Kyle Robert Shultz's Blog, page 25

Indie Author Interview of the Month–with Alexis P. Johnson!

Welcome to the Monthly Indie Author Interview! (Back from a brief hiatus during my crazy July.) This month, we’ll be hearing from Alexis P. Johnson. Alexis is the author of Chivalry’s Children, a historical fiction/fantasy novel coming out September 1. Here’s the synopsis:

Meridian the blacksmith, Keira the minstrel, Aurielle the alchemist, and Ivy the librarian, are four spirited and very different young women of Orion’s Court in the European nation of Laudeland. Knights, blacksmiths, and ev...

Shadow Boy–A New Short Story for Email Subscribers!

I mentioned in a recent post that I’m experimenting with the short story medium these days. I’m happy to announce that one of these stories is now freely available to everyone who signs up for my email newsletter!

Shadow Boy is a Beaumont and Beasley story of about 2500 words. It’s set in an unusual time period, with unexpected characters. I don’t want to say too much about it so as not to spoil it. You might be a little annoyed with me once you’re finished, because…well, it’s short. But it m...

Doctor Who Series 10 Finale Review

A lot has happened in the Whoniverse since I wrote my last Doctor Who review. Thanks to the busyness of July, I haven’t gotten a chance to post my thoughts on the Series 10 finale until now. I’m seeing it with slightly different eyes now that I know more about the very different era of Who on the horizon. You can read my thoughts on Jodie Whittaker’s casting in full here, but in short, I’m cautiously optimistic about her as the Doctor and Chris Chibnall as the showrunner.

For now, though, let...

Realm Makers 2017 Wrap-Up

Finally, my long-overdue post on the Realm Makers 2017 conference. My life has been a whirlwind of catching up since I got back. Also, I’ve discovered this weird but refreshing new hobby where you lie in a horizontal position on a soft squishy thing and lose consciousness for hours. I think they call it “sleeping”…or something like that. I highly recommend it.

So, Realm Makers. Loved it. This was my first writers’ conference, so I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, but it turned out to be e...

Book Review: Chivalry’s Children by Alexis P. Johnson

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What it’s about: Chivalry’s Children is a story of four young noblewomen in the court of a medieval realm called Laudeland. The country is an island nation in the center of the North Sea, between the United Kingdom and Denmark. While the book is set almost entirely in this fictional realm, there are a number of connections to “our” world, mainly in the form of characters hailing from Armenia. Despite the lack of magic or ot...

Audiobook Giveaway Winners!

My Realm Makers wrap-up is still coming, but for now, I just wanted to make a brief post to announce the three winners of The Beast of Talesend audiobook giveaway!

Congratulations to Alexis Johnson, Marrok Macintyre, and Mackenzie Lockhart! You will all be receiving codes to download the audiobook shortly. Thanks for entering!

For those who entered but didn’t win, don’t forget–if you’ve never had an Audible membership before, you can download The Beast of Talesend for free with a 30-day trial...

On Tolkien, Fairy Tales, and Happy Endings

Due to Realm Makers and a book launch, I wasn’t able to write my final Silmarillion Awards post on the correct date. So I’m here now to wish The Lord of the Rings a belated Happy 63rd Birthday! (The Fellowship of the Ring was published on July 29, 1954.) I’d also like to talk about the significance of Tolkien’s work to the genre of fantasy in general and to me personally.

I didn’t actually read The Lord of the Rings until I was in my early twenties. Shocking, I know. It’s not because I didn’t...

Announcing the Realm Makers Raffle Winner!

Hi everyone! I’m back from Realm Makers, and I had a wonderful time. I’ll be discussing my takeaways from the contest in more detail very soon, in a future blog post. For now, I want to announce the winner of the raffle I ran at the conference. The person holding the lucky number will get a free copy of The Beast of Talesend audiobook!

(Note: This is separate from the audiobook giveaway I’m doing on the blog. If you enter the online raffle, you’ll get another chance to win the audiobook even...

Poll Follow-Up: Thanks Everyone!

Well, that escalated quickly (in a good way).

Poll: A Question for My Readers

I lied. Here’s another pre-Realm-Makers blog post after all. XD

I could use some feedback from my readers on an idea I’m tossing around. So far, I’d say the response to the first two books in the Beaumont and Beasley series has been very positive overall–which has been a very pleasant surprise for me. I can’t thank you all enough for the encouragement you’ve given me. Partially as a result of all this feedback, I will shortly be on my way to the Realm Makers conference, where I’ll be having c...