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COLD-BLOODED – The Mattie Saunders Series – Book 2

June 11-15

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https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU

The Reptile Refuge where Liz volunteers has been closed by police while they investigate a suspicious death that took place on the premises. Desperately needing a home for her reptiles, she reaches out to an old friend from high school, Mattie Saunders, and asks if it's possible to temporarily board them at Saunders Bird Sanctuary? 

Mattie knows she should be more concerned with the circumstances but sees it as an opportunity to reconnect with her friend, as well as help some animals in distress. It's only after two members of the RCMP drug squad confront Mattie in a coffee shop and suggest that Liz's involvement at the refuge was more than looking after its inhabitants.

The refuge's owner, Leborg Kovacevic, used the facility as a front for his drug trafficking business, and not only Liz was Kovacevic's partner but also his partner-in-crime. Breaking the law isn’t the only risk Mattie’s taking, her life might also be in danger considering the company she keeps.

Too late she finds out Liz has something in common with the pythons, geckos, and iguanas she's seeking shelter for.
They're all cold-blooded.

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FREE E-BOOK. MAY 27 & 28, 2021

The Rocker and the Bird Girl.

Book 1 in The Mattie Saunders Series

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https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU

Meet Mattie Saunders…

Quick-tempered, intolerant, and defensive, Mattie Saunders loves birds, but not so much people. A childhood spent in one foster home after another has made her wary of commitment as evidenced by an absence of close friends and difficulty with intimate relationships. Instead, she's filled her life rescuing and rehabilitating exotic birds people buy as pets and then abandoned.
Experience Mattie's heartaches and happy times as well as personal and professional triumphs and tragedies as she grows from a young adult with a passion for birds to a controversial expert in the field of ornithology.

The Mattie Saunders Series: Romance and action combine with provocative themes for an exciting and entertaining exploration of contemporary culture and issues.

The Rocker and the Bird Girl – Book 1

The Saunders Exotic Bird Sanctuary, a not-for-profit rescue, rehabilitation and re-homing establishment for exotic birds people buy as pets and then abandon, is out of money. In an effort to raise some so her birds won't be homeless yet again, owner Mattie Saunders reaches out to Bodine, the lead guitarist of the bad-boy rock band Seditious. She's learned he has a macaw as a pet and since it's obvious he's wealthy she hopes he'll be sympathetic and use some of the money he now spends on his hedonistic lifestyle to help these precious, beautiful creatures. They're hardly birds of a feather, but Mattie's not about to kill the goose if it promises a golden egg.

Sex, drugs and rock 'n roll have taken their toll on Bodine, lead guitarist and songwriter for Seditious, the chart-topping, outrageous rock band. He's just playing the part until something better comes along. The problem is what's better than being a rich and famous rock idol? Certainly not helping some overzealous young woman save exotic birds, even if his best friend is a Blue and Gold Macaw.

★★★★  "... a seriously non-traditional love story"
   The Rocker and the Bird Girl … a seriously non-traditional love story. Written by an environmentalist, the novel not only paints a sweet picture of hearts in tune, but offers respect for the breathtaking gift of the colorful birds of the rainforest. Raglin's words caution the reader to study the serious consequences of pet adoption, while creating a heart-warming novella that contains just the right amount of romance.
   - Reviewed by Lisa McCombs for Readers' Favorite

Download your free copy now at

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU

OFFER ENDS AT MIDNIGHT, WED., SEPT. 30, 2020

The BIRD WITCH

The Mattie Saunders Series - Book 4

FREE TIL SEPT. 30, 2020

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https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU

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When cultures collide...is love enough?

Can you love someone whose worldview is different from yours? Who is committed to a cause that excludes you because of your race? Simon is an Indigenous person dedicated to the struggle for justice for First Nations people. Mattie loves him but is love enough?

Birds are dying. At the Saunders Bird Rescue and Sanctuary where rescued parrots abandoned by their owners are rehabilitated and re-homed, a deadly virus has them dying in Mattie's hands. In the midst of this outbreak, she's called to investigate a mortality event where dozens of starlings fly into the pavement as if committing suicide.

Mattie needs Simon's support, but after spending weeks at a remote protest site, as soon as he returns home he begins working with Wendy Walters, the attractive, ambitious Indigenous politician on her re-election campaign. Mattie's just about had enough.

When Simon proposes a vacation on the Mexican Riviera, Mattie sees it as an opportunity to recover from the death of her beloved birds. She's also hopeful it's an indication Simon's reconsidering his priorities.

She didn't realize while on vacation he'd want to attend the Conference of Indigenous Peoples in Chiapas. Mattie's annoyed but decides to indulge her passion and do some tropical bird watching rather than attend a boring conference.

But Simon's conference turns out to be anything but boring when a deadly firefight erupts between the Mexican Army trying to arrest suspected terrorists and revolutionary Zapatista's.

Now Simon is missing, and Mattie is determined to find him, but to do so she must first escape being kidnapped by corrupt Mexican police and avoid abduction by vicious cartel members.

