I did it again! I forgot to post #185 here on my blog. My apologies to all readers of this blog. So I’ll start out by including points from that previous epistle, most of which my email newsletter subscribers have already seen.

Seasonal changes. Fall is an interesting time for me. As a kid growing up in California, I never experienced the wonderful reds and yellows of leaves or frost on the pumpkins. Fall just meant that I had to wear a light jacket to school and turn my mind toward football instead of baseball (basketball came later).

But there’s something about fall in the Northeast that makes me think of better times. Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and I’m feeling there’s plenty to give thanks for, even in these trying times. There’s change too, as well as a coming together, as we begin to hunker down and prepare for another winter because most of those wonderfully colored leaves are gone.

Living here means observing continuous change, and with it comes the recognition that we’re all on spaceship Earth together, swinging around the sun and enjoying the great privilege of participating in this grand experiment called life. Relish it.

Reading. Sometimes our teachers and professors can encourage us to read. N. Scott Momaday, one of my English profs at UCSB (that was before he won the Pulitzer for House Made of Dawn—perhaps you saw him on PBS?), even taught me to love poetry. (I don’t write it well at all, so don’t expect a brilliant poem here!) Time spent reading these days has probably increased as we minimize our group interactions beyond Skype and Zoom and look for entertainment we can enjoy at home. And books are good choices when you need a break from streaming video and computer games too.

Yet reading isn’t just about entertainment, is it? Even in our reading of fiction, we can reaffirm universal truths and study human behavior, all while relaxing in our favorite chair. Reading is more like enjoying a savory stew; it’s a complex medium that makes readers think, much more so much more than streaming video or video games, and it’s entertainment as well.

Storytelling is a quintessentially human endeavor. Authors writing those stories that must be told, and readers enjoying them, represent the modern embodiment of that campfire tradition from days of yore. Borrow or buy a book today and enjoy the rewards.

Want better book reviews? Many readers browsing for a new novel to read on Amazon look at a book’s page and say, “This book has 100 [1000? 10000?] reviews, so it must be really good [popular? fantastic?].”

First, don’t believe all those people read the book. Even if the review says “verified purchase,” think about it: How many books have you started to read and never finished? Or never started? Second, examine those reviews. You’ll find that many are “atta-girl,” “atta-boy,” or “this is terrible,” and they’re shorter than most tweets on Twitter, so they don’t say much of anything. They usually don’t provide any more information for other buyers than a simple thumbs-up or thumbs-down. Third, those reviews are either four or five-star ones, or one or two stars. You might prefer a ranking that goes beyond pass-fail.

A good review—yours, if you have time to write it—would probably avoid all these problems, a short list of likes and dislikes and why. You know you don’t have to write an MFA thesis; you also know that those “book reports” you had to do once aren’t required either. By the same token, you can see how bad most book reviews are. You’re a reader, and you know that people just like you only want solid entertainment, information, and value in their reading material.

Choosing a book. So, if reviews are mostly worthless, how does one choose a book to read? Look at the book’s cover; if it looks like a PowerPoint slide, avoid it. Read the book’s blurb; if it talks more about buying the book than what’s in it, avoid it. Finally, use the “peek inside” feature to see if the author can actually write, and if you like her or his style. This process works whether you’re on Amazon or in your favorite bookstore or library (of course, in a public library, you don’t have to pay anything…unless the book is overdue!). What you like and dislike should always be your decision, not some reviewer’s! Or mine. (Or, even worse, some hollow endorsement by some “best-selling” author!)

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Spring is gone. One of many things I loved about Colombia when I lived there was that the climate was just a function of altitude. It could get down to freezing at 8000 feet (Bogotá, the capital—not Bogota, NJ), sweltering heat on the coast (e.g. Cartegena—Colombia has both an Atlantic and Pacific shore), and eternal springtime in coffee country (e.g. Medellín) Here in the Northeast, we have four weeks of nice weather if we’re lucky—two in spring and two in fall. We can take it, though; we’re strong…as long as we don’t have a hurricane (we almost had one with Isaias). We proved that with COVID. And, after all, weather always gives us something to talk about. Writers, though, have to avoid that: “It was a dark and stormy night…” and similar clichés are verboten.

