K.M. Shea's Blog, page 51

Endings launch date

Good morning, Champions, and Happy pi day! (For those of you who don’t know, March 14 is pi day, as it is 3.14, the first few numbers of pi.) In keeping with the circular theme, I have a good King Arthur joke.

Ahem!

Question: Who built King Arthur’s Round Table?

Answer: Sir Cumference!

Fun Updates!

Greetings, Champions! I hope you all are having a lovely March!

Currently, Endings is being combed over by a couple of wonderful beta readers who are busting down the typos my Midwest accent and dictation software created. IF all goes well and I can stay on schedule, Endings should go up for pre-order late next week, and will be available for purchase March 23. Wow, did it ever take longer than I expected, but I really wanted to close out the series with a high quality story, so I think you’ll all be happy with the extra time investment.

On the fun side of things, there’s a new piece of art in the fanart gallery!

Jess Wurms  made this adorable depiction of Ahira and Azmaveth from Princess Ahira! (She gets major bonus points for the little flower details that are from a scene in the book! Plus she also got Azmaveth to have a scale pattern, which I’m sure was a trail of patience.)

To close out this post–and because I’m in a King Arthur kick right now–I thought it would be fun to share my favorite quote from Disney’s Sword in the Stone! (They actually based that movie on a book series by T. H. White, but I heard it gets depressing after the first book so I’ve been avoiding it like crazy. Have you read it, Champions?)

Merlin: Ah, you know, lad, that love business is a powerful thing.

Arthur: Greater than gravity?

Merlin: Well, yes, boy. In its way, I’d, uh… Yes, I’d say it’s the greatest force on earth.

Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful weekend!

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Cover Reveal: Endings

Greetings, Champions! Today is a day that has been long awaited, Endings’ Cover Reveal!

Isn’t it lovely? A big thanks to Myrrhlynn, for making another beautiful cover!

Endings still doesn’t have an official release date, but if I had to hazard a guess, I would say the second to last week of March is probably most likely. Everything should tie up rapidly from hereo n out. (Editor #1 is hard at work, and I’m attempting to gear up so I’ll be ready to tackle it one last time!)

So…who has re-read the series in preparation for Endings?

Endings Update!

I have a video update for you all today, which will give you a status report of Endings–the final King Arthurs Book!

 

If you haven’t voted in the hero poll yet, you can do so HERE!

Thanks for watching, Champions, and have a lovely week!

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Annual Hero Poll II

Greetings, Champions! I hope you all had a lovely Valentine’s Day, and got a chance to vote in the Hero Poll! Today marks the launch of the second part of the poll, but first, the results!

There were 1,036 votes total–which means approximately 340 of you participated in the poll! The results are….

Stil of Rumpelstiltskin is reigning champion with 181 votes!
Farrin of the Snow Queen books was an upset with 144 votes
Merlin of King Arthurs AND Friedrich of Cinderella tied with 105 votes
Next Captain Arion led the charge with 95 votes
Asher and Aaron of Life Reader were a surprise with 87 votes
Azmaveth of Princess Ahira with 61 votes
Devin of the MBRC with 41 votes
Falk of Wild Swans with 40 votes

The rest of the boys all received less than 40 votes. I will admit, I am VERY surprised by the rankings! (For those who are participating for the first time, usually I tried to match up similar personalities–Like Friedrich and Asher & Aaron–so the poll wouldn’t be so HUGE.) Splitting the pairs up made a huge difference. For instance, Stil has been the leader since his book launched, but the entry of Friedrich and the twins and the entry of Prince Severin of BB and Arion of Red Rope were always in second and third place. I assumed Friedrich alone carried the twins, and Severin was more popular than Arion, but the twins proved their popularity, and apparently Arion actually was the lure for Severin–who only had 30 votes this year.

I was also surprised that only four of the fairy tale heroes made the top nine entries. You might think that’s reasonable given that it’s almost half, but there are far more fairy tale heroes than there are heroes from my other books, so it did come as a shock that my other books (which don’t sell as well) are just as appreciated!

