K.M. Shea's Blog, page 4
December 18, 2023
Short Story: Family Bonding
Are you ready for a bonus short story?
The Lies of Vampires and Slayers is now out, which means we have officially kicked off the next Magiford Supernatural City trilogy! Book #2 will be out January 12th and book #3 will be out in early April. I’m really sorry for the delay between books 2 and 3 but my writing speed continues to be slow thanks to my pesky health problems and it takes me a lot longer to finish a book than it did in 2020 or earlier.
But enough sad talk, time for some happy news! The reviews are in and I am so happy to see the Champions reaction to this book. I was sick with a cold for the whole week leading up to the book launch so I might be a bit more emotional than usual but my Champions are the best! Once again your honest, detailed, and oh so sweet reviews have let this author touched and humbled. So thank you. We hit the 100+ reviews between Goodreads and Amazon in record time-if I hadn’t been sick for over 10+ days I would have posted this earlier!
And now the moment we have all been waiting for! The bonus short story featuring Jade and her family of vampire slayers: Click here to read Family Bonding.
What did you think? I knew from the moment I started writing this series that I needed to do a short story starring Jade’s family. It allows you to see how intense they are and I hope gives you a more detailed understanding as to why all her task force teammates are in awe of her. 
I’m also sharing the version of the Spot It tracker that includes the names for all the Places and People in The Lies of Vampires and Slayers. Click here or on the Spot It image below to get the “easy” version of the cameo tracker. And let me know what you thought of this fun activity – were you able to find all the cameos?
If you still haven’t read The Lies of Vampires and Slayers here are the book links so you can jump right in:
Amazon.com | All other Amazon Stores
The post Short Story: Family Bonding appeared first on K. M. Shea.
December 15, 2023
The Lies of Vampires and Slayers: Spoiler Post
Greetings, Champions! The Lies of Vampires and Slayers is officially released! Did you read it yet?
I’m bringing back the tradition of a Spoiler Post because I want to give you blog-reading Champions a place to voice your reading thoughts during this initial book launch so please talk away!
Warning: If you are waiting to read this series until all the books are out, or if you haven’t gotten a chance to read The Lies of Vampires and Slayers yet, then I’d suggest waiting before you check out the rest of the post or read the comments, or you’ll spoil the story for yourself!
As usual, I’ve will be writing short story as my “thank you” for the launch of this new book and for it reaching 100 reviews–that’s 100 honest reviews pooling from Goodreads and all the Amazon stores! Reviews and ratings are a big deal for authors. Honest reviews can help readers decide if a book is their thing or not, and I’m so thankful that you’re willing to spend your time leaving a review–which is why I’m happy to write the shorts! And based on how quickly the reviews showed up for book 1, you can expect to see the short story….very soon. (Hahaha, thank you Champions, you are the best!) But until then, let’s talk spoilers!
So, Champions, what was your favorite part? Was there anything unexpected? What are your theories for the rest of the series?
This is the first time you have seen Vampire Slayers in depth – what did you think? Now that you’ve finally met Considine what is your impression of him?
Anything you’re looking forward to seeing in the next books?
The post The Lies of Vampires and Slayers: Spoiler Post appeared first on K. M. Shea.
December 14, 2023
The Lies of Vampires and Slayers: Spot the Cameos
We are just hours away from Jade’s new trilogy, Magic on Main Street launching! I’ve got the links to the pre-orders one more time if you need them but I’m also using the post to launch a special treat that Vin, our Discord Chief Moderator, and I have dreamed up for you for while you are reading The Lies of Vampires and Slayers.
Amazon.com | All other Amazon Stores
The Magic on Main Street series doesn’t deal with the Paragon’s search (which he talks about in the Gate of Myth and Power series) and because of that Jade doesn’t interact with most of the other series characters you know and love (other than the Drakes!). But since this is still the same city as the other books I’ve sprinkled tons of cameos of characters and places you will recognize! Some of them will be pretty obvious and some of them will be harder to identify, even if you took my advice to re-read the other books.
To help you track down all the cameos Vin created a “Spot it!” tracking graphic for you. Click the graphic below to download it and then color it in/mark it when you find each cameo.
