Welcome to My Book Birthday Celebration!
May 12, 2025 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as Book Birthday, Denise M. Colby, new releaseThis month, I’m having a book birthday celebration as my second book, A Slight Change of Plans releases on May 27, 2025. This is book 2 in my Best-laid Plans series.
I’m excited to share Jenny and Ren’s story with everyone. Out of the five teachers coming west, Jenny is the most insecure. She didn’t have a lot of love and affection growing up and hoped this new start would change all that. But the book starts with her school shutting down and she has no other options, so she heads to Washton, where Olivia is (the heroine in book 1, When Plans Go Awry).
You’ll meet Ren, and see familiar characters from book one including the rooster, Bert.
I’ve been busy putting together tidbits and information related to this story to share with everyone on my website, blog, and social media. Sign up for my newsletter to follow along.
Book Launch Activities
This time around I’m doing a blog tour through JustReadTours June 9-13
I’ve also created some of my own graphics to share
My son added on to the original map of Washton to show the parts mentioned in the story. This rests in the front of the book matter (and hopefully soon on my website)
My husband had designed the journal notebook for the first book, and so I asked him to do something for this one as well. This is what he came up with.
Other Book Launch Things
I recently was interviewed on Awesomegang.com, and have new listings of A Slight Change of Plans on all major platforms.
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/231221127-a-slight-change-of-plans
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/a-slight-change-of-plans-best-laid-plans-book-2-by-denise-m-colby
AllAuthor: https://allauthor.com/book/97529/a-slight-change-of-plans-best-laid-plans-book-2/
fictionfinder: https://www.fictionfinder.com/book/detail/10961
As most of you know, it’s a lot of work to organize a book launch, yet so rewarding after spending so much time writing, editing, and marketing this story. And I get to do it again in six months when the prequel releases in November.
Earlier this year, I wrote a blog post sharing which books inspire my writing. I also pick a word every year to focus on. This year it is Flourish.
Thanks for following along in this journey with me!
0 0 Read moreGREEN PROMISES: GIRLS WHO LOVED THE EARTH by JEANNINE ATKINS—A REVIEW BY VERONICA JORGE
April 22, 2025 by Veronica Jorge in category Write From the Heart by Veronica Jorge tagged as Green Promises, Jeannine Atkins, new release, review, Veronica Jorge
GREEN PROMISES: GIRLS WHO LOVED THE EARTH
JEANNINE ATKINS
Atheneum Books For Young Readers
2025
ISBN 978-1-6659-50572
I can’t think of a better way to welcome Spring and celebrate Earth Day than with a new book, especially one about nature and the earth, and following after Women’s History Month.
In Green Promises: Girls Who Loved the Earth, Jeannine Atkins delves into the lives and achievements of two extraordinary women who made significant discoveries and important contributions to our knowledge of nature and the Earth.
Like many young people of her time, (Mary) Agnes Chase, (1869-1963), left school in eighth grade to help support her family. But it was her skill at drawing plants that distinguished her and earned her a position at the Smithsonian Institution. Agnes published more than seventy scientific works, and went on to become the first woman president of the Botanical Society Of America.
Marguerite Thomas Williams (1895-1991), focused on the way rivers shape the land and the ways that people shape the rivers. She discovered that floods happen when rivers try to be where they belong but their space has been taken. Yet we can change the course of a river by planting more trees and grasses with roots that hold the earth. Those same tree roots serve to filter the water and hold the riverbanks in place. “Like memory, the river moves forward while trying to hold where it came from.” Marguerite became the first African-American to earn a PhD in geology.
The book, written in verse, with informative and lyrical language invites us to take a closer look at the natural world around us.
Pick up a rock and examine it. Rocks hold clues to changes in climate and have stories to tell.
Take a walk and feel the earth beneath your feet, accepting that “land matters because everyone needs a place to stand.”
“History is like a river. No one can see it all at once.” Though you might not feel it, the Earth is turning while no one is watching. So, every day, every moment, keep looking. You don’t want to miss the wonder!
While you may not like math or science, this book may persuade you to interact with them and give them a chance to tell their stories. Let math show you the beauty of building connections that take you beyond numbers. And science, as Marguerite says, “is a quiet way to love the world.”
