Kai Strand's Blog, page 9

Three Times A Charm with Patricia Josephine

Welcome to Three Times A Charm. Where readers get to discover new books and learn a little about the authors who wrote them. Today we welcome Patricia Josephine. I recently 'met' Patricia when she participated in our January #InkRipples meme by sharing her book cover for the book she's here to talk about today! Let me first tell you a little about Patricia.
Patricia Josephine was an art geek in high school, and never gave writing much thought. On a whim, she wrote down a story. It snowballed f...

February #InkRipples - Genre To YA or not to YA

This month we are exploring the topic of genre. Last week I shared a varied list of favored go-to genres of many of my Facebook friends and fans (yeah, I hate that that term too!). Today I want to talk about Young Adult.
Wait?...What?
 It’s NOT a genre.
I know. I know. BUT…?! ß I’m with you on that.
See, young adult is a target audience. When you write young adult (as I do) you are writing for readers between the ages of 12 and 18 or those who like to read books written for that target aud...

GHOST TOUCH by LA Dragoni (aka - me)

I'm super excited to share the brand new cover for my new adult paranormal romance, GHOST TOUCH. I published this under the name LA Dragoni - the persona I write new adult and adult under. The book is also now available in PRINT, since my informal survey told me 1/2 of my readers either prefer or only read print. Without further ado:

For fifteen minutes each night a portal opens in Tamara’s barn and a horde of ghosts spills into her yard. She and Dex work together to find a way to help Cal and...

February #InkRipples - Genre

The irony of this month’s #InkRipples topic, GENRE, is that I picked it and I don’t know anything about it. Not really. To me, genre is like the math of the literary world. You can explain it to me again and again and I think I understand until I actually try to apply the knowledge and then it all gets mixed up. Because of that, I cannot promise the most educational blog posts this month, but I will endeavor to provide some enlightenment. Or perhaps simply some entertainment.
Each time I set o...

Nominate The Dragon's Cave on Kindle Scout

NOMINATE ON KINDLE SCOUT:   https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/354R8PJ38H5D5
Attention middle grade readers! Here is an opportunity to get directly involved in the publication of your next middle grade read. But hurry, voting ends SOON!
https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/354R8PJ38H5D5A DRAGON’S TREASURE. A GREEDY KING. ONE BOY CAN RESTORE BALANCE BEFORE THE MOUNTAIN IMPLODES.
Seamus’s day couldn’t get an...

January #InkRipples - 5 Star Books & Their Covers

The last Monday in January. It's been a long month! Is it because there were 5 Mondays? Because we got tons of snow, had a gymnasium collapse and missed lots of school while they shoveled rooftops? Perhaps its the vitriolic political climate that threatens to decimate our country. Idk. But I wasn't sure the month was going to end. Ever. But speaking of ending, there's a giveaway of King of Bad on Goodreads that ends on the 31st. Hop on over after you've devoured this post. Link is in my sideb...

January #InkRipples - Book Covers, My Favorite Collaboration

January's #InkRipples topic is book covers. Throughout the month I’m exploring the making of a book cover. So far this month I’ve shared the progression of a couple covers as I worked with digital artists, I shared my experiences working with an illustrator, and the challenges of covering a series. Today I'm sharing my favorite cover collaboration to date.

The cover for Finding Thor was such a challenge in so many ways and my publisher and cover artist were SOOOO patient through the process.

Su...

New Release - Fading Into the Shadows by Kelly Hashway

I'm excited to share Kelly Hashway's newest release:



When sixteen-year-old Ella Andrews’s best friend, Avery, goes missing, she’ll do anything to get him back—starting with punching the no-brain cop who couldn’t care less about the disappearance.
Ella’s convinced Avery’s been kidnapped, and she tries everything to find him—even following a strange shadow to another world where the constellations are real-life figures in the sky. But three star groups have fallen and are destroying the world.
The...

January #InkRipples – More Book Covers

This month I’m exploring the making of a book cover. So far this month I’ve shared the progression of a couple covers as I worked with digital artists and I shared my experiences working with an illustrator. This week I want to share the experience of covering a series.
Even though I have The Weaver Tales series, it didn’t start as a series, so I didn’t go into it knowing the covers had to relate. Plus each of book in The Weaver Tales series is a standalone. When it came time to work on a cove...

January #InkRipples – Book Covers Continued

This month #InkRipples is talking about book covers and I’m exploring the making of a book cover. Last week I shared the progression of a couple covers as I worked with digital artists. This week I want to share the experience of working with an illustrator. Oh my gosh! So cool. (It’s all cool, actually, but whatever.)
My first published novel was The Weaver , published by Guardian Angel Publishing, a publisher of books for children from 0 – 12. The majority of the books they publish are pictur...