Blog, Book Reviews, Articles & More
Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism
I read this book after seeing an interview in which Rachel Maddow said that rises in anti-semitism, other blaming-isms, and political conspiracies are generally always part of an attempt to subvert democracy in favor of authoritarianism or fascism…
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet
Not quite on the run, Rosemary Harper flees her family’s infamy in the human colony on Mars by joining the crew of the Wayfarer, a jalopy of a ship that tunnels wormholes through space. Filled with an imaginative galactic cast and a mind-blowing array of everyday tech…
Divergent Mind Thriving in a World that Wasn’t Designed for You
What is normal and who gets to define it are the central questions in Jenara Nerenberg’s Divergent MindThe core of modern society’s “design” that excludes divergent minds are its economic and social systems…
Demon Copperhead Book Review
The word that kept popping into my mind as I listened to this book was “relentless.” Demon Copperhead is the first-person narrator in this modern retelling of Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield—itself a fictionalized telling of Dickens’ life.
A Psalm for the Wild Built
This Hugo Award-winning novella is a balm in an increasingly shrill world. This first in the Monk and Robot series…
Book Review: The Great Alone
The characters were rich and true to themselves (as frustrating as that was.) Alaska herself is a glorious character in all her brutal wildness and raw beauty…
About Kristine
Kristine Madera is an Amazon #1 bestselling author who writes fiction and nonfiction shaped by travel, culture, and lived cross-cultural experience.
Inspired while volunteering at Mother Teresa’s Home for the Dying in Calcutta, her novel God in Drag examines what happens when spiritual faith fractures in the sacred city of Varanasi. Read the first chapter of God in Drag HERE
She birthed her upcoming novel, The Snakeman’s Wife, as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Papua New Guinea.
Be on the lookout for her Etiquette Express Guides, a series of short, practical travel guides that help readers understand the customs, social expectations, and everyday dos and don’ts that make travel smoother and more connected.
Her travels have taken her across India, Asia, Europe, Australia, and Papua New Guinea as both a backpacker and Peace Corps Volunteer. A portion of her book proceeds supports cross-cultural education scholarships.
You don’t need to “master” a culture to move through it well.
You just need a few steady skills:
- How to stay curious,
- How to adjust without performing
- How to recover gracefully when you miss a cue—because we all do.
This free PDF guide gives you 12 simple, human skills you can use anywhere: whether traveling abroad, navigating a new city, joining a host family, starting a new job, or even re-entering your own life after a trip.