Articles — Reading Tips, Book Lists & Author Stories

Are good books dangerous?

Public safety announcement — Australian authorities have issued a warning about an increasingly dangerous phenomenon known as immersive reading

#reading habits #reader community #book culture

Peter Morris

2 days ago

2 min read

10

⭑ Featured

Genre Deep Dives

Mental health is the most important part of health. While physical health provides the energy to work hard to realize our dreams, mental health provides the resilience required to persist until the end.

#author spotlight

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Sanjeev Choubal

2 days ago

1 min read

10

⭑ Featured

Author Interviews

About My Book Johnny and Jazzbo

A compelling and powerful true story about two young southern men of opposite color facing this evil that has no color other than the bloodshed stain left behind by hate, greed, and ignorance.

Kathryn J Hardy

4 days ago

6 min read

18

book promotion

You Wrote a Book, Now What?

You wrote a book, but how do you begin to market it and find your audience?

#book discovery #author life #book culture

Grahame Peace

5 days ago

6 min read

46

Author Spotlights

Fashion Fiction Authors Worth Reading for Style, Identity and Ambition

A look at prominent fashion fiction authors.

#book discovery #book recommendations #genre fiction

Grahame Peace

1 week ago

6 min read

49

Finalist in the 2026 Page Turner Fiction Book Award

⭑ Featured

Debut Authors

Finalist in the 2026 Page Turner Fiction Book Award

August turned out to be a pretty good month for The Long Grass.

#indie books #self publishing #author life

Peter Morris

1 week ago

3 min read

20

⭑ Featured

behind-the-book

Annette Mollison investigates again…

Annette Mollison is back. Ten years after a young woman and a Valiant Drifter disappeared in Far North Queensland, a chance discovery in the bush reveals that an abandoned vehicle and human remains are only the beginning of a much larger mystery.

#author life #indie authors #genre fiction

Peter Morris

1 week ago

3 min read

16

Indie Publishing

Why Indie Books Often Hit Harder Than Big Publisher Ones

So many readers swear the novel that wrecked them didn't come from a sky-scraper - it came from someone writing in a kitchen at 2 a.m.

#indie books #self publishing #book discovery

Taylor E. Varenne

1 week ago

4 min read

20

author life.

The Rigged Game: Why the Organic Content Grind Feels Like an Impossible Battle

An honest, unvarnished look at the digital grind.

#author life

Grahame Peace

1 week ago

3 min read

60

Writing Life

The Architecture of Suspense: Pacing Thrillers Well

Suspense is not the same as speed, and the fastest thriller can still feel empty without emotional consequence. Strong pacing comes from controlling pressure, information, deadlines, scene rhythm, and the reader's expectations while allowing character decisions to shape the danger. The best thrillers make readers desperate to know what happens next while giving them enough depth to care why it matters.

#writing tips

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Tripen

1 week ago

13 min read

21

Writing Life

Fractured Timelines: How to Master Non-Linear Narrative Arcs

Non-linear storytelling rearranges chronology to control revelation, emotion, suspense, and the reader's understanding of cause and consequence. Strong fractured timelines are not random, but carefully designed so that every jump into the past or future changes the meaning of another scene. By anchoring readers through character desire, recurring objects, emotional connections, and clear information flow, writers can make complex timelines feel compelling rather than confusing.

#writing tips

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Tripen

1 week ago

15 min read

19

Writing Life

Weird Westerns and Biopunk: How to Merge Contrasting Genres Successfully

Weird Westerns and biopunk may appear completely different, but both are fascinated by frontiers, ownership, survival, exploitation, and the struggle for autonomy. The strongest genre mashups connect those deeper ideas instead of simply combining cowboy imagery with biotechnology. When each genre changes the rules of the other, contrast becomes a source of plot, character, and unforgettable worldbuilding.

#writing tips

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Tripen

1 week ago

13 min read

14

Writing Life

Mythic Fiction: Reimagining Ancient Folklore for Modern Readers

Mythic fiction takes the emotional patterns of ancient myths and folklore and gives them new characters, settings, perspectives, and meanings. Writers can modernize old legends through overlooked viewpoints, altered prophecies, contemporary settings, genre blending, or completely new stories built on ancient structures. The strongest adaptations do more than retell the past, asking why these old stories still speak to modern fears, desires, and questions.

#writing tips

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Tripen

1 week ago

12 min read

14

Writing Life

Cli-Fi and Solarpunk: Writing Hopeful Futures in an Era of Crisis

Cli-fi and solarpunk offer writers two powerful ways to imagine the future in an age of climate anxiety. One confronts crisis, loss, and systemic change, while the other explores resilience, ecological design, beauty, and community-centered alternatives. Together they make it possible to write futures that feel honest about damage without surrendering hope.

#writing tips

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Tripen

1 week ago

12 min read

15

Writing Life

Beyond the Trope: Subverting Cozy Fantasy and Dark Academia

Cozy fantasy and dark academia succeed because readers recognize their emotional promises, from comfort and found family to intellectual obsession and beautiful darkness. Subverting these genres does not require rejecting familiar tropes, but questioning one assumption, reversing an expectation, or giving a beloved element a surprising cost. The strongest subversions preserve what readers came for while making the world behind the trope less predictable.

#writing tips #genre fiction #fiction writing

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Tripen

1 week ago

10 min read

18