So spring is gone. Our resident woodchuck Hazel’s two children are out and about and the young cardinal fledglings have left the nest, although they still seem to be hanging around for a while. We think the bird flocks coming through are already heading south. Maybe they know something we don’t know about the coming fall and winter?

But any season is a good season for reading. Here’s some more ideas to entertain you in that way:

Anthologies. I don’t know about you, but some days my attention span is rather restricted. I like to read some fiction every day, though, just to maintain a balance, especially with election season now in full swing. My solution? I turn to short fiction.

Anthologies offer a wide variety of little bites of fiction that allow a quick read. Unfortunately, they’re not published much anymore. I can recommend two, though. The first comes from inimitable editor Donna Carrick and is titled World Enough and Crime. The second is from the Wolfpack Authors and bears the title Howling at the Moon. Okay, yours truly donated a short story to each one, but there’s still a lot of variety. Enjoy.

Collections. A collection is an anthology where all the short fiction is by one author. You’ll find three of mine on Amazon, although Pasodobles in a Quantum Stringscape offers the most variety. Pasodobles Two and Three are free downloads—see the “Free Stuff & Contests” web page at this website (there are many other free downloads listed there too, all in PDF format).

Looking for a light-hearted sci-fi rom-com? You know me—I rarely write humorous novels. Oh, they often contain humorous elements—Detective Rolando Castilblanco’s humorous and cynical quips are sprinkled through an entire seven-book series—and you can find humor in many other novels, because humor is part of being human. Many of my short stories are also all tongue-in-cheek.

But I like to challenge myself from time to time. A Time-Traveler’s Guide through the Multiverse is the result, and it’s hot off the press. It’s not a slapstick and fantasy-filled road trip like a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy or a sappy romance like The Time Traveler’s Wife; it’s a typical Moore-shaken cocktail of hard sci-fi, adventures and misadventures, comedy, and yes, romance. It’s also time travel done right, without paradoxes, and a much farther ride than Douglas Adams or Audrey Niffenegger could have ever imagined. Here’s the blurb:

Enrico Fermi wasn’t the last physicist who was both an experimental and theoretical genius, but Professor Gail Hoff will never receive the Nobel Prize. She wants to travel through time but discovers she can only go forward. She goes time-traveling through several universes of the multiverse, never to return to her little lab outside Philly. Jeff Langley, her jack-of-all-trades electronics wizard, accompanies her. Their escapades, both amorous and adventurous, make this sci-fi rom-com a far-out road-trip story filled with dystopian and post-apocalyptic situations, first encounter, robots and androids—all that and more await the reader who rides along.

This sci-fi rom-com is available everywhere quality ebooks are sold, including Amazon and Smashwords and all the latter’s affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc.) and library and lending services (Scribd, Overdrive, Baker & Thomas, Gardners, etc.).

Smashwords sales. I have many more novels to entertain you. I often call them “evergreen books,” novels that are as fresh and entertaining as the day I finished the manuscripts. Every month, one or more of these is on sale at Smashwords.

You can have access to those sales by subscribing to my email newsletter; use the contact page at this website to do so. This month Soldiers of God is on sale. Here an FBI agent and a priest battle religious fanatics and discover a conspiracy orchestrated by a shadowy character with a dangerous agenda.

Don’t have a Smashwords account? You can create one for free, and you’ll have easy access to many quality ebooks in all formats, not just Amazon’s mobi (Kindle) format, including others in my oeuvre.

Of course all my books are reasonably priced. Check them out on the “Books & Short Stories” web page at this website.

Future novels. Readers who regularly read this newsletter and blog will probably remember that the “Esther Brookstone Art Detective Series” (Rembrandt’s Angel and Son of Thunder) and The Last Humans have sequels waiting off-stage. Unfortunately, I’ve had to cut ties with Penmore Press and Black Opal Books respectively (only partly due to COVID, and I still have a lot of friends there).

I can’t abandon these manuscripts, though, so Death on the Danube (Esther Brookstone series #3) and The Last Humans: A New Dawn will be published as soon as I can manage it. Until then, here’s a secret: My Irish collaborator A.B. Carolan tells me he almost has a new novel ready, another sci-fi mystery for young adults and adults who are young at heart; it will be the first in a trilogy he’s sketched out.

And that’s all my news that’s fit to print…for now.

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Comments are always welcome.

Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!

