Rod Raglin's Blog

My photograph, Full Moon Amid Blue Clouds, was awarded Creatio Magna (Great Creation) in Lumen Art Gallery’s International Art Competition “Moonlight” – February 2026, and is shown here along with the work of other talented winners.

To view more of my photographs of the moon, visit Full Moon and Phases at https://rodraglin.smugmug.com/Full-Moon

#fullmoon #picturesofthemoon #fullmoonandphases

The Mattie Saunders Series – Last chance to get books 1 & 2 FREE and the remainder DEEPLY DISCOUNTED. Download all 5 at https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU

Follow this unforgettable heroine whose sharp tongue and wounded heart guide her through a lifetime of love, loss, and self-discovery. Mattie Saunders has built a sanctuary for exotic birds—creatures cast aside by careless owners—but connecting with people proves far more perilous.From a desperate alliance with a rock star to save her bird refuge (The Rocker and the Bird Girl), to becoming entangled in a deadly investigation (Cold-Blooded), to confronting betrayal and violence in the pursuit of justice (The Bird Witch, The Bird Whisperer, The Flock), Mattie’s journey is both breathtaking and brutal.As her life collides with activists, lovers, and outcasts, she becomes a voice for both the voiceless and herself. Blending romance and realism, tenderness and tension,

The Mattie Saunders Series is an evocative exploration of what it means to heal — and to belong. Perfect for readers who enjoy romantic adventure, eco-fiction, and socially conscious storytelling.

#WomensFiction #EcoFiction #Strong female protagonist #freeebook #readingcommunity #amreading #romance #socialjustice #animalrescue

The Bird Whisperer and the Bird Witch – Books 2 & 3 of the Mattie Saunders are now just 99¢ each. Download all 5 in the series for $11.22 at https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU

Reeling from heartbreak and loss, Mattie escapes into the wilderness to study hummingbirds, seeking solace among the creatures that never stay still. But isolation turns to peril when a predatory professor’s unwanted advances force her to flee into the Rocky Mountains—where she’s rescued by Simon, a kind yet fiery Indigenous activist.

Their connection is immediate, their chemistry undeniable, but their beliefs soon collide. When Simon’s activism clashes with Mattie’s principles, she must decide how far love can bend before it breaks.

The Bird Whisperer is a sensitive, provocative story about healing, cultural contrast, and the fragile beauty of trust. Fans of Barbara Kingsolver and Kristin Hannah will find much to admire in Raglin’s wise, unflinching storytelling.

Love can be fierce—but not always fair. Mattie and Simon’s relationship faces its toughest test when activism, politics, and cultural identity pull them in opposite directions. Simon devotes his life to First Nations justice, while Mattie, drained and grieving her lost birds, yearns for a reprieve.

A trip to Mexico is meant to heal old wounds—but when a peace conference erupts in violence, Mattie finds herself caught between military gunfire, cartel corruption, and the desperate search for the man she loves.

Set against the heat and tension of international unrest, The Bird Witch examines whether love can survive when ideals—and lives—are on the line.

The Rocker and the Bird Girl and Cold-Blooded,  Books 1 and 3 of the Mattie Saunders are  FREE with other books in the series deeply discounted. Download all 5 at https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU

The Rocker and the Bird Girl. A rock star with secrets. A woman with walls. Can love take flight when trust is broken?
Desperate to keep her bird sanctuary alive, Mattie Saunders turns to a wild-hearted rock guitarist for help—only to discover that his money, like his affection, comes with dangerous strings attached.

Cold-Blooded. When compassion becomes a liability, how far will you go to protect what you love?
A rescue gone wrong pulls Mattie into a chilling mystery of corruption and betrayal—where even good intentions can get you killed.

#WomensFiction #EcoFiction # Strongfemaleprotagonist #freeEbook #readingcommunity #amreading #romance #socialjustice #animalrescue #mystery

The Rocker and the Bird Girl – Book 1 of the Mattie Saunders is FREE with other books in the series deeply discounted. Download all 5 at https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU

The Mattie Saunders Series follows an unforgettable heroine whose sharp tongue and wounded heart guide her through a lifetime of love, loss, and self-discovery. Mattie Saunders has built a sanctuary for exotic birds—creatures cast aside by careless owners—but connecting with people proves far more perilous.

From a desperate alliance with a rock star to save her bird refuge (The Rocker and the Bird Girl), to becoming entangled in a deadly investigation (Cold-Blooded), to confronting betrayal and violence in the pursuit of justice (The Bird Witch, The Bird Whisperer, The Flock), Mattie’s journey is both breathtaking and brutal.

