New Book Release: House of Cards by C.S. Kading and Tony Fuentes

 

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They say what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Try telling that to the quarreling Fairy King and Queen tearing holes in reality.

As the city's ShardKeeper, Tamara Lyn Hunter knows the rules: don't take sides, don't play favorites, and definitely don't fall in love with the heir to a Fae-Kin Court. But when a centuries-old feud between Oberon and Tatiyana explodes over a stolen child, Tam's world turns upside down.

Caught between duty and her growing feelings for their son, she must navigate immortal vendettas and deadly supernatural politics before Vegas pays the price.

Shakespeare never had to deal with this level of drama.

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Perfect for readers who love the magical politics of Ilona Andrews and the irresistible romance of Patricia Briggs.

About the authors:

A poet, playwright, and lover of the fantastical. Charm has been telling stories since the 3rd grade when she won an award in a District contest. She adores studying myths and legends from around the world and has a special love for legends from non-European origins. One of her favorite memories was learning the historical legend of Mulan from her translator while in China. She is also an educator, specializing in storytelling for educators, as well as a Corporate Storyteller.

Tony Fuentes is a California-born Mexican American writer now living in Arizona. Considered a Renaissance Man in Geek's clothing; he is not only an author with a weird imagination, but also a painter, gamer, and part-time occultist. With his writing, he tries to spin both Mexican folklore and sardonic humor into his work. At the same, he tries to inspire the audience to look into the stars and dream further beyond. In short, he strives to give the weird and the wondrous things a place in the world for all to enjoy.

New Book Release: Talking White Owl - by Valerie Hagenbush

 

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When fifteen-year-old Viktor Talking White Owl wins a prestigious academic scholarship from Ohio State University, it draws the attention of an alliance of multi-tribal leaders known as the Council of First Nations. The young Lakota student, born on a poor South Dakota reservation, has the potential for influencing a new generation of Native activists. Viktor's achievements have not gone unnoticed by another group. Quietly observing the boy along with the Council's activities from their home deep beneath the sacred Black Hills is a tribe long believed to have disbanded, the Rawakota. For decades they have been sending scouts around the globe to infiltrate top-secret boardrooms and government agencies. Their mission: to secretly help the Council of First Nations eventually achieve its overarching goal of reclaiming tribal lands lost to broken treaties, a lofty enterprise they anticipate will not go unchallenged. Rawakota scientists have subsequently built a formidable defense capable of technologically blindsiding any superpower. For now, Viktor is important to them because he is the son of one of their best operatives, U.S. Air Force pilot Constance Howling Wind. And although Viktor's roots are Rawakota, the fact seems immaterial to him in today's world until he receives a cryptic vision. The same Rawakota influences that have inadvertently shaped his life thus far will ultimately alter the American landscape.

About the author: Valerie Hagenbush explored various fields before pursuing writing. She studied filmmaking at Ohio State University and later veterinary technology at the University of Cincinnati. After raising two daughters in Ohio and Illinois, she relocated to Arizona, where she taught before retiring and writing Talking White Owl. Her first novel, Good-bye and Good Riddance (2005), was inspired by her 1970s hitchhiking experiences. Talking White Owl, however, took a different path. Though she had never met Lakota people, the story remained in her imagination for years. While working on another book, Viktor Talking White Owl, a Lakota boy, suddenly emerged, recounting his story to her, leading to the novel’s creation. 

New Book Release: 100 Western Women: The Bold, Brave, Gutsy Women of Arizona's Past - by Jan Cleere

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History books record scant contributions women made in settling and developing the new territory of Arizona. Yet women were an integral part of civilizing the rough, rowdy, often dangerous land. For more than ten years, Jan Cleere has written about the women who influenced the growth and development of Arizona in her column "Western Women" that appears monthly in the Arizona Daily Star newspaper. The famous, infamous and those not so well known are featured, each with a compelling story of surviving and thriving under less-than-ideal circumstances. Warriors, basket weavers, ranchers, artists, innkeepers, schoolteachers, politicians and entrepreneurs from a remarkable variety of backgrounds and cultures influenced the growth of Arizona.

Read about Larcena Pennington who had to crawl down a mountain to escape her Indian captors. Hopi artist Nampeyo continued to make exquisite pots even after she started losing her eyesight. Carmen Vasquez built a theater and brought in shows from as far away as Spain. Elizabeth Hudson Smith ran a successful hotel until the color of her skin turned a town against her. And Sarah Gorby allowed injured animals to live in her home until they could return to their desert habitats.

The 100 Western women featured between these pages are just a handful of those who came before and after them as the territory emerged and flourished into an amazing and diverse state unlike any other in the nation.

