K.M. Shea's Blog, page 18

Angelique: The Strongest Heroine

A huge thank you to all of you wonderful Champions for taking the time to fill out the reader survey! We got some great feedback, and it helped us clarify a few plans for the future, so I really appreciate the time you took to fill it out, and I hope you enjoyed the character interview!

Now, let’s jump back to the events of Trial of Magic! This post is where I’m going to state my case that Angelique is the strongest of any heroine I’ve ever written…because she had an entire organization doing everything they could to break her, make her doubt herself, to drag her away from her morals, to kill her, and she never broke.

That’s not to say she didn’t feel pain, or buckled, but she never gave in, she never stopped looking for Evariste, and–most important of all–she never stopped helping others. (Warning: Here there be spoilers for Trial of Magic! Don’t read if you haven’t read that book yet!)

Let’s begin!

To start off, we have to acknowledge that Angelique’s life started being manipulated the instant the Chosen/Veneno Conclave found out she had a lot of power. That was when the teachers started getting on her case, that was when they made her take extra ethics classes, that was when they started teaching everyone to react in fear to her.

The extra ethics classes were the Chosen’s way of testing her to see if she could be turned to their side. When it became obvious she wouldn’t drop her morals, they turned to manipulation tactics. The headmaster–wrapping his instructions up as being ‘diligent,’ basically gave teachers like Madame Quarrelous permission to try and break Angelique all for the sake of ‘diligence’.

Angelique was endlessly hounded about her magic–which, shocker, hadn’t been at all dangerous until the strength of her magic was tested–and told time and time again that she was a dangerous monster.

In the meantime, since the Chosen knew they couldn’t have her, they decided to seal her magic to protect their interests in the future. (Because an enchantress who could take out hoards of goblins by herself was not going to bode well for them.) But when they were thwarted by Evariste, they knew they had to use their backup plan and make everyone fear Angelique.

Fear makes people unpredictable in many ways, but they weren’t trying to control every mage–they were trying to control Angelique and keep her from acting in a way that would ruin their work. To do that, all they had to do was twist her so badly that she was convinced her own magic was evil (thank you, academy instructors) and have everyone react so over the top that finding friends/emotional supports would be impossible.

The Chosen controlled how Angelique was viewed by carefully using their people–who were partnered specifically with mages who weren’t black mages for the use of general manipulations already–to poison the rest of the Conclave against her. One of the best examples of this manipulation in action is Blanche and Rein. As we now know, Blanche–a weather mage–belonged to the Chosen while her partner, Rein, did not.

Blanche’s overly dramatic reactions to Angelique are what sparks Rein’s dislike of her.  Blanche whimpers and acts frightened when Angelique offers to accompany them to Ringstead. Given that Blanche is Rein’s close friend, he naturally sides with her and doesn’t want Angelique’s help either.

Blanche’s manipulation of Rein means she can achieve goals for the Chosen (like freeing Carabosso when they were supposed to transport him to the Conclave) and she can keep other mages fearing Angelique, with the idea that if Angelique feels like a monster she won’t improve in her magic.

Of course, another byproduct of this plan meant Angelique was always extremely reluctant to use her magic–everyone except for Evariste acted like she’d immediately turn into serial killer if she used even a fleck of her core magic. But it also meant Angelique was incredibly isolated. Because of the fear and scorn the Chosen showered on her, and the way they manipulated their collogues, it isn’t until Evariste comes around that Angelique has an actual friend, and by then she’s so screwed up that she thinks she has to trick Evariste into liking her and she’s terrified of disappointing him.

You can also see how this plan of fear/isolation crumbles in Trial of Magic when Angelique no longer cares what Blanche thinks of her and is more irritated that they let Carabosso go than hurt by Blanche’s antics. Blanche freaks out a bit because she is legit scared of Angelique because she knows the threat Angelique is to the Chosen, and she recognizes that they won’t be able to control her through fear anymore.

