P.D. Workman's Blog, page 76
October 1, 2019
Excerpt from Force of Nature
Did you know that it is my sixth anniversary of publishing? Pop on over to It’s My Bookiversary for more information and a couple of good deals!
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Read the rules and more teasers at The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along.
I have just finished reading Force of Nature by Jane Harper. A great thriller about five women who go into the Australian bush and the four who come out. Of course, none of the four knows what happened to Alice. As the story unfolds day by day, we hear each of the women’s stories and try to unravel the threads of truth. Well done, keeps you guessing until the end.
“What about Alice?”
Jane Harper, Force of Nature
An awful hush. The only sound was the creak and rustle as the trees watched down overhear tight circle of four.
“Alice brought this on herself.”
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When five colleagues are forced to go on a corporate retreat in the wilderness, they reluctantly pick up their backpacks and start walking down the muddy path.
But one of the women doesn’t come out of the woods. And each of her companions tells a slightly different story about what happened.
Federal Police Agent Aaron Falk has a keen interest in the whereabouts of the missing hiker. In an investigation that takes him deep into isolated forest, Falk discovers secrets lurking in the mountains, and a tangled web of personal and professional friendship, suspicion, and betrayal among the hikers. But did that lead to murder?
September 26, 2019
It’s my bookiversary
Six years ago, I published Looking Over Your Shoulder, my first book. Not the first book that I had written by a long shot, but the first book that I decided to share with the world! Since then, I have published another 48 books, along with a number of translations, collections, and audiobooks. While they all focus on crime and social issues such as addiction, abuse, homelessness, and mental illness, they range from young adult to mystery, suspense, and thriller. I’ve got cozy mysteries, paranormal, P.I., medical thrillers, and teen medical suspense.
Bookiversary deals!
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For a limited time, you can get the first three books in the Auntie Clem’s Bakery series for just $0.99. If you haven’t already picked it up, hop over and get it now!
Erin Price is a baker, not a sleuth. It’s really not her fault that mysteries keep landing in her lap while she’s trying to run Auntie Clem’s Bakery and make a living from baking gluten-free and specialty goods.
Sink your teeth into these sweet mysteries!
Buy Links
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You can also get She Wore Mourning, the first book in the Zachary Goldman Mysteries series for $0.99 right now on Kindle. Zachary Goldman is one of my favourite characters. If you like a good private investigator series, check it out!
A dead child.
A mother deep in mourning.
Private Investigator Zachary Goldman’s life isn’t all roses, but he tries to put his own shattered life behind him to investigate the death of five-year-old Declan Bond.
Declan’s death has been ruled an accident, but his grandmother thinks there is more to it. She fears Declan’s mother will not be able to find peace until Zachary can give them an answer once and for all. But as Zachary digs into the circumstances surrounding Declan’s death, he finds that all is not as it seems, and somebody doesn’t want him to find the truth.
Kindle
September 24, 2019
Reviewed by Randy: She Was Dying Anyway
Reblogged from Flamestr’s Thoughts
IMAGINE you lost your sweetheart and would do anything to get her back. Then imagine she is knocking at your door and asks for your help. Then imagine that you are in a sort-of relationship Kenzie Kirsch who, being from the Medical Examiner’s office, knows 50 ways to kill you. Just to complicate the matter, the case your ex wants you to investigate involves the murder of a woman who was dying anyway.
A person with any common sense would say no and run and run away very fast. But what does Zachary Goldman do? You guessed it; he lets her in. Of course, he would clean the toilet with his toothbrush if she asked him to.
Imagine you lost your sweetheart and would do anything to get her back. Then imagine she is knocking at your door and asks for your help.
Zachary takes on the case of Robin Salter, who according to Bridget, died prematurely. According to everyone who was not in love with Bridget, Robin died of natural causes. But Zachary tells Bridget he will look into it.
Kenzie knows he is only investigating because Bridget asked him to. Zachary is very good at what he does. The problem is that he does everything with reckless abandon. He leaves no stone unturned, but somebody is putting them all back. Everywhere he turns, he is getting blocked. Even Robin’s own family doesn’t want him to investigate her death.
She Was Dying Anyway will keep you on your edge of the seat!
P.D. Workman, author
Writing riveting mystery, suspense, and young adult fiction about real life issues.
Randy Workman, bloggerRandy blogs about hockey, childhood memories, and books at Flamestr’s Thoughts
Excerpt from The Perfect Mother
I hope that you got a chance to pick up a copy my new release, They Thought He Was Safe the fifth book in the Zachary Goldman Mysteries series. If not, you can buy it now.
As the body count grows, so does Zachary’s determination to bring the killer to justice, no matter what the cost.
The trouble is, this case might cost him dearly.
Find out more about They Thought He Was Safe and other new releases.
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Read the rules and more teasers at The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along.
I am reading The Perfect Mother by Aimee Malloy, a domestic thriller about a kidnapped baby. While the May Mommy group seems on the surface like a very supportive group of friends, there are a lot of secrets and undercurrents, resulting in some interesting twists and turns in the plot. I am interested in seeing how it will all turn out.
If I hadn’t signed up for their group. If they’d chosen another date, or another bar, or someone other than Alma to babysit that night. If the thing with the phone hadn’t occurred.
Aimee Molloy, The Perfect Mother
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A night out. A few hours of fun.That’s all it was meant to be.
They call themselves the May Mothers—a group of new moms whose babies were born in the same month. Twice a week, they get together in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park for some much-needed adult time.
When the women go out for drinks at the hip neighborhood bar, they want a fun break from their daily routine. But on this hot Fourth of July night, something goes terrifyingly wrong: one of the babies is taken from his crib. Winnie, a single mom, was reluctant to leave six-week-old Midas with a babysitter, but her fellow May Mothers insisted everything would be fine. Now he is missing. What follows is a heart-pounding race to find Midas, during which secrets are exposed, marriages are tested, and friendships are destroyed.
September 19, 2019
They Thought He Was Safe and other new releases!
Zachary Goldman is one of my favourite characters and series. I am excited to be releasing the next books of the Zachary Goldman Mysteries today and in the next couple of months. Today you can get book #5, They Thought He Was Safe. You can also preorder book #6, He Was Not There, and book #7, Her Work Was Everything.
