The Catalysts Book III Title Reveal!

by with No Comment CatalystEnvironmentExtraterrestrialsPrecipiceScience StuffThe FieldWriting

Title Reveal!!!

Book III in The Catalysts Series title is…

Precipice!!

It’s an apt title because in the story (and in real life?) humanity is on the precipice of disaster or salvation due to Climate Change and the havoc our activities are wreaking on Earth. Marcie and Eric and their friends are trying to be Catalysts for change with the help of other-worldly beings. I think you’re going to love it!

I’m working with my publisher, Brown Books Publishing, to come up with a release date. It’s still in the revision phase but getting closer to completion. I’ve done five (!) rounds of revisions already and it’s out with Beta-readers at the moment. After this round of revisions, it’ll be off to Brown Books for two to four more passes of revisions and corrections. Whew!

Hopefully, Spring 2023 release!

Signs and Messages from the Universe

I’m reading Signs – The Secret Language of the Universe by Laura Lynne Jackson. It’s about how our loved ones communicate with us from the other side and how we’re all connected – through the collective consciousness (read about it in my books). My mom passed away 12 years ago and sends me messages all the time. I decided to ask her to send me a sign – a blue hummingbird.

She loved hummingbirds and the color blue. It’s early in the season and we don’t have our hummingbird feeders our yet and haven’t seen any around the house. I was checking out at the dentist later that morning and on the partition between me and the front desk staff was a decal – of a blue hummingbird!

I relayed the story to the staff, and they gave me the decal. It’s on the window of my office now to always remind me of my mom and how she’s still around on the other side helping me and guiding me.

Do you receive signs and messages from the Universe?

Check out The Catalysts series here!

Take care and keep reading!

The Catalysts Series – Book III

by with No Comment CatalystWriting
Book III First VERY Rough Draft

The first draft of Book III in The Catalysts series is done! Over 97,000 words – 340 pages. I’m actually through with the first editing pass thanks to input from the editorial staff at Brown Books. Revising is sooooo much easier than writing from scratch; at least for me. Once I have my world and story built, I can move around in it and make changes. But not right away. I need a second set of eyes to look at it and tell me areas that need work. I just can’t see it right away as I’m too close to the project. Once I get the feedback, though, it becomes obvious to me what I need to do and I’m off to the races. Thank you to Sterling for her stellar input! It’s such a gift to have the support of my team at Brown Books!

Book III is different from the previous two as it’s from both Marcie and Eric’s perspectives. The two storylines are separate but concurrent and connect at points throughout the book. It’s almost like writing two novels. So at about page 310 I realized I was nowhere near being done. I could have gone on for another 300 pages. That means Book III ends in a cliff hanger for both storylines and ideas for Book IV are already percolating in my mind. I’d hoped to get a bit of a break from writing, but the muse is working in my subconscious! I’ll be back at writing on Book IV as soon as revisions on Book III are complete.

Writing for me is a lot like tapping into the flow of consciousness that my characters experience. It’s as though the story is already there and I’m uncovering it like an archaeologist. Not to compare myself to Michaelangelo, but I think he said the statues he created were already present in the marble and he was simply revealing them. I totally understand that.

I also sometimes feel like I’m getting assistance from my mom, who’s on the other side. She was a lover of words and a writer in her own right. Maybe she’s my ‘ghost-writer’? 🙂

Here’s the first page so far – revisions will still happen as the manuscript will go through three or four more editorial passes before it’s complete. What do you think?

I have a couple of ideas for the title but I’m not ready to reveal them just yet. Maybe I’ll do a reader poll.

We’re looking at a Spring 2023 pub date. Fingers crossed!

instagram Catalyst release

Catalyst Releases Sept 22nd!!

by with No Comment CatalystScience Stuff

So this is happening! Books are shipping now! Buy links below.

Thanks to @cahokiamounds and @angelmounds for helping me with research and @verlunamusic for designing the cover!

Amazon | Books-a-Million | Indiebound | Barnes & Noble | Brown Books Publishing

Excerpt

“Now you know,” she (Lorraine) continues softly, but her eyes are fierce. “About the terrible future that awaits Earth and humanity if we continue on our current path.” She pauses, placing her hands on the stone on either side of her legs and leaning forward for emphasis. “It can be changed. Are you ready to do your part? Will you allow us to teach you so that you know your own power?”   

I want to do whatever I can to stop the destruction I witnessed in the vision. Maybe this is what I’ve been waiting for. A mission and a purpose and connecting with the collective consciousness. I feel a little like I’m stepping off a cliff into the unknown, but if I don’t move forward, I know I’ll regret it.