Jeannine Atkins is the author of numerous critically acclaimed books for young readers, though adults will enjoy them as well. Some of her other titles include: Girls Who Looked Under Rocks: The Lives of Six Pioneering Naturalists; Finding Wonders: Three Girls Who Changed Science; Grasping Mysteries: Girls Who Loved Math; Stone Mirrors: The Sculpture and Silence of Edmonia Lewis.
Inspiring books to read and to give as gifts, I hope you will pick a few. You won’t be disappointed.
See you next time on May 22nd!
Veronica Jorge
Spotlight on Dianna Sinovic
April 17, 2025 by marianne h donley in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley, Spotlight tagged as Dianna Sinovic, new release, Scream of the Silent Sun
Born and raised in the Midwest, Dianna Sinovic has also lived in three other quadrants of the U.S. She writes short stories and poetry, and has just released a full-length novel, Scream of the Silent Sun. (More information below.)
She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Horror Writers Association, The American Medical Writers Association, and The Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC.
Dianna also has a regular column here on A Slice of Orange, titled Quill and Moss, in which she frequently includes short fiction.
Dianna is a contributing author in the last three anthologies from The Bethlehem Writers Group, An Element of Mystery: Sweet, Funny and Strange Tales of Intrigue, Fur, Feathers, and Scales, Sweet, Funny Animal Tales and Untethered, Sweet, Funny & Strange Tales of the Paranormal. She has also contributed stories for the Bethlehem Writers Roundtable ezine, including “In the Delivery.”
Scream of the Silent Sun
About the Book
Quinn Thomas’ brother, Parker, has been missing for more than a decade when, as an empath, she’s mysteriously drawn to a cache of his letters, hidden away in her parents’ attic. His letters speak of her special power and his pride in who she is and what she can do.
It’s confirmation that he’s never forgotten her. But where is he? And why, given the empathic abilities that used to connect them, has she felt no spark from him after all these years?
Tucked inside one of Parker’s letters is a vibrant drawing of the sun. Parker is a skilled artist and the sun is his adopted symbol. Quinn is shocked when the emblem inks itself onto her arm, creating a guide that seems to be trying to tell her where her brother may be.
That’s validated when Quinn visits a local tattoo artist who tells her she is a conduit to her brother. The tattoo comes alive when Parker’s presence is near, but his appearances are the stuff of mirage and hologram: He’s real and not real.
With their mother’s cancer diagnosis creating a very real deadline, Quinn is determined to bring her brother home, but the seething sun tattoo and his flickering image seem to warn her that he’s in grave danger. Frustrated, Quinn finds help on her quest from Braden, Parker’s best friend and lover from high school; Quinn’s best friend, Candi, and one of Quinn’s rehab clients, Toby. Even with their help, will she find Parker in time to save him?
Other Book by Dianna
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0 0 Read moreWITH OUR BELLIES FULL AND THE FIRE DYING: A REVIEW BY VERONICA JORGE
February 22, 2025 by Veronica Jorge in category Writing tagged as Debra H Goldstein, new release, Reviewed by Veronica Jorge, Short story collection, With Our Bellies Full and the Fire Dying
WITH OUR BELLIES FULL AND THE FIRE DYING: TALES OF SINNING AND REDEMPTION
DEBRA H. GOLDSTEIN
White City Press, 2025
ISBN 978-1-963479-68-3
Don’t be fooled by the title. This is not a book about morality or religion. Far from it. It’s all about….MURDER.
In this collection of eighteen award-winning short mysteries, everyday people find themselves caught up in events and circumstances that challenge and test them, and reveal the thoughts and intentions of their hearts.
If you’ve read any of Debra H. Goldstein’s other works, and I hope you have, such as, One Taste Too Many, the first in her Sarah Blair Mystery novels, (all of which have been reviewed by me on this blog and which I highly recommend), you will know that Goldstein is masterful at creating interest and intrigue, building suspense, and adding her signature twist at the end of each tale.
As an added treat, her stories also often include delicious recipes you are encouraged to try and add to your own collections.
Debra’s years as a judge and litigator, combined with her skills as a storyteller, make for a perfect combination that, in these mysteries, introduce us to a diverse group of characters with a variety of motives for murder. Yet, where no one is above the law…unless you don’t get caught, or the law covers up for you.
Nothing is ever as it seems.
The murderer is never who you think it is.
And sometimes it might even be the kind little old lady.
A word of caution. While you’re reading, be leery of friends bearing gifts of food.
Happy Reading and eating!
Veronica Jorge
See you next time on March 22, 2025!
More of Debra H. Goldstein’s Books
Featured Author: Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC
January 29, 2025 by Bethlehem Writers Group in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley, Contests, Featured Author of the Month tagged as #TheBWG, Bethlehem Writers Group, Bethlehem Writers Roundtable Short Story Award, new release, Seasons Readings, Short Story Award
About Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC
The Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC (BWG), is a community of mutually supportive fiction and nonfiction authors based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The members are as different from each other as their stories. BWG also publishes quality fiction through their online literary journal, Bethlehem Writers Roundtable, and their award-winning A Sweet, Funny, and Strange Anthology series.
Each anthology has an overall theme—broadly interpreted—but includes a variety of genres. All but the first anthology include stories from the winner(s) of The Bethlehem Writers Short Story Award.
Their first anthology, A Christmas Sampler: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Holiday Tales (2009), won two Next Generation Indie Book Awards: Best Anthology and Best Short Fiction.
Season’s Reading: More Sweet, Funny, and Strange Holiday Tales is the latest in A Sweet, Funny, and Strange Anthology.
About Season’s Readings
In this new addition to the “Sweet, Funny, and Strange”(R) series of anthologies, the multi-award-winning Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC, returns to its roots. As denizens in and around Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (also known as “Christmas City, USA”), we were happy to make our first anthology a collection of holiday tales. But one volume just wasn’t enough. Now, in our eighth anthology, we’re returning to the theme to bring you twenty-one new stories that span the holidays from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Eve.
Emwryn Murphy’s sweet tale tells about a chosen family’s “Friendsgiving,” crashed by a blood relative who might, or might
not, be happy with what he sees in “As Simple as That.” Jerome W. McFadden once again reveals his humorous side in his story about
a would-be Santa who gets into trouble in “Flue Shot.” A. E. Decker shares an intricate Christmas fantasy about “The Goblin King’s
Music Box.” And Paula Gail Benson gives a new twist to a traditional symbol for the New Year in “Star of the Party.” Beyond these holidays, Diane Sismour writes about Krampusnacht, Debra H. Goldstein about Pearl Harbor Day, and Peter J Barbour about Hanukkah. Other favorite BWG authors, including Jeff Baird, Ralph Hieb, D.T. Krippene, Christopher D. Ochs, Dianna Sinovic, Kidd Wadsworth, and Carol L. Wright, also share their holiday musings.
In addition, this volume includes the 2023 and 2024 award-winning stories from the Bethlehem Writers Roundtable Short Story Awards. Sally Milliken, the 2023 first-place winner, presents “The First Thanksgiving.” From 2024, we have our top three winners with first-place winner Rhonda Zangwill’s “Oh! Christmas Tree,” second-place winner Bettie Nebergall’s “Just Ask Santa,” and third-place winner Mary Adler’s “Narragansett Nellie and the Transferware Platter.”
We hope you enjoy these holiday gifts and that all our readers experience the very happiest of holiday seasons.
Next up for BWG
BWG is working on their ninth anthology, Illusive Worlds: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Tales of Science Fiction and Fastasy
In connection with this anthology, they are hosting The Bethlehem Writers 2025 Short Story Award.
The 2025 Short Story Award opens on January 1, 2025. The theme will be Speculative Fiction (tales of science fiction and fantasy,broadly interpreted).
BWG is seeking never-published short stories of 2,500 words or fewer.
First Place:
$250 and consideration for publication in our upcoming anthology: Illusive Worlds: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Tales of Science Fiction and Fantasy or Bethlehem Writers Roundtable
Second Place:
$100 and publication in Bethlehem Writers Roundtable
Third Place:
$50 and publication in Bethlehem Writers Roundtable
The 2025 contest judge is science-fiction and fantasy author Adrian Tchaikovsky.
For more information on the 2025 Short Story Award and for information on how to enter, click here. You can also read an interview with Mr. Tchaikovsky here.
Books from Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC
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