About the Author

Jan Cleere has been researching and writing about early Western women for over twenty-five years. Her work, including over a half-dozen books, has earned accolades from the writing industry including the Will Rogers Medallion awards, New Mexico/Arizona Book awards, Women Writing the West WILLA awards, Military Writers Society of America, National Federation of Press Women, Feathered Quill and Arizona Authors Association. The Arizona Newspapers Association recognized Jan for a series of historical profiles she wrote for Phoenix Woman Magazine, and the Nevada Women's History Project named her to its Roll of Honor for her significant contribution in the preservation of Nevada women's history. She is featured in several anthologies and her freelance work appears in national and regional publications.

New Book Release: Operation Tollbooth - by Kip Cassino

 

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There were plans for using nuclear weapons in Vietnam, and soldiers were actually trained for the mission. “Operation Tollbooth” depicts a nuclear strike on the Ho Chi Minh Trail that might have taken place, through the eyes of a young Army lieutenant caught up in the event.

About the author:

 Kip Cassino has worked construction, been a soldier, written for newspapers, performed market research, and accurately forecasted the future of several industries. His articles have appeared in publications as diverse as The New Times, Smithsonian Air & Space, Entrepreneur, and Ad Week. He has been interviewed by Meet the Press, BBC, and VICE. He has written science fiction for Analog and numerous marketing and political spending analyses. He was awarded the Research Award of Merit by the Newspaper Association of America in 2008. 

New Book Release: In The Line of Fire - by Michelle D. Bates

 

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Life in Chicago is turning out to be fantastic for Marie. She has a great job, a new close friend, and an exciting new relationship with David. As she enjoys her new life, all her past problems seem to disappear. Everything is going smoothly until a visiting attorney turns out to be her abusive ex-fiancé. Marie's world could be turned upside down in the blink of an eye. Will she manage to avoid him, or will she finally come face to face with her past?

About the author:

Michelle D. Bates is a freelance writer, fiction e-book author, and member of the Arizona Authors Association. The knowledge she has gained from the creative and fiction writing classes taken at Rio Salado College has helped her complete her first fiction novel. Her fiction e-book, Hidden Appearances, is published by On-Demand Publishing LLC (CreateSpace). Her second novel, In the Line of Fire, the second installment to Hidden Appearances, was published in 2015 and is now available on Amazon. Her latest project is in the works and will be released in Spring 2025.

Michelle is a native Chicagoan but currently resides in Arizona. She is a driven and motivated writer with a vivid imagination who believes in taking her readers on a journey through the characters of her book. She firmly believes that reading is a way of escaping the things around you and succumbing to the fantasy or other world that a story can create. Michelle has always turned to her dreams to escape times of sadness, frustration, and even boredom. She would always tell her friends and family that she has more fun and excitement in her dreams than in her actual life. It was that very sentiment that led her to writing her first fiction novel.

Michelle is an author that writes with passion and has the ability to paint a vivid picture with her words that draws the readers into her stories. The characters in her stories are ones that everyone can relate to in some form or fashion. Being able to write stories that not only thoroughly entertain readers but cause readers to totally immerse themselves in her stories is an on-going goal that she plans to continually accomplish.

New Book Release: Hidden Appearances - by Michelle Bates

 

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After years of dealing with a bad situation, Marie Mason has finally found a way out. New to the Chicagoland area, she seeks to find peace of mind and maybe even love. The job she has landed at the prestigious law firm of Phillips Winston & Gavens has given her a new lease on life. Marie is enjoying living in Chicago and has even made a good friend. For once, she is finally happy, but how long will her happiness last before her past comes back to haunt her?

About the author:

Michelle D. Bates is a freelance writer, fiction e-book author, and member of the Arizona Authors Association. The knowledge she has gained from the creative and fiction writing classes taken at Rio Salado College has helped her complete her first fiction novel. Her fiction e-book, Hidden Appearances, is published by On-Demand Publishing LLC (CreateSpace). Her second novel, In the Line of Fire, the second installment to Hidden Appearances, was published in 2015 and is now available on Amazon. Her latest project is in the works and will be released in Spring 2025.

Michelle is a native Chicagoan but currently resides in Arizona. She is a driven and motivated writer with a vivid imagination who believes in taking her readers on a journey through the characters of her book. She firmly believes that reading is a way of escaping the things around you and succumbing to the fantasy or other world that a story can create. Michelle has always turned to her dreams to escape times of sadness, frustration, and even boredom. She would always tell her friends and family that she has more fun and excitement in her dreams than in her actual life. It was that very sentiment that led her to writing her first fiction novel.

Michelle is an author that writes with passion and has the ability to paint a vivid picture with her words that draws the readers into her stories. The characters in her stories are ones that everyone can relate to in some form or fashion. Being able to write stories that not only thoroughly entertain readers but cause readers to totally immerse themselves in her stories is an on-going goal that she plans to continually accomplish.

AI - Where is the intelligence? by Vijaya Schartz

  

This award-winning novel deals with an AI character.
Find it on my author page on
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I recently noticed a slew of posts in my Facebook feed that are obviously AI-generated. Although I am not opposed to giving life to old portraits of historical figures, I draw the line at computer generated images of the Sphynx and other famous archeological treasures, that are inaccurate at best, if not completely made up and wrong. Other times, the picture has no connection whatsoever with the title, the text, or the information in the post. Why not use a real photograph relevant to the post?