I did want to add that I thought it was really sweet some of you wrote in my heroines for the poll–Odette, Britt, and Briar. (Technically this was the “main male protagonist popularity poll,” but that didn’t fit very well on the banner, so it got shortened to ‘hero.’ This summer the gals will have their chance too as they’re going to get a popularity poll as well!)

Now comes Round 2!

I want to know what kind of male archtype/heroes you would like to see in future books! I can’t make any promises that I’ll use the suggested characters because depending on the book/adventure/heroine, the winning archtype might not work. But even so I still appreciate your input because I use this poll to take your pulse, so to speak, so I can see what sort of male protags are popular, and make my plans accordingly.

I gathered a bunch of ideas from you guys–and from Facebook–but I threw in a few archtypes that weren’t mentioned as well. The rules are the same–you get to cast your ballot once, but you can vote for three archtypes. The poll will close March 2, so you’ve got two weeks! Here’s the link!

Thank you to everyone who voted–both in Round 1 and Round 2 of the poll! I appreciate your input and, to be frank, it’s also just a lot of fun to put on. Thanks for reading, Champions, and may the best man win!

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Annual Hero Poll

Greetings, Champions! It has been a long time–I feel like I’m dusting everything off!

First item of greatest importance: Endings. The final King Arthur book is doing wonderful, and it’s nearing completion of the planned word count. Unfortunately, the characters insisted on adding a few extra side adventures, so the book is going to be longer than the initial word count I estimated. As such, no, I have no idea when I’m going to release it. It’s taking longer to write, so I doubt a February release is still possible, so I would recommend you prep yourself for a March release. (But hey, I was planning for it to be the length of two King Arthur books smashed together, and now its going to be even longer than that, so that’s something!)

Additionally, I’m not going to respond to emails/comments about Endings. I’m doing my best to splatter this information across my social media accounts so everyone sees it, but I’m getting 1-5 comments/questions a day about Endings, and answering them isn’t a good use of my time when I’m already behind due to my mischievous characters. (I’m blaming Lancelot. It’s his fault, he went off on a loop!)

I do have some fun news to share, though! The K. M. Shea Newsletter crew voted, and selected Red Rope of Fate as our Valentine’s Freebie for February 14 2017! Please mark your calendars and snag a free copy for yourself or a friend!

Finally, we have our annual Hero Poll! Vote for up to three of your favorite K. M. Shea heroes, but you can only cast your vote once, so choose carefully! Due to some comments last year, this year I designed the poll so each hero gets their own vote, instead of attempting to double up similar personalities. The poll closes February 20. I can’t wait to see who wins this year! (For historic reference, usually Friedrich, Asher & Aaron, Severin, and Arion rule the top.)

Because the hero list is sooo big, you’ll need to click here to go directly to the poll, Champions, as it otherwise breaks this post!

But wait, there’s more! Once the winning hero is picked, I’ll be holding the second half of my annual poll, in which you vote for the kind of hero you would most like to see in future books. Alexsei of Swan Lake was modeled after last year’s winner–the overlooked sweet/good guy, so I do take your votes seriously. In preparation for that poll, please shout out what kind of hero you would like to see in the comments below! (Keep your descriptions limited to a few words, like “alpha male” or “batman-esque” or “cute nerd,” etc.)

Thanks for reading, Champions! Have a lovely week!

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Snowflakes & Endings

Greetings, Champions!

Snowflakes: the Snow Queen Short Story Collection has officially launched! I’m still offering it for 99 cents, but by the end of the week I’ll be pricing it higher, so snag it while it’s on sale! So far the feedback seems to be positive, so I’m glad everyone was happy to return to Rakel’s world! If you would leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads for the collection, I would really appreciate it!

But while I’m excited about Snowflakes, I have officially started writing Endings, the final King Arthurs book. There is no set release date, mainly because I don’t know how long it will take to write it. Keeping that in mind, I’m going to be non-responsive for the next two or three weeks while I work on it.

The less I spend on my social media accounts, the more time I have to write Endings, and since I want to write a quality book and still get it released in a timely manner, I’m giving my internet time the axe.

