K.M. Shea's Blog, page 5
October 29, 2023
Happy Halloween 2023!
Happy Halloween, Champions! Which means it is time for one of my favorite traditions! The complete Robyn Hood series (two ebooks) are free for you to download right now! The sale is from October 29th through November 2nd, so make sure to pick these up if you need to add them to your digital library!
Robyn Hood: A Girl’s Tale | Robyn Hood: Fight For Freedom
These books retell the tale of Robin Hood, but if the famed archer was actually a girl called Robyn Hood. There is no time traveling like the King Arthur and Her Knights series, but the two series have a similar feel, so if you tried out King Arthur earlier this year and liked it you should definitely grab these while they are free!
I affectionately call this a Trick or Treat situation because the Robyn Hood books are the second and third books I ever wrote, and even though in 2022 they got an edit to fix them up, the story telling isn’t as sharp as the books I release now. But despite my greener abilities at the time, Champions have assured me they still love them for my trademark humor and strong female characters, so if you haven’t gotten them yet, now is your chance to try them for free! If you already have these books, go ahead and send this sale to a friend who you think would enjoy them.
Also, if you have a version of the ebooks with the old covers grab this new cover version because you will also get all the new cleanup edits I made in 2022!
The Robyn Hood sale is something I do every year, and I’m so excited it’s become an autumn tradition for the community. (I LOVE seasonal and holiday traditions!) Thank you for being such a fun community that we can have traditions like this. I love writing, but chatting with bookish friends and making fun bookish memories with you all is the best!
Have a Happy Halloween, Champions! Enjoy the free books, and thank you for reading!
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October 23, 2023
Trick or Treat – MRBC Short Story
I have been waiting almost a year to make this blog post! My assistant, MyrrhLynn, had the idea to make this amazingly cute kitten image last November, so I’ve been waiting impatiently until I could use it and since October is finally here… IT IS TIME!
Trick or Treat is a Magical Beings’ Rehabilitation Center short story, and it’s quite possibly my favorite short story I’ve ever written (and I’ve written a lot of them). It has spoilers for the main series so if you haven’t read about Morgan and her Chicago friends you’ll want to go finish that duology first! But Trick or Treat follows the adventure of Morgan as she attempts to teach her magical students the human tradition of–you guessed it–trick or treat! Witness the hilarious costume chaos that ensues when magical beings dress up for their very own MBRC Halloween trick-
or-treating adventure.
Click HERE to read Trick or Treat!
As hinted at in the short story, I love autumn treats! Pumpkin Spice, Carmel apple, Maple Brown Sugar, and all the other great flavors in cookies, drinks, and other desserts – I love them all! Do you have any autumn-themed goodies you like to make? Or are you the crafty type and instead you make cute crafts?
Thanks for reading, Champions, and enjoy the short!
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October 17, 2023
Street Team Signup
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October 9, 2023
Pack of Dawn and Destiny Boxset
I have a long-awaited boxset to announce today Champions! That’s right, the complete Pack of Dawn and Destiny series is finally available as a single boxset! This one has been a long time in coming so thank you for your patience. I’ve added it to the same Magiford Supernatural City “series” that includes the boxsets for Hall of Blood and Mercy and Court of Midnight and Deception which makes it so much easier to find!
If you’ve read this series before would you mind leaving a review on the boxset? I realize this is probably a weird idiosyncrasy I have but book boxsets with almost no reviews look “fake” to me so I would really appreciate it if you helped this series look more “real”. 
Get the boxset: Amazon.com | All other Amazon stores
P.S. I realize this isn’t as exciting as a new book announcement, but it’s always fun for me to make it easier for readers to blitz through the full series. And just in case you missed the announcement earlier this year the individual books in this series are available as audiobooks on Audible. Happy listening!
P.P.S. Yes, I will eventually have a complete boxset for the Gate of Myth and Power series, but I like to wait at least 1 year after the books come out so that the readers who bought the individual books at full price when they were released don’t feel cheated by the discount the boxset offers (yes, I know it’s not as bad as buying a new phone just before they announce a new version but I would really hate for my Champions to feel tricked like that!)
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September 26, 2023
Coming Soon: KM Shea Street Team
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September 12, 2023
Back to School: Economics
The summer break is over and school has started back up in America for most students. This can be a time of both excitement and nerves but it also is a time for learning!
In celebration of learning I’m going to share a little behind the scenes secret about one of my bonus short story: A Matter Economics (I promise it will make a lot more sense in a second!)
Click here to read the Short Story: A Matter of Economics
This short story features the characters from The Prince’s Bargain, which is the third book in the Elves of Lessa series. Myth is much more bookish then the other heroines in this series, and her dedication to her work has made her an expert on both translating and trade/merchant topics. Which is why it makes sense for her to think of matchmaking her friends from a perspective of economics.
And now it’s time for the secret. I was 100% inspired to include her focus on economics thanks to this Studio C video: The School of Fashion. It has their trademark humor and jokes but it also has one of the best explanations of Economics I’ve ever seen, and even includes a practical example. As the comments on the video attest – they do a better job explaining Economics in 1 minute then most classes do in a semester. Do yourself a favor and watch this video!
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August 29, 2023
Historic Robyn Hood
Note from Kitty: Here is another “Kitty’s Attic” blog post – I hope you enjoy it! (It ends abruptly, but I don’t remember where I was going with it, soooo, yes. Thanks for reading!)
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You’re in for a surprise, Champions, because today I thought we could have some fun and look back at some of the history behind my Robyn Hood books! (I realized I never revealed all the research I put into them!)
While all the details about Robyn Hood aren’t historically accurate, I took special care to really nail the major political figures–King Richard I and Prince John.
As it is in my books, King Richard I was captured on his way home from the Crusades by Duke Leopold of Austria shortly before Christmas. The duke locked him up and informed Henry VI, the Holy Roman Emperor, of Richard’s capture. Richard was passed around different Germanic holds until March 1193, when abbots caught up with him and began negotiations for his ransom. These negotiations took roughly a year, and most of the efforts were put forth by Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine–Richard’s mother–as Prince John wasn’t really keen on his brother’s return.
King Richard’s ransom ended up being 100,000 marks–which was a crazy amount and, according to my sources, about twice the total domestic product of England at the time. As such it took a while for the money to be gathered, so he wasn’t released until February 1194.
Richard came back to England and was there only a short time (long enough to put John back in his place) and then sailed off to retake Normandy. (Normandy is a northern region of France, but at the time Normandy was held by England–specifically by Richard’s father before he died and Richard inherited it.) In April 1199 King Richard died of gangrene after being shot.
Prince John then became king, and while Richard hadn’t been a great king (He was rarely in England and the Crusades, his ransom, and his quest to reconquer Normandy had drained the country) John was flat out hated. He mistreated his own supporters, was incompetent, and demanded even more money than Richard had.
The barons of England chaffed under his rule, leading to the drafting of the Magna Carta–which broke the stranglehold the kings of England had over the land. The Magna Carta was signed in Runnymeade meadow, unwillingly might I add.
Additionally, John really did lose the royal crown jewels–although it wasn’t not to Robin Hood, but bad traveling conditions. It’s not known exactly where he lost the jewels, but it is known that they were lost as part of his bagage train was lost to whirlpools and quicksand when traveling. (It’s actually a fascinating story, I do suggest you look it up!)
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August 22, 2023
Sheacon 2023: Wrap Up
I’ve finally had time to upload all the Sheacon 2023 panels, so Sheacon 2023 is over but I have some extra fun for any of you who weren’t able to attend so keep reading!
First I want to give a big thank you so much to all the Champions for attending, and for being such an amazing group! All of the panels activities had great participation and you all were so much fun to hang out with, laugh, and celebrate books, which is what the original goal for Sheacon has always been. Also, a big thank you to Elisa Rae, Celeste Baxendell, Hanna Sandvig, and Charlotte Vane who were our guest authors this year.
Every year I thank the Sheacon Planners–without them none of this would have happened, and they not only started working on Sheacon 2023 months ago, they also have worked hard to make Sheacon smoother/more professional every year. Naturally, there’s a lot to thank them for! But this year I’m extra thankful, because the week before Sheacon my life fell apart with the passing of Perfect Dog, and these wonderful, kind, and caring people held down the fort while I was MIA. That week before Sheacon was probably the worst week I’ve had in these absolutely rotten last two years, and their kindness–and the kindness and cheerfulness of our community in general–was what got me through that weekend. So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.
This year’s 2023 planners were: Anneli, Jordan, Chelsc, Rachel, Zooknar, Batattack, Bluefires, Cheybri, Cwang, Eleniel, FrogPrincess994, Gwen, Lavalectrix, Louberry, Prolly, RayJay, Wish.i.was.in.a.fairytale, Witchdoctor, and Amanda.
