“Heir Apparent” – Chapter One of River Dragon

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“Heir Apparent” – Chapter One of River Dragon This is an excerpt from River Dragon, Book 5 in the Ari Ara Series. You can get River Dragon through our Community Publishing Campaign. Gritting her teeth, Ari Ara waved to the crowd, a fixed smile plastered on her face. The horse fidgeted beneath her, sensing her discomfort […]

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Alaren and the Shoes

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(Note: This tale is part of the fictional Stories of the Third Brother, an ancient book of folktales about Alaren in Ari Ara’s world. Each folktale teaches a lesson in waging peace using true stories as a spark of inspiration for the tales of courageous nonviolent action. You can find the stories in The Adventures of Alaren […]

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Journey through snow and dreams

Journey Through Snow & Dreams

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This is an excerpt from The Crown of Light, the fourth novel in the award-winning Ari Ara Series. Find it here. Note: The Paika are a group of clans that live in the Border Mountains between the two nations of Ari Ara’s world. In this scene, Ari Ara, after being taken hostage by them, agrees […]

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Changes and Crossings

The Changes & The Crossings

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This is an excerpt from The Crown of Light, the fourth novel in the award-winning Ari Ara Series. Find it here. Note: The Paika is the name and title of the elder who leads the Paika clans. In this scene, she offers some advice to the lovestruck, 15-year-old Ari Ara. The Paika teased out her braid […]

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Alaren meme

Alaren and the Huntress

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This is an excerpt from The Crown of Light, the fourth novel in the award-winning Ari Ara Series. Find it here. “Tell her the first Alaren tale, great-grandmother,” Finn cajoled, tossing a grin in Ari Ara’s direction. “The one about the Paika Huntress.” “I have told you many times,” The Paika chided Finn, “they are not Alaren […]

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After The Fireworks – Winds of Change

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This is an excerpt from Winds of Change, the third novel in the Dandelion Trilogy.You can find it here>> It was a time of giddiness and babble, when the world seemed hopeful and lost all at once. Possibility lurked on the edge of each moment. Disaster loomed across every horizon. With humanity at a crossroads, the […]

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The Phoenix Moment – Winds of Change

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This is an excerpt from Winds of Change, the third novel in the Dandelion Trilogy.You can find it here>> By morning, the smoke had swallowed the sky. The day dawned in an eerie orange glow. The Council of All Beings disbanded and evacuated. Charlie and Zadie drove north, shoulders twitching and tensing as the fire tripped […]

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The Council of All Beings – Winds of Change

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This is an excerpt from Winds of Change, the third novel in the Dandelion Trilogy.You can find it here>> They drove south from Oregon along the winding coastal highway, craning their necks at the explosions of surf and stopping every half hour to admire the wild coast. Craggy mounds of eroding sandstone skulked in the fog. […]

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Hurricane Eve – Winds of Change

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This is an excerpt from Winds of Change, the third novel in the Dandelion Trilogy.You can find it here>> A high wind smacked the water, kicking up waves that glinted grey as the overcast sky. Barrie eyed the river warily as he slurped his coffee. He set the mug down and tied a second bowline to […]

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Turning Up The Heat – Winds of Change

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This is an excerpt from Winds of Change, the third novel in the Dandelion Trilogy.You can find it here>> Heat flattened the city. Asphalt gleamed, shiny and malevolent. Concrete endured in washed-out weariness. Anything green wilted and crisped at the edges in the inferno of the record-breaking summer temperatures. Heat waves curled off the concrete, steel, […]

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The Democracy Lab – Winds of Change

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This is an excerpt from Winds of Change, the third novel in the Dandelion Trilogy. Find the novel here. ____________________ The Democracy Lab’s Forum took place in an old chapel which had been stripped of religious iconography. It had been converted into a theater-in-the-round by removing the pews and circling concentric rings of chairs around a […]

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The Murmuration – Winds of Change

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“Starling Murmuration – Eastbridge” by Airwolfhound is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 The Murmuration – From Winds of Change .This is an excerpt from Winds of Change, the third novel in the Dandelion Trilogy.You can find it here>> _________________ The murmuration swarmed through the streets like a wild dance class released from studio walls. It was a flocking movement, modeled […]

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The Apology & Forgiveness Song – An Excerpt From Desert Song

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Author’s Note: This excerpt is an example of the kind of compelling fiction we can write when we integrate the current best practices and experiments in conflict resolution. In the story, the Atta Song (Apology and Forgiveness Song) is part of Harraken culture, a way of admitting wrongs and making them right. This tradition is […]

