Raima Larter's Blog, page 8

Fall for the Book!

This year's Fall for the Book Festival starts today! All events will take place at or around George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. As part of the festival, I will be presenting about my book, "Fearless," as part of a panel with two other authors, Christina Dalcher and Henry Brinton. We will explore the topic, "Politics & Pretend: Reality Meets Fiction." Join us on Saturday, Oct. 12, at 11:45 am in Room 1202 of Merten Hall. See this link for more details!

Book Reviews!

My novel, "Belle o' the Waters," has been getting some great reviews since it was released in April. The latest is from the Historical Novel Society: "This is an accomplished debut, and I commend the author for her sensitive presentation of this family saga and the hard-scrabble life they endure: fraught with tension, yet deftly balanced with joyous and hopeful times."

 The Washington Independent Review of Books called it "a moving account of mid-19th-century Mormons struggling to find their way," and Connie's History Classroom praised the research behind the storytelling: "Since I am a historian I am always intrigued by books based on events. The author did her research. I felt that I was learning a lot from her book." Finally, the Historical Fiction Review said, "Belle o' the Waters had me hooked from page one," and praised the "strong, believable characters, a creatively imaginative story line, and a look at a time and place in American history imbued with an iconoclastic mystery."

Huge thanks to all these reviewers -- and to all the readers who have bought and reviewed the book on Goodreads or Amazon. I very much appreciate the support and feedback!

See you in Kensington

Find me on the festival website here: https://dayofthebook.com/2016/01/15/participating-authors/
I will be at the Kensington Book Festival this coming Sunday, selling and signing copies of all of my books. The festival will take place along Howard Avenue in Old Town Kensington. More details on the festival website here: Day of the Book.

Attendance at the festival is expected at between 6000 and 8000 folks, so come on out and join us! In addition to books, books and more books, there will be food, crafts and other fun events.

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

Cricket checks out the spring flowers!
For more Wordless Wednesday, see the main site.
For more of my photos, see Flickr.

Book Launch!

Publication Day is finally here for my novel, Belle o' the Waters! This book has been a long ten years in the making and I am so grateful it is finally out in the world. I'm also very grateful for the good folks at Mascot Books who have worked so hard to turn my text into a beautiful book. Not only is the cover great, the inside design is wonderful and continues the theme set by the front and back cover. I hope you can check out your own copy soon!

A description of the story, from the back cover:

Belle Waters is about to celebrate her fourteenth birthday, and she is terrified. The fear of marriage looms large for her, and every other girl who was born into the Mormon settlement of Salt Lake in the 1850's. She knows it is her duty to marry and bring Heavenly Father's children into the world, but she's not interested in tying the knot with anyone, especially not the Prophet, an old man with a number of wives and counting. But when the US Army invades Salt Lake intent on arresting the Prophet, Belle soon realizes that the possibility of becoming a child bride is only the beginning in a series of disastrous threats. 

This is a work of fiction, but is loosely based on a true historical event: the Mountain Meadows Massacre of September 11, 1857, which sparked a short-lived Mormon War. Although set over a century ago, the themes and issues explored in this novel are timely and current: religious freedom and extremism, the role and status of women in society, and the contemporary impact of homegrown terrorism. Belle o' the Waters is a searing exploration of those living within an oppressed community, and an ultimately revelatory novel about what it means to lead a courageous life, despite one's circumstances.

This book is available directly from the publisher or from Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Please consider leaving a review on one of these sites or on Goodreads - this is one of the easiest and best ways to help an author out. Thank you!

Spring Means Lots of Books!

Available from New Meridian


A little over a year ago, I signed publishing contracts with two different publishers - which means that I now have two books coming out at almost the same time. It's been a whirlwind of activity so far, with one book already out in the world. Fearless made its debut on February 27! Huge thanks to all the good folks New Meridian Arts Literary Press for turning my dream to one day publish a novel into reality.







Available from Mascot Books

 Things are about to get even more active, since my second book, Belle o' the Waters, is launching in a couple of weeks. Another huge round of thanks to the folks at Mascot Books who have worked hard to not only publish this book, but help me get the word out through book signings and other events.


I've just added a list of events to the "Books" tab on this website and will update this whenever new events are scheduled. I would love to see you at one of these events or, possibly, a future one.





Finally, a note for all the lovely people who have already bought or pre-ordered one or both of these books: thanks so much for supporting my work! If you want to help even more, you can spread the word about these books by writing a review on Amazon, the B&N site or on Goodreads. These reviews are a tremendous help to authors, so thank you in advance for helping this way!

Debut Novel Coming Soon!