About They Thought He was Safe
P.D. Workman has created a deeply flawed but very compelling character in Zachary Goldman. His background is tragic and his ability to interact with the world and appear “normal” is one of his greatest daily challenges, and both informs and hinders his work as a private investigator.
Paul, Goodreads reader
[image error]Zachary Goldman, PI is deeply flawed, unable to overcome much of his traumatic past, yet he is always ready to defend the underdog and right injustices.
When Pat asked him to look into the disappearance of an illegal, Zachary agreed to take it, but didn’t expect to find anything more than a man who had returned to his family or fled immigration officials. But the more he digs, the more missing men Zachary discovers, and it quickly becomes apparent that the disappearance that was deemed by the police not to be suspicious was just the tip of the iceberg.
As the body count grows, so does Zachary’s determination to bring the killer to justice, no matter what the cost.
The trouble is, this case might cost him dearly.
They Thought He Was Safe is case #5 in the Zachary Goldman Mysteries series, but each book is a separate mystery that can be read as a standalone. Get your copy now!
Sample
Listen to sample
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More new releases
Looking for some other additions to your Kindle or device? I have pulled together a number of other new books you might be interested in!
Overdose
Months after recovering from coma, Ash discovers that the man who performed her brain surgery has a questionable medical experience and a dark past, starting with his medical mission in India ten years ago and ending just recently, with his wife’s suicide. Should Ash expose him, at the risk of becoming vulnerable to his revenge?
In an attempt to learn more, Ash goes on a date with him. When the waitress drops a pink cellphone into her hand, she is hit by a bullet. On the cellphone are his wife’s last words. “Perhaps you have the urge to shut me off, or at least to ignore what I’m about to say. But listen you must, because even if you don’t believe it, you’re already much too close to danger… Neil is my undoing. Make sure he isn’t yours.”
Thin Air
Private investigator Jessica Shaw is used to getting anonymous tips. But after receiving a photo of a three-year-old kidnapped from Los Angeles twenty-five years ago, Jessica is stunned to recognize the little girl as herself.
Eager for answers, Jessica heads to LA’s dark underbelly. When she learns that her biological mother was killed the night she was abducted, Jessica’s determined to solve a case the police have forgotten. Meanwhile, veteran LAPD detective Jason Pryce is in the midst of a gruesome investigation into a murdered college student moonlighting as a prostitute. A chance encounter leads to them crossing paths, but Jessica soon realizes that Pryce is hiding something about her father’s checkered history and her mother’s death.
To solve her mother’s murder and her own disappearance, Jessica must dig into the past and find the secrets buried there. But the air gets thinner as she crawls closer to the truth, and it’s getting harder and harder to breathe.
Mi Sueño Perfecto
“Son… in case you couldn’t tell, this is no longer a negotiation.”
In 2023, floods devastate the Southern United States, and Max Roja may have a cure for the flesh-eating bacteria that follows. He is one of the last healers in the Americas.
When Max and his family flee Honduras with the cure, their real torment begins. The secrets spill out that his murdered father never told. And they are captured.
One covert group of powerful men always thirsted to steal Max’s ancient medicine. Not only can it cure the outbreak, it could help change the human genetic order, and determine which nations dominate Earth. But this group plans to exploit it for themselves.
One groundbreaking scientist can help.
Retreat
Two years ago, Julia lost her family in a tragic accident. Her husband drowned trying to save their daughter, Lily, in the river near their rural home. But the little girl’s body was never found—and Julia believes Lily is somehow still alive.
Alone and broke, Julia opens her house as a writers’ retreat. One of the first guests is Lucas, a horror novelist, who becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to Lily. But within days of his arrival, the peace of the retreat is shattered by a series of eerie events.
When Lucas’s investigation leads him and Julia into the woods, they discover a dark secret—a secret that someone will do anything to protect…
Pretty Little Girls
Until you know who to trust, trust no one.
The disappearance of a prep school girl from an affluent family leads to a world of hidden secrets more shocking and horrifying than anyone could imagine.
FBI Agent Victoria Heslin investigates alongside local police, but the mysteries only get deeper. Why are the girl’s parents so uncooperative? And why are the local authorities resisting her help?
When her efforts uncover a sex trafficking operation, Heslin enlists friend and fellow Agent Dante Rivera to go rogue and try to save the girls, before it’s too late.
The Dawn Patrol
As cool as its California surfer heroes, Don Winslow delivers a high velocity, darkly comic, and totally righteous crime novel.
Every morning Boone Daniels catches waves with the other members of The Dawn Patrol: four men and one woman as single-minded about surfing as he is. Or nearly. They have “real j-o-b-s”; Boone, however, works as a PI just enough to keep himself afloat. But Boone’s most recent gig-investigating an insurance scam—has unexpectedly led him to a ghost from his past. And while he may have to miss the biggest swell of his surfing career, this job is about to give him a wilder ride than anything he’s ever encountered.
The Murder Suspect
She is the prime accused in a high-profile murder case—and for good reason. The murder weapon grows in her backyard.
Nalini Bose is single, independent, and making waves at a bustling technology start-up in the happening city of Pune. Only one man knows about her other life. And she wants to keep it that way.
He ends up dead.
She’s the murderer—scream the evidence, the circumstances, and Inspector Avinash Choudhary of the CBI.
Choudhary is coming dangerously close to unearthing the skeletons of her past that will seal her fate.
The King Tides
Nicki Pearl is the perfect daughter—every parent’s dream. And that of strangers, too. Wherever she goes, she’s being watched. Each stalker is different from the last, except for one thing—their alarming obsession with Nicki.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, and Nicki’s father is turning to someone who can protect her: retired private detective and ex–Navy SEAL Jon Lancaster. Teaming up with FBI agent and former abduction victim Beth Daniels, Lancaster can help—his way. He’s spent most of his career dispatching creeps who get off on terrorizing the vulnerable. Unlicensed, and unrestricted, he plays dirty…But this case is unusual. Why so many men? Why this one girl? Does Nicki have something to hide? Or do her parents?
Trawling the darkest depths of southern Florida, Lancaster faces a growing tide of secrets and deception. And the deeper he digs, the more he realizes that finding the truth won’t be easy. Because there’s more to this case than meets the eye.
