Showing posts with label Sandra Cox. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sandra Cox. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 2, 2025

Insecure Writer’s Support Group Day, AI Using Books Without Permission, and IWSG Member Releases


It’s time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world – or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic. If you’d like to join us, click on the tab above and sign up. We post the first Wednesday of every month. I encourage everyone to visit at least a dozen new blogs and leave a comment. Your words might be the encouragement someone needs.

The awesome co-hosts for the April 2 posting of the IWSG are Jennifer Lane, L Diane Wolfe, Jenni Enzor, and Natalie Aguirre!

April 2 question - What fantasy character would you like to fight, go on a quest with, or have a beer/glass of wine with?

AI Using Your Books!

Is AI using your books to train without your permission?

Check here

Complain here



We’d also like to celebrate the release of books by our IWSG members:

Reuben Hayes by Sandra Cox
Find it on Amazon

Behind the Catcher’s Mask by Jennifer Lane
Find it on Universal Book Link or Amazon

Murder Down Memory Lane by Elizabeth Spann Craig
Find it on Amazon


What fantasy character would you like to fight, go on a quest with, or have a beer/glass of wine with? Are your books being used by AI without your permission?

Wednesday, August 7, 2024

IWSG Wednesday

 


The first Wednesday of every month is officially IWSG day. IWSG was formed by Ninja Captain Alex Cavanaugh. Members post about their doubts and fears, discuss struggles and triumphs, and offer words of encouragement to others who are struggling.

Twitter handle: @TheIWSG

Hashtag: #IWSG 

The awesome co-hosts for the August 7 posting of the IWSG are Feather Stone, Kim Lajevardi, Diedre Knight, C. Lee McKenzie, and Sarah-The Faux Fountain Pen.

Every month, we announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say.

Remember, the question is optional.

August 7 question - Do you use AI in your writing and if so how? Do you use it for  your posts? Incorporate it into your stories? Use it for research? Audio

I use IA for guest posts on specific topics and I have one audio that's AI. What about you?

AND

 

July/August Reviews in no particular order

* Disclaimer. If I run into an occasional typo, I ignore them and don't factor them into my review.

CATCH A TIGER BY THE TOE by Joe Congel

This is book twenty-six of twenty-seven in the Magnolia Bluffs Series and the second focused on Brandon Turner retired NYPD police officer.

In book twenty-six, there’s a serial killer on the loose, in this small Texas town, that has killed two young children and has his eye on a third. Beside each victim he leaves a stuffed toy tiger and a nursery rhyme. Brandon comes out of retirement to help the Magnolia Bluffs’ police catch the killer.

If anyone but Joe Congel had written this, I probably wouldn't have read it because of the subject matter: child murder. But being a Congel fan this was not an option. The story, as expected, was a riveting tale.  The author handled the subject matter with sensitivity and didn’t get bogged down with macabre details. The tension builds through the book and ends with a high-octane chase to catch the killer before he kills again AND offers some unexpected twists at the end.

If you are a murder mystery aficionado, a Congel fan or just appreciate a good tale I think you’ll enjoy this one as much as I did. 

Available at Amazon

 

THE SILVER LEOPARD by Zoe Cass

This is a classic example of the romantic suspense genre written in the 70s.

Caroline has escaped a lonely and unhappy childhood by moving to London and developing a successful career buying and selling antiques. With her mother's death, she is called back to Scotland where danger and evil linger.

Recommended for those that enjoy classic romantic suspense.

Available at Amazon

 



LEGEND IN GREEN VELVET by Elizabeth Peters

Elizabeth Peters at her best.

This is an enjoyable read about a young American on her way to work at a Scottish archeological dig when she gets embroiled in a murder. Sprinkled throughout with laugh-out-loud moments, this is a must read for Elizabeth Peters fans.

Available at Amazon 

 

AND 

New Releases

BECAUSE NO ONE NOTICED by C. Lee McKenzie

 

(Editors Pick)

 


Five juniors at Las Animas High have a long history together. They love, dislike, or tolerate each other depending on the day. Occupied with class assignments, career choices, family disharmony, and the usual teen turbulence, none of them thinks seriously of the danger lurking in their near future or how fragile and temporary life is.

Inspired by real-life tragedy, the story unfolds in alternating points of view as the characters explore the resilience of their hearts and their ability to rebuild their lives after a shattering tragedy.

Available at Amazon


MATEO'S WOMAN by Sandra Cox

Delilah is dead.

With her demise, everyone should be safe, but something insidious is happening to Mateo’s town and to the woman he loves. People are dying and Blair is changing, taking on mannerisms that are clearly not her own. Becoming a danger to herself and others. He has no idea what is happening to the town’s people but he has an inkling of what is happening to Blair and what he’s thinking just isn’t possible. But whether it’s possible or not, he has to pry Blair from the evil that’s sunk its fangs into her. Now it's a race against time to save the woman he loves and get to the bottom of who is killing Grizzly’s citizenry. And if that’s not enough of a challenge for the shapeshifting sheriff, his future mother-in-law has come for a visit.

Available at Amazon 


NOW OPTIONED FOR TELEVISION!
Every book can be read as a standalone mystery - hop in anywhere in the series!

USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Amy Vansant has her cast of characters embroiled in three Halloween hijinks --- a murder, a robbery, and a ghost story!

 Available at Amazon

AND

Did you know, Dr. Seuss (Theodore Seuss Geisel)  was credited for inventing the term nerd?

 


For more information: 20 Dr. Seuss Facts - Fun Facts You Didn't Know About Dr. Seuss - Parade

 

 


 

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

IWSG Post Day and Anthology Contest Winners!

It’s time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world – or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic. If you’d like to join us, click on the tab above and sign up. We post the first Wednesday of every month. I encourage everyone to visit at least a dozen new blogs and leave a comment. Your words might be the encouragement someone needs.

The awesome co-hosts today are L.G. Keltner, Denise Covey, Sheri Larsen, J.Q. Rose, Chemist Ken, and Michelle Wallace!

Today we announce the winners of the IWSG Anthology Contest! And they are…

The Mirror People by Crystal Collier
Ground Zero by Michael Abayomi
The Seventeen by Hart Johnson
Rainers by Sandra Cox
EVER-TON by Yolanda Renee
WIN by Sylvia Ney
Haunted by Melanie Schultz
Folds in Life and Death by Cherie Reich
Scrying the Plane by Tamara Narayan
Felix Was Here by L.G. Keltner

And as the number one pick overall, L.G. Keltner’s Felix Was Here will be included in the anthology title.

Big thanks to our judges – Laura Maisano, Russell Connor, Candace Havens, Dawn Frederick, Alice Speilburg, Michelle Johnson, Kendare Blake, and Lydia Moëd

Plus thanks to my awesome IWSG admins who read every story - Lynda Young Michelle Wallace, Joylene Nowell Butler, Susan Gourley/Kelley, L. Diane Wolfe, and Joy Campbell.

And thanks to everyone who entered! There were some amazing stories, which made our job of narrowing them down for the judges even tougher.

The anthology will be published later this year by Freedom Fox Press. We’ll keep you posted!