You can see that in the way the Council try to warmly welcome Angelique back–with the exception of Tristisim and Felicienne who, because they aren’t Chosen mages, are more stuck on rules than they are on trying to manipulate Angelique–when she returns with Evariste.

You can also see the lack of manipulation in the students Clovicus takes on. I purposely brought them in when Angelique is initially leaving Verglas during the events of Rumpelstiltskin, because you can see how they react to Clovicus’ lack of fear of Angelique. They accept it and move on. They’re still fairly young, so the Chosen haven’t been able to infect them yet, and in Tristisim’s insistence on punishing Clovicus with more teaching time, you can see how those students act differently as a result.

The Chosen also attempt to manipulate Angelique by questioning every good thing she’s ever done. In Curse of Magic, the Council spends the majority of the time nitpicking all the wonderful things Angelique has done, and go through extremes to try and discourage her from future action.

Mix all of this into the knowledge that Angelique is an orphan–her parents died minutes before her magic was discovered–and that she was already older than the other students given that she’d been found late, and you have a dumpster fire of a life that normally would have turned a character into a villain.

Instead, once confronted with another unexpected tragedy–Evariste’s capture–Angelique fights back against years of conditioning, against scorn, threats, and disdain, and sets out to help him–saving the continent in the process.

Angelique isn’t powerful because of the near limitless strength of her magic. She’s powerful because after everything the Chosen did to her, she still helped. When she faced a cursed Severin, she tried to help–just as she aided Dylan, Elise, Gabrielle, and more. Yes, she needed a whole lot of character growth through the process, but she has a pretty tragic story–one filled with years of isolation, manipulation so she feared her own magic and herself, and a lot of emotional suffering.

And yet! Despite everything done to her, Angelique retained a desire to help people and do what is right. And that is why she’s my strongest heroine ever. That’s why she alone could take on the Chosen, and scare them so badly they gave up centuries of planning and ran. Because they knew…they were never going to break her, and she’d overcome everything they’d done to her and now had her sights set on them.

What do you think, Champions? I hope I’ve convinced you! I could go into even more detail, but this post is already pretty long. Regardless, have a splendid day, and thank you for all the love and support you’ve shown Angelique and Trial of magic!

The post Angelique: The Strongest Heroine appeared first on K. M. Shea.

2021 Reader Survey

I am so excited to announce the return of our Annual Reader Survey! Woohoo!

I can practically hear the confusion of some of the newer Champions, so let me explain! Nearly every year the team and I put together a reader survey. (I skipped last year because it was 2020, nuff said.)

It might not sound exciting, but the results of the survey are vital to me and our community because it helps me learn a lot about you Champions, what book genres you’re interested in, what ways I should focus on expanding/growing our community, what events I should do and more!

The survey is multiple choice and it’s only ten questions, so you should be able to finish it super quickly.

And here’s the most important part: since I’m so thankful you are willing to take the time to fill out this survey for me, I whipped up a special bonus character interview for everyone who completes the survey!

Click here to take the survey now!

Once you click the submit button at the end of the survey, wait for the confirmation page to appear! The link to the  bonus character interview will appear on that page, so don’t close it until you’ve had a chance to click on the link and reader the character interview!

The character interview will eventually show up on my website (probably in January) so if you don’t want to take the survey, or if you really want to read it again, you will have the chance to get it in a few months. And in case you are wondering the interview is spoiler free for Trial of Magic – although Angelique is part of the interview and she doesn’t hold back from sharing her thoughts!

A special thank you to everyone who has filled out one of my reader surveys in the past! I appreciate hearing from you and getting ideas for new ways to have fun with you Champions. I changed out a few of the questions from last time and including adding some new questions related to Sheacon. I’m really excited to see if the answers for the recurring questions change, since the 2019 survey was before any of you had heard of a certain scrappy wizard named Hazel.