Second Chance
He gave up his identity and renounced his family to serve his country as an undercover military agent. Now condemned to Rikers Prison for a murder he can’t remember, Bram Carver’s luck has run out.
The job: infiltrate a criminal gang to stop a rogue soldier selling weapons of mass destruction to an unknown terrorist group.
The problem: he’s stuck in Rikers and the evidence against him can’t be denied.
Bram has renounced his family, but have they renounced him? Guilty or innocent, his sister, Detective Bex Wynter, will not give up on the big brother she adored. Together they learn that appearances are deceptive while loyalties will be tested.
But Bram’s life is not the only one in the crosshairs. Someone’s sights are set on a thirteen-year-old slum brat who holds the key to stop thousands of innocent deaths. Bram knows one wrong foot will put them both in the firing line. The mystery deepens and the consequences become deadlier with each new clue Bex uncovers.
When the hunters become the hunted, one false move will kill them all.
Divine Strike
A restaurant owner is found brutally tortured and murdered on a Texas ranch.
A rural fighter is desperately trying to escape a dark past and the demons that dwell there.
In the second installment of the bestselling Billy Beckett series, Billy is desperately trying to pick up the pieces a year after the sensational kidnapping of his star client and the tragic deaths of his brother and a close friend. The formerly unshakable sports agent isn’t sure how to play the game anymore. Despite this, he’s quickly thrust into two volatile situations with danger and deceit lurking at every turn.
A Death at Eastwick
21-year-old John Eastwick Jr. has lived a charmed and cozy life. The sole heir of the Eastwick family fortune, John is on the cusp of graduating from the renowned Montvale University out east before returning home to run his family business. But in late fall of his final year, John’s father dies of heart failure. Days later, his father is named as one of the disgraced moguls who bribed John’s way into his prestigious college.
Kicked out of school, John returns home to his distraught mother at their lakeside mansion to bury his father. There, John’s world continues to crumble beneath his feet: the will that the family lawyer reads bears no resemblance to the last version that the late John Eastwick Sr. created. In fact, John Eastwick Sr. has divided his estate not only between his son and wife, but the family chef, their loyal lawyer, his young secretary, and his estranged brother.
Other retailers:
Barnes & Noble
Apple
Kobo
Google Play
Direct
A Dangerous Man
Joe Pike didn’t expect to rescue a woman that day. He went to the bank same as anyone goes to the bank, and returned to his Jeep. So when Isabel Roland, the lonely young teller who helped him, steps out of the bank on her way to lunch, Joe is on hand when two men abduct her. Joe chases them down, and the two men are arrested. But instead of putting the drama to bed, the arrests are only the beginning of the trouble for Joe and Izzy.
After posting bail, the two abductors are murdered and Izzy disappears. Pike calls on his friend, Elvis Cole, to help learn the truth. What Elvis uncovers is a twisted family story that involves corporate whistleblowing, huge amounts of cash, the Witness Relocation Program, and a long line of lies. But what of all that did Izzy know? Is she a perpetrator or a victim? And how far will Joe go to find out?
Crap my Ghost Says
An unpredictable ghost who won’t stop talking about penises is Marsden’s only way to stop a killer.
Within a day of moving in, the woman haunting Marsden’s apartment started breaking his belongings and leaving messages. As he comes to terms with her commentary about hookers, penises, and whatever else entertains her at the moment, he finds something odd: the only time she stops talking is when she’s asked anything personal. Then, she goes dead quiet.
When a serial killer comes into his life in a big way, everything changes. Suddenly Marsden is the only one who can stop the murderer, but only if he can get the ghost to talk about the memories she doesn’t want to remember.
Deep Threat
Jarvis Thompson, the most celebrated wide receiver in college football, vanishes along the Tennessee River in the middle of the night.
The circumstances surrounding the receiver’s disappearance are ominous: drugs, cash, and his mentor’s brother lying in a pool of blood.
In the debut installment of the bestselling Billy Beckett series, it’s up to Jarvis’s mentor and soon-to-be agent, Billy Beckett, to investigate the mystery and find his beloved protégé before the clock runs out. Was it a brazen kidnapping? A setup? Or did Jarvis get in too deep and run? In a frantic quest that takes Billy from the mountains of East Tennessee to the South Carolina coast to the gritty streets of New Orleans, the agent knows careers — and lives– are on the line. As the two men’s pasts collide, both Jarvis and Billy are suddenly embroiled in a terrifying, high-stakes game where winners live and losers die.
Witch Way to Amethyst Bay, Book Two
Bucolic Amethyst Bay is rocked again by a murder, and once again the clues point to the Bell sisters — Gemi-Kaye, Holli, Poppy Loo, and newfound sister Victory — as culprits. Even flamboyant Aunt Dorte, the town’s flirtatious matriarch, is arrested.
But Gemi-Kaye senses something’s not right, yet her discovery at a remote cottage on the Oregon Coast is not the one she expected. Could the murder be connected to her long-disappeared father, or is it a case of love gone wrong?
The Bitterroots
Former sheriff’s investigator Cassie Dewell is trying to start her life over as in private practice. She’s her own boss and answers to no one, and that’s just the way she likes it after the past few tumultuous years. All that certainty changes when an old friend calls in a favor: she wants Cassie to help exonerate a man accused of assaulting a young woman from an influential family.
Against her own better judgment, Cassie agrees. But out by the Bitterroot Mountains of Montana, twisted family loyalty runs as deep as the ties to the land, and there’s always something more to the story. The Kleinsassers have ruled this part of Montana for decades, and the Iron Cross Ranch is their stronghold. They want to see Blake Kleinsasser, the black sheep of the family, put away forever for the assault. As Cassie attempts to uncover the truth, she must fight against a family whose roots are tangled and deadly—as well as the ghosts of her own past that threaten to bring her down.
Devourers from Suryaksh
She makes people dance around the fire …
… before she kills them in cold blood.
No one knows her true origin. Time readers can’t read this ruthless telekinetic, who snaps necks with a mere hand gesture.
Tej, once a simple villager, now a time traveler, is pulled into conflict as she attacks him in 3057 BC, hunting for his friend. Dead bodies of his loved ones pile up as she ravages through his village. Intending to seek justice Tej races against time itself to fight her: an entity so vile, even her own kind fear her. But can he do this alone?
