RodRaglin

The Mattie Saunders Series is back with new cover art and free for everyone to read. The entire 5 book series will be uploaded over the summer but right now you can read the first two, The Rocker and the Bird Girl and Cold-Blooded.
I'm always interested in connecting with readers and other authors.

Please check out my books and let me know what you think of them! Thank you!

Thanks again to all of you who have read or are reading The Rocker and the Bird Girl and Cold-Blooded, books 1 & 2 in the Mattie Saunders Series. As of June 24, 2022, these books had accumulated an amazing 1096 and 306 “reads” respectively with dozens more being added every day! I’ve enjoyed all your comments and the positive reviews have been gratifying.

I can only hope your enthusiasm extends to purchasing the next three books in the series from Amazon, because when June is over so are the free reads on Inkitt of my books.
You can continue to experience Mattie’s heartaches and happy times as well as personal and professional triumphs and tragedies as the entire five book series is available on Amazon. Here’s the link https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU and a glimpse at what’s in store for you in books three thru five.


The BIRD WHISPERER - Book 3 in the Mattie Saunders Series
The end of the relationship with rock star partner, Bodine, has left Mattie feeling unsettled and the death of a close friend has heightened her vulnerability. She hopes her fieldwork studying hummingbirds in The Rockies will allow her the peace to heal, but a #MeToo episode with her college professor forces her to flee into the wilderness.


She’s rescued by Simon, an Indigenous person and activist for First Nations causes. His care and concern are comforting and she finds herself attracted to him. But the attraction abruptly ends when they confront an eagle poacher who sells the feathers and body parts on the black market.
The poacher is Simon’s cousin and he’s not about to turn him over to the authorities.

Mattie’s outraged, but realizes she has to decide between justice for the bird and her feelings for Simon.



The BIRD WITCH - Book 4 in the Mattie Saunders Series
Can you love someone whose worldview is different from yours? Someone 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 leans on Simon, her rock and refuge, 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 FLOCK - Book 5 in the Mattie Saunders Series


Rewilding Pickles, the Blue and Gold Macaw, her companion for twenty years and the last of the exotic birds she’d rescued, rehabilitated and rehomed has left Mattie with a big hole in her life.

Being brought up in foster care, she’s never had a family and isn’t even convinced it’s good or even necessary, but there have been moments when she’s felt its power–and her need. Maybe that’s what’s missing. Birds band together for safety, socialization–for a better chance of survival. It’s called a flock. Mattie wants to bring people together for the same reasons.



She’s getting little help from her partner, Simon, a First Nations leader committed to justice and equality for his people. He’s on the other side of the country leading a protest that has pitted him against Wendy Walters, the country’s first Indigenous Prime Minister, and most powerful woman in the land, as well as made him a target for alt-right fanatics.


Matters become further complicated when Mattie’s compelled to rescue not another parrot, but the three-year-old son of Simon’s cousin who died of a drug overdose and whose wife, and the child’s mother, may soon face a similar fate.

Mattie thought her intervention would be for just a few days, but that’s all it takes for her to fall in love with Howie and become committed to keeping him. She’s determined she won’t have the little guy endure what she did growing up, but it’s going to take compromise and sacrifice, neither of which are Mattie’s strong suits.



The first thing she needs to do is get Simon back home so they can present as a family at the custody hearing. That means she’ll have to persuade him to reconcile with Wendy. The two have a history and Wendy’s never given up trying to recruit Simon as a political ally and lover, but Mattie’s willing to take the risk.

The outlook doesn’t look promising, and it gets worse when Mattie uses a baseball bat to defend her transsexual friend from hate crime thugs. She’s charged with assault with a weapon and if convicted will be deemed an unfit parent and denied custody.



But Mattie’s not giving up. Using whatever resources are at hand, from humility to blackmail, she sets about to recruit the support she needs to have the courts grant her custody of the child she loves and gives her life purpose.
T

hanks for your interest in Mattie and here’s the link to the rest of the series https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU

Hi Rod

I just removed your helpful comment at the end of Chapter 5 for "Out of Reach" - it was a spoiler alert for people who hadn't yet read Chapter 6 when the first tragedy strikes. The book is too short for me to be doing any condensing, its only 12 chapters long.

One of the nice things (in my opinion at least) is the 5-book Mattie Saunders Series is already written. That means you don't have to wait for subsequent chapters to be uploaded. That's a good thing because so many on you have already completed book one, The Rocker and the BIrd Girl, and are now on book 2, Cold-Blooded which picks up right where the first book left off. My dilemma is whether or not to upload book 3, The Bird Whisperer. Though it's gratifying that hundreds of you are reading my books (at least according to Inkitt's analytics) free reads don't pay the rent. Unlike a lot of the author's on this site, writing fiction is not a hobby for me, nor am I a beginner. This doesn't mean I'm better than any of you - there are some very talented authors on Inkitt, it's just that I have different expectations. Hopefully, Inkitt will pick up my stories for Galatea but if not you can continue to experience Mattie's heartaches and happy times as well as personal and professional triumphs and tragedies as the entire series is available on Amazon. If you want to see more of Mattie indicate it by telling your friends, sharing the links on social media, hitting likes, follows and writing an honest review. Thanks!