This is the extra hard version of the “Spot it!” tracker that doesn’t have any of the answers included, it just has a clip art representing the place/character. When I release the bonus short story for reaching 100 honest reviews on The Lies of Vampires and Slayers I will post the version that has the names included. For now, I’m going to give you one hint – not all of the characters Vin has listed in the “People” section represent actual “people”.
Vin and I had a lot of fun putting this together so let us know what you think of this activity!
The post The Lies of Vampires and Slayers: Spot the Cameos appeared first on K. M. Shea.
December 1, 2023
Merry Christmas 2023 : Gift 1
It’s December, which means I can officially start the Christmas themed blog posts! And what better way to kick off the season but with the gift of a free book?!?
That’s right! Between now and December 4th you can get Princess Ahira for free on Amazon, so share the news with anyone you think would enjoy this dragon/princess story!
Get your book gift: Amazon.com | All other Amazon stores
Since Princess Ahira is a standalone and not part of a series I don’t get a chance to talk about it very much. I’m including the book description below, but I’m curious what the Champions think of this book? (I know many of you have read it since I’ve made it free before. 
) Do you remember when you first tried this book ? What parts did you liked best?
Ahira isn’t a typical princess. When she’s kidnapped by dragons on her sixteenth birthday she declares it the best thing that has ever happened to her. No more etiquette lessons!
Assigned to a powerful but extremely messy dragon named Azmaveth, Ahira soon makes friends with the magical creatures around her new home. Even cleaning up after Azmaveth and putting up with with his failed magic experiments isn’t too bad, until he forces her to work with his human steward, Kohath.
Kohath is a piece of work. His bossy attitude combined with his lack of personal space makes him the most infuriating male Ahira has ever met. He’s also hiding a huge secret.
But war is looming with the Valkyrie, and not even the dragons are immune to political maneuvering. A surprise betrayal breaks Ahira’s heart and sends her packing back to her old home. If she does nothing she’ll never see Azmaveth, Kohath, or the rest of her magical friends again. Happily ever afters don’t come easy, but this princess just might be willing to fight for hers.
The post Merry Christmas 2023 : Gift 1 appeared first on K. M. Shea.
November 29, 2023
Prepare for Magic on Main Street
Greetings, Champions, are you ready for Jade’s trilogy, Magic on Main Street? I’ve been picturing the heroine + hero dynamics for this series for years and I’m excited for you to finally meet them in a few weeks. We’ve got the pre-order link–which you can see below–but since we still have time before The Lies of Vampires and Slayers launches on December 15th here’s some ideas of what you might want to do to prepare during the wait!
Amazon.com | All other Amazon Stores
Warning! The following blog post will have a few tiny spoilers–so if you’re the kind of reader who prefers to go into a series totally blind, you might want to skip reading this post! Otherwise, read on!
Things to do:
Join discord, or the Facebook Group: Already both groups are counting down until release day, but the big reason I suggest joining is for the talk that will explode in both groups after The Lies of Vampires and Slayers goes live!If you really want to go down rabbit holes with wild theories, or maybe book themed memes Discord is the place for you!If enjoy more casual chit chat and want to see what parts of book#1 everyone liked, and talk about your favorite characters, the Facebook Group is where you want to go!Also, this year I’ll continue the tradition of posting a spoiler blog post for you blog post commenters to talk on, too! (The blog post will go live on release day.)Play a round of Old Maid and Go Fish with your friends or family. (I know this is a really weird thing to suggest, but trust me if you have recently played both these games (so you know the rules) it will be helpful!)Take the “Which Supernatural Are You” quiz! It hasn’t received any updates since the previous series, Gate of Myth and Power, went live but if you don’t remember what answer you got last time you better double check.What to read:
Hall of Blood & Mercy trilogy: In some ways this new series, Magic on Main Street, is almost a direct sequel to the Hall of Blood and Mercy series. Reading the Hall of Blood and Mercy trilogy before jumping into Magic on Main Street is not technically required, but it will be so much more enjoyable if you do (example: If you’ve read it recently, you’ll be able to recognize all the Drakes who make appearances).The other Magiford trilogies: This new series takes place after the events of Court of Midnight and Deception and at the same time as Pack of Dawn and Destiny. I’ve hidden a lot of fun cameos so it would be helpful to re-read the other Magiford books before you start this series if you want to be able to spot all the cameos, but it won’t impact anything important.The prequel short story: A Vampire Visit: In this story Killian introduces you to the main hero of Magic on Main Street, and you quickly learn a lot more important facts about Killian Drake!The Magiford Supernatural City worldbuilding info blog post for Vampires. (There isn’t a blog post for Vampire Slayers – I don’t know yet if I will have time to write one!)Book Reading Fun: Do you want to theme your reading time? Then I’d suggest having these things on hand…
Your favorite smoothie. (Jade drinks a lot of smoothies – you’ll find out why in the book!) Do you have a favorite flavor? I’d love for you to share it with me on social media after the launch!Ambience music: If you like having ambience sounds or music on in the background while you read, or maybe if you want to listen to ambience music ahead of time to prepare, I highly recommend this Youtube clip since Jade spends a lot more time in the city then the previous Magiford heroines.Book Party Fun: There will be some fun interactions on Discord and Facebook that you’ll want to watch for!
Discord: The moderators on Discord have created a special character appearance tracker so you can track all the Magiford character cameos. Can you spot them all? (I will share this on the website once the book releases!)Facebook: During the upcoming holiday season track down a favorite family recipe you don’t mind sharing with the community. Bonus points if the recipe card is confusing and doesn’t have all the instructions!Reminder that The Lies of Vampires and Slayers will launch on December 15th, so mark your calendars! Thanks for reading, Champions, and have a lovely week!
The post Prepare for Magic on Main Street appeared first on K. M. Shea.
November 23, 2023
Happy Thanksgiving 2023!
Happy Thanksgiving to all my Champions! 
Today is the day Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, with the core theme of the holiday revolving around giving thanks/gratitude. Because of that I want to thank our entire community for your continued kindness and loyalty. Your notes of encouragement and support are what gave me the strength to continue writing through the the last few years. And and the kindness you show to me and all the other wonderful Champions in our amazing community never fail to warm my heart. 
Thank you so much–I’m so thankful for all of you Champions, and for our wonderful community.
In the spirit of the season, it’s the perfect time to read (or re-read) a King Arthur and Her Knights short story I wrote years ago with a Thanksgiving theme. It is–very accurately and very originally–called: Thanksgiving!
Now, Happy Turkey Day! I’m off to make some whipped cream for some pumpkin pie–enjoy your feast!
The post Happy Thanksgiving 2023! appeared first on K. M. Shea.
November 17, 2023
Cover Reveal & Release Date!
We’ve got cover art for The Lies of Vampires and Slayers, the first book in Jade’s trilogy!
Ta-da! Not only is Jade a redhead, she’s my first Magiford heroine with shorter hair! (It’s a bit longer than chin length, and it’s curly!) We went for a green theme for Jade since it matches her green eyes. (Which, funny story, I was originally considering red since she’s a vampire slayer, but because of her green eyes, she looked like a Christmas Elf when the cover artist used a red background, buwahaha!)
As you can also see in the cover image above, the new series is called Magic on Main Street. This breaks with the series naming convention I’ve been using for the previous Magiford books, but I wanted to make it obvious that this series isn’t involved in the main events of the Paragon’s search.
The Lies of Vampires and Slayers, is not on pre-order yet, but I’m planning for a release date of December 15th, so mark your calendar and start planning if you want to read it right away that first weekend it is out.
Stay tuned for more news–as well as our much anticipated “Before you read The Lies of Vampires and Slayers” post, which will be your guide for how to prepare for this series. (There’s no donuts this time!) Until next time, thanks for reading, Champions, and have a lovely weekend!
The post Cover Reveal & Release Date! appeared first on K. M. Shea.
November 14, 2023
Audio Books: King Arthur and Her Knights
I have an awesome surprise to share with you today Champions! The audiobook for the King Arthur and Her Knights series is now available on Audible! It’s the complete series which means over 26 hours of listening for you to enjoy!
I am so excited for you to hear this story because the narrator, Nathaniel Priestley, did an amazing job with ALL. THE. ACCENTS. for the characters in this series. It’s incredible how Ector sounds different from Kay who sounds different from Merlin who sounds different from Gawain, Lancelot, Mordred, Pellinore, Britt’s guards, etc. And if you love British accents like me you are going to love the experience of listening to Nathaniel’s performance. 
