K.M. Shea's Blog, page 25
August 22, 2020
Sheacon Freebies & Discounts
We are going into day 2 of Sheacon! Today is a big day–I’ve got a Champion Q&A at 11 am central time, and Brittany Fichter, Kenley Davidson, Melanie Cellier, and Shari L Tapscott will join me for an Entwined Author’s panel at 5 pm central time. And that’s in addition to all the other fun we have going on in the #kitty-notes-fanart-cosplay–a channel devoted to fanart, cosplay, and notes to me–the scheduled Read-alongs, sessions of Drawing with a Twist, Pineapples to Pineapples, and more!
But let’s start the day with some extra excitement: FREE EBOOKS!
Yes, that’s right! Vampires Drink Tomato Juice (book #1 in The Magical Beings’ Rehabilitation Center) and Princess Ahira (a standalone fantasy) are both free today!
Additionally, Brittany Fichter, Kenley Davidson, Shari L Tapscott, and Melanie Cellier all are putting books up for free to celebrate, so make sure you drop by Sheacon and check out the Goodie-Bag channel!
To participate in Sheacon you’ll need to join my discord channel, then go to the “Sheacon” channel to receive instructions on how to join the Con!
Special Amazon Sale!
Twelve Dancing Princesses was selected by Amazon for a special discount for August, so you can snag it for 99 cents right now! Unfortunately, this offer is only good in the US and Canada–the other Amazon stores weren’t interested. 
August 21, 2020
SheaCon Opening Ceremonies!
SheaCon is about to begin!
The opening ceremony starts at 6 pm central time! After that you can play games like Pineapples to Pineapples, check out the creations your fellow Champions are posting in the fanart/cosplay channel, and W. R. Gingell is holding a panel at midnight (that’s midnight central time, it should be a more friendly hour for our internationals) for you urban fantasy and fairy tale lovers! (She writes both of those genres, and more!)
To participate in Sheacon you’ll need to join my discord server ( https://kmshea.com/fan-discussion/ )then go to the “Sheacon” channel to receive instructions on how to join the Con!
Your fellow Champions and I can’t wait to see you there!
Finally, a huge thank you to the SheaCon Planning Committee! Without them, none of this would have been possible! We love you guys!
The post SheaCon Opening Ceremonies! appeared first on K. M. Shea.
August 19, 2020
Coming Soon: SheaCon!
The fun starts FRIDAY and lasts through Saturday and Sunday! (that’s the 21st through the 23rd) But rather than tell you myself, I thought I’d have the amazing and wonderful SheaCon Planning Committee give you the rundown of what you can expect to see!
Hello Champions!
We would like to invite you to the very first Sheacon! Sheacon is an online convention that will be held on a dedicated Discord server, with planned activities as well as lots of time to discuss all things KM Shea! The con will run the weekend of August 21 to August 23. The server will open at 2 pm central time, and we will be holding an opening ceremony at 6 pm central time. There will be games and chat rooms available at all times as well as events happening throughout the weekend so that everyone can join in the fun, regardless of your time zone. We will even have some of Kitty’s author friends in attendance: Brittany Fichter, Kenley Davidson, Melanie Cellier, Shari L Tapscott and WR Gingell! Kitty will also be doing a Q&A at 11 am central time on Saturday August 22nd. To ensure you don’t miss the first ever Sheacon, you will need to be a member of Kitty’s discord server. To join her server you can follow the instructions on her blogpost at this link https://kmshea.com/fan-discussion/. Once you are a member of the discord server, keep checking the #Sheacon channel for updates. On August 21st at 6 pm central time, we will hold an Opening Ceremony! We hope to see you there!
The Sheacon Planning Champions
W. R. Gingell is holding a panel on Friday night at midnight central time–which will be during the day for some of our international Champions, so I hope you can come! I’ll be there for the opening ceremonies–discord has voice chat channels so you’ll be able to hear the SheaCon planning Committee and myself as we open the Con–and there’s a few other scheduled activities then, so come join us!