Oops! I just realized that I didn’t post #182. Even though the audiences are very different, there’s some overlap in my email and online newsletters. I sent out the email newsletter, but I forgot the online one. My apologies. The following is a combination that will bring readers of this blog up to date just as well. A lot is happening now, but not that much in my publishing life. To wax optimistic, I can say that COVID has one positive: I’m reading and writing a lot more! (See below for both.)

The virus is still out there. We want to avoid it coming back, that is, leave “They’re here!” to that Poltergeist movie of 1982 (for COVID, “they” equals viruses). As we open up the tri-state economy, please continue to be careful. We deserve to congratulate ourselves, at least those of us who have followed good practices—going out only when necessary, using masks, staying away from crowds, and keeping apart by at least six feet. However, if we don’t continue these good practices, a new COVID wave will occur, as states like Arizona, Florida, Texas, and others that never left the first wave have shown.

Stay smart and be safe.

“Tyger tyger, burning bright…”. No “fearful symmetry” here, just a beautiful one. The tiger lilies are out to remind us that Nature can do rather well without us. We’re only passengers on spaceship Earth, so we shouldn’t be making such a mess of things. We can do much better in that regard! (See my blog post last week “The Cardinals” for another perspective.)

Bastille Day. The French national holiday last year gained more media attention because POTUS was there and came home wanting a parade down Penn Avenue that will outdo the festivities there. His July 4 events this year were poor imitations, though, only used by him to continue his divisive speeches.

Frankly, I’ve always admired the French. They helped in the American Revolution, which in turn inspired their own (a bit bloodier with Madame Guillotine, of course, but both began the end of aristocratic privilege that finally came after World War I). Their slogan “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” was enshrined in the Third Republic and is a good motto in these times when the world is turning once again to fascism. And the Statue of Liberty, though battered and bruised by the Trump administration, still stands at the entrance to New York Harbor, a gift from the French.

Their holiday celebrates the start of the French Revolution when French revolutionaries stormed that old prison to release the political prisoners. It’s no accident that my novel Goin’ the Extra Mile (#3 in the “Mary Jo Melendez Mysteries”) ends with Mary Jo and her family and friends in France after being pursued by the US, Russian, and Chinese governments. I couldn’t choose the UK. After all, the UK has its own Trump-clone in the fascist Boris Johnson!

Vive la France!

Speaking of Trump… To begin my list of recommended readings, let me suggest Masha Gessen’s Surviving Autocracy, where the author does a fine job analyzing the deranged mind of #45 and how he’s the typical fascist. (See my review last week. His niece Mary, a psychologist, analyzes that diseased mine even further.) Obviously Gessen’s little book isn’t for anyone who supports Trump. (If it’s any consolation to them, most politicians are deranged, but, to paraphrase Orwell’s Animal Farm, some are more deranged than others.)

Shadow of the Wind (La Sombra del Viento). I reviewed Carlos Ruiz Safón’s novel in 2008 in both Spanish and English (the review is now archived). It’s probably the greatest Spanish language novel since Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude (Cien Años de Soledad), which led to the Colombian receiving the Nobel prize (many good things come to us from Colombia, including the wonderful coffee). You don’t need to read Carlos’s book in Spanish, though, to escape into the magical world of books in Barcelona at a time when Franco and his fascist minions gripped Cataluña in their iron fists.

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A salute. To all those front-line workers who deserve much more than applause and cheers, I salute you. That includes doctors, nurses, maintenance workers, grocery clerks—all who are keeping things going for the rest of us. I also salute the volunteers working in food pantries and aiding in general.

Some of my readers have made many useful suggestions about how we can all help those in the frontlines of this war against the coronavirus…and each other. I’m truly impressed by the sense of community that I’m seeing in the tri-state area from most people (not so much elsewhere). Most are showing common sense, listening to the health experts, and not protesting or exhibiting rash behavior. That’s all for the greater good…and toward a speedy recovery from the state, national, and worldwide disaster this pandemic represents.

I’m in that demographic group where COVID-19 would probably kill me if I got it, so I’ve become a reluctant recluse. All I can do is stay at home, except for essentials, and read or write my stories so I won’t catch the virus or propagate it—or give it to anyone else if I get it! The writing is a small and perhaps selfish contribution compared to the above, but authors are obviously not essential employees! And it goes toward promoting that common-sense reaction to the pandemic, if only by creating entertainment that allows others to stay at home.

