Valerie Webster's Blog, page 7
August 31, 2022
Blackwater’s Abyss
Imagine being held against your will in a mammoth swampy area with little access or no way out. A legendary demon mule lurks behind loblolly pine and the remnants of forests long dead.
You were brought in through a darkness so rich and deep that if feels more like traveling in a different space as you cannot determine sky nor land. Walking the treacherous ground feels like you are entering into a dangerous abyss.
You don’t know where you are, and if you try to escape, you are facing vast, treacherous ground, or the risk of being absorbed into a marsh hole. Even the forests have drowned here, losing their grip on the land through brackish water and changing tides.
The smell of death, and struggle is all around you, with the muskrats, mosquitos, snakes and the like. This can be a hostile environment.
This is Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, with its 28,000 acres of brackish wetlands and ghost forests holding a gloomier story of untold mystery and menacing despair.
Blackwater embodies a darkness that earns its namesake. Waters blackened with tannins, dying forests, and black marsh mud that can swallow someone in just a few unfortunate steps make this an unfortunately perfect place to go and never be found.
Blackwater’s mystery is found in a network of hiding places for those escaping the law or toward freedom. Places to hide are abundant for hunters, trappers, and criminals alike, and it’s easy to imagine entering the dark vastness to hold someone hostage, for example, or to disappear from the public eye.
This includes people living in the horrors of slavery and seeking their freedom by using the area as part of the Underground Railroad. Dressed in disguise, people who were enslaved covertly traveled at night through snaking creeks into the deep darkness of the area, careful to avoid slave hunters and their dogs.
It’s not hard to imagine a cold, stark winter here, with the blackness of night covering a ghostly stillness that envelopes the loblolly pine and cordgrass, only to be interrupted by the sound of a bat flying overhead, or the black water’s subtle movement as a muskrat swims to its burrow on the marsh’s banks.
The area’s marshy guts are also home to bald eagle, peregrine falcon, Sika deer, fox, coyote, vole, and rats. Once a great source of timber, Blackwater’s wetlands, fields, and meadows are now interrupted by hammocks of loblolly pine and salt encroached forest, with mosquitoes and fireflies abundant in the heat of summer.
Blackwater makes the perfect backdrop for my second book in the Rita Mars Thriller series, Objects of Desire, being published in late 2022.
You can learn more about release dates and more of the series’ perilous plot twists and turns at www.valeriewebster.com.
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August 15, 2022
OMG! Driven is a Finalist!
I am thrilled to announce that Driven: A Rita Mars Thriller is a finalist in the CIPA EVVY Book Awards. I don’t know yet what award I’ve won. I’ll find out on August 29 at the awards banquet whether Driven has won a 1st, 2nd, 3rd or Merit Award.
I am honored to have been selected by this prestigious organization that has, for 30 years, dedicated its efforts to writers’ achieving success. And so importantly, I thank my readers who continue to buy my work and to compliment my efforts.
The CIPA EVVY Book Awards is connected to the Colorado Independent Publishers Association. The competition is open to any independently or self-published print or audio book.
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July 9, 2022
Our June Winner!
I am so pleased to announce the June Amazon gift card winner at www.valeriewebster.com. That winner of our monthly all-subscriber pool drawing is Charlotte Krasnoff.
Charlotte is an avid reader and a fan of classical music. She herself studied and played the cello for many years. Originally from the Jersey Shore, Charlotte moved to Denver, Colorado when her work in group therapy landed her a position as head of a community outreach program. In 2004 the Colorado branch of the National Association of Social Work named her Social Worker of the Year. At 92, Charlotte continues her calling in Boulder, CO; she has been practicing for over 57 years. Congratulations, Charlotte!
The next winner could be you. Sign up now.
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July 8, 2022
SINC Colorado Finalists – Silver Falchion
Congratulations to my Sisters in Crime fellow writers! Here are the Colorado Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award Finalists!
Best Action Adventure Finalist: Murder at Buckskin Joe by JvL Bell
Best Investigator Finalist: At First Light by Barbara Nickless
Best Attendee Thriller Finalist – Fallen Star: The Divine Devils Book 2 by R Weir
Best Investigator Finalist: Striking Range: A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery by Margaret Mizushima
I have read these authors and recommend you give them a try if you haven’t already. Well worth your reading time.
Engaging stories have three elements: mystery, thriller, and suspense. Since 2008, the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Awards have recognized the best stories from the previous year told through various media. Judges are professional writers, book reviewers, librarians, academics, and—in specialized cases—specific industry peers. Focus is on quality, not popularity.
Winners will be announced at the Killer Nashville Awards Dinner on August 20, 2022 in Nashville, Tennessee.
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June 20, 2022
Book Review: Pratibha Malav
“Driven,” by Valerie Webster is a page-turning story. The story revolves around Rita Mars, an ex-investigative journalist. Bobby Ellis, one of her longtime friends had a piece of important information to give to Rita but when she arrived he was dead.
Later learns that her friend didn’t commit suicide rather he was murdered. She gets driven and makes it her mission to find out the man that killed her friend.
The storyline moves at a fast pace and has the potential to keep the readers hooked on the story till the very end. The book comes with many characters- Rita, Bobby, Charles, Karin… Each character is vividly portrayed.
