K.M. Shea's Blog, page 33
October 25, 2019
Reign of Magic: Appearances and Characters
Reign of Magic was tricky to write for a lot of reasons, but mostly because of the sheer number of characters you meet and see. Of course the Summit made things extra difficult–almost every couple in the series appeared in it, and since it was told from Angelique’s viewpoint she obviously had a very different experience in greeting them. She also interacted far more with the mages, bringing in another component of the Summit that the Timeless Fairy Tale readers never got to see.
I think one of the personally most difficult characters to bring back, however, was Rothbart. He only appears in two scenes in Reign of Magic, but readers of my Swan Lake retelling know that he has a very tragic story. He’s actually a lot of fun to write. Between his cynical mind and bluntness, he’s prone to dropping some pretty painful insults on the likes of Liliane and Suzu. But I also enjoy his character because he does love underneath that charade of his. He loves deeply and without boundaries, which is why he chooses the end that he did.
As an author, it was unexpectedly painful for me to send Rothbart off a second time. I can’t even exactly say why, except that it made me sad for him again. (Which proves what a sap I am. I am sad for an imaginary person I made up. Le sigh.)
I had more fun with the likes of Princess Astra of Baris. Fairy Tale Enchantress readers got to see her as a little girl in Apprentice of Magic, so it was a lot of fun to bring her back into the story as an adult. (Although when I first wrote her into Apprentice of Magic I wasn’t nearly so cheery due to all the backwards math I had to do to make sure her ages lined up since I knew she would appear later in the story. Ugh.)
Lovelana is another character I brought back. But while I can confidently say she didn’t enjoy the experience I certainly did. (I always like messing with my characters and shaking their beliefs, muwahah!)
But even with all the characters I brought back, you also get some new people–like the smuggling sisters from Farset, the head librarian in Ciane, mages like Glaze, and more.
I enjoyed writing Glaze because of the change in attitude she has towards Angelique, and both the smuggling sisters and the head librarian and her pages were entertaining because of the sass in their temperaments, but one of the sisters in particular, Neely, meant a lot to me.
I made a short post on Facebook about this, but Neely is named in honor of a Champion from our community: a lovely and funny lady named Kimberly Neely, who passed away this summer.
Kimberly was a long-time Champion and friended me on Facebook ages ago. Even though we mostly interacted on my author page, I always loved seeing her Facebook posts on my timeline because she had the best sense of humor and always posted things that made me laugh even when a book was giving me trouble, like Reign of Magic did.
I never got to thank her for that. Or tell her how much I valued the cheer she spread in our community whenever she chimed in to a conversation.
So brave but sassy Neely is the best sendoff I could think up for her. Thank you, Kimberly, for all the laughs. I hope Neely can make other Champions laugh on in your honor.
And that is all for today, Champions! Thanks for reading, and have a lovely day!
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October 21, 2019
Timeless Fairy Tales: Zancara
Since Reign of Magic is so much longer than previous books, I thought I’d give you Champions a few extra days to finish it. But now it’s time to begin the themed blog posts, and what better to start with than a look at the landscape? Because, for the first time in Fairy Tale Enchantress and Timeless Fairy Tales, you get a chance to visit the self-isolated country of Zancara.
Angelique doesn’t see much, but since I know you Champions have been speculating on this country for a long time, I thought I’d shed at least a bit of light on this mysterious country!
To begin with, Zancara is very loosely based on historic Spain.
Citizens use Spanish titles of respect (Don and Dona) when addressing what is basically a rudimentary police force, the escolta. Architecture style is a mish-mash of Spanish and Italian, though you history nuts might be able to tell that the architecture type is slightly older than the kinds I’ve described in Loire and Trieux. (I was trying to reflect how the country’s isolation has kept some of its styles a little more archaic.)
When it came to the country’s colors–red and blue–I had to be a bit more loose in my interpretation of Spain’s colors. Spain’s modern flag is red and yellow–which is a problem because both of those colors are used together already in the Timeless Fairy Tale world. So I studied one of the more traditional versions of the royal family crest, which although the majority is red and gold, it also has blue or in some cases purple in it. I decided to go with blue to give Zancara a very stark contrast to the more traditional red, thus giving them their own flair!
As you now know, Zancara has enforced its isolation by walls and magic, making it difficult for others to sneak into the country. Additionally, as Angelique noticed mages are not organized under a Council and organization like the Veneno Conclave, and are allowed to own businesses. As Angelique confirms that some mages work for the escolta, you can see that Zancara magic users are also allowed to work directly for the monarchy, which makes them the only country with that distinction.
As is hinted in the book, Zancara entered its isolated state not because of tyranny from its royal family, but rather because the royals were doing what they thought would best protect their land. How and why the royal family came to that conclusion has been forgotten by those outside the country, but eventually I am hoping to explore that story.
But! That’s another book entirely. I hope you enjoyed your look into Zancara, Champions! Thanks for reading.
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October 16, 2019
Reign of Magic: Companion Short Story
Hello, Champions! Please allow me to shout a big “THANK YOU!” for Reign of Magic’s amazing launch! It has done really well, and I know it’s because of the loyalty and support of you Champions! Thank you for everything you do — from leaving honest reviews to spreading the news about the series. So in honor of all of that, let’s party!
That’s right, it’s time for the bonus short story–this one is told from the view point of Pegasus!
PDF Link: A Constellation’s Dilemma
I hope you enjoy it! It was so much fun to pull back the curtains on Pegasus. I so badly wanted to name the story “Pumpkin Spice Pegasus” in honor of how he met Evariste, but Pegasus would hate that so I very generously altered the title.
I also want to say a thank you to your patience! Normally I try to post my short stories sooner, but I was way behind on my work last week and this week because my collie–Perfect Dog–was sick. We had a bunch of late nights, daily visits with her vet, and a trip to the emergency vet, but I am happy to report she is doing so much better now!
So, what do you of Pegasus after this short? Did anything surprise you? Let me know in the comments down below! And once again, thank you for reading!
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October 15, 2019
2019 Reader Survey
The time has come for the 2019 Reader Survey!
For those who are new to the community, every year I hold a reader survey compiled by my team and I (in this case me, Rockstar-Assistant-Meg, and Myrrhlynn). The Survey is really important because it gives you Champions the chance to let your voices be heard, and it gives my team a sort of community checkup. We take the answers and comments you give us and hold meetings, in which we discuss our plans for the next year–specifically things like events, future books, etc. (That’s actually why we’re holding this now, at a somewhat inconvenient time since it messes up my Reign of Magic theme, but we’ve got our planning meetings coming up so we need your input!)
Yes, you read that right! Your answers will have an impact on our plans for 2020–that’s why we really want you to take it! It should only take a few minutes–all the answers are multiple choice/select all that apply this year–but we really appreciate your input.
AND! To sweeten the deal, if you fill out the reader survey, once you complete it you’ll be given a link for the 2019 Heroine Interview! The interview will eventually be put up on the website–you can expect to see it pop up around Christmas time–but you can get it now if you help us out and complete the survey.
CLICK HERE to take the survey–which will close Sunday, October 27th!
Thanks so much, Champions!
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October 13, 2019
2019 Heroine Poll Results
In September I held my annual Heroine Poll, and gave you champions five votes to pick your favorite K. M. Shea Heroines. Over 1,200 Champions voted in this poll, so a big thank you to everyone who participated! Now, for the results.
Smashing all previous records and taking first place by a huge gap is Angelique, with 735 votes! This is big because it means over half of all the Champions who participated voted for Angel. I can’t tell you how humbled and overjoyed I am that you Champions love her that much. Hopefully you’ll only like her more as she continues to let her sarcasm leak through!
Kit of Second Age of Retha took second place with 598 votes–a healthy lead over our third place winner, Rakel of the Snow Queen who snagged 553 votes. Fourth place was won by Quinn of Twelve Dancing Princesses with 515 votes, and the top five was rounded out with Britt Arthurs of King Arthurs and Her Knights taking fifth place with 501 votes.
After that, the vote count fell pretty drastically, but the votes dividing the heroines was much more hotly contested!
6th place: Gwendafyn of Royal Magic with 387 votes
7th place: Elle of Beauty and the Beast, 346
8th place: Tari of Red Rope of Fate, 286
9th place: Gemma of Rumpeltstilskin, 283
10th place: Cinderella of Cinderella and the Colonel with 257
If you want to see the final break out, you can check out the poll by clicking here!
Originally I was going to wait until we finished the Fairy Tale Enchantress themed blog posts to release this write up, but then I thought it might be nice to talk about it now while we wait for everyone in the community to read Reign of Magic…and then my mind was made up when I saw the results. Angelique aside, the results are still incredibly fascinating, because they somewhat mirror the results of the Hero poll.
The order is mixed up, but with the exception of Angelique, ALL the ladies in the top 10 had their significant others in the top 10 male characters. (As a reminder, Merlin took first, then Emerys, Solus Miles, Stil, Farrin, Benjimir, Friedrich, Arion, Severin, and Asher and Aaron.) Evariste wasn’t in the 2019 Hero Poll because I held it in January, and you didn’t have a chance to “meet” him until February, so he obviously couldn’t be in the top. But I’m willing to bet if I held it now he would bump Asher and Aaron out of place, making the top 10 a perfect reflection–even if the actual character order is different. (And Angelique totally hosed Merlin in the #1 vote department. He had 609 votes to her 735!)