Reading. I’ve recently read Alex Gerlis’s Prince of Spies and Keith Steinbaum’s The Poe Consequence (for a review of these two books, see the mini-reviews section of my blog archives). I also binge-read Faith Martin’s Jenny Starling mysteries, fine stories in the British mystery tradition (I reviewed the entire seven-book series recently—see the “Book Reviews” archive of this blog).

Writing. Although I’ve finished two manuscripts, A Time-Traveler’s Guide to the Multiverse (it’s a sci-fi rom-com) and Death on the Danube (#3 in the “Esther Brookstone Art Detective” series), I had to slow down a bit because I had a pinched nerve in my right shoulder (I’m a touch-typist so I need both hands). Most of this newsletter was typed before that. I guess you could say it was caused by COVID because I was doing a lot more writing…as well as reading. I’m better now, thank God.

The Smashwords sale. What I can do as a writer is provide readers with reading material. For obvious reasons, people have more time to read. Adults, however, have a bit more patience than children and young adults in this era of stay-at-home living. Kids need exciting stories. So this month I put all of A.B. Carolan’s sci-fi mysteries for young adults on sale at Smashwords. These books have also entertained many adults who are young at heart.

The Secret Lab is about a mutant cat and a gang of kids on the International Space Station in the future who solve a mystery that involves the origin of the cat. The Secret of the Urns is about a young girl out to save ETs whose planet is invaded by Human miners. Mind Games is about a young girl with psi powers who sets out to find her foster father’s murderer.

Note that all these books are available in ebook and print versions, but, like all my sales, the ebook is only on sale at Smashwords using the special coupon codes included in my email newsletter.

Not a member of Smashwords? Become one. It’s easy, and you’ll have access to all my ebooks as well as those from many other authors writing in many genres.

Note that all my books are inexpensive.

Free fiction. Toward the same goal of providing you reading material during these days of pandemic, check out the free fiction in the “Steve’s Shorts” and “ABC Shorts” archives of my blog. Also, you will see a list of free PDFs you can download on the “Free Stuff & Contests” web page.

Looking for a good book to read or an old movie to watch? In addition to those mentioned above, check out the “Mini-Reviews of Books,” “Book Reviews,” and “Movie Reviews” archives of this blog. (Obviously I haven’t seen a new movie recently because of COVID-19.)

Be smart…stay safe. We’ll get through this!

Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!

A short newsletter… just to say I hope you’re safe and staying at home. We’re social animals, so we might become bored doing what we have to do to beat COVID-19, but it must be done. We can only beat it by working together…by staying apart!

Solutions to boredom. If you’re noting more reruns on network TV, it’s real…and you can expect more. Film crews are no longer working to make new shows. I don’t watch much TV beyond news and cultural shows, so I’m ill-prepared: I don’t have NetFlix, Hulu, or other streaming services. As a consequence, I’m reading and writing a lot more, as you might imagine. With libraries closed, my main source of books has become Amazon (its delivery service has gone downhill, though, so I mostly read ebooks), but I understand many bookstores will take telephone orders that you can pick up. Consider the latter takeout to feed the mind, something to entertain and distract us. The last is less likely with TV, with PBS being the possible exception. Of course, books are excellent for entertaining those children at home too. Give the gift of reading to your stay-at-home kids. (See the next section for some good books.)

Busy reading. I’ve done a lot of reading lately. Here are some new books you might also want to read. I finished the first two and am working on the third. Saralyn Richard’s murder mystery A Palette for Love and Murder is the long-awaited sequel of Murder in the One Percent. Brian Greene’s Until the End of Time is one scientist’s attempt at a theory of everything, even beyond physics…everything! Keith Steinbaum’s mystery/thriller The Poe Consequence is a profound story about gang violence and ghostly revenge. All recently published; all interesting reading. My review of the first book can be found here as a blog post (search for it in the “Book Reviews” and “Mini-Reviews of Books” archives). The review of the second can be found at Bookpleasures; the link is https://waa.ai/T7a8.