Traveling to the futuristic world of robotic armies and virtual realities, Tej builds questionable alliances. It’s a matter of not ‘where’ but ‘when’ can he battle his enemy. If he loses, humanity may never regain its freedom – but winning may cost the ultimate price.
Bad Memory
Private investigator Jessica Shaw is leading a quiet life in a Californian desert community, where she spends her days working low-level cases. But when a former resident asks Jessica to help her sister, Rue Hunter—a convicted murderer whose execution is days away—Jessica can’t resist the offer.
Rue doesn’t remember what happened the night two high school students were killed thirty years ago, but everybody in town is certain she’s guilty. As Jessica looks for answers, she finds that local rumors point one way and evidence points another. And nobody wants to face the truth. Meanwhile, Jessica can’t shake the feeling that someone is stalking her—now more than ever, she knows she can’t trust anyone.
As Jessica digs deeper, she encounters local secrets in unlikely places—including the police department itself. But the clock is ticking, and Jessica must find the truth fast—or Rue’s bad memory may be the death of them both.
A Hillcrest Witch Mystery
No one said learning magic would be easy!
Penny Banks is an amateur sleuth with a lot on her plate! Learning magic is a struggle, to say the least.
Add a hot vampire, a few werewolves, and a ghost or two to the mix, and that spells trouble! When she’s not learning magic, she’s attempting to solve crimes. Thank goodness she has the help of her knitting circle and furry friends!
This boxset includes four Hillcrest Witch Cozy Mysteries:
Book #6: The Case of the Voice Spell
Book #7: The Case of the Earth Spell
Book #8: The Case of the Water Spell
Book #9: The Case of the Air Spell
Blue Collar Bluff
When a construction accident spawns a slew of suspicions at the work site of the old popcorn factory, Mayor Cora Mae Bingham begins to regret her decision to renovate the abandoned building. Her vision of creating a beautiful community center for the citizens has turned into chaos.
With Police Chief Conrad Harris out of town, Cora Mae has to take matters into her own hands to investigate the situation.
Potion Problem
It’s October 1st, Vinnie Daggerwood’s first day on the job as a Halloween Helper. Along with her twin sister Lavender and niece Diggy, their job is to help the paranormal world with problems, big and small.
But their first case isn’t small. The leader of a coven has been murdered and it is up to them to solve it.
Just as they are easing into the case, Lavender is kidnapped and Vinnie and Diggy are left to solve the case on their own. The only problem is that Vinnie is a non-magical witch and Diggy is only part way through witch training.
Special Delivery
When firefighter Tony Saint laid eyes on EMT Bridget Clark, it was love at first sight.
Not for her so much, but almost.
She was the mother of an infant from a one-night stand, but he didn’t care, and that melted her reluctant heart. The Saints embraced her too, doing everything they were able to welcome her into the family.
Then a surprise would put their love to the test. When the unexpected happened, that love would carry them through any trial.
Surf, Sand and Skeletons
Sun-drenched Florida beaches. A Fair Trade jewelry shop owner. A missing woman with a mysterious past.
Connie Petretta is excited for the grand opening of Just Jewelry, her new store featuring Fair Trade jewelry, as well as her own handmade creations. But while setting up shop, she discovers evidence that the previous tenant, Natasha, who disappeared a year ago, may not have run away as many assumed. Connie’s belief that Natasha would not abandon her young daughter impels Connie to investigate.
River of Light and Shadow
After mob violence threatens their lives, they flee to the wilderness
During Missouri’s Mormon Wars of the mid-1800s, the Whitlock family seeks to escape mob violence on the state’s western frontier by hiding in the rugged north Missouri wilderness where the Hill Spring Trail crosses the Chariton River. Here, in constant fear of discovery, David Whitlock meets and falls in love with Suzanna Shattuck, the independent and spirited daughter of a nearby settler.
Drawn together by love, divided by different worlds
As David and Suzanna struggle with their growing passion for each other and with the differences that separate their families, two other figures move inescapably toward each other and the young couple. In Jefferson City, legislator Jacob Randall champions the cause of Missouri’s outcasts while Sheck Rogers, a self-appointed Mormon hunter, roams the state murdering and mutilating those he suspects of belonging to a church against which the Governor has issued an extermination order.
Coexistence
How do you get your multiple personalities to stop killing people?
Kimmy is trying to return to who she was at thirteen years old; who she was before she was kidnapped and traumatized by one of her mother’s many boyfriends.
But Kimmy doesn’t realize that her personalities, like Matryoshka dolls, were nested inside her years before the kidnapping.
In her teens, Kimmy was seeing a therapist before the therapist broke her confidence and exposed Kimmy’s life story in a book. One of the dolls inside her, Patty-Cake, dealt with that betrayal quite efficiently.
At age thirty-one, Kimberley Jean Tanner, with Patty-Cake’s help, walked into a Nursing Home and started shooting. Her first shot killed her Father and the Father of the child taken from her sixteen years ago. But then, it wasn’t Patty-Cake’s first murder.
September 17, 2019
The International Day of the Stim
Day of Stim
September 17 is The International Day of the Stim, a day celebrating stimmies, loud hands and right to bodily autonomy.
His Hands were Quiet
[image error]When I was brainstorming titles for His Hands were Quiet, I went through a lot of different ideas. I kept returning to the idea of “quiet hands” to represent the goal of therapists to eliminate autistic behaviors such as stimming (repetitive, sensory-stimulating actions) to make them appear to be as neurotypical as possible. Their goal is for autistics to be able to pass as non-autistic, but this practice can be harmful and damaging to autistics.
In His Hands were Quiet, Zachary Goldman is investigating the death of autistic teen Quentin Thatcher, so of course, Quentin’s hands being quiet has a very different secondary meaning as well. Autistic individuals play a big part in this story line, so although Quentin is dead, there are other autistic perspectives portrayed.
Stimming also features in Toxo, when Caleb, an autistic boy’s stimming is mistaken by a policeman for drug-induced “tweaking.” (We’ve never seen that happen before, right?) Caleb, who has other physical disabilities, is one of the protagonists in this book, so you hear his perspective throughout.