The fourth book in The Mattie Saunders Series, The Bird Witch combines romance and action with environmental themes for an entertaining and thoughtful exploration of contemporary culture. 

The second book in The Mattie Saunders Series, Cold-Blooded, has just been released and you can enter to win one of 100  free E-Book editions on BookLikes until April 15, 2018.

In Book 1, The Rocker and the Bird Girl, you'll meet the heroine, Mattie Saunders, a twenty-something, slightly eccentric loner who loves birds and so far has devoted her relatively short life to the rescue, care and re-homing of exotic ones people keep as pets, like parrots.

The sanctuary her grandfather left her is out of funds and in an effort to raise some money so her birds won't be homeless yet again, she reaches out the Bodine, the lead guitarist of the bad-boy rock band Seditious. She's learned Bodine has a pet Macaw and since she assumes he's fabulously wealthy hopes he'll by sympathetic and use some of that wealth to help these precious creatures.

Telling you more would be like shooting myself in the foot since I want you to buy the book.

In Book 2, Cold Blooded, Mattie receives a call from Liz, an old friend from high school, asking if it's possible to temporarily board some reptiles at Saunders Bird Sanctuary. The Reptile Refuge where Liz volunteers has been closed be police while they investigate a suspicious death that took place on the premises.

Mattie's not concerned with the circumstances and sees it as an opportunity to reconnect with Liz as well as help some animals in distress, but she soon discovers it's not just the displaced inhabitants of The Reptile Refuge that are cold blooded.

Cold-Blooded also addresses contemporary issues including love, friendship, family, the rescue and rehabilitation of exotic pets including birds and reptiles, and the devastating impact of the opioid epidemic.

Links associated with this post;

Link to BookLikes Giveaway http://booklikes.com/giveaways

To purchase The Rocker and the Bird Girl, Book 1 in The Mattie Saunders Series as either an E-Book or Paperback go to my Amazon Author Page at

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU

Stay calm, be brave, watch for the signs

30

I am constantly amazed at how many errors there are in my manuscripts.

And I don't mean the first draft.

Nothing is more frustrating for me than finding errors in my books, or worse, having others point them out. As well as being patently unprofessional I feel it shows a lack of respect for the work, not to mention the reader. I suppose this could be resolved by hiring a professional copyeditor.

Bookbaby's Copy Editing services include, "A word-by-word edit that addresses grammar, usage, and consistency issues." My soon-to-be-released novella, Cold-Blooded, The Mattie Saunders Series Book II, is about 100 pages and would cost $700.00 to be copyedited by Bookbaby

If I sell the e-book edition of Cold-Blooded for $3.99 on Amazon my royalty will be $1.40, which means I'd have to sell 500 copies to pay for the copy editing alone (in my dreams). So I'd rather recruit non-professionals who are committed to making my work error free.

Beta readers can be anyone, though I tend to shy away from friends and absolutely won't use family. I'm not asking them to review or comment on the story (though I don't discourage it), just read it and make note of the errors. Right now I have two who had previously reviewed my books (favourably). I contacted them to see if they'd like to beta-read my new works. The other one is a friend. None are professionals and they all do it for a free copy of the finished book with their name on the acknowledgements page.

Prior to sending the manuscript to my beta readers, I've developed a process to make it as error-free as possible.

1. Each time I sit down to write I re-read and revise what I wrote during the previous session.

2. After I finish a rough draft I revise it thoroughly, then let it rest.

3. After I've got the story out of my system, which means I no longer have instant recall for each line written (minimum three months), I pull it out and revise it again with fresh eyes.

4. Then comes the computer spell-check.

Then I send it out to my three beta readers.

I used to be pretty confident once I'd done all that I'd caught at least most of the typos and filled in the dropped words, but it's embarrassing how many errors they still find. It's also remarkable how what one misses the other catches.

Once they get back to me I do the corrections which entails another revision. Finally, uploading it to Smashwords, Kindle and Draft2Digital gives me another opportunity to check it since I always do a visual review for formatting glitches.

I strongly urge you to begin recruiting beta readers - from your email list, through your website, on social media, a supportive friend, a note pinned on the bulletin board in the local library, or like I'm doing here in a Booklikes blog (see below). You simply cannot have too many and they tend to fall away.

If you're patient, methodical and persevere you can self-published a respectable book.

Besides, there are no guarantees a professionally edited, self-published book will have any more success than one that is carefully vetted by a group amateurs committed to making your work the best it can be.

Plus you'll save a lot of money.

Stay calm, be brave, watch for the signs

30

If you'd like to become a beta reader and have an opportunity to read (and improve) my new work free, please send me an email at rod_raglin@yahoo.com

Web links associated with this article:

Bookbaby Editing Services https://www.bookbaby.com/book-editing-services

Kindle Direct Publishing https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US

Draft2Digital https://www.draft2digital.com

Smashwords https://www.smashwords.com

Rod Raglin's Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU