L.A. Starks's Blog

A quick reminder that (award-winning!) Winner's Curse is a Book of the Month read in July for A Good Thriller, a Goodreads group.

Yes, Winner's Curse is available in Kindle e-book and Audible audiobook editions, but please consider celebrating Independent Bookstore Day, April 25, and generally supporting independent bookstores any time by ordering a SIGNED copy of Winner's Curse from Brace Books & More in northern Oklahoma. They ship!

Brace Books & More, 2205 N. 14th. Ponca City, Oklahoma 74601-1841

Winner's Curse: A Lynn Dayton Thriller by L. A. Starks

ISBN 978-0991110759

I'm pleased to announce that Winner's Curse: A Lynn Dayton Thriller was a Finalist in the Action/Adventure category for the 2025 Independent Author Network (IAN) Book of the Year Awards as well as a Finalist in the 2026 Indies Today Book Award Contest!

Offer! Between April 2 and 6, my 4 Kindle stand-alone short stories are free, marked down from $0.99 each. They are: a) Robert & Therese Guillard: Choices, b) A Time for Eating Wild Onions, c) Josh Rosen and Bubbe (I am especially fond of the ending of this one), & d) Incurable. Each tie into characters in the Lynn Dayton thriller series. Tell your friends. Links at my Amazon page.

From Venezuela to the eastern Mediterranean to West Texas, the Lynn Dayton oil and gas thrillers are eerily prescient, informative about the global conflicts we face right now. AKA Hits square in the pocketbook as we pay higher gasoline prices. But reader, see for yourself. Paper, e-book, and audio editions available.
Find at amazon DOT com/dp/B075TYB5B7 or LAStarksBooks DOT com

LAStarksBooks DOT com or Amazon DOT com /dp/B075TYB5B7

Recent events in Iran and the Middle East show us just how important and global the oil business is. Understand today's events even better--while being entertained by unforgettable characters and plots--with the fact-based Lynn Dayton thriller series, including the Eastern Med featured in Winner's Curse.

For quick plot overviews, see the 1-minute book trailers at L. A. Starks' website: lastarksbooks DOT com

My semi-annual newsletter (Spring 2026), which includes recommendations for several of the books I've read in the last six months, is now live on my website: lastarksbooks DOT com. In the section on energy, I briefly review the key oil chokepoint influencing prices: the Strait of Hormuz. And for Oklahoma and mid-continent readers, yes, as in STRIKE PRICE, deadly tornadoes have popped in the last few days.

Super-excited to say that the audiobook edition of Winner's Curse is now available on Amazon! I had so much fun designing it with Virtual Voices--take a listen to hear the various dialects as chapter POVs vary! From British to Australian to, of course, American.

For readers on the go...

Three of my short stories on Kindle are briefly free worldwide. Pls see the author page on Amazon for L. A. Starks or look them up by title:
a) Robert & Therese Guillard: Choices, b) Josh Rosen & Bubbe, and c) A Time for Eating Wild Onions.

I developed each as I was thinking about characters and their backstories for the Lynn Dayton thriller books.

Happy New Year!

Called it! Problems from excess oilfield water in West Texas oilfields, per a big Wall Street Journal story in the last few days? I called it over a year ago with the prescient book Winner's Curse: A Lynn Dayton Thriller, highlighting international intrigue around a valuable oilfield water recycle technology. Alas, still fictional but IRL quite important! Read it and be entertained by the characters and plot. And hope for a real-life breakthrough.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0991110757

For December bargain-hunters: the Kindle edition (Amazon) of award-winning thriller, The Second Law, Lynn Dayton Thriller #3, is briefly on sale at over 90% off (only $0.99 in the US). Get your copy. Tell your friends.

Find it on Amazon using ASIN:

B07JLDGTVL