What do you think?
The fall of the CRINK Alliance #1
My Dumpling Your Dumpling
North Korean troop movements, not tied to a known exercise. A missing NSA engineer on Temporary Duty as a special advisor to Commander, United States Forces Korea. Recent failures by the CIA, the effects of which are being felt throughout the entire U.S. Intelligence Community.
Enter the the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency’s Special Operations Groups. Purpose built, task organized elements of the best and brightest America has to offer. Hollywood loved the CIA, even occasionally giving the NSA some love. These unsung heroes, part of the DIA’s own Human Intelligence (HUMINT) arm known as the Defense Clandestine Service, do what they do best – Committed to Excellence in Defense of the Nation – unknown to all but those who matter, each other.
Amidst the political turmoil that has plagued the United States for as long as political parties have placed their partisan political platforms above the national interest, these dedicated professionals, defenders of all that is good and right about what Alexander Hamilton called “The Great American Experiment”, fight not for any color or creed, but all Americans. Past. Present. Future.
These are their stories.
—————
In her breakout work, author K.E. Bartlet, a professional hacker turned cyber warrior turned everyday whackadoo, brings you a political techno thriller unlike any other. Written from a perspective the genres have sorely missed, My Dumpling Your Dumpling, Book 1 in The Fall of the CRINK Alliance series, takes you throughout East and Southeast Asia on a constantly evolving 21st Century battlefield. Infused with just enough romance, tragedy, and food to be both like the world we live in and a great escape, fans of Tom Clancy, David Baldacci, Andrew Watts, and similar authors will love the seminal work from this emerging author.
Enter the the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency’s Special Operations Groups. Purpose built, task organized elements of the best and brightest America has to offer. Hollywood loved the CIA, even occasionally giving the NSA some love. These unsung heroes, part of the DIA’s own Human Intelligence (HUMINT) arm known as the Defense Clandestine Service, do what they do best – Committed to Excellence in Defense of the Nation – unknown to all but those who matter, each other.
Amidst the political turmoil that has plagued the United States for as long as political parties have placed their partisan political platforms above the national interest, these dedicated professionals, defenders of all that is good and right about what Alexander Hamilton called “The Great American Experiment”, fight not for any color or creed, but all Americans. Past. Present. Future.
These are their stories.
—————
In her breakout work, author K.E. Bartlet, a professional hacker turned cyber warrior turned everyday whackadoo, brings you a political techno thriller unlike any other. Written from a perspective the genres have sorely missed, My Dumpling Your Dumpling, Book 1 in The Fall of the CRINK Alliance series, takes you throughout East and Southeast Asia on a constantly evolving 21st Century battlefield. Infused with just enough romance, tragedy, and food to be both like the world we live in and a great escape, fans of Tom Clancy, David Baldacci, Andrew Watts, and similar authors will love the seminal work from this emerging author.
371 pages, Paperback
Published February 1, 2026
About the author
K.E. Bartlet
7 books17 followersOnce upon a time, in the Silicon Valley, she spent the misadventure called life being an electron dominatrix, enriching corporate overlords like Tim Apple & F*ckerburg.
Along the way, she taught students how to do the same, became one of Uncle Sam's Misguided Children, taking the Big Green Weenie in order to open a can of whoop a** on the world's bad guys, & other bouts of career ADHD.
All while never being as cool as the peeps in the Tom Clancy novels she'd been reading since age 9.
Nevertheless, she persisted, writing Thrillers, SciFi, Romance, sassy articles, and dark & twisty comics.
For anyone who's read this far, she uses a pen name since she only slept during OPSEC training after running out of snacks.
More @Links.KEBartlet.com
Along the way, she taught students how to do the same, became one of Uncle Sam's Misguided Children, taking the Big Green Weenie in order to open a can of whoop a** on the world's bad guys, & other bouts of career ADHD.
All while never being as cool as the peeps in the Tom Clancy novels she'd been reading since age 9.
Nevertheless, she persisted, writing Thrillers, SciFi, Romance, sassy articles, and dark & twisty comics.
For anyone who's read this far, she uses a pen name since she only slept during OPSEC training after running out of snacks.