I take a deep, calming breath. “Yes, I’m ready.”

“How do you know about what will happen in the future?” Leo’s posture is rigid, his voice cutting. “There’s no reason to believe any of it’s true.”

“You’re right in part. There’s no way to definitively know the future. Thousands of possibilities exist with different probabilities. However, what Zeke showed you will very likely happen if we continue to disregard the wellbeing of the Earth. She can only accommodate so much abuse before her equilibrium is tilted irrevocably. Already, floods, hurricanes, fires, volcanoes and tsunamis are increasing in frequency and strength.” I note that she only answers part of Leo’s question. How are they able to predict the future, even if it is just one of many possibilities?

Renee says what all of us are probably thinking, at least a little. “I want to help, but I’m afraid. This is all so much to take in.” Her French accent is very strong, so she must be feeling really agitated.

“Yeah, I agree.” Eric puts his arm behind her back, bracing her. “Can you give us some time and move slowly on this? I mean we just found out that you’re some kind-of shamans and now you want us to save the world?” His weak attempt at a joke falls flat.

Richardson_Book2_Cover_10-31-19

CATALYST – Quotes from the Blog Tour

by with 2 Comments Catalyst

I recently held a Blog Tour on Twitter hosted by @TheWriteReads – Thank you Dave! Here is a short list of what bloggers had to say about Catalyst. I’d love to hear what you think – love it or not so much? It definitely brings out a strong reaction in readers which is what every writer is looking for!

While I have to say I really liked this one the first thing I will say about this book is its not going to be for everybody. It is in a word … ok well two words OUT THERE. I feel that a lot will love it and a lot will hate it. – Lisa

Richardson writes a likable main character in Marcie. She’s got the makings of being a strong-willed yet kind-hearted protagonist along with other abnormal (not quite paranormal) gifts. – TR Horne

Catalyst advocates the need to care for our planet with a strong plot. The message it delivers is vital and the approach is a bit different from the other fantasies with similar theme. – Book Bug World

It has science, archaeology, telepathy and spirituality in a complex mix. The thought provoking plot makes this a intriguing and interesting read. – Lel Budge

I loved seeing Marcie figure out her abilities or sixth sense as she calls it, she was such an interesting character, smart and independent. This book was really well done and well written. – Holly Loves Books

Catalyst is a book with a strong message and big ideas. It is well written and goes in depth on fracking, environmental catastrophes, love and friendships, religion, spirituality… and the list goes on and on. I liked this one! I did enjoy the book and would recommend it to people looking for a YA supernatural adventure with a strong environmental message. – The Book Dude

Catalyst is an enlightening tale toward a better tomorrow full of magic and mysteries of the universe. The story transported me to another dimension made of beauty, light, and all that is good. – Tessa Talks Books

I enjoyed this journey of Marcie’s and hope she and the others can bring about some change before it’s too late. – A Voracious Reader

Catalyst is a book with enormous ideas. …readers of YA with a metaphysical or environmental theme will love this. – Elizabeth Tabler

Catalyst is an enlightening YA story that is not very focused on plot but more on characters, the issues at hand and what’s between the lines. It makes you think about what is being said, and about everything that’s left unsaid, and I think that’s part of what makes it so powerful. – The Artsy Reader

This was a very enjoyable book and a rare YA with a thoughtful message. I really liked the characters and the premise of a young girl and her friends using their extrasensory abilities to try to save our earth and its resources. – Maureen

Catalyst is a fun young adult book with a strong lead. I recommend it to readers who are invested in making the world a better place and to very patient sci-fi lovers, as the sci-fi part comes up later in the book. I enjoyed Catalyst and I really hope you do too! – Ari Drummer

I have to agree that there were some unlikely parts to this book, but overall it was really enjoyable and I would definitely recommend to any science fiction fans or anyone who is an advocate for climate change and are against fracking or any other harmful activities to the planet. – Ellie Read to Ramble

After reading the first few chapters, I was hooked.

The book talks a lot about the dangers of fracking and needing to move away from natural gas and oil for pure energy needs. I absolutely loved that aspect of the book! – Sarah Anderson-Pagal

The Catalysts Series

by with No Comment CatalystEnvironmentIndian SummerScience StuffThe FieldWriting

Catalyst

First some updates on Catalyst. Due to Physical Distancing and Social Connections (as I prefer to call it) the paperback release date has been pushed back to September 22nd. However…

the Ebook release date is still June 2nd!!!

Less than two weeks away! Order your copy today!!

I hope to do a Book Tour for Catalyst this Fall. Check out my Events Page for details later this summer.

The Catalysts Series

The Catalysts Series will consist of four books.

