.

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GUEST REPOST: The Hexologists by Josiah Bancroft from Witty & Sarcastic Book Club

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On May 15, 2024

In Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

This morning, I get to bring you this Repost from Friend of the Blog and a great source of encouragement and friendship, Jodi from Witty & Sarcastic Book Club. This originally appeared over there last September and she thought it’d be a good fit for this place. I think she’s right…

The Hexologists Cover

The Hexologists by Josiah Bancroft

I have recently decided that fantasy mysteries are the best kind of mysteries! There is something irresistible about wondering whether the culprit in a whodunnit is human or some sort of magical being. The regular rules of mysteries don’t apply, which gives the writer so much freedom to confound the reader. In the realm of fantasy mysteries, The Hexologists is right at the top of my list of favorites, tied only with Jackaby.

The Hexologists sparkles with cleverness and fun! There was so much to love, from the charmingly oddball main characters to the delightfully bizarre situations they find themselves in. There was something irresistible about Bancroft’s writing that left me both incredibly happy yet wanting more. I loved the mystery and the characters so much that I could have gladly continued for another hundred plus pages.

The mystery itself is simplicity wrapped in a cloak of obfuscation. I loved the various fantastical interruptions that got in the way of things. The twists and turns were loads of fun, but at the end of the day it was the characters and their interactions that elevated this book to the absolute gem that it is.

Our detectives are Iz and Warren Wilby, a married couple whose distinct differences in personality mesh well. Before I go any further, I have to say that I absolutely loved that they were happily married. I haven’t seen that all too often in fantasy of any sort, and it has a refreshingly different feel to it. Plus, as a happily married person myself, I like seeing them interact in ways that I could relate to (within reason. I have yet to have a mandrake invade my front room and I don’t use chalk in interesting and creative ways). The way they played off each other and understood each other’s little quirks felt very familiar.

Iz is a little prickly, although it’s more from a distaste of nonsense than anything. Warren is rather easygoing in comparison, although he of course has his moments. The way the outside world sees them as opposed to how they see each other was fun to read. Their run-ins with other characters and how they played out were a joy to read.

The vaguely Victorian feel mixed with some steampunk-esque elements, combining beautifully with the magic that was present but never overpowering. The book relies on whimsy and strong character building more than on complex magic systems, and it was fantastic.

And that portmanteau! Mary Poppins wishes she had a bag half that cool! I loved the haphazard nature of it, that it was just as dangerous and (possibly) useful. That uncertainty was a stroke of brilliance on the part of the author, and it paid off in droves.

Read this book if you enjoy mysteries, or fantasies. Or, you know, good books. The Hexologists is a rollickingly good time!

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GUEST POST: A Contemporary Gothic Thriller by Mary Kendall

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On May 14, 2024

In Books, Fiction, Miscellany, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, News/Misc.

This afternoon, I’m very pleased to bring you a Guest Post from Mary Kendall talking about her upcoming release. The book comes out this summer, and I think this post will inspire you to look into it (details below).

Thanks to Geoff at Artemesia Publishing, for pointing her my way.

A Contemporary Gothic Thriller:
Bottled Secrets of Rosewood

Bottled Secrets of Rosewood Cover
Writers never know what kind of strange alchemy will occur to actually result in a full-fledged novel. Some of us (me) pick up inspiration kindling along the way, snipping bits out of newspapers or jotting down something seen or heard on napkins or whatever random scrap of paper might be available. Because…you just never know what might be a thread or strand that becomes something more, maybe much more.

In January 2020, I happened upon a newspaper article in the Washington Post along with a photograph of a jade blue “witch bottle” found near a Civil War fortification in Williamsburg, Virginia. I clipped and saved for later because it struck that inspiration vibe, the vibe that says this could become something.

Other things happened right after that in 2020. Big things. Time went by as I did all the baking, all the gardening, all the painting of furniture and walls, all the other things too. Soon enough, it was summer, the first pandemic summer. I scrambled for a focus and latched back onto the tantalizing tidbit snipped months earlier. Just like everybody else, I needed some “lockdown work” to take me away from the realities so I decided to find out more about witch bottles.

There wasn’t too much out there in terms of research, just several limited studies. Even so, there were plenty of rich and fascinating details. Typically filled with items that ranged from fish hooks to urine, the primary purpose of witch bottles was to lure and trap witches and/or malevolent spirits. They were especially employed during times of hardship and strife which explains why one was buried at the Civil War site. Research also pointed to the bottles as a tradition brought over from the East Anglia region of Britain.

