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The Best Seller

Dina Rae (Goodreads Author)

3.94 · Rating details · 110 ratings · 35 reviews

When Maya Smock writes her first novel, everything seems to go her way. Her book practically writes itself. She marries her gorgeous agent. Her name is on all of the best seller lists. Billionaire author Jay McCallister takes an interest in her meteoric rise to fame and invites her into his world of alien-believing celebrities. Her life changes forever when he tells her th ...more

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Kindle Edition, 1, 294 pages

Published May 31st 2016 by Solstice

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Aug 08, 2016 megHan rated it liked it

Have you ever read a book that you both loved and hated all at the same time? That is very much this book for me.

At first, the author completely had me captivated by the story of General Robert Andreas and Dr. Karl Jaeger, a military man who works for the government and a man who is described as "perhaps one of the Nazi's biggest monstrosities of the war." Very science fiction. Very Area 51. I'm hooked.

Then, out of nowhere, the story changes to the story of Maya Smock and how her life intermingl Have you ever read a book that you both loved and hated all at the same time? That is very much this book for me.

At first, the author completely had me captivated by the story of General Robert Andreas and Dr. Karl Jaeger, a military man who works for the government and a man who is described as "perhaps one of the Nazi's biggest monstrosities of the war." Very science fiction. Very Area 51. I'm hooked.

Then, out of nowhere, the story changes to the story of Maya Smock and how her life intermingles with Jay McCallister, her favorite author, as she goes from a normal, everyday girl who works at a bookstore and dreams of one day being an author, to getting published and becoming one of those best-sellers she always envied.

Seems like an interesting story, right? It is. It really is.

And yet I couldn't help having so much frustration with it.

First, the book description gave away too much of what happens in the story, causing me to not feel that surprise and mystery that I usually get from a thriller. The fact that her and McCallister have this connection - and what the connection is - is huge, and I would have rather found that out during the story instead of just waiting for that to come. It took away a lot of my enjoyment.

Second, the lack of editing was very off-putting. I'm not just talking about missing words in sentences (which is quite tedious when you're reading), but the fact that the author repeats information about these characters over and over again i.e. Maya's stay in different orphanages and homes until the age of seventeen, her promiscuity, Eric giving her a job.

Third, my favorite character (Maya) was one that had a lot of depth to her, but she made some bad decisions, ignored all those gut feelings, and continued to abuse herself just as bad as the adults in her younger days did. Hindsight is 20-20, I guess, because as she's telling the story, you realize that she probably would have done things differently, but with the strength that she had to do what she initially did, I found myself getting angry with her quite a bit because of her stupidity. I honestly felt like I was reading a story where the main character was a teenager, and not someone who had gone through all of this stuff and was now a grownup.

Fourth, the side story of Claude the Jerk, his girlfriend, the money... blah blah blah... really took away from the two stories I mentioned above. I wanted to know how they went together and how we were going to get to the whole Maya-McCallister connection, and found myself skimming through paragraphs in each chapter because I found them unnecessary. I felt more like I was reading a YA Romance than a Science Fiction Thriller.

Fifth, the way that Andreas and Jaeger interacted just seemed... childish. Maybe that's not the word I'm looking for, but I can't honestly think of a better way to put it. This is a General in the United States Military and a Doctor, yet their conversations seemed very immature. I just feel like something as secret as what they were dealing with would have been handled differently.

Dina Rae is a good writer, and I really enjoyed the amount of work she put into her character development, but this book failed to live up to its potential. As the two parts began to come together, the story got better and I could really see the talent that this writer has. Unfortunately, the editor she had (if she had one) failed to point out some things that disrupted the flow and took away from the main point of the story. She has written other novels that I may take a gander at, and I hope that she continues writing in the future, as I would like to see where her talent takes her.

Note: I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. ...more

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Dec 17, 2018 Sherry Fundin rated it it was amazing

Shelves: mystery, thriller, fiction, science-fiction, suspense, fantasy, historical-fiction, read-in-2016

Maya Smock has so many questions…does her inspiration come from her muse, is she channeling her writing, who are her parents, where does she come from…It’s downright terrifying the things she goes through as she heads to Area 51 for answers and I was totally engrossed in the story, unwilling to put the book down until the last page was read.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of The Best Seller by Dina Rae.