Additionally, we had some planners–and a few additional volunteers–who acted as hosts for panels/events/games during Sheacon! They not only donated their time to be hosts, they bravely kept up the conversation while organizing games, showing us all evening star stretches, and more. So thank you, again/also, to: Anneli, Jordan, Rachel, Zooknar, Akira, Amanda, Ayrin, Batattack, Chelsc, Cheybri, Eleniel, RayJay, RoseTen, Gwen, FrogPrincess994, and Vin.
And finally a special thankyou to our Retha and Dragons dungeon masters: Zooknar, FrogPrincess994, and Jordan! (This special event wouldn’t be possible without them! If you’re wondering what Retha & Dragons is, check out the panels down below.)
This is also the perfect chance to thank and salute our Chief Sheacon Planner, Cindy. Cindy puts in serious hours organizing the conference–the scheduling she has to figure out months in advance is intense, she’s pretty much a professional chaos wrangler–and I’m so grateful for her.
Finally, I want to thank our Director of Discord, Vin, and the Mod Squad–Mythical Cat, Smasher, Batattack, Cimorrene, and Rog–for helping all the new members in our discord server who joined so they could attend Sheacon, and our Facebook Mods–Megen, Sarah, and Jocelyn–who kept our community Facebook Group apprised of everything happening for Sheacon!
Goodie Bag/Freebies
The free books that were available for Sheacon weekend are no longer available but make sure you check out all the fun new goodies I unveiled for the event this year on the Sheacon 2023 Goodie Bag post. (There was a new Magiford Short Story, and a new Rumpelstiltskin coloring page, so make sure you grab those!)
Panel Recordings
Finally–what you’ve all been waiting for! For those of you who missed out on attending in person, I have great news! Our diligent Sheacon Planners recorded all of the main panels, so you can listen to them at your leisure! (If you enjoyed these recordings, please leave a quick comment thanking the Sheacon Planners as I physically would never be able to record all of these myself!)
2023 Opening Ceremony: MP3 FileAuthor Panel: Hanna Sandvig and Charlotte Vane: MP3 FileKitty Q&A #1: MP3 FileAuthor Panel: Elisa Rae and Celeste Baxendell: MP3 FileHow to Train Your Champion: MP3 FileCelebrity Retha and Dragons with Hanna Sanvig, Elisa Rae, Discord team members Vin and SuperRog, and a special appearance from me!: MP3 File (Special note, there is a slight glitch in this recording, about 15 seconds of audio are missing around the 8:15 mark, but it’s a hilarious event, and one of my favorites!)Kitty Writing Panel: MP3 FileKitty Q&A #2: MP3 FileClosing Ceremony and Kitty Hot Seat: MP3 FileBonus: Evening Star Stretches: YouTube VideoAnd that’s everything for now! Because it’s been rough, I opted not to do the transcriptions this year, but thankfully I have been able to write. It looks like I’m going to be on schedule with Jade’s series, but I won’t know for sure until I hit editing time in October. It does NOT look like I’ll get any additional time to work on Retha #4 this year, but that’s okay, I’ll just tackle it first thing next year, and I did get a pretty good chunk of it done early this summer. At least I won’t be starting 2024 months behind schedule like I did with 2023. 
(Yes, I’m still upset about that.) Thanks for reading, Champions. I hope you enjoy listening to the panels, and thank you again to our Sheacon team.
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August 17, 2023
The Little Mermaid: my version
Welcome back to Kitty’s Attic! Earlier this summer I was performing a cleanup of my old blog posts and I found a few that I had left in draft status for some reason but never published them?!? So here is another “Kitty’s Attic” blog post – I hope you enjoy it!
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I’m assuming by now most of you have had a chance to read The Little Selkie. If you haven’t, beware! I have spoilers in this post. For today’s post, I’m going to discuss the differences between my Little Selkie and Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid.
The biggest and most obvious difference is that I made Dylan a selkie instead of a mermaid. I made the swap for several reasons. First of all, I’ve been dying to write a selkie story ever since I first read about them while doing research for My Life at the MBRC. Secondly, I wanted to draw a clear line in the sand, so people would know not to expect an exact replica of the little mermaid story. This isn’t something I usually do, but I wanted to give Dylan a lot of space from the original little mermaid—who is, quite frankly, a stalker, and not strong enough to face down a wicked sea witch.