The area where this particular bottle was located, Tidewater Virginia with its tie-ins to Colonial American history and its own unique idiosyncrasies and folklore, provided a perfect setting for my fictional use of a witch bottle. Cue some Southern gothic vibes along with these historical underpinnings and I went ahead and did what we fiction writers do— I got back to writing and started to spin a tale to work witch bottles out of my psyche. It allowed me to put my energy and attention elsewhere even if it was only for stolen moments of writing sessions.

Eventually, I ended up with a contemporary gothic thriller now titled Bottled Secrets of Rosewood. My plucky fictional heroine, Miranda Chesney, a logics professor, falls in love with a historic house called Rosewood, a centuries old, tumble-down, gambrel roofed charmer, in need of rescuing. Her story takes place during present-day in an isolated, coastal corner of Virginia. While Miranda shrugs all locational concerns aside to pursue her new love, she has unwittingly landed in a place with some strange traditions that harken back to days of old including an almost indecipherable brogue and possible witchcraft connections.

After an archeological dig by the local college at Miranda’s property unearths an ancient blue bottle of questionable origin, it seems to trigger the occurrence of inexplicable and mysterious events. While Miranda and the archeology team try to figure out what the blue bottle is all about, incidents commence that are more than just “bumps in the night”. In fact, it seems that there are forces at hand trying to oust Miranda from Rosewood. When she is awakened one night by an eerie glow at her window and finds a circle of fire around her property, she must decide. Should she leave her dream house or stay—and potentially pay the ultimate price?

My fiction writing harkens back to an early reading diet of Nancy Drew mysteries, later expanded and layered on top with gothic suspense and thriller reads. This novel is, without question, a product of those deep reading roots. But it must be said that the weirdness of 2020 no doubt colored the authorship of this tale and ramped up the volume on its quirky overtones. I’ll leave the reader to decide how weird it actually is. As stated earlier, writer’s alchemy works out in its own ways.

Bottled Secrets of Rosewood is soon to be released on 16 July 2024 by Artemesia Publishing. Up for preorders now, look for it where all books are sold. Links are also provided at www.marykendallauthor.com.

Bio
Mary Kendall is first a reader of all books across the genres and, second, a writer of fiction. She brings her background in history-related fields to her writing along with some Celtic story-telling genes. Fueled by black coffee and a possible sprinkling of fairy dust, she tends to find inspiration in odd places and sometimes while kneading bread dough. She has two published novels, The Spinster’s Fortune (historical mystery) and Campbell’s Boy (coming of age, historical fiction). Her third novel, Bottled Secrets of Rosewood, is a contemporary gothic thriller to be released in Summer 2024. She also has three short stories published in dark fiction anthologies for charity.
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GUEST POST: Don’t Be a Stranger: How to Make Connections in the Book Blogging Community

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On May 13, 2024

In Books, Miscellany, News/Misc.


Carol from Reading Ladies Book Club is back to help out some more during my recovery. This time, she’s here with a Guest Post that could be subtitled “Things HC Needs to Improve On.” Hope you enjoy this asmuch as I did.

An earlier version of this originally appeared at Not-So-Modern-Girl.

Don’t Be a Stranger: How to Make Connections in the Book Blogging Community

Photo by Jess Bailey on Unsplash

No One Can Blog Successfully in Isolation

One of the first blogging lessons to be learned was also my greatest challenge: I needed a Community; I desired to make connections and find my people. I knew for certain that no one can blog in isolation, but the solution intimidated me.

I’m an introvert. I’m a reader, not a talker. I love canceled plans so that I can stay home and read. I’m never lonely because I always have a book. These self-descriptors don’t set me up for making online connections. I also had fears: what if I attract creepers or someone makes a mean or negative comment?

 

How Did I Move From Frozen to Connected?

Photo by Marvin Meyer on Unsplash

 

To be successful as a book blogger, I knew I had to extend myself, take chances, make the first move. Easier said than done for someone who finds comfort hiding behind a screen or seeks escapism between the pages of a book. I hope you find the following five tips helpful:

  1. Set aside your hesitations and join ALL the social media
    • Make bookish accounts (using your blog name) for Twitter/X, Instagram, Pinterest, Goodreads, Facebook (you can make a separate business page as an extension of your personal FB page), etc; the only place I do not have a presence is Booktube because I don’t do video reviews
    • Some bloggers prefer to focus on only one or two social media platforms, but I’ve found it beneficial to dabble in all of them (each platform reaches different potential followers); I gain the majority of my “click throughs” from Pinterest and Twitter/X
    • Follow bookish accounts on Bookstagram (Instagram users with bookish accounts), BookTwitter/BookX (Twitter/X users with bookish accounts), Facebook, Booktube, etc
    • Look for opportunities to join engagement groups on Bookstagram and Twitter/X
    • Follow blogging and book groups on Twitter/X and begin to comment on threads
    • Drop your links often (at the end of your Goodreads review for example) …but not in blog comments unless asked
    • Pin often to Pinterest and join group boards for pinning book review posts
    • Make sure your blog has its social sharing options set up….especially for Twitter/X
    • Share each and every post you write to all your social media accounts (you can set up your blog to automatically share your posts to social media accounts)
    • Yes, this takes time and is uncomfortable for introverts at first, but if you want to find your people and have people find you (a community), you need to promote yourself consistently

 

  1. Find Your Niche and Your People
    • Book Reviews and Talking Bookish are my main niches, but I can narrow that niche more by connecting with bloggers who enjoy certain genres or subgenres
    • Do some blog hopping and follow a few blogs (maybe five as a starting point) that share your niche, content, and preferences (visiting the “About Page” on a blog is a good way to begin)….hopefully they will follow you back
    • Begin “tweeting,” “liking” and “commenting” on their posts….hopefully they will return the comment or even reciprocate by commenting on your posts
    • Don’t be discouraged…..not all bloggers will reciprocate…..move on
    • Once you have developed a reciprocal blogging relationship with a handful of bloggers, expand the pool
    • In four years, I have developed an inner circle of bloggers (20-30) whom I consider my “community”; We comment on each other’s posts, share reading preferences, enjoy bookish conversations, and promote each other’s posts on twitter; this all happened organically through genuine interactions
    • In the huge worldwide web, this is the group with whom you will invest the most time
    • Oh, and those negative comments or creeper concerns? Almost nonexistent. However, you do need to be wise and aware (WordPress is great at filtering out spam)

 

  1. Slowly Expand Your Reach; Try New Things
    • Guest posting is a new venture for me, so this post is me expanding my reach and trying new things
    • I’m thrilled to have connected with blogger H.C. Newton @ Irresponsible Reader
    • Try new memes or challenges….I’ve often participated in #NonFictionNovember #NovNov (Novellas in November), #TopTenTuesday #Top5Tuesday #ThrowbackThursday #LetsTalkBookish #LetsDiscuss ….these are all great ways to meet new bloggers and make connections
    • Check the calendar for special days or theme months…..an opportunity to connect with other bloggers using the same prompts and tags
    • Participating in a blogger’s book tag is a fun way to make new blogging friends (if you want to be tagged in my next book tag post, let me know in comments)

 

  1. Participate in Popular Memes to interact with like-minded bloggers
    • Top Ten Tuesday is a popular bookish meme for your first experience (ThatArtsyReaderGirl.com)
    • TTT participants are known for their generosity in blog hopping and commenting (always return the favor)

 

  1. ENJOY and TREASURE Your New Book Blogging Community
    • Celebrate their achievements
    • Continue the conversation
    • Enjoy the connection

The Joy of Book Blogging: Community

In (almost) seven years, I can truly say that the JOY in blogging (for me) is the community. Book people are the best people. I hope that if you have not already found your community that these few tips have been helpful and encouraging. Although I’m still a new blogger, I’m happy to answer questions on connecting and blogging and book reviewing!

CarolI’m Carol, and if you’ve read this because you love blogging and reading, then we’re already friends!

I’m a retired 5th-grade teacher, an ardent and avid bibliophile, and my favorite genres are historical fiction, literary fiction, and contemporary fiction. In addition, I enjoy reading selected memoirs and other narrative nonfiction.

My blog www.ReadingLadies.com is almost seven years old. The mission of my blog is to share a love of great literature across a variety of genres with an intentional focus on new releases, thoughtful themes, diverse cultures, and “own voices” authors. I desire to be a trusted reviewer for your next great read! Respectful conversations are always welcome.

Let’s Get Social:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/readingladies­_book_club
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/ReadingLadiesBC
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ReadingLadies
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/16412589-carol-reading-ladies
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/readingisasport

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