Tag: books

“The Ordeal of Queens” – an excerpt from 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. The lanterns and lit windows of Mariana Capital gleamed like a low constellation of stars. Ari Ara, Brinelle, and the others gathered abovedeck. […]

Ari Ara’s novels will live longer than any of us. What a thought! Just like we’re still reading Tolkien, exploring Narnia, and traveling to Never Never Land with Peter Pan, imagine readers of the future enjoying Ari Ara’s adventures 70, 90, or 110 years from now! What will people think in 2134?  Imagine the children […]

“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 […]

By Rivera Sun Love is in the air . . . or at least occupying the airwaves this week, selling chocolates and roses and candlelit dinners for two. But this romantic love is just a thin slice of the feast of love that exists in the human heart. And when Valentine’s Day rolls around, I […]

A Decade of Literary Resistance With The Dandelion InsurrectionCan you believe it’s been 10 years? The Dandelion Insurrection has been lighting up readers’ imaginations for 10 years. It’s hard to believe this golden yellow book has reached a decade of circulation on this maddeningly tumultuous world. It was written as Snowden made his revelations about the […]

Kids ask the darndest things. On a virtual Author Q & A with a school classroom that read The Way Between, I was asked the question: what do I think about ChatGPT and AI novels? Rather than tear off on a long-winded rant about the long arcs of automation and tech capitalism’s lack of concern […]

(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 […]

Ari Ara Wins Silver Nautilus Award!Desert Song is the second novel to win this social justice fiction honor. Great news! Desert Song has just won a Silver Nautilus Award – the second book in the Ari Ara Series to be honored in this way! The Nautilus Awards are for socially-engaged fiction and I’m tickled pink to have two of […]

8 Magical Stories Of How Peace Literature Changes Culture – And Lives By Rivera Sun Four hours per day, six days per week, I take action for peace. It may not look like your typical nonviolent action – I don’t hold signs or block the gates of military bases. The way I wage peace is […]

By Gayle Morrow I am not a devoted fan of the fantasy genre so did not expect to care for this first in a series work by Rivera Sun. Instead I was captivated almost immediately. The premise is a “lost heir” of a dead queen turning out to be a pixie, fairy-like young girl; fairly […]

A Review by Rivera Sun “When everyone knows how to plan, you start to get strategic behavior.” These words from Ivan Marovic serve as my mantra as I facilitate trainings in strategy for nonviolent campaigns. When I met Marovic at the James Lawson Institute in 2014, he impressed upon me that everyone should understand strategy, […]

Review of The Way Between by Liz Moon The Way Between is a thoughtful story which infuses rich fantasy and nonviolent action principals, together. This combination not only draws you into the storyline to learn more about the characters and how they intertwine with both their shared and individual history, but also allows you to […]

Join in the fun of the magical celebration of the Community Publishing Campaign for The Lost Heir, Rivera Sun’s newest, unforgettable, and heart-warming novel. Today’s the Day! Hooray for The Lost Heir! Your new favorite book is here! The adventure begins. You can get The Lost Heir here and help send this book into the world. In our Community Publishing Campaign, you’ll find the early-release, […]

Book Review by Tom Atlee The Roots of Resistance is now available on this website and in ebook and print formats on Amazon and all major online bookstores! Rivera Sun always gifts us with usefully creative fiction in the face of daunting challenges to future generations, to current society, to marginalized communities, and to all of us as citizens […]

Tis the season to talk about gratitude. And turkey. And colonialism, Indigenous peoples, Buy Nothing Day, Shop Local, consumerism, capitalism, and the growing list of ways humanity will come to an untimely demise. I’m going to leave all that aside for a moment. In other years, I’ve had a mouthful of opinions along with my […]

You’re Gonna Love This Story! The Roots of Resistance Is Coming In November. Greetings, everyone! As promised, here’s a special glimpse of the cover. Isn’t it a beauty? I’m having a blast getting ready for the release. It’s been a whirlwind week of editing, meme-making, and gathering quotes and excerpts. Starting tomorrow, I get my last […]

July 29th thru August 2nd, Steam Drills ebook will be available at HUGE discounts to celebrate Author Rivera Sun’s Birthday Countdown Sale. Enjoy! https://www.amazon.com/Steam-Drills-Treadmills-Shooting-times-ebook/dp/B00B41B1T8/   CHAPTER ONE: The Front Line of Birth & Death It begins. The world is sleeping. Solitude sinks down around the contours of the mountains. Silence dusts the city. Daybreak’s bustle threatens […]

An Essay of the Man from the Northby Rivera Sun There are those who would have us fold up our banners and take down our protest signs. They urge us to be reasonable and polite. They expect us to cram our dissent into narrow boxes of occasional grumbling comments and take our frustration out at […]

(Excerpt from The Way Between by Rivera Sun. Find it on Amazon.com or signed copies here.) The Horns of Monk’s Hand sounded as the sun touched the western shoulder of Old Monk Mountain. The Fanten drums halted for a breath, acknowledging the Horns through silence. Ari Ara shivered at the lingering reverberations of the low […]

(Excerpt from The Way Between by Rivera Sun. Find it on Amazon.com or signed copies here.) The days turned cold and the nights colder still. Frost drew its icy hand over the monastery, the forest, and the village. Ari Ara crept with trepidation around Shulen, haunted by what she had seen that night in the […]

by Tom Hastings, Director of PeaceVoice, Professor of Conflict Studies at Portland State University (Find The Way Between here. Ebooks available here.) This novel should be read aloud to everyone, by everyone, from childhood onward. It is an auspicious beginning to a new mythology of peace, of justice, of inclusion, of conversion and transformation. Rivera Sun’s […]

(Excerpt from The Way Between by Rivera Sun. Find it on Amazon.com or signed copies here.) The Horns of Monk’s Hand Monastery shook the rocks as she raced out of the Fanten Forest and across the lower meadows. At the crossroads, Ari Ara halted and stood defiantly in the buffeting wind. The trail down to […]

Special thanks to Angela Parker for this gem of a review! You can find The Dandelion Insurrection here.  This brilliant and instructional novel is prophetic in its story line. With stunning parallels to today’s corporate dictatorship, this novel begins at the American-Canadian border with Zadie and Charlie, the primary, but not only heroines of the […]