As the Planning Champions mentioned, the Con servers will remain closed until the fun begins Friday night, but if you’re not familiar with discord you might want to go join now so the friendly Discord Champions can help you learn the ins and outs of it!
I hope you can come! Your fellow Champions and I can’t wait to see you there!
The post Coming Soon: SheaCon! appeared first on K. M. Shea.
August 10, 2020
Time Flies
I’m so thankful for all the love The Prince’s Bargain has received from you Champions, and I’m honored Myth and Arvel were able to make you laugh! Thank you so much! In honor of that, today I thought I would tie up the book celebration by discussing characters from previous books!
When The Prince’s Bargain picks up, it’s been roughly eight years since Tari and Arion were first bonded, and about five years since Benjimir and Gwendafyn married. (My math is iffy on that so don’t take it as 100% for certain. The point is, it’s been almost a decade.)
Benjimir is now the Commanding General of the Calnor Army, while Arion was promoted to Guard Commander and runs the Honor Guard. (The previous Guard Commander followed Benjimir to the army.) Similarly, Thad, Grygg, and Wilford were all promoted to the position of captain, and they now have several squads under their command, although they are still up to their old shenanigans.
Thad married his elven sweetheart, Evlawyn, and he continues to be the one that accompanies royals around–something I did on purpose. 
August 7, 2020
What’s in Store for Calnor and Lessa
Although I won’t be writing book #4 of the Elves of Lessa Series until next year, I thought I’d talk about where the series is going so I can clear up some expectations.
Book #4 is titled Accidental Enchantment, and it will finish off this current timeline/arc as it follows the adventures of Blaise and Seer Ringali’s currently-unnamed son. (Yay! You’re finally getting a human heroine and elf hero couple!)
I’ll be blunt, the High Elves do not come back in Blaise’s book.
I’m aware a bunch of you Champions were hoping that they’d come back. You might even think it makes more sense. But as the author of the story, there’s some things about the High Elves return–and what they bring back with them–that I know, which made me decide from the moment I started writing Tari’s book that if I kept writing in this world, the High Elves would have to return a long time after the age of Tari, Arion, Fyn, Ben, Myth, and Arvel.
Why? Because if the High Elves came back now…Lessa and Calnor would fall.
The Elves of Lessa series (By which I mean this current arc.) is all about Calnor and Lessa coming together. It’s about the relationship between the two countries, and essentially follows how they moved from two very separate, isolated countries, to such close allies that their people intermingle. And because the countries are only just now–with this generation–really coming together, that’s why it would be a disaster if the High Elves returned.
I’m big on trying to include realism in my fantasy books–it’s why I make such a big deal out of budgets, include a variety of governmental departments, and even why I was excessively careful with the language barrier between Lessa and Calnor. As it stands, less than 1% of the population of both countries can speak both Calnoric and Elvish. There is only one elf capable of using High Elf magic, and the Evening Stars are very limited in number. Calnor just started accepting female guards in the past few years, and Lessa has barely begun to take strides to move its government to Haven.
Only the royal families are truly capable of interacting and speaking together, and the Translator’s Guild is already stretched past its limits. Heck–the human wizards and the elf enchanters can’t even communicate!
If the High Elves came back now, they’d slaughter them. Lack of communication is a huge deal–or the governments won’t be able to work together, much less the general populace.
So what— you may be thinking Then have everyone learn the language–it’s fixed! But my love of realism means it can’t work that way. The best way I can describe it is to say it’s like cars.
These new, open lines of communication, Fyn discovering she can use High Elf magic, Myth opening up new lines of trade, all of that is like the original Ford Model T car produced in the early 1900s. The model T was a huge leap forward for humanity as it was the first car built with the intention of being more widely available, but it had immense limitations and is excessively rudimentary if you compare it to something like one of the newest Tesla models from today.
