Category Archives: Santa Fe
GG Collins Cozy Mystery Nominated for New Mexico Book Award
“Editor Kill Fee” Up For New Mexico Book Award
The New Mexico-Arizona Book Coop began accepting entries February 1, 2024. The Coop consists of more than 1,500 publishers and authors who partner in showcasing and selling books about New Mexico, Arizona, and the Southwest.
Editor Kill Fee is the third in the Taylor Browning Cozy Mystery series. Taylor Browning is the mystery editor at the fictional Piñon Publishing House in Santa Fe, New Mexico. But there is a problem; she refuses to stay in her office. Instead, she attempts to solve mysteries. She discovers real mysteries can’t be edited.
On the home front, her cat Oscar tends to exact revenge for late dinners and imagined slights. Paper towels are frequently the chosen target.
“My favorite character, hands down, has to be the cantankerous cat, Oscar.” — Marcelle Valentine, Reviewer
Finalists will be announced in late September 2024. Winners revealed in November 2024.
Book Tour Begins Today
Thank You Itsy Bitsy Book Bits
Editor Kill Fee is officially on the road. The third in the Taylor Browning Cozy Mystery series took off today. You can find all the scoop here: https://itsybitsybookbits.com/2023/05/editor-kill-fee-the-taylor-browning-cozy-mysteries-book-3-by-gg-collins/
Watch the Book Trailer!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8dlLO5rquI
Read the Review:
Here is a new review excerpt written by @tarajohnson513 and published on Book Bub. For the entire review check out: https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/2330489227?utm_content=follow_alert&utm_source=social_email
“This was a great book with an interesting storyline that pulled me and from the first few pages I was hooked. I loved how the author immediately lends an air of mystery, suspense, and intrigue with the setting of Devils Road and Anita being drawn into the woods by a mysterious force. It gave me goosebumps and I could not wait to read what happened next. The characters are well rounded, lovable, and relatable. Taylor is one smart cookie who is ambitious and determined to get to the bottom of a mystery. I loved how she was relentless in getting to bottom of Anita’s disappearance and unravel the truth behind what was going on. A great book with mystery, drama, suspense, intrigue, and twists and turns that will keep you reading until the end.”
— Tara Johnson, Book Bub Member
Get your copy today https://a.co/d/epzN97r but stay away from the Mayan Death Pepper and Devil’s Road!
Anasazi Medium 99 Cents Today
See Our Ad in The eReader Cafe
Look for our ad in today’s The eReader Cafe. Anasazi Medium 99 Cents Today 7-22-22. Read this recent review posted on Amazon, Goodreads and BookBub.
Daily Spotlight Book: https://theereadercafe.com/
The plot is straightforward, and as it develops, more and more clues are uncovered, and the spiritual, magical encounters multiply. As a reader, you, too, step out of everyday reality almost from the outset. That transition is seamless because Collins makes the paranormal world feel absolutely believable.
Rachel Blackstone and her close friend and co-sleuth, Chloe, face the perils and surprises of the mystical world with confidence and conviction. We follow the two in and out of life-threatening situations with the help of ghosts and spirits. All of this leads Rachel and Chloe back to a less chaotic life in the end. If Rachel and Chloe seem to accept the supernatural without question and welcome her entries into the spirit world, we have to keep in mind that this is the fourth book in the series. They’ve had plenty of time to become confident in dealing with the spirit world.
As advertised, Anasazi Medium is a paranormal mystery, but it becomes a thriller as the plot develops. The tension and excitement build to a fever pitch before the mystery is solved. There is a lot at stake here—the end of the world as we know it. While that may be fantastical, in Anasazi Medium, it’s both believable and enjoyable.
Collins has done her research into Native American culture and values, and it shows. I highly recommend Anasazi Medium. Trust me. You won’t be able to put it down.
Get Anasazi Medium here: https://amzn.to/3czVoQb
New Mexico’s Supervolcano
The Valles Caldera is Only Dormant
By G G Collins (Copyright 2021)
Excerpt from Anasazi Medium, Chapter 8
Yellowstone isn’t the only supervolcano in the United States. The Valles Caldera is located in northern New Mexico in close proximity to the Los Alamos National Labs (LANL) and the Rio Grande. An eruption from the dormant, but not extinct, volcano could cause significant interruptions to life or extinguish life depending on the force of the eruption. Some of you will recognize the Valles Caldera as the location of the Longmire sheriff’s ranch.
Images, except the above, are from the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science.
We pick up with an interview which journalist Rachel Blackstone is having with character Professor Axel Saxon at the University of New Mexico, Earth and Planetary Science. We join them with the interview already in progress.
“How dangerous is the Valles Caldera?” Rachel asked.