The suspense kept me glued to the story till the very end. I will recommend this book to all thriller lovers. I can’t wait to read more Rita Mars thriller stories…
#booksandauthors #readingishabits #instagram #goodreads #kindle #bookrecommendations #ebook #paperback #pratibhamalav #misswriter #author #reviewer #influencer #writersofinstagram #bloggersofinstagram
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June 16, 2022
New Review - Still Goin' Strong
Author - Valerie Webster
Rating - ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
“Driven,” by Valerie Webster is a page-turning story. The story revolves around Rita Mars, an ex-investigative journalist. Bobby Ellis, one of her longtime friends had a piece of important information to give to Rita but when she arrived he was dead. Later learns that her friend didn’t commit suicide rather he was murdered. She gets driven and makes it her mission to find out the man that killed her friend.
🧶
The storyline moves at a fast pace and has the potential to keep the readers hooked on the story till the very end. The book comes with many characters- Rita, Bobby, Charles, Karin… Each character is vividly portrayed. The suspense kept me glued to the story till the very end. I will recommend this book to all thriller lovers. I can’t wait to read more Rita Mars thriller stories…
#booksandauthors #readingishabits #instagram #goodreads #kindle #bookrecommendations #ebook #paperback #pratibhamalav #misswriter #author #reviewer #influencer #writersofinstagram #bloggersofinstagram
May 22, 2022
Rocky Mountain Writers WOTY Award
Each year the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers (RMFW) present a Writer of the Year (WOTY) award. Here are 2022’s three finalists.
Amy Rivers is an award-winning novelist and writer of short stories and personal essays, as well as the Director of Northern Colorado Writers. She was recently named 2021 Indie Author of the Year by the Indie Author Project. She holds degrees in psychology and political science, two topics she loves to write about.
Karla M. Jay is the award-winning author of When We Were Brave, It Happened in Silence, and The Puppet Maker’s Daughter. She has wanted to write books since she was seven. Originally from the east coast, she makes her home in Salt Lake City. Over the years she has written in several different genres, ranging from humor to noir.
Pamela Nowak joined RMFW in 1993. She’s been contest chair, president, chaired five conferences, was 2010 WOTY, honored with the Jasmine Award and named an Honored Guiding Member. Pam currently presents workshops, judges contest, and critiques.
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May 19, 2022
Terror as Theater
Is slaughter our new entertainment?
The Buffalo supermarket killer live-streamed from a camera mounted on his helmet — an up close and gruesome first-person view as he fires into 10 people, some of them crawling on the supermarket floor. That’s what we excitedly hope to see on social media?
Here’s who kept the streaming going as people died and presented terror as “theater”:
TwitchStreamableFacebook let it ride for more than 10 hoursAnd just a note about #Zuckerberg – he’s quietly formed American Edge. American Edge has launched a campaign committed to fight antitrust legislation in Washington. They’re placing op-eds in regional papers throughout the country, commissioning studies, and collaborating with partners, including minority business associations, conservative think tanks, and former national security officials.
With this kind of big-money backing, we haven’t seen the last of streaming blood lust. They’re beating the drum as if regulation is a restraint of tech development – don’t be fooled. Follow the money.
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May 17, 2022
2022 RONE Awards
Each year InD’tale Magazine honors the very best books in the Indie and Small publishing industry by awarding their RONE award. Not offered lightly, any contending book must go through one of the most rigorous processes in publishing, with the three distinct areas of focus that are required to make a book successful in the publishing world. Here are the magazine’s details about award eligibility:
The Review Round: All books in each given year (January 1st – December 31st) must have been read and reviewed by our professional staff of reviewers and be given a 4.5 – 5.0 star rating. All eligible books must be originally published and submitted within that qualifying year. Those books that meet those qualifications will become the nominees and progress to the second round of voting.The Reader Voting Round: In the second round, all nominees must be voted on by the reading public. The books with the highest number of reader votes will progress on to become finalists. There is a one book limit in this round, however. If an author has more than one book that has received high ratings, that author will choose which book should continue. This rule gives authors the very best chance of success in this round.
The Judges Round: Each book in the finalists will then be read by a group of industry professionals consisting of editors, writers, professors etc. and be judged on a one to five scale from a specific list of requirements such as characterization, technical writing, overall arc, editing etc. Those scores will then be tallied by a professional accounting firm unrelated to InD’tale or its employees to determine the winner of the coveted RONE award, along with the honorable mentions.
Rules and genres are subject to change without notice depending on numbers in each genre.
All awards are announced at the annual RONE award gala where winners are presented with the Crystal RONE award.
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May 11, 2022
15th Annual Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award
Since 2008, the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Awards have recognized the best stories from the previous year told through various media utilizing the elements of mystery, thriller, and/or suspense. Judges are professional writers, book reviewers, librarians, academics, and—in specialized cases—specific industry peers.
Eligible works must have been first published in English between January 1, 2021 and January 1, 2022. They must be readily available to a North-American audience (print or digital format). Judging makes no distinction between self-published, indie-published, and traditionally published works.
2021 finalists will be announced July 30, 2021. Killer Nashville will contact all finalists using submitted information alerting them to the honor. Finalists will be honored and winners will be announced at the Killer Nashville Awards Dinner on August 20, 2022.
All entries will also be eligible for the 2022 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Readers’ Choice Award. This is a separate award that is not judged, but rather voted upon by fans of the author’s work. A sharable link to the ballot will be available after the contest closes on June 15, 2022. The results of this contest in no way affect the results of the other Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Awards.
All registrants for the 2022 Killer Nashville International Writers’ Conference are entitled to one free Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award entry. In order to claim your free entry, you must register for the conference BEFORE submitting to the Silver Falchion Award. We cannot retroactively refund entry fees.
Authors: Deadline for entry for the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award is June 1, 2022
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