By Roz Morris Buy NOW! Rarely do I find nonfiction memoirs nowadays that combine what Roz Morris accomplishes in her newest book TURN RIGHT AT THE RAINBOW: warm humor; lyrical writing; travel through physical, emotional and time landscapes; and a whimsical, yet deep rumination about what makes a house a home. As soon as long-married writers Roz and her husband, Dave, decide they want to move out of London after thirty-odd years to a more rural location that’s quieter and allo

Buy NOW! I am absolutely stoked to announce that SCATTERED LIGHT, the sequel to the award-winning WINTER LIGHT, was awarded the honor of an Eric Hoffer Fiction Finalist! I congratulate all of the other finalists and to those who captured the top spot! We writers can mark our progress by the company we keep, and the authors in the finalist group are topnotch. Then again, that seems like a logical outcome of the fact that as more books are self-published and published by small

by Angie Athanassiades Buy NOW! I’ve read so much fiction and nonfiction in long book form that when I read this spare, poetic memoir, I AM TWIG, FEATHER, BONE by Angie Athanassiades, I felt I’d been lifted into the air. There I gradually transformed through some ethereal means that can only happen amidst the beautifully described setting of a quiet, isolated Greek island and a woman turning a serious eye upon nature as a means of healing her trauma. The book’s language is ab

Buy NOW! Happy book birthday to BLISS ROAD! Though very painful at the time, I’m so glad I worked through the difficulties — and beautiful moments — of living in a neurodiverse family with an undiagnosed autistic dad. And I am so much happier. And my family relationships are so much stronger. So if you suspect you lived in a neurodiverse family, read the book and then contact me. I love hearing from readers! ___ For updates about Martha’s forthcoming books, news and giveaways

We arrived in the Okavango Delta today. It’s a veritable Disneyland x 1000 for people who love wildlife. During the summer (Jan.-June), rain from the Angola highlands flows into the delta, spreading out over 14,500 square miles, attracting all kinds of wildlife. About this area, my sister warned me, “Bring earplugs.” Apparently the hippos are really loud at night. A fun fact that may appear in one of my books someday. Have you been lucky enough to hear a hippo conversing wit

Check out the beautiful surfing conditions here in Cape Town, South Africa! Rated by Surfer magazine as one of the 10 best surf cities in the world , I would not surf anything as big as the photo shows, but I appreciate that others do. If I get the time to rent some gear and go out, I'll let you know. I’ve never written a steamy romance, but if I did, I’d set it here and create an awesome, sexy instructor (female!) and a wily, but gorgeous client. Anybody ever surfed there? #

Buy NOW! April is Autism Awareness Month, so on my author page I’ll be posting about BLISS ROAD and my experience of growing up the daughter of an undiagnosed autistic dad. I wanted to post generally, though, to continue promoting the idea that all members of a neurodiverse family are affected by the neurodiversity. While some of the challenges are rough and cause trouble, there are also amazing outcomes. While my dad’s undiagnosed condition definitely caused challenges, he a

I don't think it can be said enough that we all need role models when growing up. People who not only look like us, but inspire us to develop the skills and fortitude they embody. Typically my role models were the characters in books. Yes, I was a fan of Nancy Drew because she was smart and a doer, meaning the person who thought of the plan and took action. As a kid I remember feeling frustrated and angry that most movies revolved around men. If women were present, they were

Schedule of readings Congratulations to Jacque Gorelick , who will be joining me at the Truckee Lit Crawl on April 11 in the beautiful Lake Tahoe area! If you're in Truckee or the SF Bay Area of CA, check out the schedule for my reading of my newest novel, SCATTERED LIGHT . Here's the schedule of Jacque's reading from her brand new memoir, MAP OF THE HEART: A Memoir of Love, Loss and Finding the Way Home . I’ll send a reminder soon. ___ For updates about Martha’s forthcomi

I recently watched a documentary about the male influencers making money off of the “manosphere” on a message that women are no more than subservient body parts. The influencers are what Amanda Ripley of the book “High Conflict” call conflict entrepreneurs who gain money and power — especially via high subscriber rates — by saying outrageous, highly toxic things. The manosphere is the audience of men who are told their manhood is being stolen from them by society and that