“It is considered a young supervolcano in that it erupted 1.25 million years ago. It’s geothermal and responsible for the hot springs that populate the area. We also know it is dormant, not extinct. The caldera is about 20 kilometres or 13 miles wide. A supervolcano isn’t one eruption, but multiple eruptions occurring at once. When the volcanic pressure cooker just can’t take anymore and it releases pent up energy in many places.”
He showed Rachel another map showing the resurgent lava dome, called Redondo Peak, and the smaller domes around it.
“If it were to erupt again,” Rachel asked. “What force are we talking about?”
“Supervolcanoes have an eruption of magnitude eight,” Saxon paused. “That’s the largest on the VEI or Volcanic Explosivity Index.”
“So this type of eruption really isn’t within our experience in the near past?” Rachel asked.
“No. You’ve heard of Pinatubo, Krakatau and a U.S. volcano called Mount St. Helens?”
Rachel nodded.
“These are inconsequential by comparison to the Valles Caldera. Even Crater Lake and Tambora are smaller. Only the Yellowstone supervolcano is larger.”
“Are you aware that the last time the Yellowstone erupted that ash and dead animal bones were found as far away as Nebraska? The three Yellowstone eruptions we know about produced enough ash to fill the Grand Canyon and were 2500 times larger than the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. Today, if Yellowstone went off it would immediately kill 90,000 people. Those not dead would be standing calf-deep in ash. The nuclear winter to follow could cause famine as the great breadbasket of the world, the States, would likely not be able to grow much.”
“What would the results be of a Valles Caldera eruption?” Rachel asked.
“First there would be the ash fallout to consider. Not only would any planes in the area be at risk of losing engine performance and therefore crash, but water contamination could result and rooftop collapse. That is especially a problem for flat roofs that can be found all over our area, but especially prominent in Santa Fe due to the Pueblo architecture.
Tent Rocks (Kasha-Katuwe) was created with volcanic ash fallout, perhaps 1/4 mile thick. Enough to have cooked a moderate-sized city.
“Agriculture would be adversely affected, maybe not even possible. Livestock would become ill and die from breathing the ash and gases.
“People would also experience health issues and some, maybe many, would die. It would depend on the size of the eruption.
Notice the proximity of Los Alamos (LANL) to the Valles Caldera.
“We don’t even know how it would affect power-producing plants. And yes, we don’t know if the damage to the LANL would be sufficient to release plutonium and other nuclear materials into the air. If so, that could be cataclysmic in terms of loss of life.
“As to the influence on the country and the world; again, depending on the size of eruption, it could bring about the nuclear winter where ash would block the sun and make agriculture impossible. And this brings me to the most lasting product of supervolcanoes: worldwide famine, millions—maybe billions—of refugees, satellite disruption and the crash of world financial markets.”
“Good god,” Rachel said. “All because a New Mexico volcano wakes up.”
Buy Anasazi Medium at: https://amzn.to/3cHlUEA
Thanks for reading.
Book Review: Reluctant Medium
Author Willow Croft Reviews Reluctant Medium
My thanks to Willow for her fun and unique take on reviewing. Due to a lengthy winter storm, this is making a late appearance. And yes, I too know the carousel at Santa Fe Place is long gone, but it was still circling when I wrote the book.
Read the rest of the review at Willow Croft’s Bringer of Nightmares and Storms: https://willowcroft.blog/2021/02/17/riding-the-carousel-round-and-round-and-round-again/
Happy Holidays From Reluctant Medium
Happy Holidays!
There are more than 29 religious holidays observed by at least seven major world religions. Whichever you honor, may it give you comfort in a year of pain and fear.
La Fonda in Santa Fe, NM
Read Freely (readfree.ly) Promotion
Anasazi Medium Read Freely Promotion
November 24 -30, 2020
Ancient peoples enlighten contemporary humankind in a mystery as old as time. Rachel Blackstone
is recruited by the spirit world to prevent a cataclysm: the end of the Fourth World of the Hopi. As earthquakes rumble and a supervolcano threatens to blow, it becomes imperative she discover the root of all evil. Can she stop the greedy men intent on plundering Mother Earth and killing those who would stop them? The survival of an unaware civilization depends on Rachel getting it right.
#CountdownDeal
Lemurian Medium Weekend Countdown Deal
Click on the book to buy.
A friend disappears into a painting at a posh Santa Fe art gallery. Rachel Blackstone witnesses the paranormal kidnapping, but is helpless to stop it. She isn’t prepared for the reality of where her friend has been taken. In this strange ancient world, it’s difficult to know who to trust. But somehow, she must avoid the Mesoamerican deity who dines on humans and rescue her friend before the catastrophic event occurs that will take the island continent to the sea floor.