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Throw-the-Bones – An Excerpt from Desert Song

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This is an excerpt from Desert Song, a novel by Rivera Sun. You can get a copy here. Up a long, winding ravine, tucked into a pocket meadow, lived a seer named Throw-the-Bones. Her home – if you could call it that – was a hide-covered lean-to half dug into the earth. A sod roof […]

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Ancestor Songs – an Excerpt from The Lost Heir

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Note: This chapter is excerpted from The Lost Heir:  An Unruly Royal, An Urchin Queen, and A Quest For Justice by Rivera Sun. You can purchase the book here. And find the eBook version here. Hours later, exhausted and happy to her bones, Ari Ara slipped through the side gate of the House of Marin with Emir. […]

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Alaren & the Feast Day Ceasefire

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(Note: This tale is part of the fictional Stories of the Third Brother, an ancient book of folktales about Alaren in Ari Ara’s world. Each folktale teaches a lesson in waging peace using true stories as a spark of inspiration for the tales of courageous nonviolent action. You can find the stories in The Adventures […]

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Urchins’ Feast – An Excerpt from The Lost Heir

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Urchins’ Feast Note: This chapter is excerpted from The Lost Heir:  An Unruly Royal, An Urchin Queen, and A Quest For Justice by Rivera Sun. You can purchase the book here. And find the eBook version here. “No, absolutely not,” the Great Lady Brinelle spoke as she continued reading a draft bill, not bothering to […]

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Texas Free Rangers – An Excerpt From The Roots of Resistance

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This is an excerpt from The Roots of Resistance, the sequel to The Dandelion Insurrection. You can order a copy here: https://riverasun.com/the-roots-of-resistance/ At two o’clock in the morning, Tansy woke Tucker to tell him that a group claiming to be the Texas Free Rangers was taking credit for the pipeline explosion. “The Texas Free Rangers?” he […]

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Little Dandelions – An Excerpt From The Roots of Resistance

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This is an excerpt from The Roots of Resistance, the sequel to The Dandelion Insurrection. You can order a copy here: https://riverasun.com/the-roots-of-resistance/   Not here. Not us. Not our school. The words of Idah Robbins echoed in Charlie’s thoughts. The fifth grade teacher’s voice rang with fierce determination and a deep love of her students, school, and […]

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Debt Prison Strike – An Excerpt From The Roots of Resistance

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This is an excerpt from The Roots of Resistance, the sequel to The Dandelion Insurrection. You can order a copy here: https://riverasun.com/the-roots-of-resistance/ Chapter Nine Debt Prison Strike Hot and humid as a hairy armpit on a southeast afternoon, the debt prison laundry stank of detergents and hissing cotton steam. The incarcerated workers hauled sacks and trolleys of […]

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Gray Atonement – An Excerpt From The Roots of Resistance

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This is an excerpt from The Roots of Resistance, the sequel to The Dandelion Insurrection. You can order a copy here: https://riverasun.com/the-roots-of-resistance/ “Come on with me and let’s walk down to the end of the block,” Tansy urged grimly. “There’s something you outta see.” The quiet residential neighborhood spilled out onto a commercial corridor with a corner […]

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March Into the Heart of Darkness, Blazing With Love – An Excerpt From The Roots of Resistance

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This is an excerpt from The Roots of Resistance, the sequel to The Dandelion Insurrection. You can order a copy here: https://riverasun.com/the-roots-of-resistance/ The wind poured through the car window and danced across her scalp. Zadie’s black curls whipped and tangled as she drummed her hands on the steering wheel, singing along with the blaring radio. Barreling up […]

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Who Are We Without Our Lies? – An Excerpt From The Roots of Resistance

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This is an excerpt from The Roots of Resistance, the sequel to The Dandelion Insurrection. You can order a copy here: https://riverasun.com/the-roots-of-resistance/ The snow thickened, cast into frantic swirls like schools of fish trying to dart free of ocean nets. Through the flurries, a figure in a long dark coat paced the whitened sidewalks of the National […]

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Dinosaurs of Power – An Excerpt From The Roots of Resistance

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This is an excerpt from The Roots of Resistance, the sequel to The Dandelion Insurrection. You can order a copy here: https://riverasun.com/the-roots-of-resistance/ They were old enemies, these dinosaurs of power, railing on their deathbeds, refusing to surrender or transform their businesses. They were as old as the enclosures of the commons, the colonization of the New World, […]

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