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The Twist: How I hid it

I’ve given you Champions several weeks, so we’re finally going to discuss Trial of Magic! We’re going to start out by discussing the big twist at the end, which I also like to call “A textual record of Kitty’s spiking anxiety.” But before we go any farther, this is obviously going to be a huge, spoiler filled post, so if you have not read ToM, DO NOT READ THIS!!! It is going to take away your full enjoyment of the book! Just come back and read it once you’ve finished!

Okay, are we good?

Yaaaay! We can finally talk about the fact that 1/3rd of Veneno Conclave mages were, in fact, Chosen mages–including four of the six Council members!

I’ve been sitting on this plot twist since the DAY I came up with the Veneno Conclave. As many Champions know, I love naming things based on Latin words, and Veneno is actually the Latin word for poison/venom/drug/infect. A few Champions figured that out, and I spent several years sweating as I wondered if they’d put the clues together and spill the big secret.

I actually had Lovelana tell Angelique there was a mole because 1) It was good for her relationship with Angelique 2) it would build story tension 3) it would hopefully throw a bunch of you off the scent so instead of noticing how bad in general the Conclave was, you’d try to find the specific bad guy supposedly hiding among the rest of the good mages.

I also was able to successfully hide this twist by making the Chosen downright diabolical, instead of flat, one dimensional villains that like to monologue and laugh in dark corners.

Lazare and Primrose don’t seem so bad compared to Tristisim and Felicienne–who appear to hate Angelique. But if you re-read the first scene in Apprentice of Magic you can see the four Chosen mages manipulate Tristisim and Felicienne by triggering their love of rule following. They appear to be kinder to Angelique when all they’re doing is setting up Tristisim and Felicienne by pointing out areas where Angelique fails to follow the typical example of an enchantress/enchanter. (If they had wanted to save her, all they would have had to do is talk about the Snow Queen–the first enchantress who had magic just as deadly as Angelique’s.)

They also hid their intensions behind words they that they knew would make them look good. This bit is taken from the first scene in Apprentice of Magic.

Enchanter Crest sighed. “I’m sorry, Angelique. I don’t see how we can allow you to keep your magic. If there was someone who could teach you—who could assure us of your safety and those around you as you grew into your powers.”

“Indeed,” Enchantress Primrose appeared to wipe a tear from her eye. “But there are few equipped to handle one with your strength and…” She didn’t have to finish.

They *seem* nicer, because they know there’s no one who wants to take her as an apprentice, so they can give her–and readers–this empty lip service since it won’t jeopardize their plan to have Angelique sealed…until Evariste calls their bluff and volunteers.

The best examples, however, of the ways they set off Tristisim and Felicienne with kind words can be seen in Curse of Magic. Here’s an example of a scene when they’re reviewing whether or not it was illegal for Angelique to perform magic in Carabas as it is illegal to use magic in Arcainia. Angelique makes a claim that it’s not because Carabas was owned by an ogre and not the King of Arcainia. When she first makes this claim, the Chosen mages demurely agree, because they’re biding their time and they know Tristisim won’t drop the issue, which brings us to this portion of the scene.

Tristisim frowned. “I think her line about Carabas not being a part of Arcainia is untrue.”

“I don’t know.” Enchantress Primrose looked thoughtfully down at her papers. “She spoke the truth that as long as the ogre was there, Carabas really was not acting as an Arcainian city.”

Yes! Angelique smiled politely and didn’t allow her inner glee to show. Thank you!

“And the time she was performing her magic, Lady Gabrielle was the new Marquise, oh, dear,” Enchantress Primrose looked dismayed, “which brought Carabas back into Arcainia, I suppose.”

Primrose makes it look like she “accidentally” pondered this–not that she’s seeking to incite Tristisim to bring any kind of half-baked charge against Angelique so she can be properly side-lined instead of mucking in all of the Chosen’s plans.