Just like it took over a century of innovations to get from the Model T to the newest Tesla model, it’s going to take Lessa and Calnor a lot of time to be at a point where they can face the High Elves, and the trouble they bring with them. To begin with, Lessa and Calnor both need to be better versed with magic, with fighting together, and most importantly, they need the average citizens to be able to talk to each other. And none of that can change in a mere decade. As it is with my car example, it’s the kind of thing that takes generations to fix.
Looping this back to book 4, Accidental Enchantment will be the final nail in bringing humans and elves together, and it will loop back to the events of the first book as Blaise struggles to uncover the secrets of Nodusigm. It’s the culmination of bringing Lessa and Calnor together, and the hero and the heroine’s actions will have a lasting impact on both countries, and change the course of their future.
But fear not! The return of the high elves will get it’s own series arc with several books–because with everything that shakes down…it will be needed.
August 3, 2020
Myth & Arvel: Their Impact
I’m not doing too many blog posts about the Prince’s Bargain because I’ve already started writing my next urban fantasy trilogy, but when I was looking over what I’d done in the past I saw a blog post I wrote after Royal Magic launched, where I discussed what Tari and Arion, and then Gwendafyn and Benjimir did for their world. So today I thought I’d talk about what Arvel and Myth mean to Lessa and Calnor.
Myth and Arvel are the first truly intellectual couple in this series, and as such they have–and will continue to have–a vastly different impact from the previous characters. While Arion and Tari opened up lines of communication between Less and Calnor, and Benjimir and Gwendafyn encouraged deeper friendships and interactions between their people, Arvel and Myth’s abilities allow them to tackle the economic issues of the two countries.
Arvel’s passion has always been economics–you can see this in Royal Magic–and while Myth is capable of easing social communication, her true love is trade translation. Together, they’ll be able to boost trade between the two countries. Trade had been increasing between Calnor and Lessa, but with Arvel and Myth working together, they’ll be able to make it flourish and grow. Currently, most trade is done one way. Lessa sells goods to Calnor. But with Myth having access to Tari and Gwendafyn–who both set trends–and being married to Arvel–who is the Chief Liaison for Calnor-Lessa trade, Myth will be able to better determine what human goods elves are interested in and send them to Lessa.
There’s also the added bonus that, during socials and events, Myth will be capable of translating for visiting nobles. And unlike Benjimir and Gwendafyn–who frequently leave Haven for military reasons–and even Arion and Tari–who leave to visit family–Arvel and Myth will permanently settle in Haven. Myth’s presence will be increasingly more important as the limited number of translators are spread between the two countries and the elves try to move their government base to Haven as well.
But Myth isn’t the only world-shaker. Already, Arvel has had a huge impact on Calnor by taking down the Fulton family–which will have ripples in the courts, trade, and even the justice system. Previously, the Fultons had a monopoly on the court, until the courts abandoned Queen Luciee for Gwendafyn. Without that power, they doubled down on trade and built their wealth–which Arvel has dismantled and seized. Calnor has, essentially, been cleaned up.
Not bad for two library lovers, eh?
Oh! I almost forgot. There’s one tiny, little way Myth just might have another impact on both Less and Calnor. Blaise is a hound on the scent of High Elf magic. And as she showed off at the end of The Prince’s Bargain, Myth is capable of understanding and speaking some of it. One has to wonder what that could mean for Blaise’s future….
Thanks for reading, Champions! I hope you have a lovely day!
The post Myth & Arvel: Their Impact appeared first on K. M. Shea.
July 27, 2020
A Matter of Economics
The Prince’s Bargain has launched, so let the celebration begin!
I still want to give you Champions a few days to catch up in case you didn’t have time to read Prince’s Bargain over the weekend, so I won’t make a blog post about it until the end of the week. But, in the meantime, as a huge thank you for such an excellent launch, and to serve as my gratefulness for all the thoughtful, honest reviews you Champions left, I have a short story for you!
It’s called a Matter of Economics (Click Here for the PDF!) and it involves Myth’s first attempt at matchmaking.
