Reading/Listening for Lockdown

Hi Everyone!
I hope you are staying safe. Things are certainly frightening in many places in the world right now. In my own little corner of North Carolina, we’re seeing a big spike in COVID-19 cases–in fact, we’re one of the national hotspots, which is concerning, to say the least.

So I’m hiding out at home–even more than usual–and working on my writing and recording. I’m making progress on podcasting Trigger Warning, which I’m pre-releasing as a free episodic podcast before it comes out in all formats in September. (Reminder that you can currently preorder the ebook for just 99c, and if you email me your proof of preorder to sidstark@sidstarkauthor.com, I’ll send you an exclusive free bonus story. Universal link here).

If you’re interested in catching a few episodes of the podcast of Trigger Warning, it’s currently available on SoundCloud, Apple, Stitcher, and TuneIn. It will only be available for a limited time, so if you want to get a sneak peek of the audio version of the book, this is your chance!

As well as working on recording my own book, I’ve been listening to other authors’ audiobooks. I finally got around to getting my Libby app set up so that I can listen to audiobooks from my local library, which I definitely recommend! I’m currently listening to Look Alive Twenty-Five, the 25th book in Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series. Anyone else here a fan of Stephanie Plum? I think the first few books were my favorite, but I’m still enjoying the later ones, especially in audio.

What are you reading/listening to right now? Any stand-out recommendations?

I’m also working on my academic reading and writing, now that the semester is over. I’ve been doing some interesting, if rather dense at times, reading on the literature of trauma. Hopefully soon I will finish the revisions on my own book on trauma and Chechen war literature. Since this is a major source of information for the Rowena Halley series, I will be sure to keep you updated.

Take care everyone, and stay safe.

This week’s giveaway:

The Romantic Suspense and Mystery Giveaway on Bookfunnel is still going strong!

I’m Now Podcasting “Trigger Warning”

Hi All!

I hope you are all safe and healthy, and holding up as well as can be expected under lockdown. What special strategies are you using to stay sane?

My wild and wonderful semester is careening to a halt. We are all waiting with bated breath to see what the fall brings, but it only affects me somewhat, since I am supposed to be on research leave. My proposed project is on Anna Politkovskaya, whom I reference several times in the Doctor Rowena Halley series, so expect to hear regular updates about that.

Meanwhile, I’ve started working on the audiobook of Trigger Warning (preorder the ebook here for just 99c!). As with the previous books in the series, I’m planning to release it as a podcast first before putting it up for sale. You can currently listen to Episode 1 on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and TuneIn. If all goes well, I should be adding 1-2 episodes a week over the next few weeks.

Recording audiobooks is a ton of work, but I also find it very satisfying artistically. Originally I was against the idea of doing voices, but when people started telling me they liked it when I did voices, I got into it, and now try to do distinct voices with distinct accents and speech patterns for each character. I can’t say that I’m always 100% successful, but it’s fun–okay, incredibly difficult and frustrating, but in a fun way–and people seem to like it.

To increase the fun, I’m contemplating doing a little Kickstarter project in order to make audio versions of the short stories I’m writing from the perspective of Dima, Rowena’s Russian ex-fiance. Stay tuned for more updates, and in the meantime, if you’d like a free e-copy of “Summer Break,” the first of the shorts about Dima, email your proof of preorder of Trigger Warning to sidstark@sidstarkauthor.com.

Stay safe, everyone, and have a great weekend!

This week’s featured free book event is the Romantic Suspense and Mystery Book Giveaway:

How’s Lockdown Going? Plus Free Review Copies of “Campus Confidential”

Hi All!

I hope you are staying safe and well. Things continue to be crazy, don’t they? How is lockdown going for you? Got any crazy stories?

In my case, we’re now at the end of a very strange semester. Like most institutions of higher ed in the US, my university switched over to all-remote instruction in March, and we’ve been doing that ever since.

A lot of people are very unhappy about it, although many understand the necessity. For me, it wasn’t that bad, although it was a fair amount of extra work. It seems like the pandemic has split professions into two groups: those that have a lot less work, and those that have a lot more work. Teaching mainly seems to have fallen into the latter camp. Fortunately for those of us in higher ed, we have the best of both worlds: we continue to be employed, but can work from the safety from our own homes. Sadly, many others are not so lucky.

What will happen to higher ed going forward, however, is anyone’s guess. Long-running systemic problems such as declining enrollment, rising debt, and increasing stratification between senior administration and junior flunkies are coming to an acute head because of the pandemic, and there’s a good chance that a lot of institutions won’t survive the next few years. And, pessimistically, I am guessing that a lot of Less Commonly Taught Language programs won’t survive, even if their parent institutions do. Trivial, trifling programs such as Russian are often first on the chopping block when budget cuts get pushed through.

So you know what that means! More fodder for my stories! Since I’m a few years behind current events in my story timeline, I don’t know yet when/if I’ll be able to fit in the pandemic, but I’m sincerely hoping I manage it. The Meet/Zoom/WebEx/FaceTime meetings alone are priceless. And if I don’t squeeze in a few scenes in which senior faculty try and fail to do basic arithmetic, I shall be very sad. (News flash: 18 divided by 6 is 3. Funny how often the times table turns up in real life).

I’ve been pretty busy with the end of this crazy semester, but I have managed to put my books up on other retail sites as part of my strategy of “going wide” and distributing on all platforms–including libraries!

I’m still waiting for the books to show up in Overdrive and Bibliotheca (the library systems), but in the meantime I *am* trying to get reviews up on other platforms. So if you’ve read Campus Confidential in the past and feel moved to leave a review, it would be most appreciated! Reviews left anywhere are very welcome, but I’m particularly looking to get them on non-Amazon sites like Apple, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo.

And if you haven’t read Campus Confidential yet but you’d like to, just reply to this post or send me an email at sidstark@sidstarkauthor.com, and I’ll send you a free review copy!

Well, that’s about it for this week. Stay safe, everyone, and happy reading.

Month: May 2020