Busy writing. I’ve also done a lot of writing lately. I finished A Time-Traveler’s Guide through the Multiverse and submitted the manuscript. It’s the rom-com tale of a physicist who figures out how to time travel by hopping from universe to universe in the multiverse. Also, I’m currently editing (first read through on editing is mine, of course—other edits will follow, by me and others) what will become #3 in the “Esther Brookstone Art Detective Series” titled Death on the Danube (nice alliteration, right?). If you haven’t read the first two books in the series, Rembrandt’s Angel and Son of Thunder, now might be the time to ease your boredom while staying at home by reading these novels. Stay tuned for updates about how these two novels fare in running the publishing gantlet.

Free fiction. While my books and ebooks aren’t expensive, I realize people could be stretched thin. I’m not offering a Smashwords sale this month to my email newsletter subscribers—this newsletter is its cousin that’s published here later—that would require the internet to access the Smashwords website, and frankly it has been in slo-mo for a while (the internet, that is, maybe because everyone’s ZOOMing—Smashwords is probably business as usual). I just want to remind you that there’s a lot of free fiction available at this website, if you can get there from here without your connection freezing—see the “Free Stuff & Contests” web page for the list of free PDFs you can download. I’m also going to keep this blog going as long as I can—you’ll find more free fiction here, as well as book and movie reviews (old ones of the latter, of course); author interviews; and articles about reading, writing, and the publishing business.

That’s all for this month. But three final words: Please stay safe.

Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!

A bit late…. That’s me for this month. I have two excuses. One is preparing our house for COVID-19,  something that now seems like a day-to-day affair. We’ve changed our habits. Most people will have to do so. I’ll be brief with my recommendations: Be smart, be responsible, be safe, and follow the guidelines and rules. Remember, even if your reaction to the virus is minimal, you can still infect others where their reactions won’t be minimal—stay at home and, if you must go out, stay away from groups larger than ten people…and maintain your distance. I don’t have to work too hard to follow this advice—I do most of my reading and writing at home. But beating this virus will be a community effort.

My second reason is a bit mundane compared to the first: February was a short month, even though I had one extra day. That meant I’ve been in catch-up mode for a while with my story writing (see below). At least I remembered Valentine’s Day! What about you? Does the month of February present any special problems for your work or activity schedule? Or are you just worried about getting through March? “It was shot to hell anyway with the corona virus,” you say. Do you want to read that at least February is bookended by two 31-day months? The second quarter of the business cycle is just the opposite with April and June being the bookends (although the virus means no normal business cycle is possible now).

Calendars and clocks. While the Gregorian calendar is an improvement on the Julian one, that leap year and leap day added to February are still needed. To put it into astrophysical and mathematical language, the problem is to fit an integer multiple of complete spins into the orbital period of the Earth. Think about it. It isn’t a trivial problem. In fact, it’s generally an impossible one to solve, because a planet’s rotation period has very little relation to its orbit around the Sun. GPS clocks have to add seconds every so often too (yes, there’s a clock associated with your GPS system).

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Happy holidays. We’re now heading into year’s end activities. This is often a stressful time for many, so don’t let it be. Like Thanksgiving, it’s time to enjoy being with family and friends. They are more important than anything else. So relax and enjoy the good times, but think about those who don’t have it so good. We’re all on spaceship Earth together.

Art and history in danger? Whether seeing the floods in St. Mark’s Square in Venice or the flames of brush fires driven by ferocious Santa Ana winds approaching the Reagan library in California, extreme weather events driven by climate change seem like the new normal. While one must agree that preventing loss of human life is more important, saving our heritage is too. Through knowledge of our past and understanding of our present, we can chart our way through the troubled waters of the future. Human beings haven’t been the dominant species on planet Earth very long. Let’s make sure we can stick around for a while longer.

Binge reading with the Brits. I’m guilty. Recently I binged with Daniella Bernett’s Kirby/Longdon mysteries and Diana Febry’s rural mystery series, both British-style mystery series. I’m onto more of Celina Grace’s books in the Kate Redman series, although I’m not reading them in order; and I’ve recently discovered J. R. Ellis’s Yorkshire mysteries. With the exception of Bernett, these are all British authors, and even her series’ books are Brit-style mysteries.

Do you binge in your book reading? I tend to do it when I’m exhausted from my own novel writing and need to get some good quality R&R. I suppose most people use streaming video—“Let’s watch all the Sopranos episodes!” My love affair with reading is more driven by what I call a good book, one that allows me to use my own mind to visualize what’s happening in a novel. I don’t want to see someone else’s vision, especially on my TV screen. But that’s just me. We all approach our R&R in different ways.