July 24, 2020
The Prince’s Bargain: Now Available
The day has come! The Prince’s Bargain finally available to purchase on Amazon or download and read through KU!
Amazon.com | All other Amazon Stores
As usual I’m having my Book Launch Celebration/Thank You special, so when The Prince’s Bargain reaches approximately 90 reviews (that’s 90 reviews total including those on all Amazon stores and Goodreads) I’ll release the companion short story! You guys are really going to want this one, it focuses on a particular member of the Trio of Daftness.
July 18, 2020
The Prince’s Bargain: Pre-order up!
You read that right, The Prince’s Bargain (Elves of Lessa #3) is now available for pre-order!
Amazon.com | All other Amazon stores
When Prince Arvel was declared the heir to the throne, he was ignorant of all the forthcoming unpleasantness the title would bring him. Nobles who used to ignore him now seek to manipulate and control him. Even worse, his attendance is mandatory at every social function and party.
Every. Party.
So when the time comes for a translator to be assigned to him, Arvel jumps at the chance to get closer to the beautiful female translator he has seen studying in the library at all hours of the day.
Myth, a mere translator with a knack for languages, never expected to be yanked into the secret power struggle between the human nobles. But once she is given the assignment of Translator to Prince Arvel, she discovers danger can lurk in dazzling ballrooms and seemingly inane social exchanges.
As an elf ignorant to human customs, Myth feels woefully unprepared for her new role. No matter how much she studies, books can’t tell her how to survive a prince who is too charming and warm, or the traitorous nobles who seek to harm him.
When Myth is attacked, Arvel realizes there’s nothing he won’t do to see that she is made safe again. But to outwit his enemies, he’ll need Myth’s help and language skills.
They have gone through their lives being competent and self-reliant. But if they can set aside their pride and work together, they and their people will never be the same.
The Prince’s Bargain will release on July 24, so mark your calendars and prepare for the next entry in the Elves of Lessa’s saga!
In the meantime, thanks for reading, and I hope you have a lovely day!
The post The Prince’s Bargain: Pre-order up! appeared first on K. M. Shea.
July 13, 2020
Summer of Polls: The Winners
The Summer of Polls is completed, and Champions…you have spoken! So let’s go over the results.
For the Favorite Heroine poll we had roughly 1,370 Champions vote–a new record!
Angelique of fairy Tale Enchantress took first place with 798 votes! She remains the queen of Heroines after her decisive victory last year. Kit of the Second Age of Retha took second place with 743 votes–which is a smaller margin that I would have expected, and Hazel Medeis of Hall of Blood and Mercy won third place with 690 votes. We had a huge drop in the votes, then, as our fourth place–Quinn of Twelve Dancing Princesses–had 550 votes, and Britt Arthurs from King Arthur and Her Knights snagged fifth place with 535 votes.
As for what the rest of our top ten look like…
6th place: Rakel of Snow Queen with 531 votes (a VERY narrow margin against Britt)
7th place: Gwendafyn of Royal Magic with 465
8th place: Elle of Beauty and the Beast with 296 votes
9th place: Tari of Red Rope of Fate with 273 votes
10th place: Gemma of Rumpelstiltskin with 247 votes very narrowly beating Cinderella who had 243 votes.
If you want to see how everyone sorted out, you can check out the poll for the rest of the voting order–although it will only show you percentages, not the actual vote count–sorry!
Next up, we have our Favorite Hero Poll! For this one we had approximately 890 votes!
Evariste of Fairy Tale Enchantress matched his leading lady and took first place with 474 votes! Emerys of Twelve Dancing Princesses and Killian Drake of Hall of Blood and Mercy ran a very close race–even though Killian has only been around for a few months, so way to go Hall of Blood and Mercy Champions! Emerys took second with 445 votes, and Killian won third with 442 votes. Talk about a close race! Solus Miles of Second Age of Retha was once again the dark horse of the round and won fourth with 430 votes while Stil from Rumpelstiltskin snagged fifth place with 398 votes!