The Field – Book I

Catalyst – Book II

Indian Summer ­– prequel

and the untitled Book III that I’m working on now (80 pages in!!).

Book III is the only true sequel (to Catalyst). The other three books can be read as stand-alone books although many of the same characters appear throughout. I’ve included an environmental theme in all of the books.

The Field is about Eric Holton, a high-school soccer goalkeeper with a super-natural ability to know where the ball is going to go before it gets there. He’s connecting to the Universal Energy Field. The environmental theme compares burning coal to other clean renewable energy sources like wind and solar and also the idea of extracting energy from the Universal Energy field in the air around us. And he’s having the high school experience of trying to get the starting goalkeeper spot, deal with friends being jerks, and trying to get the girl.

In Catalyst, Eric’s younger sister, Marcie, is the protagonist, but Eric and his girlfriend Renee are also featured characters. Eric has just graduated high school and Marcie is a junior.

Marcie, Eric and Renee are spending the summer working at an archaeological dig site in southern Indiana. Things immediately shift into the paranormal when Lorraine and Zeke, two mysterious dig assistants who claim to access the Universal Energy Field with their minds, assert that Earth and its resources are in grave danger. Marcie must decide if she’s brave enough to do her part to save the planet. The environmental theme in Catalyst is the dangers of fracking.

In the first book I wrote, Indian Summer, Marcie is in middle school and is spending the summer at her grandparents’ lake cottage. She discovers that a wealthy property owner is secretly trying to develop an old-growth forest into an exclusive gated community. In her quest to thwart his efforts, Marcie connects with the spirit of a Native American girl. Indian Summer has been completely revised and will be re-released in 2021 as a prequel to The Field and Catalyst.

Book III is in the works right now! I’m writing it from both Marcie and Eric’s point of view. There are two concurrent story lines. Eric and Renee are in France and Marcie is in Washington DC. There is some interaction between the two threads and everything will come together at the end.

During this Great Pause we are having I hope you’ve been able to consider how you might chose to change your behavior going forward. Have you re-evaluated your priorities? Will you focus more on what’s important to you and let other, non-important things go by the wayside?

Protecting the environment and saving planet Earth is very important to me and I think essential for our quality of life going forward. I hope my books make you think and consider what you can do to be a Catalyst for change.

Take care and be well, my friends.

It’s Earth Day and the Earth is Breathing Again

by with 2 Comments EnvironmentScience Stuff

These are difficult times. Doing what I prefer to call ‘Physical Distancing and Socially Connecting’ in order to flatten the curve of COVID-19 and save lives has not been easy. Many of us are out of jobs and have lost not only our income, but also our health insurance. And of course many have become ill and even lost their lives. But we WILL get through this. Maybe in the midst of horror there can be some light. Maybe we will re-define our priorities and focus on what’s really important.

On this 50th Anniversary of the first Earth Day it is important to notice one good thing that has come of the quarantine. Less pollution. Fewer cars on the road, planes in the sky and industry on pause has meant less carbon dioxide pumped into our skies.

Los Angeles – Before and After Shelter in Place Orders

China – Satellite images of pollution reduction

See the source image

India – Himalayan Peaks visible for the first time in 30 years

See the source image

The Earth is breathing. The question is – ‘What do we do about it?’ Do we go back to ‘normal’ and continue to pollute our home, planet Earth? 

What if, instead, we took this opportunity to change our behavior going forward? What if we drove less and walked and biked more? Flew less and took the train or bus more? Bought electric cars and held our legislators accountable for passing legislation on Climate Change? Are you with me?  I think we can do it!!

In the meantime, what can we do NOW while we are physically distancing? 

Reducing our Carbon Footprint is one thing we can do. What is a Carbon Footprint? Here’s the dictionary definition:

“the amount of carbon dioxide and other carbon compounds emitted due to the consumption of fossil fuels by a particular person, group, etc.”

So, what does that mean exactly? It essentially refers to our personal contribution to the carbon emissions that cause Climate Change. Here are some ways that each of us can have an impact:

Ten Things You Can Do NOW to Help the Environment

1.     Plant Trees – Trees consume carbon dioxide and emit oxygen

2.     Eat a plant-based diet or have one ‘vegetarian day’ a week.

3.     Start a vegetable garden from seeds in your house. When the weather warms up you can dig your garden and grow your own vegetables!

4.     Reduce household water waste – install efficient shower heads and toilets. Turn off the faucet when doing dishes or brushing your teeth. Take shorter showers.