Guest blogger Maxfield Sparrow
I asked autistic author Maxfield Sparrow to guest on my blog today to talk to us about the importance of bodily autonomy and the right of autistics to stim and behave in autistic ways. Sparrow has published two important books on autism while Sparrow Rose Jones. They are included in my list of autism-positive books below.
Take it away, Max!
The Importance of Stimming
By Maxfield Sparrow
We humans tend to universally admire the way other creatures move: the spread and shiver of a peacock’s tail, the elongated arch of a waking cat, even the comical gamboling of dairy cows let out to pasture for the first time after a long winter. When it comes to regarding our own species, too often that generous spirit falls away.
We all grow up learning that there are right ways to move and wrong ways. Yes, even those of us who move in ‘the wrong ways’ know we’re ‘wrong’. We will be ‘fixed’ when we sound right, move right, look right. Others can’t see our thoughts or our feelings so our parents and teachers and therapists work on what they can see.
Imagine a program to teach a cat to spread his tail wider than his body and shiver it to attract a mate.
You see, autistic human beings are different from non-autistic people in significant ways because there are structural and functional differences in autistic brains and nervous systems compared to those who aren’t autistic. Some people refer to it as running a different operating system.
Autism is a developmental disability because our neurological development is different and on a different timetable from the majority — the neuromajority — and that is disabling in a world not well designed for the patterns of strengths and weaknesses autistic people tend to have.
One way our nervous systems make sense of and communicate with the world is through movement. The ways we need to move, crave to move, love to move are called stimming. Stimming is a soul-deep trait. It soothes us and stimulates us, it helps us think and helps us slow our thoughts. Stimming is part meditation, part celebration, part pressure valve.
Taking away stimming is an amputation of a human being’s spirit. It is ironic that there are therapies out there that believe getting a person to stop stimming is part of fixing them, because stripping away something as intimately needed as autistic stimming is on the road toward breaking them.
Can’t you see how much all society can benefit from extending our circle of acceptance and compassion to include the beautiful ways autistic people move? While I speak of autism as a neurodivergence from the neuromajority, we aren’t at all the only neurominority. We humans have so much diversity, including neurodiversity.
Opening society to autistic people in our natural, unforced beauty opens the way toward more and more acceptance and a greater desire to let ALL humans feel more welcomed and wanted. And wouldn’t you, no matter who you are or where you’re coming from, enjoy feeling more welcomed and wanted in the world, too?
Autism-positive books
Thank you so much Max. Your words are beautiful and empowering.
Below, I have gathered an assortment of books that are autism-positive. They may be fiction or non-fiction, and are positive toward neurodiversity rather than focusing on making autistics act and appear neurotypical. I have not read them all, so in some cases I am relying on others’ opinions that they promote neurodiversity. If you are aware of issues with any of them, please let me know in the comments.
I would also like to hear any of your suggestions of other autism-positive books in the comments.
Some of these books are written by autistic authors and some are not.
No You Don’t, Essays from an Unstrange Mind, by Sparrow Rose Jones
No You Don’t
This collection of raw, honest, emotional essays describe the pitfalls and joys of an autistic life. The author is a popular autistic blogger and his title essay, No You Don’t, won him a loyal readership who admired his courage to share some of the darkest, most difficult times in his life.
This collection includes that essay and one other popular essay that was published on his blog, Unstrange Mind, but all the rest of the writing in this book is new and has never been seen in print before — on his blog or elsewhere. While this book contains reflections on some of the harsher aspects of living an autistic life, the overall tone is upbeat and hopeful.
This book is not an exposé; the author describes it as a love song to the world. He expresses that his hope in writing is to help bridge the social gap between autistic people and non-autistic people and to help parents by showing them his story in hopes that a glimpse of one autistic life, viewed across the life span from childhood to middle age, will help validate and support parents in making wise choices in the confusing and difficult journey of mentoring their own children into becoming the strong and happy adults they are meant to be.
The ABCs of Autism Acceptance, by Sparrow Rose Jones
The ABCs of Autism Acceptance
Sparrow Rose Jones is probably best known for his blog, Unstrange Mind: Remapping My World, and his previous book, No You Don’t: Essays from an Unstrange Mind, both of which deftly narrate his examination of himself, his identity as an Autistic person, and the changing state of access and civil rights for Autistic people. His essays have covered everything from famous civil rights and criminal cases in the media to sexuality and relationships, life skills, coping mechanisms, and personal introspection.
In The ABCs of Autism Acceptance, Sparrow takes us through a guided tour of the topics most central to changing the way that autism is perceived, to remove systemic barriers to access that have traditionally been barriers to Autistic participation in some sectors of society. He also takes us through the basics of Autistic culture, discussing many of its major features and recent developments with a sense of history and making the current state of the conversation around this form of neurodivergence clear to those who are new to it, whether they are Autistic themselves or a friend/family member looking for resources to help themselves support the Autistic people in their lives more fully.
While it is impossible to capture the full scope and diversity of Autistic communities—and there are many of them out there—this book does serve as an important conversation starter, a primer, and a humble guide to the world. In these 26 short essays, you will find most of the topics most often blogged about by Actually Autistic authors, including footnotes, resources, and references to other writers whose works continue the conversations that start here.
Loud Hands, Autistic People, Speaking
Loud Hands
Loud Hands: Autistic People, Speaking is a collection of essays written by and for Autistic people. Spanning from the dawn of the Neurodiversity movement to the blog posts of today, Loud Hands: Autistic People, Speaking catalogues the experiences and ethos of the Autistic community and preserves both diverse personal experiences and the community’s foundational documents together side by side.
Hour Glass, by Michelle Rene
Hour Glass
Set in the lawless town of Deadwood, South Dakota, Hour Glass shares an intimate look at the woman behind the legend of Calamity Jane told through the eyes of twelve-year-old Jimmy Glass.
After their pa falls deathly ill with smallpox, Jimmy and his sister, Hour, travel into Deadwood to seek help. While their pa is in quarantine, the two form unbreakable bonds with the surrogate family that emerges from the tragedy of loss.
In a place where life is fragile and families are ripped apart by disease, death, and desperation, a surprising collection of Deadwood’s inhabitants surround Jimmy, Hour, and Jane. There, in the most unexpected of places, they find a family protecting them from the uncertainty and chaos that surrounds them all.