More @Links.KEBartlet.com
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 9, 2026
A Distinctive Debut: Competence, Youth, and a New Lens on Military Fiction
I picked up My Dumpling, Your Dumpling because I wanted a challenge. I think it’s important to read outside my usual genre preferences — not for escapism, but because good fiction offers a particular worldview. When an author succeeds, you’re not just reading a story; you’re trying on a different cognitive framework. That’s the part I find interesting.
My academic background is in Spanish and Sociology, and most of my undergraduate literary training was in the Boom period — Cortázar, García Márquez, Borges, Vargas Llosa. Those writers taught me to treat fiction as a tool for exploring how minds work. Rayuela forces you to construct the narrative yourself. Cien años de soledad operates on cyclical time and mythic logic. Borges turns stories into philosophical puzzles. That training shaped how I read: I look for the worldview behind the text.
Later, when I finally read Jane Austen and Edith Wharton, I was struck by their observational precision — the way they capture interior life, social nuance, and micro‑interactions with almost anthropological clarity. I spent years catching up on 19th‑ and early‑20th‑century English literature because it represented a completely different cognitive tradition. None of this is my entire reading history, of course, but it illustrates the pattern: I read fiction to understand how people think.
K.E. Bartlet’s debut fits into that pattern in a surprising way. My Dumpling, Your Dumpling presents a worldview shaped by military and intelligence environments: procedural, compartmentalized, time‑stamped, emotionally masked, and mission‑driven. Each chapter opens with a location/time/character header — essentially a SITREP. The action is often procedural and easy to miss if you don’t have that background. Operators will fill in the blanks; civilian readers may need a film adaptation to visualize certain sequences. That’s not a flaw — it’s a structural choice that protects both the reader and the author. It keeps the violence non‑graphic and keeps the operational details appropriately abstract.
What I appreciated most is how confidently Bartlet writes smart, competent young people, especially young women. There’s no gendered commentary, no harassment, no “woman in a man’s world” framing. It’s a parallel universe where women can operate at full capacity without misogyny as background radiation. That alone makes the book refreshing.
The interpersonal dynamics are subtle, especially the slow‑burn trust arc between Eliza and Melody. Bartlet writes emotional connection the way it forms in high‑risk environments: quietly, professionally, and under layers of structure. It’s not a romance that interrupts the plot; it’s a bond that grows inside it. Eliza’s pep talks and her ability to read her team under pressure show a level of empathy and leadership that makes her a compelling protagonist.
As a debut from a 28‑year‑old author, this is impressive work. The voice is distinctive, the worldbuilding is grounded in real strategic thinking, and the characters feel like people who could exist in the modern intelligence community. I’m curious to see how Bartlet’s craft evolves — and how these characters develop — in the rest of the series.
ORIGINAL URL: http://www.livegreenwearblack.com/202...
I picked up My Dumpling, Your Dumpling because I wanted a challenge. I think it’s important to read outside my usual genre preferences — not for escapism, but because good fiction offers a particular worldview. When an author succeeds, you’re not just reading a story; you’re trying on a different cognitive framework. That’s the part I find interesting.
My academic background is in Spanish and Sociology, and most of my undergraduate literary training was in the Boom period — Cortázar, García Márquez, Borges, Vargas Llosa. Those writers taught me to treat fiction as a tool for exploring how minds work. Rayuela forces you to construct the narrative yourself. Cien años de soledad operates on cyclical time and mythic logic. Borges turns stories into philosophical puzzles. That training shaped how I read: I look for the worldview behind the text.
Later, when I finally read Jane Austen and Edith Wharton, I was struck by their observational precision — the way they capture interior life, social nuance, and micro‑interactions with almost anthropological clarity. I spent years catching up on 19th‑ and early‑20th‑century English literature because it represented a completely different cognitive tradition. None of this is my entire reading history, of course, but it illustrates the pattern: I read fiction to understand how people think.
K.E. Bartlet’s debut fits into that pattern in a surprising way. My Dumpling, Your Dumpling presents a worldview shaped by military and intelligence environments: procedural, compartmentalized, time‑stamped, emotionally masked, and mission‑driven. Each chapter opens with a location/time/character header — essentially a SITREP. The action is often procedural and easy to miss if you don’t have that background. Operators will fill in the blanks; civilian readers may need a film adaptation to visualize certain sequences. That’s not a flaw — it’s a structural choice that protects both the reader and the author. It keeps the violence non‑graphic and keeps the operational details appropriately abstract.