As her life collides with activists, lovers, and outcasts, she becomes a voice for both the voiceless and herself. Blending romance and realism, tenderness and tension, The Mattie Saunders Series is an evocative exploration of what it means to heal — and to belong. Perfect for readers who enjoy romantic adventure, eco-fiction, and socially conscious storytelling.

#WomensFiction #EcoFiction #Strongfemaleprotagonist #freeebook #readingcommunity #amreading #romance #socialjustice #animalrescue

My black and white photograph, Urban Landscape in Light Rain, has been published in Audience Askew 4|3. The publication includes “thought-provoking stories, engaging poetry, and distinctive artwork that doesn’t quite fit in anywhere else. They welcome new and established authors, poets, and artists worldwide “who want to showcase their talents to an audience just as askew as they are.” You can purchase a copy at https://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/3240885

More images of urban landscapes at rodraglin

These images were taken from my living room window of the North Shore Mountains (Vancouver, Canada) with my Christmas gift to myself, a Canon RF100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L is USM Lens, Super-Telephoto Zoom Lens. If you want up close and personal, this is the lens to do it.

More images of mountains at https://rodraglin.smugmug.com/Mountains-mythic-mysterious

#landscapephotography #mountainpictures #blackandwhitephotography

I love birds.

In 2016, a parrot sanctuary on Vancouver Island closed permanently after its founder died leaving the facility in debt and hundreds of birds, once again, abandoned and at risk.

Over the next two years, dozens of volunteers lead by veterinarian and avian specialist, Dr. Anne McDonald, donated their time, expertise and money to nurse them back to health and rehome the occupants. It’s a story that still brings tears to my eyes and inspired my 5-book Mattie Saunders Series.

Foster child, bird rescuer, reluctant lover — Mattie Saunders never had it easy. Her life is a battle between passion and isolation, integrity and compromise. She’s built a sanctuary for exotic birds—creatures cast aside by careless owners—but connecting with people proves far more perilous.

From a desperate alliance with a rock star to save her bird refuge (The Rocker and the Bird Girl), to becoming entangled in a deadly investigation (Cold-Blooded), to confronting betrayal and violence in the pursuit of justice (The Bird Witch, The Bird Whisperer, The Flock), Mattie’s journey is both breathtaking and brutal.

As her life collides with activists, lovers, and outcasts, she becomes a voice for both the voiceless and herself. Blending romance and realism, tenderness and tension, The Mattie Saunders Series is an evocative exploration of what it means to heal — and to belong.

This series is close to me. As a heroine, Mattie embodies what I admire most in the women that are or have been in my life – courage, pragmatism, compassion. Through her, I’ve also had an opportunity to address a number of societal issues including sexual harassment, discrimination and environmental issues including the plight of birds – those extraordinarily beautiful, intelligent and at-risk creatures we share this planet with.

The series has never done well, perhaps because of its hybrid nature. Being part romance, part suspense and part eco-fiction, it’s been hard to market. In this relaunch I’ve used AI to find what I missed, to provide a different perspective. And it did!

For example, when I asked for keywords and categories it focused on the romance and women reader aspects of the work first and the environmental and social issues second, which was the exact opposite of the way I had previously marketed this series. Here are some examples of keywords AI suggested.

romantic drama with social justice

   • women’s fiction with romance

Eco-thriller with romanceStrong female protagonistcontemporary romance with social activismromantic suspense with environmental themes

The same was true when I asked it to produce cover art.  In this post are two previous covers, The Rocker and the Bird Girl and Cold-Blooded compared with the new AI generated ones.

I have no problem using AI to make marketing suggestions, using it to write fiction seems a contradiction to me. Why would I relinquish something I love to do, something that sustains me and helps me make sense of the world?  However, being as close to the work as I am makes it difficult, if not impossible, to be objective. 

I could have paid thousands of dollars to hire a book marketer and graphic artist to contribute to the relaunch, but instead I chose to pay $39.99 for a month subscription of use.ai

Beginning Jan. 29, the e-book edition of The Rocker and the Bird Girl will be free to download for 5 days and the four other books in the series will be deeply discounted on my Amazon site at https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU

Unfortunately, as an author, I realize need you but there’s something about your attitude that, well, pisses me right off.

Publishing a literary e-zine does not elevate you as a human being. The sacrifices you claim to be making to offer me the opportunity to have my work published are insignificant compared to the work I put into my submissions. If I hear anymore whining about how “it’s a labour of love”, I swear I’ll puke. What do it’s think us writers?