After that…
6th place: Farrin of Snow Queen with 357 votes
7th place: Benjimir of Royal Magic with 313 votes
8th place: Merlin of King Arthur and her Knights with 306 votes
9th place: Friedrich of Cinderella and the Colonel with 219 votes
10th place: Severin of Beauty and the Beast with 204 votes
For the first year ever Arion dropped from the top 10–he’s been the ONLY hero to place in the top 5-10 every year since the poll was created, so that was a bit of a surprise to me! Although he does have some major supporters among the Newsletter Champions, so in this case it might have been because he didn’t get the usual newsletter announcement. We’ll have to see if he makes a triumphant return next year!
The next segment of our summer poll was a newcomer, created because I couldn’t really ask “who is your favorite secondary character” without having to then create 1,000 entries, so I narrowed it down to “Favorite Animal Sidekick” and the results are in with over 1,000 Champions voting!
Pegasus of Fairy Tale Enchantress fame trounced his opponents with 804 votes! Roland/Puss from Puss in Boots took second with 694 votes, Pricker Patch from Rumpelstiltskin claimed third with 574 votes, and Pax from Second age of Retha will be most displeased as he took fourth in this category with 452 votes. Rounding out the top five we have the other lesser known pets from Second Age of Retha Trash Panda/Sinistre/Chester in fifth with 385 votes!
6th place: Aphrodite & Bagel of Hall of Blood and Mercy with 337 votes
7th place: The Kelpie of Little Selkie with 319 votes
8th place: Tuggles the unicorn from Princess Ahira with 273 votes
9th place: The orange kitty from Puss in Boots with 183 votes
10th place: Jo-jo the goat and Hvit from Rumpelstiltskin with 150 votes
I do find it interesting that half of these entries are equines, but I think that might be a sign more of the kind of animals I write than your actual preference, Champions. Well, except for Pegasus. Nearly 80% of you voted for him, so a round of applause to Pegasus!
For our final poll–which I did only because you, the Champions, have requested it so much for the past few years, the “Favorite Shea/Sohma Couples” poll was a smashing success! Roughly 1,030 of you Champions voted in this poll, and wow was it a tight race!
Angelique & Evariste took first, creating a quadruple win for the Fairy Tale Enchantress team who took first in every single poll. BUT! For the first time, we had a serious contender who nearly beat them! A&E had 527 votes, while Quinn & Emerys of Twelve Dancing Princesses took second with 516 votes! And our third place winners, Hazel Medeis and Killian Drake of Hall of Blood and Mercy, weren’t far behind them with 502 votes! Kit & Solus Miles of Second Age of Retha and Britt & Merlin from King Arthur and Her Knights rounded out the top five winners by taking fourth with 496 votes and fifth with 414 votes!
6th place: Rakel & Farrin of The Snow Queen with 411 votes
7th place: Gemma & Stil of Rumpelstiltskin with 392 votes
8th place: Gwendafyn & Benjimir of Royal Magic with 388 votes
9th place: Elle & Severin of Beauty and the Beast with 329 votes
10th place: Cinderella & Friedrich of Cinderella and the Colonel with 219 votes
The couple poll didn’t surprise me too much–it basically was a recreation of the favorite hero and heroine polls, with a slightly changed order in some cases. It did surprise me that Quinn and Emerys–and even Hazel and Killian to an extent–made a serious go of it against Angelique and Evariste.
No, scratch that. What I found most surprising about the whole thing was that Pegasus actually had the greatest amount of votes, and won by the highest margin. (I did not see that coming!)
And, now, what you’ve all been waiting for! The 2020 Summer of Polls Character interview! As my thanks for participating–and a sort of way to wrap everything up–I wrote a character interview with the top five couples! (And one pesky interloper!) Click here to read it!
It was a fun month, and it really psyched me up for the launch of the Prince’s Bargain! Keep your eyes peeled, I should have the pre-order announcement coming soon! Thanks for reading, Champions!
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