As soon as I thought about one of my favorite women in history — there are so many! — the poet, Emily Dickinson , came to mind. She was born in 1830 in Amherst, MA, and had only 10 poems published, yet she wrote almost 1800. Nobody really knew about her passion until after she died and her sister found the poems. The sister had a collection published, but allowed the poems to be edited to fit popular fashion (bah humbug!). Only in 1955 did Thomas H. Johnson create The Comple

Sometimes we humans get pretty judgy about what other people read. Then we get indignant when they throw shade at what we read. Lesson: don’t judge! Each of us have very different reasons for choosing what we read. If a book takes you where you need to be, that’s awesome! I like: sci-fi, literary, poetry, memoirs, essays, short stories, novels What’s your jam? ___ For updates about Martha’s forthcoming books, news and giveaways, subscribe to her website: MarthaEngber.com . SC

Women’s History Month has arrived! Every Monday I’ll post a question that’ll hopefully encourage you to think more deeply about the women who’ve been in your lives. My answer to this question: women who help, but if they need it, accept help, too. I’ve found that’s a necessary combo for every character I’ve ever created, and for myself, too, which I discovered while writing BLISS ROAD . I’ll be the first to admit that the second part of that combo is sometimes wicked hard. _

Buy NOW! I’m sure all of you know that while Amazon makes purchasing convenient, the corporation often takes a big chunk of the profit from independent authors and small presses. My publisher, Vine Leaves Press , did something about it! The press made it easy for you to buy ebook copies of my books, and those of the many other authors at the press, that can be used on any ereader. Please share this post and encourage friends and families to buy direct from VLP and other smal

Buy NOW! Valentine's Day has never seemed like a fair holiday: if you don't have a love interest, too bad for you. So Valentine’s Day has become, for me, a day about loving yourself. And if you're like Mary Donahue does in SCATTERED LIGHT , you might have to learn to love yourself. Because it’s hard to love others if we don’t love ourselves! ___ For updates about Martha’s forthcoming books, news and giveaways, subscribe to her website: MarthaEngber.com . SCATTERED LIGHT , a n

Buy Now To find out you don’t have the same father as your siblings is one thing. To find out your beloved grandma took part in a Nazi secret eugenics program that encouraged healthy women to have babies by men with Aryan features in order to purify the race is a whole other thing. The author of this fascinating memoir, ILLEGITIMATE , does a wonderful job of showing her very young years in the care of her grandmother in Germany, until, that is, her mother returns with an Amer

Here’s a funny/not so funny thing about the writing/authoring/book business: many unscrupulous people understand how desperate authors are to get traction for their books and guarantee a winning promo campaign for the low, low price of ___. Here’s the newest spin, thanks to ChatGPT and AI in general: Those same scammers now send highly polished AI-generated letters filled with promises of overnight bestseller lists to authors in hopes they’ll send money. This trend started ab

Today 10 internet bookish gals — dedicated readers all — are going to start a monthlong read-along of SCATTERED LIGHT , the sequel to WINTER LIGHT . If you want to join, DM me! Out of curiosity, how many of you are in book clubs? Thank you Kelly Lacey and Love Book Tours for organizing this read-fest! ___ For updates about Martha’s forthcoming books, news and giveaways, subscribe to her website: MarthaEngber.com . SCATTERED LIGHT , a novel, sequel to WINTER LIGHT , (Nov. 202

Buy NOW! I started researching THE WIND THIEF in 1995, the story of Madina, a strange, young Sahara Desert woman who believes she can stop a forthcoming war of winds, and Ajay, the young male thief from Mumbai who tries to dissuade her. The concept of climate change had been a thing for some thirty years already. What inspired me more than any news reports about a warming globe and more severe weather, however, was experiencing nature while backpacking. Standing atop a snow-

FLOATING IN THE MIDDLE sings about nature like no other! Set on the gorgeous, but rough California coast north of San Francisco, seven friends unite for a weekend in a remote beach house. Rather than just fun and games, however, Tam, the protagonist, has come to find out if, after long separation from her husband, Jamie, he’s willing to try again. Because she is. Tension continues to build via the feisty dynamics of people who’ve known one another for a long time, and from n