Darius Hates Vegetables, by Darius Brown
Darius Hates Vegetables
Darius Hates Vegetables is a book about a young boy who’d rather eat cookies than vegetables. The adults in his life made several attempts to get him to eat them. In the end, his grandfather coaxed him into doing so. The lesson in this story is to try vegetables… you might just end up liking them.
Darius Hates Vegetables was written by a ten-year old autistic boy.
Aspeans the Beginning, by Roy Dias
Aspeans the Beginning
James spent his whole life just trying to be normal, to be accepted, to fit in, and now he finds out that he and his family are freaks. Just having Asperger’s syndrome had been bad enough, but according to what his father told him, he, his brother David, and James himself were all alien hybrids.
His father had managed to escape from a military base with this unwelcome information. People with Asperger’s descended from an alien species, so the government wanted to track down, monitor, and sterilize every individual with Asperger’s, keeping them under control. But for this very ambitious plan to work, the government had to guarantee total secrecy, and that had been lost with his father’s escape.
Being Seen, by Anlor Davin
Being Seen
Being Seen is a memoir about a woman with autism struggling not only to be seen, but to be understood and respected.
Anlor Davin grew up in a small town on the Western coast of France. From earliest childhood she was beset by overwhelming sensory chaos and had trouble navigating the social world. Only many years later did she learn that she was autistic. Throughout childhood, Anlor struggled to hold her world together and in many ways succeeded: she became an accomplished young tennis player, competing even at the level of the French Open. However, in addition to her autism a dark history hung over her family—a history that she did not fully understand for years to come.
Without yet having a name for her world-shattering condition, Anlor headed to a new life in America. But she now had to contend with the raw basics of survival in a new culture, speaking a new language, and without support from her family. Through incredible effort, Anlor was able to parlay her knowledge of the French language into a job teaching in the notorious South Side neighborhood of Chicago, one of America’s most violent. Anlor married, had a child, and even dreamed that she might be able to pass as a neurotypical person.
The grim toll of daily compensating for her autism and “pretending to be normal” proved too great a challenge and Anlor’s life imploded. She spiraled downward into a kind of hell, losing her marriage and her beloved son. Desperate, Anlor moved west to California, where she found a mysterious and ancient tradition of spiritual practice from the Far East—zen. Through this profound meditation and community she was able to slowly rebuild her life, this time with honest acceptance of the challenge she faced. The path took her through extreme emotional and physical duress but—at last—led to proper medical diagnosis and treatment of her autism. Today, Anlor works to help people understand her way of being, and the value of basic meditative practice in living and thriving with autism.
It’s an Autism Thing… I’ll Help You Understand It, by Emma Dalmayne
It’s an Autism Thing
It’s an Autism thing… I’ll help you understand is a valuable teaching and learning resource. It is a written from Emma’s perspective. Both Emma and her children are on the autism spectrum.
Relevant topics are explored through sections: ‘My Experiences’, ‘Information’ and ‘Advice’. The book offers insights into some of the potential trials and challenges of daily life for an autistic person and everyday strategies and support that can all the difference.
The book offers insights into some of the potential trials and challenges of daily life for an autistic person.
The Life we Bury, by Allen Eskens
The Life we Bury
College student Joe Talbert has the modest goal of completing a writing assignment for an English class. His task is to interview a stranger and write a brief biography of the person. With deadlines looming, Joe heads to a nearby nursing home to find a willing subject. There he meets Carl Iverson, and soon nothing in Joe’s life is ever the same.
Carl is a dying Vietnam veteran–and a convicted murderer. With only a few months to live, he has been medically paroled to a nursing home, after spending thirty years in prison for the crimes of rape and murder.
As Joe writes about Carl’s life, especially Carl’s valor in Vietnam, he cannot reconcile the heroism of the soldier with the despicable acts of the convict. Joe, along with his skeptical female neighbor, throws himself into uncovering the truth, but he is hamstrung in his efforts by having to deal with his dangerously dysfunctional mother, the guilt of leaving his autistic brother vulnerable, and a haunting childhood memory.
NeuroTribes, by Steve Silberman
NeuroTribes
What is autism? A lifelong disability, or a naturally occurring form of cognitive difference akin to certain forms of genius? In truth, it is all of these things and more—and the future of our society depends on our understanding it. Wired reporter Steve Silberman unearths the secret history of autism, long suppressed by the same clinicians who became famous for discovering it, and finds surprising answers to the crucial question of why the number of diagnoses has soared in recent years.
Going back to the earliest days of autism research, Silberman offers a gripping narrative of Leo Kanner and Hans Asperger, the research pioneers who defined the scope of autism in profoundly different ways; he then goes on to explore the game-changing concept of neurodiversity.
NeuroTribes considers the idea that neurological differences such as autism, dyslexia, and ADHD are not errors of nature or products of the toxic modern world, but the result of natural variations in the human genome. This groundbreaking book will reshape our understanding of the history, meaning, function, and implications of neurodiversity in our world.
The Gauguin Connection, by Estelle Ryan
The Gauguin Connection
World renowned expert in nonverbal communication, Doctor Genevieve Lenard investigates insurance claims. Not murder. So when her boss asks her to help his acerbic friend look into the death of a young artist, her autistic mind rebels against the change.
A straightforward murder investigation quickly turns into a quagmire of stolen Eurocorps weapons, a money-laundering charity, forged art and high-ranking EU officials abusing their power. As if this isn’t enough, she reluctantly teams up with an international thief whose knowledge of the art world proves invaluable.
Forced out of her predictable routines, safe environment and limited social interaction, Genevieve is thrown into being part of a team in a race to stop a ruthless killer from targeting more artists.
On the Edge of Gone, by Corinne Duyvis
On the Edge of Gone
January 29, 2035. That’s the day the comet is scheduled to hit—the big one. Denise and her mother and sister, Iris, have been assigned to a temporary shelter outside their hometown of Amsterdam to wait out the blast, but Iris is nowhere to be found, and at the rate Denise’s drug-addicted mother is going, they’ll never reach the shelter in time.
A last-minute meeting leads them to something better than a temporary shelter—a generation ship, scheduled to leave Earth behind to colonize new worlds after the comet hits. But everyone on the ship has been chosen because of their usefulness.
Denise is autistic and fears that she’ll never be allowed to stay. Can she obtain a spot before the ship takes flight? What about her mother and sister? When the future of the human race is at stake, whose lives matter most?
A Freshman Survival Guide for College Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders, by Haley Moss
A Freshman Survival Guide for ASD
How do you know which college is right for you? What happens if you don’t get on with your roommate? And what on earth is the Greek system all about? As a university student with High-Functioning Autism, Haley Moss offers essential tips and advice in this insider’s guide to surviving the Freshman year of college.
Chatty, honest and full of really useful information, Haley’s first-hand account of the college experience covers everything students with Autism Spectrum Disorders need to know. She talks through getting ready for college, dorm life and living away from parents, what to expect from classes, professors and exams, and how to cope in new social situations and make friends.
Son-Rise, by Barry Neil Kaufman
Son-Rise
Note that this book was published in the 80s and probably has a lot of Albeist language and concepts in it that I don’t remember, but it was one of the first books that I ever read about autism as a teenager, and what I remember most about it is Raun’s parents getting down on the floor and joining him in his stimming, and as a result making a very powerful connection with him that they were not able to make any other way. So I recommend it with caution, knowing it has been 30 years since I read it and I might have forgotten (or not understood at the time) any negative language and concepts that it contains.
September 12, 2019
National Cozy Mystery Day
September 15 is National Cozy Mystery Day!
What is a cozy mystery, and why September 15?
Cozy Mysteries
What exactly is a cozy mystery?
”Cozy mysteries”, also referred to as “cozies”, are a subgenre of crime fiction in which sex and violence are downplayed or treated humorously, and the crime and detection take place in a small, socially intimate community. Cozies thus stand in contrast to hardboiled fiction, which features violence and sexuality more explicitly and centrally to the plot. The term “cozy” was first coined in the late 20th century when various writers produced work in an attempt to re-create the Golden Age of Detective Fiction.
Wikipedia
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September 15
One of the most famous examples of cozy mysteries is Agatha Christie. September 15 was Agatha Christie’s birthday was chosen as the date to celebrate cozy mysteries.
Cozies for you!
I have a number of promotions going on right now with my cozy series.
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What the Cat Knew (first book in my paranormal cozy series Reg Rawlins Psychic Detective) is on sale for $0.99 on Kindle.
Gluten-Free Murder, the first book in the Auntie Clem’s Bakery series is participating in a group sale on Apple Books. Pick up all of these cozies for just $0.99 each. (Only available on your Apple devices in USA.)
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You can get the first three books in the Auntie Clem’s Bakery series right now on each platform for $0.99.
Jump to the retailer of your choice.
You can get Gluten-Free Murder and 72 other cozy mystery books for free at this Bookfunnel giveaway.
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September 10, 2019
Excerpt 2 from My Story by Elizabeth Smart
Are you looking for a great deal? Get the first three books in the Auntie Clem’s Bakery series for just $0.99 for a limited time!
Buy now
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Read the rules and more teasers at The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along.
I don’t usually post from the same book two weeks in a row, but this past week has been crazy and I haven’t had much time for reading, so I am bringing you a second teaser from Elizabeth Smart’s My Story.
“Later, there were times when I was angry with myself for succumbing to that fear. But those with shattered souls find it very difficult to speak.”
― Elizabeth Smart, My Story
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In this memoir, Elizabeth Smart reveals how she survived and the secret to forging a new life in the wake of a brutal crime. On June 5, 2002, fourteen-year-old Elizabeth Smart, the daughter of a close-knit Mormon family, was taken from her home in the middle of the night by religious fanatic Brian David Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee. Elizabeth was kept chained, dressed in disguise, repeatedly raped, and told she and her family would be killed if she tried to escape. After her rescue on March 12, 2003, she rejoined her family and worked to pick up the pieces of her life.
With My Story, Elizabeth tells of the constant fear she endured every hour, her courageous determination to maintain hope, and how she devised a plan to manipulate her captors and convinced them to return to Utah, where she was rescued minutes after arriving. Smart explains how her faith helped her stay sane in the midst of a nightmare and how she found the strength to confront her captors at their trial and see that justice was served.
In the years after her rescue, Smart transformed from victim to advocate, traveling the country and working to educate, inspire and foster change. She has created a foundation to help prevent crimes against children and is a frequent public speaker. She and her husband, Matthew Gilmour, now have two children.
September 5, 2019
June, Into the Light and other freebies
This week the kids were back to school, and maybe you could use a little something extra on your kindle to relax and decompress! June, Into the Light is free this weekend, and I have pulled together a list of other freebies you might enjoy. So stack up the ebooks, grab a pint of ice cream or your favourite treat, and settle down to read.
June, Into the Light
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June Simpson has lost everything. Her family, the love of her life, and now her freedom.
And it’s her own fault.
Drugs have taken her health and what little happiness remained in her life, and now, incarcerated after a failed attempt at armed robbery, June is forced to detox and to face the reality of the misery and abuse she has perpetrated on those closest to her, especially her children.
Getting clean is just the first of her challenges, and as difficult as it is, may be the easiest part.
The path ahead is filled with so many obstacles she can’t see her way through to the other side. Facing her children and convincing them that she has really changed and is capable of a healthy relationship with them seems like an insurmountable task.
Readers begged for another book in the Between the Cracks series from award-winning and USA Today bestselling author P.D. Workman. They especially wanted June’s story to be told.
You asked for it, so here it is. Click ‘download’ now!
June, Into the Light is book #6 in the Between the Cracks series but can be read as a stand-alone novel.
The Between the Cracks series has won multiple literary awards from the In the Margins Committee of Library Services for Youth in Custody.
Read sample
Listen to sample
Listen to a reading by the author
Download
Youtube
Watch release-day video
Other freebies
One-click to add all freebies to your Amazon cart at once, or add them each individually.
As always, check prices before you check out as prices may change without warning or not be free in all markets.
The Girls Across the Bay
A bond stronger than blood. A connection that could end it all.
Madigan Knox and Grace Sheppard became sisters the day they entered their foster home. After living through a childhood nightmare, one brave act set them free, but split them apart into different homes.
As adults, they are reunited in the small coastal town they dreamed of living in as children, but the reality of life in Tall Pines is far from what they had imagined.