See more at fundinmental ...more

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Jan 29, 2018 K.S. Marsden rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Maya has nothing in her life, except her love of reading. When she dabbles in writing her own novel, which instantly becomes a best seller, things start to get more than a little crazy.

I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

This story follows two timelines - that of Maya, a successful, newly-published author; and a secret government base, set up after the Roswell crash.

Both are highly-creative.
American General Andreas and ex-Nazi Dr. Jaeger are at the front of an exciting new ar ...more

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Jan 24, 2019 Gerald Kubicki rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Satisfying book. It has Nazis, aliens, writers and a plot going back manay years.

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Jul 30, 2017 Mary Allen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: highly-recommended

I Am Blown Away by this Book, wow what a story. I am having a hard time trying to decide what to say about a who knows, maybe conspiracies need another like its story. I really got into this plot.

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Jun 11, 2017 Lillian rated it it was amazing

Great book.

Could not put this book down. It reads like 2 stories at one time. I recommend thisis book and look forward to part 2.

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Feb 23, 2017 Ian Miller rated it it was amazing

This book is written in two streams. One involves a US General so taken by alien life that when he finds a Nazi concentration camp doctor doing experiments on trying to incorporate some allegedly alien DNA into fertilized eggs from camp victims, he loses his ethics and gets the doctor to the US. Then the General is put in charge of getting what he can from the Roswell incident. No, dear reader, in this book at least, Roswell was NOT a weather balloon. As the story progresses, the General's soul ...more

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Jun 03, 2016 Nissanmama rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc, twimom227-blog

The Best Seller is a solid foundation to an as yet unnamed new science fiction series by Dina Rae. With the flood of paranormal romance in the last decade, it’s been a long time since I’ve read a book about plain, old fashioned aliens. We’re talking little green men with big eyes, flying saucers, and government conspiracy. It’s retro in a good way. There’s even a nod to the History Channel’s Ancient Aliens. (Come on, you know you watch it and rant about the amount of product Giorgio Tsoukalos pu The Best Seller is a solid foundation to an as yet unnamed new science fiction series by Dina Rae. With the flood of paranormal romance in the last decade, it’s been a long time since I’ve read a book about plain, old fashioned aliens. We’re talking little green men with big eyes, flying saucers, and government conspiracy. It’s retro in a good way. There’s even a nod to the History Channel’s Ancient Aliens. (Come on, you know you watch it and rant about the amount of product Giorgio Tsoukalos puts in his hair. I bet you even know how to correctly pronounce “Tsoukalos.”) It’s the guilty pleasure that makes you feel less stupid than watching the Kardashians.

The story begins in 1947 with the infamous Roswell incident and as that blossoms into a fully funded military operation, it flips back and forth with the present day. In the modern portion of the story, Maya Smock writes a best seller, but unknown to her, a code is embedded in the text with ties back to the Roswell aliens. I love that Rae has included the concept of a deliberate construction within Maya’s book. It was the construction I loved most about Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn and The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. As Maya skyrockets into literary stardom with the likes of Arthur C. Clark, Issac Asimov, and Ray Bradbury, she comes under the wing of another best-selling author, Jay McCallister who claims to have the same code embedded in his books.

The only character I didn’t like was Claude. It’s easy to say that’s because he’s the “bad guy,” but that’s all he is. He comes across as one-dimensional, a little too obvious and a little too easy to hate. Jay McCallister was my favorite character and we barely got to know him. I’m hoping as Maya moves into new and unexpected territory that we’ll get to know him in new ways through her and her new friends.

1947 is post World War ll and some of Germany’s genetic scientists have ended up not as war criminals, but working for the military out in Roswell Nevada. If anyone remembers the swastika which flashed briefly as part of Professor Langdon‘s lecture on symbols at the beginning of the Da Vinci Code movie, you’ll remember it was one that the Nazi party appropriated, but existed long before that association.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THWrn...

The word swastika comes from the Sanskrit svastika, which means “good fortune” or “well-being.” The motif (a hooked cross) appears to have first been used in Neolithic Eurasia, perhaps representing the movement of the sun through the sky. Is it so unusual then that aliens who come from the sky might have introduced this motif to the earth’s early population or that Hitler, in appropriating it, had broader goals for his genetic experimentation? So many interesting questions, even if they are fictional, to explore.