Using Felicienne and Tristisim to say the meanest of things to Angelique was the best way for the Chosen quartet to at least appear slightly less guilty. (I was pretty terrified you all would go re-read Angelique’s books right after Court of Midnight and Deception, which practically trains you how to see through all the deception tactics I used in Angelique’s series!)

Perhaps the easiest way for the Chosen to hide, however, was to use the Conclave’s laws against them–laws that are, in theory, good.

One of the biggest reasons the Council sites as the reason for their inactivity, is because it is important for the Conclave to remain nonpolitical, and to avoid showing favoritism of any kind.

This is actually a good rule. The Conclave would be easy to manipulate because countries could constantly be crying off that they use more magic on behalf of other countries, or then they could possibly blame calamities on mages because they weren’t able to stop them–the bottom line is there needs to be separation between the Conclave and country government. The issue is that under the Chosen’s influence, the Conclave went too far and essentially stopped being proactive.

The Conclave should have been all over the Chosen when Baris found out a generation ago that dark mages were stirring. That would have drastically changed the landscape Angelique is dealing with today. However, the Chosen used a very necessary law as an excuse for their inactivity. And because they didn’t react, the countries saw no reason to react.

There’s a lot more–if you skim any Conclave scene you’re bound to notice more–but that’s all we have time for today. I hope you enjoyed all the other fun moments in Trial of Magic! Thanks for reading, and have a lovely day, Champions!

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Fairy Tale Enchantress #5

Since Trial of Magic has launched, you Champions have been eager to hear what’s in store for the rest of the series, so I thought we should take a post to discuss what’s happening!

Fairy Tale Enchantress will be a six book series total. Book #5 is titled–drumroll please–Blade of Magic! (Three guesses what the blade is referring to! )

I’m happy to report that Book #5 will probably have the most humor of the series due to some of the events and–the best news yet–IT WON’T BE SO STINKIN’ LONG like Reign of Magic and Trial of Magic were! (I cannot tell you how happy that makes me!)

I’m also all done with the crossover timelines of Timeless Fairy Tales, so if you were waiting to read that series, now is your chance! But what I’m sure you’re all wondering is what kind of release timeline are we looking at? Annnnddd that’s the bad news. The earliest release date is likely summer 2024. I have Retha book #4, and the final of Elves of Lessa book I want to complete before I start it, and of course I will release one Magiford trilogy per year.

This date could possibly change, but a lot of it depends on things like how long Retha #4 will be, and how long Accidental Enchantment (that final Elves of Lessa book) ends up being. Basically, there’s too many outside variables for me to accurately pinpoint anything, which is why I’m projecting such a far out release date.

Heck, even Blade of Magic’s length will impact this date. Trial of Magic took me about eight months total to write and edit–between the time I spent on it in 2020 and 2021–because it was so. LONG! (It was 193,000 words. For reference, the entire Hall of Blood and Mercy trilogy is approximately 220,000 words.) While I’m estimating Blade will be shorter, I have proven to be a very poor judge of my book lengths in the past, so we shouldn’t hold our breath.

In other words, prepare yourself for the worst, and maybe we’ll be pleasantly surprised! The big thing to know is that I’m dedicated to releasing Retha #4 in summer of 2022, and I want to wrap up Elves of Lessa in 2023.

Hopefully everything will go smoothly, but I don’t have a great track record with lengths for any of my series right now, sooooo…yeah! Thanks for reading, Champions, and have a lovely day!

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Rumpelstiltskin Audio Production!

Hello, Champions! One of the awesome projects that debuted at Sheacon 2021 was Part 1 of the Champion-made audiobook production of Rumpelstiltskin! It is fully voiced with sound effects and music, and it is absolutely fantastic to listen to. (For real–Grandmother Guri’s goat, Jojo, bleats, there are crowd noises, and the voice acting is so amazing I had to rewind multiple times because I enjoyed it that much.)

Plainly said, I cannot fathom the amount of work that went into this production. It’s entertaining and all around wonderful to hear, and I’m totally wowed by the acting abilities and amazing skills of everyone involved.

