K.M. Shea's Blog, page 23

Christmas Gift #1: Enthroned

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, Champions!

Today I present to you, my first gift: Enthroned!

Enthroned, book #1 of King Arthur and Her Knights, is free today, 12/3 through 12/7!

If you love knights, fantasy tales, and sarcastic modern girls who get unwillingly dragged back to the time King Arthur, than this book is for you! It’s the first in the finished, seven book King Arthurs and her Knights series! (The first six books are long novellas, but the last book is a full length novel!)

The series follows the adventures of Britt Arthurs, who touches a rusty sword in a stone and is dragged back through time where a much younger and hotter than expected Merlin asks her to pretend to be Arthur…because the real Arthur ran off with a shepherdess!

Click here for the link!

If you already have Enthroned but want to earn some holiday street cred, tell a friend/family member that you think would enjoy this story! Now may your December be merry, and keep an eye out for future gifts!

Updated quiz!

To celebrate the launch of the Court of Midnight and Deception series, I’ve updated the supernatural quiz! Click here to take it!

This new version contains images made by an incredibly talented Champion, RayJay! (She has an awesome instagram you can check out here!) Thank you for making these gorgeous images, RayJay!

I’ve also added one new type of supernatural.

Fun for the Holidays!

If you’ve stuck around the community for a while, you’ve probably picked up on the fact that I love holidays. Valentine’s Day, Thanksgiving, Halloween–I love them ALL! But my favorite holiday of all is Christmas!

I love everything about Christmas, and I try to enjoy every day of holiday season, so each year I throw a big celebrational bash and give away books and try to have a lot of fun! This year it’s going to be a tad different–in between all of my Christmas memes we’re still celebrating the launch of the Court of Midnight and Deception series, and Crown of Moonlight drops on the 18th. But I still wanted sprinkle my regular Christmas fun, so here is the schedule of freebies for December 2020!

Enthroned: Free December 3rd – 7th
Life Reader: Free December 10th – 14th
Puss in Boots: Free December 17th – 21st
Goose Girl: Free December 24th – 28th

In January the Hall of Blood and Mercy series will be on sale to celebrate Court of Midnight and Deception’s completion, which technically is after the holiday season buuuuuuuuuuut you guys should know by now I’m not a stickler for rules!

The End of NaNoWriMo

I’m interrupting all of the Court of Midnight and Deception shenanigan’s to observe the final day of NaNoWriMo.

This year was so fun! I owe a huge thank you to Vin because this is the first year our community really made the push to complete it together, and it wouldn’t have happened without her organization skills, and all the writing sprint sessions she scheduled. And, of course, this wouldn’t have been nearly as awesome if not for all the Champions who joined in. Thanks everyone!

Whether your successfully wrote 50,000 words or not, I really feel like as a community, we won. The Spirit of NaNoWriMo is just to write your story and have fun, and we absolutely did that! Woohoo!

If you finished NaNoWriMo and now you’re wondering what to do with your story, I updated my Author Resource Guide to help you out! I am not a good teacher, and everyone’s author journey is so unique that I find my advice wouldn’t be helpful to everyone, so my guide is a list of all the resources I’ve personally used on my author journey that will hopefully be useful to you as well. I have lists of my favorite podcasts, the reference books that have had the greatest impact on me, as well as the names of all my cover artists, the kinds of software I use, and more!

Once again–and no matter how many words you completed–congratulations! You rock, Champions! Now–with December beginning tomorrow and Crown of Shadows launching soon–may the holiday fun and games begin!

The post The End of NaNoWriMo appeared first on K. M. Shea.

How to Train With Vampires!

Crown of Shadows is out and you Champions have been rallying like crazy! Thank you so much for all the reviews and your support–you’ve made this an amazing book launch and a beyond-my-dreams start for this trilogy!

To celebrate the launch–and as my thank you to everyone for their honest and amazingly written reviews–I have a Court of Midnight and Deception/Hall of Blood and Mercy crossover short for you! It gives you a glimpse of some of your favorite Drake Vampires. I hope it makes you laugh!

Click here for the PDF: How to Train with Vampires!

Hazel and Killian make an appearance–at least one scene–in every book of the Court of Midnight and Deception trilogy. What did you think of seeing them together as an engaged couple? I love it whenever they hang with the Paragon. He brings out the “best” in Killian.

Crown of Shadows: Now Available!

The day is finally here Champions! Crown of Shadows is finally available to purchase on Amazon or download and read through KU!

Get it now: Amazon.com | All other Amazon stores

As usual I’m having my Book Launch Celebration/Thank You special, so when Crown of Shadows reaches approximately 100 reviews (that’s 100 reviews total including those on all Amazon stores and Goodreads) I’ll release a bonus companion short story! If you’ve read the Hall of Blood and Mercy series (and I really hope you have!) this bonus contains some special cameos from your favorite Drake family vampires!

A big thank you in advance to everyone who takes the time to leave an honest review. Reviews help me a lot because it’s the best way other interested readers can determine if my work is something they want to try out or not. There’s also certain kinds of advertising, like some free promotion websites, that have a minimum review requirement, and you Champions help me blow past those requirements!

As usual, I’m going to hold off on any blog posts that might have spoilers for a few days to give you some time to read the story! If you are looking for some fellow readers to spill the tea with, don’t worry, there are people waiting for you to join the discussion on Facebook and Discord !!