The writing in Dina Rae’s The Best Seller is not campy in the way The X-Files could be at times. It acknowledges where we are today in our culture with regard to UFO’s, but I felt like I was twelve again and reading Bradbury’s S is for Space. As a modern reader, I wanted a little more of the science. Then again, I liked Andy Weir’s The Martian. Readers who don’t enjoy the technical stuff won’t be put off by what is there. I’m looking forward to the next installment.

My Rating: A- Enjoyed A Lot

Read this and other reviews at That's What I'm Talking About: http://twimom227.com/2016/07/review-t... ...more

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May 31, 2016 Ronda Tutt rated it it was amazing

Shelves: mystery, science-fiction, suspense

Brilliant and Creative Writing!

A Sci-fi Conspiracy theory that leaps and expands into new boundaries.

What a Perfect book for those who love an excellent thought provoking, conspiracy twisting, and mind boggling turns of drama that will have you questioning every legend, tale, or heritage you think you knew. How pure of a human are you – Angel, Demon, or Alien? Ever thought why some individuals are smarter and more successful than others – how it came naturally for them and harder for others? Whe Brilliant and Creative Writing!

A Sci-fi Conspiracy theory that leaps and expands into new boundaries.

What a Perfect book for those who love an excellent thought provoking, conspiracy twisting, and mind boggling turns of drama that will have you questioning every legend, tale, or heritage you think you knew. How pure of a human are you – Angel, Demon, or Alien? Ever thought why some individuals are smarter and more successful than others – how it came naturally for them and harder for others? Where did our race really originate from – God, Angels, Aliens, or how about a man made tube where genetic modification was used by mad scientist – example: Hitler / cloning for perfection / Alien abduction? Actually, how did our ancestors really get on earth – really from dust to dust or was it time travel? These are just a few of the scenarios weaved into this awesome story along with romance, hatred, jealousy, murder, madness, psycho plots, and the unthinkable possibilities that make this one hell of a drama and a thrilling suspense you won’t be able to put down.

I was hooked from the first paragraph. Dina Rae has a way of creating characters that draw you into their world and have you memorized with every word or action they make. The plot seems to start out small but as you read towards the end and think you may have it figured out – wrong! No, you find there is a much bigger plot to be told and revealed.

Maya Smock character is a sweet and smart young lady and I loved how even though writing came second nature to her she was still down to earth and knew how to get what she wanted – especially the way she got Claude to listen to her manuscript – LOL Claude on the other hand, I didn’t like him very much in the end especially how he uses his wife, brother, and ladies of the night. What a real psycho! Then there is Erick O’Reilly – what a sweetheart and I’m still hoping for a Happy Ever After for him and Maya.

Jay McCallister was more than what I expected and I only wanted to know more about him. His true identity and relationship with Maya was mind boggling. Was disappointed at the end, however, I’m hoping we get a great surprise involving him in the 2nd installment of this series.

Another part of this story is about the Nazi scientist along with our government’s secret agenda of creating the perfect and powerful human race and their involvement with an Alien species, how a new species was born, and how they are among our society today just totally kept me intrigued. Though the story doesn’t get to the point of how this ties in with Jay McCallister and Maya, I’m looking forward to the revealing truth of the two plots becoming intertwined to one big one.

Overall, this was a fantastic story. There were many exciting and thrilling episodes all throughout the book. Truthfully I was shocked that the story didn’t come to an explosive end, no it is left open for a bigger plot and for the characters Maya and the mad scientist to finish telling their stories. Yes it is leaving me hanging and now I’m jonesing for the next installment.

Excellent Read!
...more

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Jul 18, 2016 Danielle Urban rated it it was amazing

The Best Seller by Dina Rae brings out one of the most unbelievable conspiracies of all. Yet, inside the tale, it seems so real. I was hesitant at first when reading this book. Then, I really got into the plot. The story chapters switch between the happening now moment to what happened back when the Nazis were a real threat. Here, readers will find the US government hiding as well as allowing Hitler's craziest doctors to conduct experiments. Experiments that involve four aliens. Aliens that can ...more

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Sep 04, 2016 Dana Sexton rated it it was amazing

Awesome!

Could not stop reading! Best read in years! Truly captivating! Looking forward to the sequel and any others by they author!

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Jul 10, 2016 SHUiZMZ rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, books-i-own

The book was a fun read, filled with lots of conspiracies and cool ufo and alien shit in it. who doesn't wanna read about Nazis? ...more

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Aug 05, 2016 Sandra Crow rated it really liked it

Intriguing

This is definitely a good read. It took me a bit to really get into it, but once I did I could not put it down. This is a really good story.