About a year ago, I received an offer from a small press in New York, New Meridian Arts, to publish my novel, "Fearless," and I'm happy to report that it is due out soon! We now have a cover and are working on the interior layout.

This is actually the third novel I've written, but will be the first to be published. Here's a short description of the story:  

Father Mike Albertino, worn down by financial problems in his old parish and relentless terrorist bombings in his city, is overwhelmed by his own inability to help terrified people. In the midst of all this chaos, he encounters Jenna, a young woman about his age who, inexplicably, cannot feel fear. Mike and Jenna become friends and through this friendship discover the mysterious causes of her disorder. This novel explores themes of faith, how we know what is real and what is not, and the myriad ways frightened people cope in our increasingly fear-filled world.

 Ordering information will be posted as soon as I have it. Stay tuned!

Nearly Wordless Wednesday: Happy New Year!

 January 3, 2019Snow expected this weekend!
For more Wordless Wednesday, see the main site here.For more of my photos, see Flickr. 

Annual Writing Report

2018 has turned out to be a wonderfully productive year in my writing life, with two novels in press and a lot of activity on the short story front. More details below!

After some juggling of timelines, it looks like my first novel, Belle o' the Waters, will be available for pre-order from the publisher, Mascot Books, late in January, or early in February. The actual publication date will likely be May.

This means that my "debut novel," as they call them in the biz, will be "Fearless," scheduled for publication in March, 2019 by New Meridian Arts Literary Press. I'm anticipating a number of book launch and signing activities for both books this coming year, so stay tuned for details!

This was also a very good year for short stories. I set a goal back in January to write 10 new stories this year, and managed to finish 9 of them. The 10th is still in the works, but will be done soon, so I'm going to count this goal as having been achieved. I submitted all 9 of the finished stories, some to a number of places, and am thrilled that two of them have already been accepted and published. I hope to be able to report similar good news for the others before too long.

One thing I have learned about the short story business is that you need to submit A LOT to achieve even a little bit of success. This year, I set a goal to submit at least once a week, so was aiming for 52 submissions in 2018 - I am now at 74 submissions, so surpassed this goal by almost 50%. Of those 74 submissions, I had 4 pieces accepted (some were of stories I wrote in previous years that were still making the rounds). I withdrew 3 and have 10 still pending - so, if you do the math, you can see that I received 57 rejections! It isn't easy to get so much bad news in one's email, but it's really the way this business works, and I have had to learn to just let these things roll off my back - and keep submitting more stories.

My 2018 short stories, as well as the ones published in previous years, are listed on the tab entitled "Short Stories," most with links to the actual story, for those that were published online. One story, "Motherhood," is still in press at Good Works Review, but will be published shortly after the new year, with a publication date of 2018 - I will post information about it as soon as I have it and encourage you to take a look at the publication. This publisher donates ALL their proceeds to good causes and this particular issue will benefit the ACLU.

I've continued to do freelance science writing, largely for the American Institute of Physics and the American Institute for Cancer Research. Not only does this work keep me in touch with current research in various scientific fields, but I am glad to be able to contribute to the scientific enterprise this way. After a long career doing research on my own, teaching and, finally, administering research funding for the government, it's nice to be involved in this way, where I can combine my love of writing with my admittedly nerdy interests!

This year also found me exploring some new forms. One of my published pieces ("Dark Matter," published by Ruminate) is creative nonfiction, a genre I have not attempted much - other than on this blog! I have also taken a number of poetry classes over the last few years and when I realized I was enrolled in my 7th poetry class last month, I decided it was probably time to work up some courage and start submitting some of my poems. So, this will be a new endeavor for 2019 as I venture into a whole new type of writing and publishing. I've been inspired by other fiction writers who are also accomplished poets, notably Ursula Le Guin and Margaret Atwood, two of my own personal heroes.

As I move forward to the new year, I'm aware that I'm entering a whole new phase of my writing life -- as a soon-to-be-published author. This will mean all sorts of new activities, including readings, book signings, and other marketing endeavors. This is a necessary part of the writing life, if one wants readers (and I do!) but it isn't necessarily my favorite part. Like most writers, I am definitely an introvert and am happiest when I'm actually WRITING, so I'm mostly looking forward to doing more of that in the coming year. Onward!

Ten Fantastic Years!

I started this blog ten years ago today! I never would have believed it would still be going strong after a decade, but here we are, and I'm still writing and posting. Some years have had a lot more posts than other years. This year, 2018, has been a little thin, but that could be because I've been working hard to get two books out in the world, in addition to a lot of other writing activity. Publication dates for both forthcoming books are in early 2019! I should have ordering information soon for both of them. Thanks to all my faithful readers over the years. It's been a great decade!