I also put my own spin on selkie lore. Traditionally, selkies don’t have enchanted voices—that’s something Dylan inherited from her mermaid counterpart. Also, selkies always have seal bodies. However, when I did the research for harbor seals, I found they wouldn’t have the kind of impulsive, playful personality that I designed for Dylan. So I decided to make her a sea lion, which would not only explain her temperament, but it would also give her an extra layer of confidence. Dylan wasn’t wowed or frightened by all the humans even though she was different from everyone, because she has always been different.
Possibly the two biggest differences, though, were that I gave Dylan a way to communicate–because otherwise the story would have been incredibly boring–and that Dylan is on land because of the sea witch, not because of a guy. (I can’t imagine that change came as a shock to any of you, knowing me and the heroines I write.) There’s also the happy ending, but again you can expect that with me as the author.
My version of the sea witch was more reminiscent of Disney’s Ursula than Andersen’s sea witch because she is truely evil, as opposed to Andersen’s sea witch, who is merely creepy. Angelique stepped in as the magic user who sealed Dylan’s voice, which was more understandable since Dylan was pitted against the sea witch early on, and because Angelique has been forced to do a lot of sealing/breaking magic over the last few years.
I also chose to depart from the Dutch roots of the little mermaid, and instead swapped it for Ireland. Selkies are a part of Irish/Scottish folklore, and as a lot of my countries have echos of mainland European countries, I decided it was time to try something different. Everything from the food to the dances to the Ringsted obsession with the color saffron is reminiscent of Irish traditions and customs.
And I ended the blog post there?? Hope you enjoyed this episode of Kitty’s Attic, and thanks for reading!
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August 9, 2023
Audio Books: Magical Beings’ Rehabilitation Center
The audio for Sheacon will be coming…soonish. I can’t give an estimate as I am happily on a short vacation as we speak, but when I get back to work I’ll work on making it available to you!
But! I do have some related audio news for you! First up, the complete boxset of the Magical Beings’ Rehabilitation Center is now available on Audible and you can get it on Amazon too. The narrator for this series was Natalie Duke – she also narrated Hazel in the Hall of Blood and Mercy series as well – and she did a great job with this story and capturing Morgan’s no nonsense attitude.
Just like the Snow Queen series I decided to release the full boxset (including the short story collection) as one single audiobook so you can easily binge the whole series and you only have to use one credit if you have the Audible monthly program.
If you haven’t tried this series before, if is a paranormal romance/urban fantasy that is set in the Midwest of the United States but it is not in the same world as my Magiford series. It is however, famous among the Champions for its humor–especially if you can handle jokes about Twilight. Whenever I ask the Champions to tell me what they like about this series the humor is always the #1 thing they bring up. Come for the paranormal romance tropes, stay for Morgan’s quick wit and epic one-liners!
It’s considered young adult because Morgan is a teenager in both books but the high school drama is pretty nonexistent–this series is more about finding the humor in what every day supernatural creatures would be like if they really existed in our world. (Vampires drink tomato juice, werewolves have fleas, cyclops run multimillion dollar businesses, that sort of thing!) The side characters really steal the show in this series with their zany personalities and hysterical antics.
And now for some more Audio book news:
What’s coming next for audio books? Well you can always get the most up-to-date news by checking my coming soon page, but I’ll save you a click and let you know that the King Arthur and Her Knights audio book has started recording and me and the audio team are hopeful it will be available this fall. (We’re going with late October-ish, maybe November because the closer we get to Christmas the longer Audible takes to approve audio files.) The Gate of Myth and Power series will be the next series after King Arthur and you can expect it in early 2024. (Originally I was hoping to get King’s Captive out before Christmas…and then I remembered Audible sometimes takes a full month to OK projects in November/December. So it is not looking good, and it would be better if you plan for 2024 for all three books.)
I also uploaded an experimental audio short story to my Youtube series for my Twisted Tale short story. (This was part of the SheaCon goodie bag but I wanted to make sure you saw it.) It’s an experiment because we created this using an AI voice not a human narrator so we could make it free for everyone to listen to. If you have a Youtube account please like/comment on the video so we can determine if we should make more of these.
I will continue to use human narrators for all my audiobooks available for purchase, but I wanted to try something different and it’s amazing how much the AI “robot” voices have improved. And let me also take this chance to plug my Freebies and Extra page where you can find Twisted Tale and all my other short stories that are stand alone or related to one of my existing series!
That’s all for today, but I wanted to thank you Champions again for all the love and support you showered on me with the loss of Perfect Dog. Thank you so much for the stories and (in Facebook’s case) pictures. It really did help.
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