November 6 – 8, 2020
Amazon Reviewer: “
Native American Environmental Mystery
Anasazi Medium
“When all the trees have been cut down, When all the animals have been hunted, When all the waters are polluted, When all the air is unsafe to breathe, Only then will you discover you cannot eat money …”
— Cree Prophecy
Rachel must travel to the Land of the Dead to discover how to stop the Blue Star Kachina from destroying Earth. There she speaks with Másaw, the Skeleton Man, Hopi Lord of the Dead in this environmental thriller.
Available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08C99TGDH?ref_=pe_3052080_276849420
Review: “Exciting, tension filled and a must read.”
G G Collins
GG Collins Mysteries 
Birth of the Atomic Bomb
Jul 27
Posted by G G Collins
I Am Become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds – Bhagavad Gita
By GG Collins Copyright 2023
“The beginning of the atomic age began with a pinprick of light so bright it lit up the desert with the power of several midday suns … ” – Atomic Medium
https://tinyurl.com/5n74s59r
When I began writing Atomic Medium I thought the world had forgotten this era. But thanks to a movie called Oppenheimer a new generation is learning about the men and women who developed the bomb. Not with computers and smart phones but with a little thing called a slide rule and human calculators.
By Jack W. Aeby, July 16, 1945, Civilian worker at Los Alamos laboratory, working under the aegis of the Manhattan Project. – This image comes from the Google-hosted LIFE Photo Archive where it is available under the filename 96ad5a9a5c94664e.This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See the copyright section in the template documentation for more information., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=140895
I was lucky to have access to photos from the Atomic City of Los Alamos including pictures of the houses where the scientists lived and the mess hall where they ate. I poured over maps of the compound and read books describing the times. Many of my sources are listed below and a full list can be obtained in the bibliography at the end of Atomic Medium.
My characters, reporter Rachel Blackstone and her friend Chloe Valdez, went back in time to 1945 New Mexico. It was here they experienced the first treacherous step into a future of unimaginable weapons.
“They dropped to the ground and held each other. They trembled with terror. Rachel wondered if their hair would burn off or if they were on the verge of incineration.” – Atomic Medium
“Calling it a weapon of mass destruction sounded like an understatement; a news bite, trivial. This was obliteration; one second you were there and the next you were vapor being inhaled by hell’s meteor.” – Atomic Medium
By Trinity_crater.jpg: Federal government of the United Statesderivative work: Bomazi (talk) – Trinity_crater.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12817993
We talk about nuclear weapons today like they have always been here. Each year scientists move the Doomsday Clock a bit closer to midnight. In January 2023 it was moved to 90 seconds before midnight. That’s how close we are to apocalypse.
* * *
Atomic Medium will be priced at .99 cents on July 30, 2023. https://tinyurl.com/5n74s59r
For additional blog posts on this subject: Atomic Bomb Test Successful but Deadly https://tinyurl.com/mu6mdz3v and The Building That Changed the World https://tinyurl.com/22bpr67t
For more reading: Bibliography of Atomic Medium
109 East Palace by Jennet Conant, Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2005.
The Manhattan Project, edited by Cynthia C. Kelly, Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, Inc., 2007.
The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes, Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 1986 by Rhodes & Rhodes.
A Few Good Women by Evelyn M. Monahan & Rosemary Neidel-Greenlee, Alfred A Knopf, 2010.
The Streets of Santa Fe by Josh Gonze, 2012.
A Spy’s Guide to Santa Fe and Albuquerque by E. B. Held, University of New Mexico Press, 2011.
Manhattan Project Suitcase, Manhattan Days Script, Los Alamos Historical Society, http://www.losalamoshistory.org
Los Alamos National Laboratory/Science Photo Library at www.sciencephoto.com/media
Atomic Heritage Foundation, Profiles at www.atomicheritage.org/bios
Los Alamos National Laboratory, LANL History in Images at www.lanl.gov
Manhattan Project Heritage Preservation Association, Inc., The Otowi Bridge at http://www.mphpa.org
“Manhattan Project spies who met in Santa Fe changed the balance of the world” by Tom Sharpe, The Santa Fe New Mexican, September 27, 2000.
“The Difficulties of Nuclear Containment” by Sam Roberts, The New York Times, September 29, 2014.
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Posted in About, Atomic Medium, commentary, Excerpt, Historical Fiction, History, Museums, New Mexico, Santa Fe
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Tags: Atomic Bomb, Atomic City, Atomic Medium, G G Collins, Los Alamos, Manhattan Project, New Mexico, Oppenheimer, Santa Fe, Trinity Test