So before I give you the link to this free but incredibly sophisticated project, we have the cast and crew to thank!

Cast list:
Narrator 1: MidnightFairytales
Narrator 2: Leyna Laurel Elyse
Gemma: Madds
Linnea: SarahRose
King Torgen: SuperRog
Stil: SuperRog
Merchant: Jess_the_mess
Sissel: Leah
Jentine: Leah
Rudd: Anneli
Foss: Jess_the_mess
Mrs. Hagen: RayJay
Malfrid: RayJay
Lady Lovland: Cindy
Grandma Guri: Leslie
Footman: jnl886
Gemma’s Mother: Vin
Prince Toril: Marc
Captain: jnl886

Crew list:
Involuntary Project Manager: Leslie
Casting Gurus: EllaRose, Katlover, and Lusciania
Audio Queen: RayJay
Audio Exorcist: Cindy
Prince Toril’s Recording Engineer: William Pierce

Now, are you ready for an auditory treat? (As I mentioned above, this is part 1 of the audiobook, and it lasts roughly an hour.) Click here for the Google drive mp3 link!

I’m so excited for everyone to hear this! Now, I take zero credit for this. It is an entirely Champion driven venture. So, if you could leave some encouraging words for them in the comments, I’d be really grateful, because they deserve all the praise!

Speaking of which! While I am so thankful to everyone involved–especially the audio crew who spent extra time putting this beauty together–I want to give a special shout out to our amazing Linnea, voiced by SarahRose who is actually fairy tale author SR Noulton! Go check out her work and tell her we salute our Queen Linnea!

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Sheacon 2021 Summary

Hello, Champions! I have some fun to share with you Champions who couldn’t attend Sheacon–and a survey for those of you who did!

First off, we have the audio recordings of all the panels! Yes, all of them! There was one or two tiny tech mishaps during the panels themselves, but for the most part the records are fantastic, and we owe a huge thank you to the Sheacon planners for all the work they did to make these recordings available to everyone!

So, are you ready to listen to the panels? Click on the panel name to go to the audio file! (Important note: The free book deals mentioned are no longer available, but you can still download the limited edition coloring pages!)

Opening Ceremonies (and Miss Champion 2021 pagent)Fantasy Author Panel with Deborah Grace White, Julie Hall, Tara Grayce, Sarah K Wilson, and Kimberly RogersWR Gingell panelKitty Q&A panelFairy Tale Author Panel with AG Marshall, Allison Tebo, Camille Peters, SR Noulton, and Jill StenglCelebritity Retha & Dragons with Kitty, AG Marshall, Vin, and RayJayTimeless Fairy Tale/Fairy Tale Enchantress SPOILER FILLED Q&A with KittyArtist Panel: There is video that goes with this one, but sadly it’s too big for me to upload to the site, so we’ll have to be satisfied with mp3. (Although if you are tech savy, here is a link to the Google drive that contains all the audio files, including the video, so you can watch it through there.)Champion Trivia & closing ceremonies. (If you want to see the art that goes with some of my guesses for Champion Trivia, here is a download link to the zipped file that contains these images.)

Fun fact I personally learned from Sheacon. Tara Grace–author of the amazing Elven Alliance series–was a Champion forever ago, back when I released the “Goblins Wear Suits,” the sequel book of the Magical Beings’ Rehabilitation Center. And–get this–at the time I ran a contest to name characters, and Tara won the right to name a particular goblin bodyguard. That’s right, Tara named Harrison! So go show Tara some love and tell her that Harrison sent you!

The Sheacon Planners–in their sweet wish to improve an already awesome event–have an exit survey for all of the Champions who attended this year’s Con. You can take the survey by clicking here. Thanks in advance!

