Buy NOW! For me, novels are all about the magic and internal strength and struggles of the main character, and in creating Ash Reilly in LOST IN SOUND (due out Aug. 11), Clifford Mae Henderson has conjured a complex sleuth of soft do-gooder heart and been-through-it-thick skin. When a clearly mentally ill homeless man known as Captain Eddie finds a murdered young man along a river in the coastal California town of Tres Ojos, the blood on his clothes initially ties him to the

So I have to tell you about this very fun gig I’ve got set up for Sept. 9: a "Read and Run Chicago." Yes, it is ALMOST like it sounds. I’m going to join a bunch of runners in the Windy City, my hometown. Rather than read while we’re running, however, we’ll instead run first past downtown locations featured in SCATTERED LIGHT (Art Institute, Board of Trade, etc.). We’ll end up at a venue (TBD) where I’ll get to know them, they’ll get to know me and we’ll talk about books. The

My thanks goes out to Kara Infante for interviewing me about SCATTERED LIGHT on your podcast, Bookish Flights! The episode (#224) dropped today, so those who want to know about the books I’ve been reading lately and the ones that changed my life, check it out at BookishFlights podcast. What podcasts have you been listening to lately? Me: Advisory Opinions (about the Supreme Court), The Good Fight and Derate the Hate. ___ For updates about Martha’s forthcoming books, news and

Buy NOW! Ah, to open an email with this sunny message! And how appropriate that Independent Publisher Book Awards gives as much of a nod to my gutsy labor lawyer protagonist, Mary Donahue, as it does to Chicago, the location of the first book, WINTER LIGHT, and SCATTERED LIGHT, this second book in the Mary Donahue Chronicles. Woohoo for the Windy City, a rad place to grow up! ___ For updates about Martha’s forthcoming books, news and giveaways, subscribe to her website: Marth

Part of me is always surprised when I learn about a service I take for granted that turns out to be a relatively new concept. That was the case when I learned the first tax-supported library in the US was established in 1833 in Peterborough, New Hampshire. Less than a hundred years ago! I would have been toast without a library, especially in my youth. Reading helped me deal with everything: my emotions, insights into human nature, curiosity about places I’d never been. More

May was National Trauma Awareness Month, but I missed mentioning it. As the comedian Jackie Mason said, “So sue me!” And since “Happy Trauma Awareness Month” doesn’t convey the right vibe, I’m opting for a bit of humor, perspective and encouragement. If you’ve been fortunate enough to heal from something bad that happened in your life, pat yourself on the back, have a piece of cake, do a cartwheel. Looking at the source of pain, and what caused it, takes a ton of guts. Here's

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

You’ve got time to purchase a book for your favorite teen! The above are my favorites. I'm including WINTER LIGHT because it's got a lot in common with the others — edgy YA — and I'd love for it to one day be among these classics. This special day takes place during a special week: National Library Week , which began in 1958 and is sponsored by the American Library Association. Who’s your favorite teen? And if you have one, and they’re not currently your favorite, they will

Buy NOW! I’ve been watching Ken Burns’ “ The American Revolution” series and I loved this quote by Abigail Adams , wife of John Adams , a statesman who heavily influenced the writing of the U.S. Constitution in 1787, having helped write the MA Constitution in 1770. And what did he and every other man involved in the process do? Forget the women. As in not one mention. The closest we get is in the 19th Amendment of 1920: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote sha

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

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. _

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

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-

I do so much weird research for my books that I thought I’d start sharing some with you. The above fish knife is made by a company called Maestro Wu , which claims its knives are made “from salvaged artillery shells fired on Taiwan by mainland China since the early 1900s.” I found the detail when looking for the knife that one of my OCEAN LIGHT (due out January 2028) characters would use: a Chinese American woman who does surf fishing in SoCal (Malibu area). Out of curiosit

I’ve never done an Instagram Live interview before, but I know Elaina Battista-Parsons is going to make it fun! 3:30 Pacific/5:30 Central/6:30 Eastern TONIGHT, Nov. 10, 2025 IG @WritingInThe.Winter To get your name is the drawing for the 2-book set giveaway of WINTER LIGHT and SCATTERED LIGHT … Do as the video says: leave a question or comment below regarding protag Mary Donahue, or on Elaina’s IG profile during the event. I hope to see you there! ___ For updates about Mart

Buy NOW! Don’t like to buy books without getting a recommendation? Consider following these Instagram bookstagrammers. They’re reading copies of SCATTERED LIGHT , and will post every day with comments and reactions. They’re not shy about giving their opinions! Dec. 1 @katiesluvtoread Dec. 2 @bluefairybugsbooks Dec. 3 @book_a_holic_17 Dec. 4 @reading_mel Dec. 5 @bianca_reads_books Dec. 6 @afelton6212 Dec. 7 @daisyhollands Thank you, Kelly Lacey and Love Book Tours , for organi

Buy NOW! I’ve interviewed a lot of people in my career as a writer and journalist, but none have been as interesting as interviewing Mary Donahue, the protagonist of SCATTERED LIGHT (just published!). Find out how she answered on Women Writers, Women’s Books , a fantastic website of books by/for/and about strong women. Look for “Character interview: Martha Engber.” What would you ask Mary? ___ For updates about Martha’s forthcoming books, news and giveaways, subscribe to he

Buy NOW! I love strong, feisty, smart female protagonists. In THE MAESTRO'S DAUGHTER by Catherine Thrush (The Lady Blade Series Book 1), teen Francesca de DiCesare, daughter of the Maestro, a famous fencing master in 1716 Tuscany, Italy, is all that. A natural rebel, Francesca strongly objects to everything young ladies are supposed to learn in order to become the wives of nobles. Cooking, household management, gardening. No thanks! What she really wants to do is fence like

Buy NOW! Though the video has a fun vibe, trauma is a fact of life, and it’s no joke. I come from a background where people told me, “Get over it!” We humans try, but we often can’t. In fact, according to the Global Collaboration on Traumatic Stress , 70% of the world’s population has been exposed to a traumatic life event. What ends up happening is that the stress and hurt — sometimes consciously unknown to us — comes out in different ways. We’re short with other people. Our