Holly Berry Show. This year I was unable to participate with a book booth in this seasonal event at the beginning of November, but I contributed indirectly. I hope everyone had a great time. The winners of the two raffle baskets will also have some of my novels to read and enjoy this holiday season…and maybe share with family and friends.

Son of Thunder. Reviews are coming in. Here’s one recent Amazon review: “Son of Thunder is a follow-up of sorts to Rembrandt’s Angel, but it stands alone. It seems quite different from what I’ve read by Steven M. Moore before (and I’ve read most of his works), but in a very good way. Three stories are being told simultaneously, the timelines separated by centuries. Each was exciting and rewarding in its own way. The modern tale is a detective story, perhaps in the vein of Dan Brown, but even more it reminded me of Eric Mayer and Mary Reed’s John the Lord Chamberlain stories (set in the Roman Empire of Justinian). I love those stories, and I loved this one also. It may be the best work I’ve read by Mr. Moore. I couldn’t put it down after a while. I just wanted to know what happened in 1st century AD, 15th century AD and 21st century AD. The religious elements were worked into the plot seamlessly, and the art history gave it a framework to make the whole novel work. If you like historical mysteries with a touch of Dan Brown-type speculation, this is the book for you.”—S. D. Beallis in his five-star Amazon review.

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The last quarter. It’s hard to believe we’re in it and heading for the year-end holidays. How many shopping days left? Of course, it’s not about shopping. It’s about seeing family and friends…and enjoying the festivities with them.

Holly Berry Show. This takes place in early November, and it’s a blast! Sponsored by the Upper Montclair Women’s Club (NJ), you will find all kinds of festive things for holiday decorations and gifts. Usually I’m present with my book booth too, because books make great holiday gifts. This year I can’t participate, though, but I will be present in spirit. I’ll leave copies of some of my recent books for the raffle. Don’t miss this arts and crafts spectacular!

Pirating. Book publishing is suffering through what music publishing suffered. Pirating is common, and shady websites are offering free pirated copies of books, ebooks mostly, but print versions are offered too. They even appear on Amazon.

Here’s the most common SOP for pirates: buy the ebook on Amazon, strip off the DRM (“Digital Rights Management”), and upload it to the pirates’ websites. An ebook is just software, and it can be pirated. And not only ebooks are pirated. Print books are too, and they have been pirated a lot longer than ebooks. A recent NY Times article exposes this practice.

Pirating represents a huge loss for authors and publishers. If it’s not halted, authors and publishers will have no incentive to write and publish. It’s that simple. Please avoid the temptation.

Son of Thunder. What’s unusual about this book? It’s #2 in the “Esther Brookstone Art Detective Series” and the sequel to Rembrandt’s Angel. It features Esther Brookstone, now retired from Scotland Yard, who is obsessed with finding St. John the Divine’s tomb using directions left by the Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli. Esther’s search, the disciple’s missionary travels, and Botticelli’s trip to the Middle East make for three travel stories that all come together in one surprising climax.

Esther’s paramour, Interpol agent Bastiann van Coevorden, has problems with arms dealers, but he multitasks by trying to keep Esther focused and out of danger. The reader can also learn how their romance progresses, as well as travel back in time to discover a bit about Esther’s past with MI6 during the Cold War.

History, archaeology, romance, religion, and art make for a tasty stew in this moving, moralistic mystery/thriller novel just published by Penmore Press. Available in print and ebook formats at Amazon and from the publisher, and in ebook format at Smashwords and the latter’s affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc.) and lenders (Overdrive, etc.). Also available at your favorite bookstore (if they don’t have it, ask for it.) (Note: the print version might be slightly delayed.)

The Last Humans. Did you miss this? Modern biological warfare can be scary. In this novel, a localized attack spreads to cause an apocalypse throughout the world. I don’t focus on that, though. Instead, I focus on what happens to the survivors. This post-apocalyptic thriller is really about LA County Sheriff’s forensic diver Penny Castro and her adventures to survive and form an adopted family in the aftermath. Available in print and ebook formats at Amazon and from the publisher Black Opal Books, and in ebook format at Smashwords and the latter’s affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc.) and lenders (Overdrive, etc.). Also available at your favorite bookstore (if they don’t have it, ask for it.)