I dug back through to the 2017 Heroine Poll–because we didn’t have one last year since we had our two month long summer reading program! Interestingly, the results are pretty similar. Britt took 1st that time, but Rakel staked her place in second, but Tari, Cinderella, Gemma, and Elle all appeared in the top 10. Dylan of Little Selkie and Raven of Life Reader had both appeared in the top ten, but they’ve fallen as I’ve greatly expanded the list. But hats off to Britt and Rakel for staying in the top five for two years!
In conclusion…I’m not entirely certain what to make of that, but I am grateful that Britt, Gwendafyn, and Tari break up the top 10 so it’s not a fairy tale monopoly. 
October 11, 2019
Massive Book Sale!
Reign of Magic is finally out, and I’m feeling great, so let’s go a bit crazy and celebrate! (Did you see that rhyme? Muwahah!)
For a limited time, Apprentice of Magic, Heart of Ice, and Beauty and the Beast are all on sale for 99 cents! Spread the word and tell your friends and family!
Apprentice of Magic: Amazon.com | All other Amazon Stores
Heart of Ice: Amazon.com | All other Amazon Stores
Beauty and the Beast: Amazon.com | All other Amazon Stores
Putting Apprentice of Magic on sale was a big thing for me–I don’t normally like putting a book on sale until it’s a year old at least. But I’m so grateful to you Champions for your patience, and I’m so glad that Reign of Magic is out, so let’s party on!
Please share the news with anyone who you think might like to snag these books while they are cheaper than a candy bar! Thank you, Champions, and enjoy the ebooks!
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October 10, 2019
Reign of Magic Now Available
The day you have patiently waited for has finally arrived, Reign of Magic is finally available to purchase or borrow in Kindle Unlimited!
Store links: Amazon.com | All other Amazon stores
A final reminder that this book is packed with all sorts of secrets, so keep your eyes open for all sorts of hints!
October 7, 2019
Reign of Magic Reading List
With Reign of Magic’s launch just a few days away, I thought now would be an ideal time to stir the pot with a recommended reading list to look at before it’s officially out. Reign isn’t going to get us all the way caught up on the current timeline (there are way too many other things happening for that–cough, Acri, cough) but it does hustle us through most of the remaining fairy tales. If you want to be truly in the know, I suggest, however, that you familiarize yourself with the following books…
Rumpelstiltskin
The Frog Prince
Swan Lake
Sleeping BeautyWhew, that is quite the list! Now remember, Reign is stuffed with Easter Eggs, so keep an eye out for hints and clues–even in scenes that you’ve seen before in other books! (And sometimes especially in those scenes.)
Until next time, Champions, thanks for reading!
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October 4, 2019
Reign of Magic Available for Pre-Order!
Extra, extra, read all about it! Reign of Magic–the behemoth of a book–is FINALLY available for pre-order!
Store links: Amazon.com | All other Amazon stores
Angelique’s spirit is almost broken.
She has sacrificed, she has trained, and she has driven herself to exhaustion while battling her way across the continent. But all her efforts have led to nothing. She still hasn’t uncovered Evariste’s location, or the identity of his captors.
Yet the occurrences of evil magic across the continent show no sign of slowing. Wyverns, goblins, trolls, and other evil creatures have become almost commonplace. And the attacks on the royal families and her fellow mages have continued to escalate.
When Angelique is ambushed by one of those who kidnapped Evariste, she is forced to face the truth: her core magic—which she despises—may be the only thing standing between her world and the coming darkness.
For those who have captured Evariste aren’t finished.
And their plans are far older and more devastating than anyone could have guessed.
Reign of Magic launches October 10th, so it’s only a short wait away!
As I’ve mentioned before, this book is long. It’s longer than both of the Snow Queen books put together, so considered yourself warned! Reign is also stuffed with Easter Eggs. I have never written a book with as many hints, foreshadowing, secret nudges, and clues as this book, so if you’re ripping through it and not seeing many, you might want to re-read it to make sure you catch everything. (Or you can join in the conversation on our discord servers to get some hints from fellow readers!)
Stay tuned for teasers, updates, and more! My website has been acting a bit wonky lately–it seems like the most recent blog post hasn’t been showing to everyone–but I’m working with my webdesigner to get that fixed.
Until next time, thanks for reading, Champions! I can’t wait to share this story with you! 
October 2, 2019
Website Maintenance Check
Hi there Champions,
You can disregard this post. Lately the website hasn’t been showing the most recent blog posts and updates to the main page of the site , so I’m working with my webdesigner to track the problem. This is a test to see if we’ve fixed it! Hopefully we have and I’ll be able to delete this shortly.