Despite the majority of you asking me to pay to submit, offering no payment or token a one, you’re incredibly arrogant. Like you’re doing me a favour and not the opposite.

YOUR submission guidelines read like you’re afflicted with severe OCD – specific font size, font style, double spaced, depth of indent, pagination positioning, author details included on manuscript – each page, front page only, or not at all? The subject line is also byzantine with detailed instructions on the order of the author’s name, story title, genre, and word count.

How necessary are these petty refinements? Does it give you a feeling of power, of control to make me jump through these hoops. Do you do it because you know you can.

Then, you gleefully warn me that if you don’t stringently follow these guidelines my submission  goes in the trash. You’ll delete it without it being read.

But it’s alright for you to screw up. You miss publishing and payment deadlines, go on an unexpected hiatus for personal reasons, or just never respond. Here’s a few responses I’ve got from publishers like yourself in the last few months.

QUERNICA PRESS

We were initially shooting for a late fall publication , but the likelihood of making that is decreasing exponentially day by day. I have 4 comp classes this term and was in a car accident in which my vehicle was totaled a few weeks ago. That combined with the state of the world and weekly updates on policies at our school to protect students from has set me back both literally and metaphorically. I appreciate your kindness as we work to bring this next issue to you. I assure you all, the issue will be coming to life, it just might be early 2026 when that happens. As soon as I have a hard publication date, so will all of you. 

ORANGE PEEL

Sorry for getting to you later than we expected: we realize now it was quite optimistic to plan a release date in the middle of holiday season! We do, though, have an early draft of the issue to share with you all, with plans to share our final draft online (and announce on Instagram) this evening around 7pm Eastern time.

Our plans for promo will be slightly delayed, with that beginning after the New Year. We’ll reach out then for permissions to share works on Instagram, as well as with requests for interviews. Apologies for this shift in the schedule!

AWATUM PRESS

We want to take this time before the New Year to personally thank all of our contributors for helping us build a new type of indie press. When we set out last year to make a more personal, author-first academic press, we wanted to provide higher royalties, higher contributor payments (which is why we have a more consolidated anthology), and push boundaries with the topics we publish. We have missed our timelines for our contributor payments, and we want to apologise. We overestimated our end of the year profit margarins and we must own up to that.

It pains us that the very thing we set out to change is the very thing that has held us up. We are truly sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused around the holiday season. We have these changes moving forward:

New confirmed payment date: On or before February 1st.
Sending weekly email updates to contributors before payments and bi-weekly after payments on the status of the release.

Should I submit the story to other publications, at least the ones that allow multiple submissions, since these people so obviously are rank amateurs? Do I even want my work published by them because once it is, it won’t be eligible for those legitimate(?) mags that don’t accept reprints?

CRITERION FOR SUBMITTING

I’ve now have established a criterion that I apply to publications prior to submitting. If you don’t tick these boxes, you won’t see my work.

– is your submission page free from discrimination. That means you aren’t overtly offering or even suggesting to give preferential treatment to submissions from authors claiming to be from marginalized groups?

– do you read the work blind (a further reassurance that protects against prejudice)?

– do you have a professional, easy to navigate website?

– do you have an active social media presence that you use to promote your publication and contributing artists?

– are you an unsuccessful author using other authors to help promote your own career? Will you insist that if my work is accepted I must particpate in a kickstart campaign to help launch the edition? Or, (nearly as discouraging) do you belong to the current batch of sophomoric students at some obscure learning institution who are experimenting with a WordPress site?

– do you have a track record of at least two years and a half dozen issues?

– do you insist on charging to submit because you are too lazy or feckless to figure it out the multiple ways you can create revenue without charging their contributors?

Needless to say, this has significantly restricted the number of publications I submit to, however, it’s keeping what little integrity and sanity I have left intact–or so, I’d like to think.

My photograph, “Sledding” has been published in orangepeel Literary Magazine’s “winter’s night” edition and as well as being featured on their Instagram account. https://orangepeelmag.wordpress.com/latestissue/

orangepeel is a digital magazine inspired by the aesthetics of print literary magazines, especially those coming out of universities. The magazine’s goal is to give readers something they’ll remember. Their staff believe that many of the most memorable pieces are often prompted by the writer or artist’s own exploration of their memories. Much of their work deals with nostalgia and mourning. “If a work sticks in our mind even when we’re not working on the magazine, that usually means it’s a keeper!”

For more memorable images of winter and other seasonal landscapes visit https://rodraglin.smugmug.com/