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Jan 30, 2018 Rachel Jordan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-in-2018

Maya Smock's life changes for ever when her debut novel becomes a success. Maya feels as if the novel somehow wrote itself something she can't explain. But with her rise comes marriage to Claude her publicist, big houses and new cars.
Jay McCallister takes an interest in Maya and the two soon become friends. But Jay reveals something to Maya that will change her life even more.

This book has elements of sci-fi, paranormal and historical fiction and it had me gripped from the very start. Along wit ...more

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Jan 30, 2018 Darlene rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I won a copy of Dina Rae's "The Best Seller: A novel about codes, chromosomes, and conspiracy" in a Goodreads giveaway. The story is an exciting sci-fi thriller with a historical fiction-esque feel on half of it. The book alternates between the present day life of main character Maya Smock and the post WWII past of General Andreas and the origins of his experiment. However, this doesn't affect one’s ability to follow the story. The best seller is full of intrigue, suspense, and action, some alie ...more

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May 20, 2017 michael pilgrim rated it it was amazing

super si-fi

I am not a fan of si fi, but this book is super. the author made a mistake. NASA was created in 1958. my dad worked for NACA which was the precursor and the time frame of the book was 8-10 years earlier. I can really relate to this book, having lived in and around the area. this book will really make you think about the changes in our lives today due to the story line. have an open mind while reading this one. I look foreward to the sequel and hope it carries on the excellant story-ti ...more

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Feb 27, 2018 Éric Kasprak rated it it was amazing

Do you like the show Ancient Aliens? This book thread similar ground and does it very well. The story is split between two timelines (post WWII and present time) and they eventually link together nicely. The writing is very smooth and the protagonist are all interesting and well define. I really, really love the WWII part of the story, but found that the present time story was totally engaging as well and a breeze to read. Dina Rae his an awesome storyteller and this, somewhat, low key Alien/DNA ...more

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Dec 14, 2017 R.K. Emery rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, historical

I loved being back in this world with these characters. I enjoyed getting to read about their ups and downs. This was an action packed and drama filled installment in the Sci-Fi Series an it will not disappoint fans of the first novel. There is a lot going on and be prepared to be caught up in a whirlwind and dive right in.

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May 19, 2017 MARILYN HOLLINGSWORTH rated it it was amazing

Best SF Book I have Read Recently

I wish I could give this book higher marks than five stars. This book will captivate your imagination and hold you spellbound. Read it! Pass it around! Dina Rae is destined for success!!!

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Jun 17, 2017 Douglas E. rated it it was amazing

Good read

Good , fast read....any si-fi lover would really like it ,kept me coming back again and again I think the book would have been just as great without the foul language....

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Jul 27, 2017 Teena Alihassan rated it it was amazing

great read, waiting for sequel.

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May 25, 2016 Nancy (The Avid Reader) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: dina-rae, read-2016, read-may-2016

Maya Smock lived in the system all her life. She grew up in foster care. Her mother left her at an orphanage when she was a baby. She was put into some very rough homes throughout her life. She was abused in more than one way. When she told once everyone thought she was crazy and she vowed never to tell again.

After the system threw her out on the street when she was eighteen years old with no job or anyone to help her she did manage to hit it lucky though. She met a guy that worked in a bookstor Maya Smock lived in the system all her life. She grew up in foster care. Her mother left her at an orphanage when she was a baby. She was put into some very rough homes throughout her life. She was abused in more than one way. When she told once everyone thought she was crazy and she vowed never to tell again.

After the system threw her out on the street when she was eighteen years old with no job or anyone to help her she did manage to hit it lucky though. She met a guy that worked in a bookstore that gave her a job. She loved working in the bookstore as she loved reading. Maya could always be found with a book in her hands. When she was on break at work she was reading. Reading was her way of getting away and it was also a way for her to hide to become invisible. She didn’t like people noticing or seeing her she did not like being the center of attention like some people. She liked staying to herself that way no one could hurt her.

Maya liked to write and she would let her boss and best friend read what she wrote. When she wrote her first book her boss loved it and told her she needed to get it published. There was a booking signing of sorts coming to town and he told her to go and take her book and hopefully she would find someone that wanted it.