As for the monotonous AI voice, completely devoid of emotion, I have come to hate it. How can anyone relate to information delivered in such a boring manner? I remember the passion in the voice of my teachers when I was in school. They were the ones who communicated to me their love for literature, history, science. All because they cared, and it showed in their voice, their body language, and on their faces. I could feel the energy coming from them and touching me deeply. They made me want to learn more.

AI-generated royalty-free image

Nowadays, we are witnessing the takeover of the machines. Not only the voice is devoid of emotion, but it also misreads the words because it doesn’t understand the meaning of the sentence, only the structure. It pauses in the wrong places, sometimes expressing the opposite of the intended meaning. In a recent post, the Egyptian goddess Sekhmet became a “segment” in the narrative. Worse, AI is also turning the voice into text for subtitles, and the subtitles also said “segment.”

And I don't need an AI detector to spot AI generated comments. Probably an attempt to start a debate, they are all similar in structure. Coming from different accounts, they start with an introduction, three bullet points, and a conclusion, as if directly copied from an online textbook. Who on Facebook comments like that? Who is AI trying to fool?

Now that AI will become the center of learning for many students, I shudder at the idea that future generations of intellectuals, philosophers, scientists, writers, explorers, and rulers will be groomed by non-emotional entities in the cold, detached style of what we call AI.

Royalty-free AI generated image

Isn’t intelligence supposed to be self-aware, with the ability to comprehend and relate emotionally? To me this new invasion is not AI, but dumb computers relying on search engines and limited logic. As we used to say in my days, “Erring is human, but to really mess things up, it takes a computer.”

So, here we are. We didn’t react when autocorrect changed the meaning of our texts, laughing because it was “cute.” And now we are letting the same computers take over control of our lives, influencing our ideas, thwarting our knowledge, trying to replace free thinking and real intelligence.

As a science-fiction author, I am appalled. There is no AI intervention whatsoever in my novels. They are pure passion, pure imagination and human intelligence, and I hope you’ll enjoy them.

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Vijaya Schartz, award-winning author

Strong Heroines, Brave Heroes, cats

https://www.vijayaschartz.com

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New Book Release: The Merchant of Texas - by Harald Lutz Bruckner

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Abramof, aged 106, relates the story of his turbulent life to his great-grandson, Daniel, an aspiring writer. Events shared with the reader commence on the morning of the second anniversary of the start of the Ukraine war. A tale of intrigue takes the reader through the fall and rise of a family in two worlds, the exciting account playing out in Austin, Texas, and Jerusalem, Israel. The author, Harald Lutz Bruckner, once again weaves a tapestry of life in The Merchant of Texas, its unlikely protagonists the old man and his precocious great-great-grandson, Zoltán Abramof III, lovingly named Little Z.

About the Author

I was born in Germany during turbulent times and ventured to the New World where I’ve spent most of my adult life. My work and educational adventures have taken me from merchandising/retailing, the teaching of German and World Literature, to an academic career in Audiology, and the challenges of working with hard-of-hearing and deaf children and adults. Among my favorite academic subjects to teach were offerings in sign language. In 1981, I discovered the magic of painting in transparent watercolors and have never stopped painting. Moving to sunny Arizona from the High Country of Colorado in 2003, caused a major shift in my subject matter, changing from a primarily realistic orientation to one of total abstraction. Since my retirement from Academia, I’ve pursued my passions for travel, art, music, and the enjoyment of writing. The Merchant of Texas is my thirteenth novel brought to publication in the last eight years.

New Book Release: Valentine’s Dinner at Wren and Wolf by Mary Specker Stone

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Valentine's Dinner at Wren & Wolf is a story of love: naïve and stubborn, stumbling, unforgiving, passionate, and, at times, disconsolate. Maddening love between neurodiverse partners who long to understand one another. Frayed love between divorced spouses trying to raise children amicably. Parental love, where generational wounds threaten to become dams that block life's fluid possibilities. Self-love is here, too, the spiritual labors of aligning heart and mind, and, love for the feverish world. Valentine's Dinner at Wren & Wolf is an off-road sojourn through landscapes and moments in one woman's life as she learns what love has to teach her.

About the Author

Mary Specker Stone's poems have appeared in Image Journal; The Healing Art of Writing, Vol.1; New Verse News; Gyroscope Review, and other journals. Her scholarly writing, focused on communication dynamics between patients and health care providers, was published in Technical Communications Quarterly and the American Medical Writers Association Journal. After an early career as a biomedical writer, Mary studied rhetoric and composition, earning her M.A. in English from Northern Arizona University. While teaching college English, Mary developed an interest in poetry, and more recently, in the way poetry contributes texture and depth to spiritual life. She's a certified Spiritual Director who leads poetry salons and serves writers, artists, and people in recovery. Mary lives in the greater Phoenix area.