What I appreciated most is how confidently Bartlet writes smart, competent young people, especially young women. There’s no gendered commentary, no harassment, no “woman in a man’s world” framing. It’s a parallel universe where women can operate at full capacity without misogyny as background radiation. That alone makes the book refreshing.
The interpersonal dynamics are subtle, especially the slow‑burn trust arc between Eliza and Melody. Bartlet writes emotional connection the way it forms in high‑risk environments: quietly, professionally, and under layers of structure. It’s not a romance that interrupts the plot; it’s a bond that grows inside it. Eliza’s pep talks and her ability to read her team under pressure show a level of empathy and leadership that makes her a compelling protagonist.
As a debut from a 28‑year‑old author, this is impressive work. The voice is distinctive, the worldbuilding is grounded in real strategic thinking, and the characters feel like people who could exist in the modern intelligence community. I’m curious to see how Bartlet’s craft evolves — and how these characters develop — in the rest of the series.
ORIGINAL URL: http://www.livegreenwearblack.com/202...
May 16, 2025
Read it in one sitting. Like a Tom Clancy novel but minus the heavy Irish Catholic tones of Jack Ryan for the main protagonists. The author definitely tells the story from a female perspective, but one that's survived in male dominated environment after another, having to adapt to that.
The sheer amount of tropes and stereotypes that are playfully tackled are also pretty funny. Marines and their crayons. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.
The sheer amount of tropes and stereotypes that are playfully tackled are also pretty funny. Marines and their crayons. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.
May 25, 2025
You can tell the author's hungry and has lived through similar stuff like this in the past. It mixes geopolitical thriller plot elements with some slice of life subplots.
The perspective switches and fourth wall breaks were pretty funny sometimes too. Comic Relief!
The perspective switches and fourth wall breaks were pretty funny sometimes too. Comic Relief!
July 17, 2026
I received an ARC through "Booksprout" and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
This is a story well worth the read! It portrays how a group of individuals form a force that is based on what the people (LBGTQ) can do versus any sort of identity they may have. The detailed description of each of the individuals about their life which now intersects with their addition to CSOJTF-MTF (Milk Tea Freedom) and the role each of them becomes involved in once North Korea decides to take South Korea over. The North Koreans 1st action is the kidnapping of Mia with the intent to bring her sister Melody to rescue her. They plan on obtaining data from Melody since she is a part of the NSA. The 1st action of MTF is the rescue of both Mia and Melody. Once they accomplish that, the danger only gets worse.
The description of the actions that this force took in the war against North Korea and how each of the characters' role was instrumental in the defeat of North Korea. Their actions both prior, during and after reflects the value of each one and how ultimately those at the top of the political spectrum recognize them as well.
As stated earlier, this is worth reading and will keep your interest right till the end, don't miss out!
This is a story well worth the read! It portrays how a group of individuals form a force that is based on what the people (LBGTQ) can do versus any sort of identity they may have. The detailed description of each of the individuals about their life which now intersects with their addition to CSOJTF-MTF (Milk Tea Freedom) and the role each of them becomes involved in once North Korea decides to take South Korea over. The North Koreans 1st action is the kidnapping of Mia with the intent to bring her sister Melody to rescue her. They plan on obtaining data from Melody since she is a part of the NSA. The 1st action of MTF is the rescue of both Mia and Melody. Once they accomplish that, the danger only gets worse.
The description of the actions that this force took in the war against North Korea and how each of the characters' role was instrumental in the defeat of North Korea. Their actions both prior, during and after reflects the value of each one and how ultimately those at the top of the political spectrum recognize them as well.
As stated earlier, this is worth reading and will keep your interest right till the end, don't miss out!
May 6, 2026
I read this series backwards, but I am glad I was able to read all of the back story on how it started. The detail on the spy stories is great, and the forming of relationships kept me engaged. I really hope there are more stories in this series, or at least more side stories.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
May 12, 2025
Was an interesting mix of genres while staying in the political techno thriller genre. Switched perspectives often to keep the suspense going.
Had great representation of different backgrounds of the characters, personal and professional.
Had great representation of different backgrounds of the characters, personal and professional.
February 3, 2025
Horrible book.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews