Congratulations to all the 2023 Arizona Literary Contest finalists!

The winners will be announced at the Awards Banquet
Saturday November 4, 2023, at noon
at Bottega's, 19420 N. 59th Avenue, Glendale, AZ

Tickets for writers and guests are $50 each.

For more information, contact:

Toby Heathcotte at: toby@tobyheathcotte.com

Payment deadline is November 1st.

Send check or money order to: Arizona Authors Association 6145 West Echo Lane Glendale, AZ 85302-5709

Or: Pay to: arizona.authors@yahoo.com at PAYPAL

 

Here are the finalists, in alphabetical order:

Alcorn, Janet: Mourning Doves 
Ball, Joy: Winnie Goes to School 
Benny, Kris: Freester’s First Easter
Bernard, Elizabeth: Sisters of Castle Leod 
Bernhardt, Peter: Red Romeo: Stasi Gigolos and the Spy Hunter of Germany
Binsfeld, Lisa: Rootbound 
Burgess, Melanie: The Fingerprints of God 
Catron, McKenzie: Daughter of the Trolls 
Cruz, Nora: Gracias Maestra! 
Edwards, Mary Coday: To Travel Well, Travel Light
Foster, Daniel: Torment Descension 
Hackman, Derek: A Machine Divine 
Hart, William: Elephants Are Not Artists 
Hershey, Joshua: Linden Falls 
LaSaga, K.C.: Dragum
Malungu, L.: Marcus- King of the Dandelions 
Merrill, Allison Hong: Ninety-Nine Fire Hoops 
Norris, A.S.: The Wayward Mage Volume 1 
Poplinger, Rick: Adventure in the Land of Changes 
Schneider, David: The Map of Orbus Terrarum 
Solovey, Dev: Rebel Memories
Thomas, Heidi: Rescue Ranch Rising: Book 3 
Volk, Christopher H.: The Value Equation: A Business Guide To Wealth Creation
for Entrepreneurs, Leaders, and Investors

New Release: The Weighmaster, by Bart Ambrose

 

Find it on Amazon HERE

Sean O’Conner returns home as a decorated hero after being wounded and surviving intense action as a commando behind German lines on D-Day, 1944. He suffers the heartbreaking loss of his parents while in a British hospital and decides to follow in his father’s footsteps by joining the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department in Arizona. His first case is to investigate a girl gone missing from a transients’ cotton picker camp west of Phoenix. The seemingly routine disappearance leads Sean down a twisting and dangerous path to a man known as the Weighmaster and a mysterious place called the Orange Palace. His efforts reveal the Weighmaster's vicious kidnapping of teenage girls from the cotton fields to sell them into prostitution in a human trafficking operation that leads through the Orange Palace to organized crime in Detroit.

Sean’s relentless efforts to find the missing girls lead to attempts on his life and more tragic personal loss as he pursues the Weighmaster. The two men become locked in a revenge-fueled struggle that only one will survive.

The Weighmaster will keep you turning pages to follow the perilous investigation and breakup of a criminal organization that leads from Detroit to Phoenix and finally deep into Mexico.

Bart Ambrose was born in Phoenix and grew up on an Arizona cotton farm. He spent long nights on the farm reading novels and teaching himself to play guitar. Books such as Moby Dick, The Grapes of Wrath, The Old Man and the Sea, and many others gave him an early appreciation of literature and a desire to one day become an author.

Bart worked as a natural resource conservationist after graduating from Arizona State University. His work took him all over the western U.S and the Pacific Basin where he gained a special appreciation for the land, history, and cultures of the region.

Along the way, Bart performed as a guitarist and vocalist with several groups in Arizona and California. His interest in songwriting led him to Nashville after retiring from his career as a conservationist. He spent many years in “Music City” writing songs, coaching other songwriters, and teaching guitar for songwriters.

The joys of Arizona living... or, when the bugs attack - by Vijaya Schartz

 

ANGEL GUARDIAN - October 2023 release

The extreme heat this summer has brought another problem to Arizona. BUGS. Big ugly sewer roaches, looking for comfy air-conditioned places with pet food aplenty and well stocked kitchen pantries.

Sunrise from my balcony

Unlike private homes that can be tented, mega apartment complexes are not easy to control. I’m talking about twenty-two large three-storied buildings totaling over 870 apartments.

So, they recourse to drastic measures, doing sweeps building by building, asking residents to remove everything from drawers, cupboards, pantries, closets, and even linen drawers, for an extreme fumigation operation. It’s backbreaking work, like moving out, then moving back in, on very short notice. Everything is supposed to be piled up on couch and bed, or on the balconies, and everything must be covered with tarps or sheets, or blankets, to protect it from highly toxic fumes. Not conforming to the instructions carries steep fines and a do over.

Of course, you have to leave the apartment for four hours, and pets are to be removed from the premises…

And they are planning a follow-up in a week, but without the backbreaking work of moving everything out. Although, it will require leaving the premises for four hours again.

And all this is happening while I’m polishing my next novel, ANGEL GUARDIAN, to be released in October.

I was afraid King Pasha would panic, but he took all these upsetting events in stride, like a champ. Not a peep, not a complaint. He remained perfectly cool in his pet carrier, and took a nap in the management lobby, while I was working on my book.

But don’t worry, everything will be fine in the end, and ANGEL GUARDIAN promises to be an exciting story, with epic battles in space with angels and demons, Mythical goddesses wreaking havoc, and a hero with amnesia, who doesn’t know he is an angel.

amazon - B&N - Smashwords - Kobo

In the meantime, you can read ANGEL SHIP, the first book in this series, although all my series novels can stand alone. You can also read the sister series, Azura Chronicles, and the Byzantium space station series. Happy reading!

amazon - B&N - Smashwords - Kobo

amazon - B&N - Smashwords - Kobo

Vijaya Schartz, award-winning author

Strong Heroines, Brave Heroes, cats

http://www.vijayaschartz.com

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New Release: Nurse Florence(R), What is a Heatstroke? by Michael Dow

 

Find it on Amazon HERE

Sometimes it seems only a nurse can bring technical information down to an understanding that an ordinary person can grasp. The Nurse Florence(R) book series provides high quality medical information that even a child can grasp. By introducing young kids to correct terminology and science concepts at an early age, we can help increase our children's health literacy level as well as help to prepare them for courses and jobs in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. We need more scientists so I hope that many children will enjoy this book series and consider a job involving science. Introducing Some Medical Words to Kids in Every Book