If you haven’t tried this series yet it features a no-nonsense heroine from modern times pretending to be the male King Arthur as she gathers her knights, finds the Round Table, and bickers (read: flirts) with a surprisingly young and handsome Merlin.
If you like the King Arthur myths but wish they weren’t so sad, don’t worry as this has my trademark humor and sweet romance along with an official Lancelot Hate Club so there are NO live triangles in this story! Lancelot and Queen Guinevere’s betrayal of Arthur in the official myths is my major pet peeve and one of the best parts of writing a retelling is that you don’t have to include your pet peeves!
If you’re looking for a modern twist of humor combined with some good sword fights, a fantasy setting, and a sarcastic heroine who can kick butt, you’ve found your series!
The post Audio Books: King Arthur and Her Knights appeared first on K. M. Shea.
November 10, 2023
In Which Killian Becomes Concerned…
Hello, Champions!
We are a little over a month out from when you can expect to see Jade book 1–titled, “The Lies of Vampires and Slayers”–available for purchase! (No exact day yet, but it will be mid December!) This is usually when we as a community start prepping for the new series, so I thought I’d kick everything off with something I’ve never done before: a series teaser!
This extremely short trilogy teaser is from Killian Drake’s point of view (Killian being the main male character of the first Magiford series, Hall of Blood and Mercy) and it reveals Jade’s main male character’s connection to Magiford.
Spoiler info: This teaser DOES contain a few spoilers for the second chapter of The Lies of Vampires and Slayers. It’s information you’d see if you clicked on the “Read Sample” button on Amazon. It’s pretty general stuff, just not something I’d include in the book description because it’s backstory and is more about Magiford world building than the events of the book.
With all of that said, Click Here to read the Trilogy Teaser, and then comment below to let me know what you thought of our community’s first trilogy teaser!
Stay tuned for the release date, series name, and cover reveal in the next few weeks! Until next time, thanks for reading!
The post In Which Killian Becomes Concerned… appeared first on K. M. Shea.
November 6, 2023
NaNoWriMo 2023
November is here which means means NaNoWriMo–or National Novel Writing Month–has begun!
I’m so excited that this year (for the first time in years) I will actually be writing a book during November so I get to participate! (Sort of…I’m frantically plotting and editing right now, but hopefully I’ll begin writing in a few days!)
But first, what is NaNoWriMo? National Novel Writing Month is an event started in 1999 as a daunting but straightforward challenge: to write 50,000 words of a novel in thirty days (the month of November). The global event is run by the official NaNoWriMo nonprofit organization–which means it is also FREE to sign up and join in the fun. If you signup you get a nifty tracker and some fun discounts if you “win” and write 50,000 words by the end of November.
Even though NaNoWriMo focuses on writing a 50,000 word novel, you can work on any project you want! In the past, some participants work on D&D campaigns, journaling, school papers, or writing/planning out a comic book, so you can put your own unique spin on the month!
If you decide to join me and embark on the wonderful journey of writing a novel in a month I have some resources to share with you to help you!
Author Resources webpageBlog Posts with the Writing Tips categoryMy Pinterest Board for Writing Tips (this Pinterest board has links to my blog post and other writing tips from other authors)And thanks to our Discord Community Manager Vin, you don’t have to officially sign up for NaNoWriMo to join in on have fun!
Vin is going to be hosting writing sprints multiple times a week throughout the month of November on Discord (See link for instructions on how to sign up for our community Discord if you haven’t already) The dates and times of Vin’s writing sprints are listed below, and they’ll be held in the “Writing Sprints” channel of our server.
You don’t have to work on a fun writing project if you want to join in Vin’s sprints! If you are finishing homework, studying, or have a work project you really need to focus on please feel free to join. I will try to pop in for a couple of of Vin’s sprints throughout the month so I hope to see you there!
2023 NaNoWriMo Writing Sprint Schedule
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday sprints will be at 2:00 PM (2pm Central). Thursday sprints will be at 8:00 PM (8pm Central).
The post NaNoWriMo 2023 appeared first on K. M. Shea.