5.     Upcycle, repurpose and REPAIR clothing and household items instead of buying new or discarding them.

6.     Reduce the amount of plastic packaging in the products you buy.

7.     Eat locally produced food to reduce the ‘Food Miles’ it takes for your food to travel to you.

8.     Tell your legislators to act on Climate Change legislation.

9.      Join environmental groups like the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council or the World Wildlife Fund.

10.    Follow Teen Climate Change activists on social media. Greta Thunberg, Autumn Peltier, Mari Copeny, Xiye Bastida, Isra Hirsi, Bruno Rodriguez, Helena Gualinga, Jamie Margolin, Jerome Foster II, are a few to check out.

Catalyst release – May, 2020

by with No Comment CatalystEnvironment

It’s done! I just sent the FINAL manuscript of Catalyst off to Brown Books Publishing. It’s scheduled for a May, 2020 release date – Whoo Hoo!

The cool thing about Catalyst is that it’s never been published before. It’s also the most ‘out-there’ of my three novels. 🙂 And as with my other novels, there’s an environmental theme – fracking

This fall Brown Books will send it off for reviews. Here’s hoping for some great reviews to launch the novel!

My son, Alex Katsaropoulos of Verluna, is designing the cover. It’s super cool and I can’t wait to reveal it to you, but that will have to wait until closer to the release date.

I’ve started outlining Book 4 in the series. A title hasn’t presented itself to me yet, but that will come as the story unfolds. I’ve been mentally working on it for more than a year, but it just wasn’t time to get started. Lots of ideas are bouncing around in my head and I’m excited to put pen to paper – or fingers to keyboard – and see where the ideas take me. I’m planning to write it from both Marcie and Eric’s perspectives. I tried it in Catalyst but it didn’t work. This time I think it will work as there will be two separate storylines. One in France with Eric and Renee and one in Washington DC with Marcie. I think I’ll need research trips to DC and France!! Yea! I LOVE to travel.

More updates to come as things progress!

Are You a Wayshower?

by with One Comment CatalystEnvironmentThings That Occur to Me

There are a lot of negative things happening in the world today. Political turmoil, gun violence, environmental destruction, corporate greed, mental illness, homelessness, economic inequity…the list goes on. You get it. It’s easy to become discouraged about the state of our world and to despair that we’re moving in the wrong direction and placing value on the wrong things. I know many of my friends feel that way. But I feel hopeful.

Why am I hopeful? Because I believe that this up swelling of negative, even evil occurrences is causing an equal, or even greater up swelling of positivity in response.

After 9/11, one of the most horrific occurrences to happen in our lifetimes, there was a huge coming together of people from all walks of life. We saw the first responders rush in. I saw a story narrated by Tom Hanks about all of the commercial and private boat owners who mobilized to rescue hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers stranded on Manhattan after the attack. It brought me to tears. For weeks, even months, afterwards people were kinder to one another. Reaching out to help whenever they could. Of course there were also incidences of retribution against Muslim-Americans. I personally reached out to a Muslim family in my neighborhood to see if they were okay. They were okay and the father and I spoke at length about the tragedy of humans attacking each other over religion. He said “there is only one God” and I agree.

What I see happening now is people waking up. Looking for a better way to live, to BE. Martha Beck, author, life coach and speaker, calls it being a Wayfinder. The slogan for her Life Coach Wayfinder course is Find The Way. Be the Way. We are all yearning to connect with one another. To find a deeper meaning in our lives. I recently read a Time Magazine special edition on Happiness. One of the themes recurring throughout the entire magazine is that things and money don’t bring us happiness. Experiences and relationships bring us happiness. Our capitalistic quest for more is not feeding our souls. It’s trying to fill a bottomless pit that can never be satisfied.

It’s not hard to find people and businesses that are Wayshowers. Focusing on healthy eating, healthy living, exercise, helping others, caring for the environment, opposing corporate greed and individual violence and caring for those less fortunate than ourselves are themes that I see all around me. I’m especially encouraged by our young people. Just look at what David Hogg and the Parkland shooting survivors are doing to end gun violence. What Greta Thunberg is doing to bring attention to climate change. What Malala Yousafzai is doing for girls education. The fact that Marianne Williamson, a spiritual teacher, author and activist, is running for president on the politics of love and getting a lot of positive attention is encouraging to me and represents a signpost of the direction I hope we are headed.

In my novel, Catalyst – May 2020 Brown Books Publishing, Marcie Horton, her brother, Eric and their friends are catalysts for change. For bringing a new focus to our world. Are you a catalyst, a Wayshower? You don’t have to do big, splashy things to be one. Start where you are. Don’t use plastic straws. Bring your own bags to the grocery store. Be kind. Pay it forward. Love one another. It all begins with you.