Maya decided to go to the signing and that is where she meets her agent who later also becomes her husband. After Maya finally “sells” her book to him they fall head over heels in love. He wraps Maya around his little finger in more ways than one. Maya is so naïve that she believes everything he says. Maya’s heart is so big that she believes everyone but trust no one.

Maya also meets another great man at the signing an author who becomes a close friend in a short amount of time. He believes that they are a lot like. He says his books write themselves and he believes that Maya’s does the same. Maya is not sure about him at first but over time she becomes to believe him more than anyone. Jay shows Maya that they are a like in more ways than one. Jay introduces Maya to a world with aliens in it and tells her they were created in a lab. At first of course she doesn’t believe him but after he shows her all of his research for lack of a better word at the moment she starts to have her doubts about everything she has been taught.

I have read lots of Dina’s books and loved them all but I think The Best Seller is the best one yet; maybe. I honestly believe that The Best Seller is a “best seller” and will enter the book world at warp speed. So grab your copy today so you don’t miss out this fantastic ride that I believe that The Best Seller is going to take us on. I am anxiously awaiting the next Best Seller. I hope it is soon. Dina? ...more

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Jun 10, 2016 Jessica Bronder rated it it was amazing

We start the story in 1947. General Robert Andreas is giving the task of covering up a crash landing of a UFO in Roswell. He transports the two ships and four bodies to Broom Lake were a former Nazi scientist, Doctor Jaeger has been relocated. He was a lesser known scientist that specialized in genetics during World War II. Now with the alien bodies he can continue these experiments.

We also follow Maya Smock, a girl that started out in an orphanage and bounced around in foster homes when she wen ...more

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Sep 17, 2017 Brenda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-in-2017

I don't know what to say. I don't usually read SCI-FI and I didn't know this was going to be more SCI-FI than about WWII. From the cover I thought it was going to be about Hitler and WWII but was very surprised that was only the tip of the iceberg and that it was a SCI-FI and I loved it. My only complaint is the second of two books is not available, yet! ...more

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Jan 22, 2018 Randy Wolf rated it did not like it

This book is terrible.

There are so many typos in this book that the author should sue her editor. At least get her money back. The story is two pronged, first the story of Maya, the protagonist and author of a sci-fi story about aliens during the nazi era. That part of the story holds promise but then devolves into her bad marriage and her will to get a divorce. Yawn. Not what I expected. Then the other part is the text of her book. It involves an Air Force General who is running Broom Lake, a ...more

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Feb 26, 2018 Francene Stanley rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I found the plot in this novel riveting with its exposition of alien theories. The author shows the events viewed in first person by a young woman—humble, unassuming and poor because she was given away as a babe. Kaya’s experiences are interspersed with heartless scenes from a secret laboratory along with her husband’s calculated viewpoint, which built to a suspenseful climax and left me breathless to read The Sequel, Dina Rae’s next book.

Along with good descriptions of sights, sounds and smells ...more

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Jan 11, 2018 Gina Stamper rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, historical

Another great installment in Dina Rae’s Sci-Fi series.
I was particularly happy that everything was taken up another notch in this novel, Rae wasn’t messing around when she wrote this.

At the beginning we are are given just enough information to get us caught up. Then you are back into the action and there is plenty of new drama unfolding.

Overall a great addition to the Sci-Fi series world.

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Mar 05, 2018 Matt Harrison rated it liked it · review of another edition

Meh... cool story, pretty unsatisfactory ending, still think it sounded a little YA-ey. Aliens and ex-Nazi scientists and a rookie author livin' the dream. Lots of potential, but man, some of these Kindle Unlimited folks need to go to writing camp! ...more

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May 08, 2017 Mike Tosto rated it it was amazing

Wow awesome read I cannot wait for another book to come out written by Dina Rae!!

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Aug 29, 2017 Joanne Yarrish rated it it was ok

Hard to follow

You really need to be a scifi follower to like this. Cant believe it wasn't ended but now you have to read the sequel ...more

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About Dina Rae

Dina Rae

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Dina Rae has written eight books. Crowns and Cabals is her newest conspiracy thriller. The e-book and paperback are sold on Amazon.
Dina lives with her husband, two daughters, and three dogs outside of Dallas. She is a Christian, avid tennis player, movie buff, teacher, and self-proclaimed expert on several conspiracy theories. She has been interviewed numerous times in e-zines, websites, blogs, n ...more