 

Here’s a fun quote image for you as a bonus:

I hope you enjoy the book!

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Crown of Shadows: Pre-Order Live!

You’ve waited so patiently Champion, and I’m excited to tell you that Crown of Shadows is finally available on pre-order! This is book #1 in the Court of Midnight and Deception trilogy, and it releases on November 20th.

Click here to pre-order: Amazon.com | All other Amazon stores

The fae of the Night Court are desperately searching for a new monarch to crown before the Court collapses.

I couldn’t care less.

I’ve done everything I can to bury my fae blood and embrace my human half. That changes when some fae nobles show up on my doorstep and announce that I’m the next Queen of the Night Court.

Becoming an unwilling fae queen? Check. Inheriting a terrible mess? Double check.

The Court is almost bankrupt, my citizens’ favorite hobby is backstabbing one another, and I don’t know who I can trust since someone keeps trying to assassinate me.

Speaking of assassins, I get introduced to the best in the business—a fae lord nicknamed the Wraith. His deadly profession means he fears no one. The only reason he doesn’t kill me on the spot is he’s also a member of the Night Court and the Court’s magic protects me. But that doesn’t prevent him from trading verbal barbs with me whenever we meet.

And if cat herding all these uncooperative fae and chatting with assassins wasn’t enough, I’m required to get married as part of some archaic Court law. This “queen” gig is the worst!

Supposedly I can choose anyone to marry, but with all the infighting I need someone who is neutral and won’t provoke more political power struggles.

So, why do I keep thinking of a certain assassin?

 

Before I go Champions I want to leave you with two quick tips:

This book is about 50% longer than Magic Forged, so if you are planning a binge session make sure to schedule enough time!
I’m going to be dropping quote images and snippets from the book in Facebook and Discord between now and when the November 20th, so if you are ok with some spoilers go and check them out!

I can’t wait to share this trilogy with you! I hope it makes you laugh!

New Paperbacks!

Rejoice, Champions! Meg and I–but mostly Meg–worked hard to produce four paperbacks! That’s right, the entirely Hall of Blood and Mercy trilogy (Magic Forged, Magic Redeemed, and Magic Unleashed) and The Prince’s Bargain (book #3 of Elves of Lessa) are now available to purchase in a paperback format!

Unfortunately for the international Champions, your books may be a lot more expensive depending where you live. Amazon itself will charge more based on whether or not it prints in your home country or if the book has to be internationally shipped to you. But that’s what ebooks are for, am I right?

NaNoWriMo: Fight On!

We are almost halfway through the month, and the fight to “win” NaNoWriMo continues!

As a bit of fun/encouragement for today, I thought I’d share my NaNoWriMo pintrest board! Myrrhlynn and I put it together ages ago, but it still has lots of great tips and words of wisdom, so check it out!

And…reluctantly…hesitantly…I’m going to share you guys and excerpt from the first book I ever wrote.

I was in 7th grade–I think I was 11 or 12 at the time–when I wrote my first book. My novel was a 46,000 word, young adult sci fi story that is so horrific, so terrible, I mostly try to forget it exists, except in times like these. Either right around now–or sometime closer to the end of the month–you likely will end up questioning your skills and your ability. You might think you’re wasting your time because you’re a bad writer, or that you could never be a good storyteller.

Ha. Haha. HAHAHAHAHAHA. Ooooooh Champions. Please allow me to give you PROOF that I didn’t start out writing like I do now as I unveil the most hideous skeleton I have: The Awakening Call– Book 1 of the Star Flight Series.

CLICK HERE IF YOU THINK YOU CAN SURVIVE READING IT!

Are you alive? Did you make it? I hope you did, and now you obviously know that I was terrible when I started. And with good reason!

Writing is an art. Most musicians aren’t able to instantly pick up their first instrument and play a concert piece. Similarly, most writers won’t write J. R. R. Tolkien-esque books on their first try. (Ahaha I obviously didn’t!) So if you’re feeling discouraged because you don’t think your book is perfect or that you’re not doing a good job, please allow me to assure you that you 100% are. When it comes to writing, finishing is the real win. (That’s why NaNoWriMo pledges to write 50,000 words in 30 days–not 50,000 perfect words, just words!)

The more you write, the better you get! And as terrible as my first book was, my second book was Princess Ahira. It’s gone through some pretty deep edits, but it’s available to purchase on Amazon. A lot of Champions enjoy Ahira–and it wouldn’t have been possible if I hadn’t finished *Gag* The Awakening Call, first!

And that’s the end of this embarrassing blog post. Now, Champions, please do me a favor and go read something of mine that will restore me to your good graces–and make you forget all about The Awakening Call. UGH–even that title is just hideous!

Thanks for reading–and I can’t wait for Crown of Shadows to launch!!

Ps: YES, as 7th grader I wrote myself into the story as a 45-year-old. I was weird, okay? (Or maybe I just had visions of greatness, haha)

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NaNoWriMo

It’s November, which means NaNoWriMo–or National Novel Writing Month–has begun!

National Novel Writing Month began in 1999 as a daunting but straightforward challenge: to write 50,000 words of a novel in thirty days. The event is run by an official NaNoWriMo nonprofit organization–which is where I got the description from.