Speaking of which, we all owe the Sheacon Planners a standing ovation! They spent countless hours planning the event, preparing the servers and the games, organizing the panelists, and more. They worked hard so we could have a fun and memorable weekend! So, a huge whistle-filled, flower-throwing thank you to Cindy, Cwang, Emarynn, Zooknar/Miss Champion 2021, Helaine, Anneli, Pumpkin Pi, Lemon Duck, Ellarose, Xoffelokin, Batattack, Kay, and Dino. You all are amazing and produced a professional online convention that was fun for everyone and made so many fun memories for our community. And I’d like to extend an additional thank you to Vin–our Community Manager–and SuperRog AKA Miss Champion 2020.

Finally, thank you to all of you Champions who came and joined in the fun. I’m so glad we have the kind of community that can come together like this and nerd out over books for a weekend. Thank you for being a part of it.

And that’s all, Champions! I’m moving homes, so I’m going to take the next week or two quasi-off. (I say quasi, because I still have a blog post coming up soon here, and a few fun Facebook posts, and I’m hoping to write the first Retha scene…) but after that we’ll jump into a few Angelique themed blog posts! Until next time, Champions, have a lovely day and enjoy the panels!

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Exciting Annoucement!

Sheacon 2021 has sadly come to a close. I had so much fun hanging out with you Champions, and I hope you enjoyed yourselves!

For those who weren’t able to come, the Sheacon Planners are hoping to have recordings of the panels up. (No promises until they know everything recorded correctly. They tried their best, but as we all know…tech happens.) So you can still listen to the panels! I’ll have a link for them in my upcoming Sheacon 2021 blog.

But, as I announced during my FAQ panel, I have an exciting announcement! Hall of Blood and Mercy will be releasing later this year as audiobooks!

Yay! Audio has been something you Champions have been asking for for a long time, so we decided to test the process out with Hazel, Killian, and the Drake/Medeis gang! All three books will be available at once, though I can’t give any release dates because Amazon has a review process that can sometimes take weeks or months to approve. (Generally, though, we’re hoping for a late autumn release.)

We worked with the UK company Bee Audio to produce these novels, and they were such a joy to work with that we’re hoping to use them for our next audio project, Court of Midnight and Deception! (Which we will hopefully begin working on in early winter, after I get a head start on Pip’s series.)

After Court of Midnight and Deception is recorded, next we’ll probably work on either the Retha books, or Fairy Tale Enchantress, or maybe even Elves of Lessa since Red Rope is already an audiobook.

For the record, it’s my goal not to start working on recording a book into an audio book until at least six months to a year after ebook publication. This gives readers plenty of time to submit errors–and I know because of my dyslexia that my books do have errors. It’s inescapable given that I can’t tell d and b apart. But this way audio books will be recorded as cleaner copies, and will be more enjoyable to listen to! (Because once something is recorded and released in audio, we will never, ever be able to change it. It is forever finished, and we won’t be able to accept errors.)

Are you excited for audio? Which series would you most like to hear? Thanks for reading, Champions. Until next time!

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Welcome to Sheacon 2021–schedule, goodies, and more!

It’s here! Sheacon 2021 has arrived–and we are going to have such a blast! Here is the official Sheacon schedule, which includes all panels, Drawing with a Twist sessions, and more! ALL TIMES ARE IN CENTRAL!

Friday (today!) August 6th:
5 PM Drawing with a Twist
6 pm Opening Ceremonies
7 pm The Fantasy Author Panel with panelists: Deborah Grace White, Tara Grayce, Sarah K. L. Wilson, Kimberly A. Rogers, and Julie Hall!
8 pm Retha and Dragons #1
9 pm Lord of the Rings Online Watch
10 pm Drawing with a Twist
11 pm Author interview of W.R. Gingell with me as the host!