When a woman is found dead in her home, Madigan reports on the crime while Grace investigates. A dark connection to the victim is discovered, pulling them both closer to the crime and the traumatic past they are desperate to move on from.
With old wounds ripped open and dark secrets threatening their bond, the sisters must rely on each other more than ever before to survive.
The Recipient
A year after serial killer Michael Rhodes is executed and allowed to donate part of his brain as an organ transplant, Wade gets called to a murder scene that shares uncanny similarities to those of the late Michael Rhodes. Other similar killings happen around Seattle, and Wade seems to be the only person still alive who knows enough about Michael Rhodes’s murders to be able to replicate them. When evidence found at one of the crime scenes points to Wade as the killer, he races to find the real culprit before it’s too late to clear his own name.
Elle is overjoyed when her husband, Brian, receives a partial brain transplant and gets a second chance at life. Until she learns that his brain cells came from a serial killer…
The Perfect Girl
When reclusive writer, Jock falls for vivacious Tea Shop owner, Sapphire, he is amazed that she seems to feel the same way about him. He watches with pride as Sapphire is crowned May Queen at the town’s May Day celebrations, but his joy turns to heartbreak when she runs off into the crowd, never to return.
As the days pass, he becomes increasingly desperate. Everyone he speaks to seems to love Sapphire. No one has a bad word to say about her. So why did she run away like that, and what is stopping her from coming back?
The Goodbye Storm
Autumn Chase is painfully aware grief is a beast that won’t be chased off before it’s ready to leave. When an icy road and a dark night leave her a young widow, she’s forced to trade in her perfectly planned future for the unknown. Like a child hiding from a monster, she pulls her covers up over her head with the intention of sheltering herself forever. But once an unexpected stranger shows up on her doorstep, Autumn has to choose between being alone or connecting with someone who is hurting as badly as she is.
Noah Key, an overworked emergency room doctor, has somberly informed countless families that their loved one could not be saved. However, when his own wife dies suddenly there are no words to bring him comfort. His in-laws want him to fall to pieces to confirm his love for his late wife. His colleagues want him to take time off to grieve. The only thing Noah wants is to work enough hours in the day to forget his wife is gone. He’s written himself a prescription for a cocktail of distraction and exhaustion in order to trick his brain into thinking his life isn’t in shambles.
Pam of Babylon
A beautiful life at the beach is marred when Jack has a heart attack on the train from Manhattan. His wife and his two lovers discover secrets and lies, and each other.
Kindle
Hostile Witness
When sixteen-year-old Hannah Sheraton is arrested for the murder of her stepgrandfather, the chief justice of the California Supreme court, her distraught mother turns to her old college roommate, Josie Baylor-Bates, for help. Josie, once a hot-shot criminal defense attorney, left the fast track behind for a small practice in Hermosa Beach, California.
But Hannah Sheraton intrigues her and, when the girl is charged as an adult, Josie cannot turn her back. But the deeper she digs the more Josie realizes that politics, the law and family relationships create a combustible and dangerous situation. When the horrible truth is uncovered it can save Hannah Sheraton or destroy them both.
His Hand in the Storm
A man copes any way he can after killing his only son.
His team believes he’s calm and Zen. His boss finds him obsessive. Suspects think him gorgeous but dangerous. They’re all right.
Chief Inspector Gray James is sculpting the remembered likeness of his small son when he receives the call – a faceless corpse is found hanging by the choppy river, swirls of snow and sand rolling like tumbleweeds.
Montreal glitters: the cobbled streets slippery with ice, and the mighty St. Lawrence jetting eastward past the city. One by one, someone is killing the founders of a booming medical tech startup – propelling Gray into a downward spiral that shatters his hard-earned peace, that risks his very life, that threatens to force him to care and face what he has shunned all along: his hand in the storm.
Everett
At Everett College, perfection has a DARK side…
Beautiful and brilliant Brooke, a transfer student with a mysterious past, aims to graduate first in her class at Everett and attend medical school. Her classmates and professors are captivated by her achievements and appearance.
Only Jessica, a wealthy socialite fueled by prescription pills and a huge case of snobbery, senses there’s something not quite right about the perfect student. What happens during a historic blizzard will settle their differences once and for all.
September 3, 2019
Excerpt from My Story by Elizabeth Smart
Hopefully all of you in Canada and the US (and anywhere else it is observed) enjoyed their Labour Day weekend, and maybe even got some reading in. I was traveling, so I didn’t get much done in the way of reading and still have a few more words to get down to reach my writing quota, but I am thankful for those people who have fought for better working conditions and human rights around the world.
I have a number of special deals coming up in the next week, so stay tuned here and on my social networks and newsletter list. It’s a busy time of the year for book promotions!
I am just starting to read My Story, by Elizabeth Smart, and am quite looking forward to it. I have been amazed at what Elizabeth went through and what she has been able to do with her life. What a strong, faith-filled woman, and what an amazing family who never gave up on her either. I really appreciate and admire the insight and education that Elizabeth Smart and others like her bring to us. Elizabeth narrates the audiobook herself.
When faced with pain and evil, we have to make a choice.
Elizabeth Smart, My Story
We can choose to be taken by the evil.
Or we can try to embrace the good.
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In this memoir, Elizabeth Smart reveals how she survived and the secret to forging a new life in the wake of a brutal crime. On June 5, 2002, fourteen-year-old Elizabeth Smart, the daughter of a close-knit Mormon family, was taken from her home in the middle of the night by religious fanatic Brian David Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee. Elizabeth was kept chained, dressed in disguise, repeatedly raped, and told she and her family would be killed if she tried to escape. After her rescue on March 12, 2003, she rejoined her family and worked to pick up the pieces of her life.
With My Story, Elizabeth tells of the constant fear she endured every hour, her courageous determination to maintain hope, and how she devised a plan to manipulate her captors and convinced them to return to Utah, where she was rescued minutes after arriving. Smart explains how her faith helped her stay sane in the midst of a nightmare and how she found the strength to confront her captors at their trial and see that justice was served.
In the years after her rescue, Smart transformed from victim to advocate, traveling the country and working to educate, inspire and foster change. She has created a foundation to help prevent crimes against children and is a frequent public speaker. She and her husband, Matthew Gilmour, now have two children.