Free fiction? You can have a free copy of any of my ebooks in return for an honest review. Otherwise, TANSTAAFL. Of course, all my published books are reasonably priced, even the print versions. My collaborator A. B. Carolan and I offer free short fiction on the “Free Stuff & Contests” web page at this website as well as in the blog categories “Steve’s Shorts” and “ABC Shorts.”

Sales? You won’t find them here. They’re only on Smashwords, and you’ll only have access to them by receiving my email newsletter. Sign up for the email newsletter using my contact page. You’re not a member of Smashwords? It’s easy to join and it’s free. You’ll have access to more ebooks and more ebook formats by being a member.

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Comments are always welcome.

Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!

Friday the 13th! The origins come from the Middle Ages. If you’re afraid of the day as being unlucky, curl up and read a good book…especially if the weather no longer looks like summer! (Obviously I don’t believe in the bad luck–I wouldn’t offer my newsletter otherwise.)

School time! It’s here again: School buses, kids on the streets, walking or in bicycles…Every driver must expect the unexpected now, because, as Art Linkletter used to say, “Kids do the darnedst things” (okay, he actually said “say the darnedest things,” but I wanted to generalize). Have you seen the signs that say “Drive as if your kids lived here.” We all have to do that now, with schools back in session. Be a watchful, careful driver. In particular, if a school bus has flashing red lights and that “Stop!” sign out, it’s illegal to pass.

Terrible segue? Kids will be writing book reports soon. Maybe they have a list to choose from, or maybe they can choose their own. If the latter case, think about young adult novels for ages 12 to 18. Children’s lit is often divided into children’s, middle, and young adult books—it’s a bit like movies going from general to PG-13. For young adults (and adults who are young at heart), please consider A.B. Carolan’s sci-fi mysteries.

The first, The Secret Lab, features four tweens living on the International Space Station in the future as they try to discover the origins of a mutant cat. The second, The Secret of the Urns, follows the adventures of a young girl living on a satellite of a Jupiter-like planet who wants to study the ETs there; she must first combat the hatred and bigotry of the few humans, including her parents. The third, Mind Games, has a young teen trying to discover who killed her foster father; she’s forced to develop her ESP powers in the process.

All these books were written for young adults—A.B. and I love writing for them. All the books take place in my sci-fi universe, but at different times so they can be read independently. For reviews, please see Amazon or this website.

Want to perform a good deed? We have our own wolf preserve here in NJ, but a group of writers called the Wolfpack has found a way to help both wounded wolves and wounded warriors, i.e. veterans with physical disabilities and/or mental problems. The anthology of wolf-themed short stories and poems Once Upon a Wolfpack is now available on Amazon—there are both print and ebook versions. All royalties will be donated to …, where veterans help wolves at the preserve and around the U.S.

Sales. You won’t find them here in this online newsletter or on my website. Sorry. They’re only offered in my email newsletter. (Sign up for it using my contact page at this website.) All my books are reasonably priced, though, even the print versions, where available.

Free fiction. Check out the list on the “Free Stuff & Contests’ web page. If you like what you download from that list, or the free fiction you find in my blog categories “Steve’s Shorts” and “ABC Shorts,” please consider donating to one of my favorite charities (see the “About the Author” web page for a list)…or one of yours. My free PDFs are like open source software. Instead of sending me whatever you can for my stories, your charitable donations will motivate me to offer you even more free fiction.

Son of Thunder. Scotland Yard Inspector Esther Brookstone, now retired, becomes obsessed with finding St. John’s tomb, following the directions left by a traveling companion of Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli. Interpol agent Bastiann van Coevorden tries to keep her focused and safe while multitasking in his efforts to thwart illegal gun merchants. You can also follow how Esther and Bastiann’s romance progresses.

This is a sequel to Rembrandt’s Angel. Coming real soon from Penmore Press. And don’t worry—you can read it independently from the first book, but while you’re eagerly awaiting the next adventure in the “Esther Brookstone Art Detective” series, you might enjoy reading that first book.

That’s all, folks!

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Comments are always welcome.

“Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series.” Their homicide cases often go from local to national and international—for example, Gaia and the Goliaths. In this seventh book of the series, the homicide case of an environmental activist leads to the discovery of an international conspiracy perpetrated by a US energy conglomerate and a Russian oligarch. Bastiann van Coevorden, Interpol agent and paramour of Esther Brookstone in Rembrandt’s Angel, has a cameo in the novel. And the villain of the first book in the series, The Midas Bomb, continues to play a nefarious role. But which side is he really on? Lots of entertaining reading for mystery, crime, and suspense fans! Available on Amazon and Smashwords and at all the latter’s affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc.).

Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas! 

Weather forecast…past, present, and near future. Steam baths and lots of rain. It’s a great time to stay in the AC and read a book…or under an umbrella on the beach (just not in the thunderstorms). After three recent novel-writing marathons, I’m doing a bit of R&R&R. Some readers don’t realize that writing requires a lot of commitment, but authors are happy to do it to entertain and inform their readers. And we can read other authors’ books too! That’s why that last &R is not a typo—it’s Rest & Relaxation & Reading for me. What about you?

That strange Twitterverse. It’s not just the tweets from you-know-who. A challenge for math nerds was posted recently: what’s 8 / 2(2+2) ? The poser of the puzzle used a division sign instead of a slash. But the division sign is equivalent to a slash, as written here, which means the expression is equivalent to a fractional one, 8 over 2(2+2), which, of course, is 1.

Don’t feel bad if you got it wrong. The NY Times did too! They argued that you do the operation in parentheses first (correct!) and then work from left to right (no, because the division sign is equivalent to a slash). Left-to-right is a cultural bias (shame on you, NY Times!), and math is culturally independent. Many people read from right to left in this world. Admittedly the expression is ambiguous, but not to most mathematicians, where the division sign is rarely used.

More fun was had by seeing all the people on Twitter arguing about this. I didn’t, by the way…maybe because I’m more careful about how I spend my time there. Maybe other people have too much time on their hands? (Including you-know-who?) Twitter is a special culture, of course, and it’s fun to observe its idiosyncrasies.

Official reviewing. Some of you might be familiar with my book reviews on Amazon or my blog (archived in the “Book Reviews” and “Mini-Reviews of Books” categories), but I do my “official reviewing” at bookpleasures.com.

I’ve been associated with them for 10+ years and have reviewed all kinds of books—over a hundred reviews so far, from non-fiction to fiction and even a graphics novel. Unlike Amazon reviews, the ones on bookpleasures aren’t short two- or three-liners and are completely honest—reviewers’ opinions are their own, of course, and they can be acerbic as well as glowing (sometimes in the same review!) as they discuss the merits of each book. Recommended as an alternative to Amazon and Kirkus and other sites that are more associated with New York publishing conglomerates.

Recent and current reads. I read non-fiction as well as fiction. Recently I read Patrick Radden Keefe’s Say Nothing, an amazing history of the Troubles in Northern Ireland (my review can be found on Bookpleasures). I’m currently reading Putin’s World: Russia against the West and with the Rest, by Angela Stent. (We have to understand our enemies.)

Kudos to two colleagues. Most of you probably remember that my latest novel The Last Humans was published by Black Opal Books. Two fellow authors associated with this great small press we call BOB are finalists in the Killer Nashville conference’s contests: Saralyn Richard’s Murder in the One Percent takes place in the tri-state’s neighboring Brandywine Valley, and P.D. Halt’s When Death Imitates Art takes place in Germany. You guessed it: they’re mystery/crime stories, and two great reads that are certainly deserving of this recognition. While the books are available on many online retail sites, please support and patronize your local indie bookstore. (If they don’t have these books, please ask them to order them for you).

Son of Thunder. The sequel to Rembrandt’s Angel is coming real soon. This novel required a lot of research compared to the other books in my oeuvre, although they all require some. It features the main characters from the first book, ex-Scotland Yard Inspector Esther Brookstone, now retired, and paramour Interpol Agent Bastiann van Coevorden, but the disciple St. John the Divine and the Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli also play important roles. Don’t worry. There’s no time travel, even though the book covers three different eras. And you’ll see how Esther and Bastiann’s romance progresses.

The new look. My website gurus at Monkey C Media have made upgrades and updates on my website—probably transparent to you for the most part when you visit. The URL has changed, though. It’s now https://stevenmmoore.com (that pesky extra m is still essential)…just a wee bit of added security for you if you’re web surfing. (Don’t worry. I’m not going to be selling things and sending you off to PayPal. And I still don’t accept ads from internet vendors.)

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