Saturday August 7th:
6 am Drawing with a Twist
8 am Retha and Dragons #2
11 am Kitty Q&A Panel
1 pm Retha and Dragons #3
1:30 pm Vintertainment
3 pm Drawing with a Twist
4 pm The Fairy Tales Panel with authors: Camille Peters, A.G. Marshall, Allison Tebo, S.R. Nulton, and J. M. Stengl!
6 pm Drawing with a Twist
7 pm Celebrity Retha and Dragons Kitty, A.G. Marshall, RayJay, and Vin

 

Sunday August 8th:
3 am Retha and Dragons #4
5 am Drawing with a Twist
12 pm Kitty TFT/FTE Spoiler Q&A
3 pm Art Panel MyrrhLynn and RayJay
4 pm Retha and Dragons #5
5 pm Drawing with a Twist
7 pm Champion Trivia Panel Kitty
8 pm Closing Ceremonies

For anytime activities there will be a riddles channel, a KM Shea Bingo channel (My, my, my that should be interesting), a puzzle channel, a channel devoted specifically to art/cosplay, readalongs, and so much more! Last year everyone beat me black and blue in the riddles channel. I aspire to make it different this year, but I have my doubts I’ll succeed. Maybe bingo will be my thing??

To attend Sheacon 2021, you first need to join the KM Shea community discord server. You can do that here! Once you join, look for the “Sheacon 2021” channel. The Sheacon Planners will officially open up Sheacon 2021 by posting a link to the Sheacon’s exclusive server in that channel this afternoon. (If you are having problems finding any of this, you can ask for help in any of the channels, and your fellow Champions will gladly come to your aid!)

And wow, do we have the most epic goodie bag to share with you! (Note: All of this AND MORE!!! is available in the “Goodie Bag” channel on the Sheacon 2021 official server.)

From me, you can grab the Red Rope of Fate ebook for FREE if you’re in the mood for an elven love story with magical, soul-deep connections, and Apprentice of Magic is still on sale for 99 cents, so if you haven’t snagged it up yet, this is your chance!

FREE – Elves of Lessa #1: Red Rope of Fate: Amazon.com | All other Amazon stores
99 cents – Fairy Tale Enchantress #1: Apprentice of Magic: Amazon.com | All other stores 

Also, Olena made a set of beautiful, commemorative coloring pages for us–thanks to the Sheacon Planners for suggesting the Champion theme!

Click here for the Sheacon 2021 Coloring page PDF, and Click Here for the KM Shea Champions PDF!

Download these to either color digitally, or print them off! Please share them with anyone you know who might enjoy them!

Now, for the many goodies our generous panelists are offering….

Deborah Grace White has two books available for free–Heir of the Curse (The Kyona Chronicles #1) which is a fantasy series with DRAGONS and Kingdom of Beauty (The Kingdom Tales #1) which is her series of awesome fairy tale retellings! But snag these fast! Kingdom of Beauty is only free through August 7th!!

Heir of the Curse: (The Kyona Chronicles #1): Free August 6-8th
Kingdom of Beauty (The Kingdom Tales #1): Free August 3rd – 7th

The queen of adventures with a snap of fairy tale, AG Marshall has put Princess of Shadows up for free!

Princess of Shadows : FREE August 6th – 10th
The Grandmother with Enormous Eyes: a Free short story on AG’s website!

S. R. Nulton is a gem of a fairy tale reteller with a fun and playful style, and she’s got a deal just for you!

The Salamander Prince: FREE August 6th – 8th!

Urban fantasy lovers, you are in for a treat! My author pal, Haley Ryan, couldn’t come to Sheacon, but she sent goodies, anyway! The first book of this complete trilogy is free, and it contains one snarky, book-hoarding dragon shifter, a secretive winged assassin, danger, mystery, good tea, and a found family that never hesitates to fight for each other.

Dragon Chained: FREE August 6th – 10th!

If you’re in the mood for some elves, epic fights, and romance, Tara Grayce has you covered!

Fierce Heart (Elven Alliance #1) is FREE August 6th – 8th

Tara also is offering her NEWEST BOOK, Stolen Midsummer Bride, on sale for 99 cents! Get it! Get it now!!