With the deadline Inkitt's Mystery Writing Contest less than a week away, I'm hoping that all you who have added my entry, FOREST - Love, Loss, Legend to your reading lists will have an opportunity to finish it and post an honest review. Even if you don't finish it, and you feel comfortable doing it, please post a rating up to where you are. Algorithms are mysterious things (at least to me) and who knows what analytics are taken into consideration when assessing whether a book is popular (a winner) or not.
Thanks to all of you who have taken an interest in this story and in the two books in the Mattie Saunders Series, The Rocker and the Bird Girl and Cold-Blooded that are current up on Inkitt. It's extremely gratifiying and much appreciated.

It's very gratifying to see how many readers are enjoying The Rocker and the Bird Girl, book 1 in the Mattie Saunders Series. Since there seems to be momentum building for more of Mattie's real life adventures including romance,  heartbreak, and addressing today's social and environmental issues I'm going to begin uploading Cold-Blooded, book 2 in the series. The story begins right where the previous one ended and has Mattie struggling with Bodine's fame, a perilous reuniting with an old friend, and a painful reconnecting with a family member as well as saving some homeless pythons, lizards and Leo, the 30-pound Leopard Tortoise. Here come the first 3 chapters. Please remember to tell your friends, tell INKITT and post of social media if you want to read more.

FOREST - Love, Loss and Legend is a melding of genres that includes romance, mystery, paranormal and adventure.



Matthew and Raminder are young, idealistic and in love.

As soon as they can they plan to leave behind the small town and small minds of Pitt Landing. They will embrace life and experience the world, maybe even change it.

Man plans, God laughs. Raminder’s father has a stroke and her commitment to her family means she must postpone her plans and stay in Pitt Lake. It’s just the opposite for Matt. A family tragedy leaves irreconcilable differences between him and his father and forces him to leave.

They promise to reunite, but life happens.



Twelve years later, Matt is an acclaimed war correspondent. He’s seen it all and it’s left him with post-traumatic stress, a gastric ulcer, and an enlarged liver. He’s never been back to Pitt Landing though the memory of Raminder and their love has more than once kept him sane.

He’s at his desk in the newsroom, recuperating from his last assignment and current hangover and reading a letter from his father, the first contact they’ve had in over a decade. It talks about a legendary lost gold mine, a map leading to it, and proof in a safety deposit box back in Pitt Lake. He’s sent it to Matt in case something happens to him and cautions his son to keep it a secret.



Matt is about to dismiss the letter when the telephone rings. It’s Raminder telling him his father has disappeared somewhere in the wilderness that surrounds Pitt Lake.

Lost gold, lost love and lost hope compels Matt to return home to Pitt Landing, a dying town on the edge of the rainforest on the west coast of Canada. The forest is waiting.



As in all my books, my goal is to entertain readers while at the same time addressing contemporary and social issues always with an eye on the biggest one, global warming. With FOREST, I delve deeply into the local legend of a lost gold mine and the mythical creatures of the forest know by the Indigenous peoples as Sasquatch (Big Foot).

The Rocker and the Bird Girl is book 1 in the 5 book Mattie Saunders Series. In this story as in all my books, my goal is to entertain readers while at the same time addressing contemporary and social issues always with an eye on the biggest one, global warming. Through my heroine in The Mattie Saunders Series, an  intelligent, passionate, outspoken, young women devoted to saving birds, I have the opportunity to express my research and opinion through her voice in the context of a story filled with romance, drama and action.
Issues that resonate in Bird Girl are the exotic bird trade, drugs, pets, conservation, endangered species and family told in fast-paced, story that features a romance and rock and roll.
The entire Mattie Saunders Series is ready to upload for a free read depending on your response to book one. Tell your friends, tell INKITT, post of social media if you want to read more.

We have read some of the books you have and enjoyed your reviews which seem honest and helpful. We wondered if we could tempt you to read our novel, Psychic. It’s a mystery, a who-done-it, and a fantasy, written in the modern world of hate, terrorism, pain and trauma. It could be a true story. Over 570 people have liked the tale, and it has 110 fantastic reviews from all over the world. For those who enjoy such things, there’s a delicious hidden romance too. This book is just as much for the male reader, because despite the main character being a woman, the co-hero is a 9-year old black boy from Africa, with a penchant for stealing things and the skills to succeed. We think you’ll enjoy it.