Up next we’ve got Kimberly Rogers–who has created an intriguing supernatural world and has books stuffed with plenty of action! She is holding a massive sale on one of her series!

You can grab Leopard’s Heart (The Therian Way #1) for FREE, and Wolf’s Path (#2) and Tiger’s Strength (#3) for 99 cents each, all from August 6th-8th! Kimberly has also put up Threats by Numbers (Rogue Spotter #1) for FREE, and Flights by Numbers (#2) and Trials by Numbers (#3) are 99 cents each!

WR Gingell–Empress of writing fae worlds and series that suck you in–also has a book for free right now!

Playing Hearts is FREE until the 8th! Here’s the Amazon link, but it is available on Kobo, Barnes and Noble, and itunes as well!

For more fairytale fun we’ve got the classy Allison Tebo, who is putting all three of her fairy tales on sale for 99 cents each!

The Reluctant Godfather: 99 cents August 6th – 8th
A Royal masquerade: 99 cents August 6th – 8th
Poppy’s Peril: 99 cents August 6th – 8th

J.M. Stengl has a delightful fairy tale to share, too!

Cinder Ellie: Free August 6 – 8th

Sarah K. L. Wilson has an unbeatable offer for those of you who love audio books!

 

Finally, fan favorite Camille Peters is closing our goodies list out with a fairy tale we all love!

Enchantment is FREE August 6th – 8th
Camille is also offering the first book of her Dream World Chronicles, Dreamer, for free from August 6th – 8th! Click here to get it!

Additionally, some of the authors are offering special giveaways, and Julie Hall, author of the extremely popular Fallen Legacies series, is joining us as well! All of this fun starts TODAY, so come on down to the Sheacon 2021 Discord server to join us!

The post Welcome to Sheacon 2021–schedule, goodies, and more! appeared first on K. M. Shea.

Thank You Round II

Time to celebrate, Champions, we reached over 200 reviews/ratings!

Thank you so much for your support and love! It’s been a crazy whirl wind this week between Trial of Magic‘s release and the upcoming Sheacon, but as usual you Champions have spoiled me as you rally behind Angelique and her story!

As one final act of celebration, here’s a short story from Clovicus’s point of view! It’s called “Dealing with Bureaucracy” and takes place just before the events of Trial of Magic! (Click here for the PDF!) This short story does NOT have spoilers for Trial of Magic, but it does have general spoilers up to roughly 12 Dancing Princesses in Timeless Fairy Tales/all previous Fairy Tale Enchantress books.

However! I will be talking about Trial of Magic on my Sunday panel at Sheacon, and that section will be FILLED with spoilers, so make sure you read it before that panel!

Thanks for reading, and have a lovely week!

The post Thank You Round II appeared first on K. M. Shea.

Thank You Round I

Wow, wow, wow, Champions, thank you so much for your support of Trial of Magic! I’m so humbled by all of the love you’ve shown it–and me!

Trial of Magic was really hard to write–mainly because of that twist ending I’ve been setting up for like…10+ books, the sheer length of the monstrous thing, and because this was the last of the timeline matching. (From here on out, I’m freeeeeeeee!) But the months and years of work were truly worth it after seeing how much you all love it!

As I mentioned previously I’m doing my regular “Thank you for your support and your reviews”/Launch celebration, and we’ve blown past the first goal of 100 reviews/ratings, so here is my first thank you gift!

Click here for the printable PDF!

That’s right, I had Olena draw a coloring page for Trial of Magic! Pretty kick-butt, right??

For the next goal/milestone of 200 reviews/ratings across all amazon stores and goodreads combined, I’m releasing a short story–this one is told from Clovicus’ point-of-view, so you get a little taste as to what he’s been up to while Angelique is off saving the continent all the time.

Thank you again for your amazing response to ToM, your support, and your loyalty. I’m so, so glad you Champions have enjoyed the twist ending–it makes the years of hard work worth it! Thanks for reading!

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