Writing Sleeping Beauty

Greetings, Champions! I’m finishing up my Sleeping Beauty themed posts today with this final entry. (As a reminder, all the Sleeping Beauty extras are now available–you can snag them in the extras section!)

I took quite a few liberties with my version of Sleeping Beauty, and I will be the first to admit it was mostly to make things more logical, and also out of spite. For example, I didn’t want to make the king proclaim that all spinning wheels must be destroyed–my characters live in a world that is far too logical to submit to that nonsense. So I ended up shipping Briar Rose off to the countryside–which suited me perfectly as I wanted to explore the dynamics of her being raised apart from her family.

Isaia’s role as a magic knight instead of a prince is my petty bit of spite. While I love fairy tales I do get sick of writing mostly about princes or princesses–Rumpelstiltskin has been my only reprieve thus far.  In reading the many different versions of sleeping beauty I ended up developing a serious antipathy towards the prince who awakens the princess. As you may recall, he is nothing like Disney’s Prince Phillip who battles for Aurora, and instead he waltzes into the castle and manages to awaken the princess solely because the required 100 years had passed. Not. A. Fan.

Keeping that in mind, I knew I wanted Briar’s romantic relationship to be different from my previous gals, and using a childhood friend she had known for a long time was a great way to introduce a new dynamic! (It doesn’t hurt that I am a huge sucker for stories where the princess falls for her guard!) The change in the relationship compared to the typical boy-meets-girl-and-falls-in-love made Sleeping Beauty really fun to write as I got to bring out a different level of emotions and complexities between them.

I used the true love’s kiss to break Briar’s curse, because the Brothers Grimm’s Little Briar Rose has the prince kiss the sleeping princess awake, and I was taking a few more cues from it than Perrault’s french fairy tale. (Also I wanted to begin needling poor Angelique at a young age. The next time she has to modify a curse with true love’s kiss, she just may crack!)

In honor of what is considered the “original” sleeping beauty, Sun, Moon, and Talia–which was written by an Italian poet–Sole culture is  loosely based on Rennisance Italian culture. (You can see it in the fashion with the veils over the hair and the puffed gown sleeves, the food, the names, and the excessive use of marble/stone and wall frescos.) However, like all the other countries its government has its quirks. While Erlauf has its armies and Arcainia its blue-stocking royals, Sole is known for its magic knights. The country values things like honor, justice, and chivalry, but you can also see it in the decor. (I sprinkled knight/weapon/horse themed statues, tapestries, frescos, etc, everywhere!)

It was fun because I got to tackle a bit more of the world building in Sole than I did with Kozlovka in Swan Lake–but that’s because Swan Lake mostly takes place in the middle of a forest.

And thus ends our Sleeping Beauty lessons! On Monday I’m going to post an official announcement, but starting next week I’ll be going falling off the face of the planet so I can buckle down on King Arthurs. I won’t reply to comments and messages during that time, because I’ll be tucked away in a hermit hole that gets poor internet. Wish me luck! And on that note, Champions, I hope you have a lovely weekend!

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Sleeping Beauty: Morals and Themes

Good day to you, Champions! As I promised, you’ve unlocked the final Sleeping B. freebie: The Third Knight. (As in the third Legendary Knight Briar knights….buwahah) I hope you all enjoy it! I had the most fun with this short, so I’m reeeally hoping it makes you guys laugh, too!

Today we’re going to dig into the morals and themes presented in Sleeping Beauty.

Sleeping Beauty was one of the few fairy tales that made me pause and actually wonder what on earth anyone could find instructive/helpful about it. (I say that with all my love, because really, have you entertained any fairies recently?) Thankfully Perrault–who as you might remember the Brothers Grimm’s story was an orally shared version of his tale–spells out the moral at the end of the book.

Perrault says the moral is–I kid you not–be patient in waiting for love. I was actually surprised at the sound logic behind that, and the way he phrases it is actually quite humorous. See for yourself!

“Many a girl has waited long

For a husband brave or strong;

But I’m sure I never met

Any sort of woman yet

Who could wait a hundred years,

Free from fretting, free from fears.

Now, our story seems to show

That a century or so,

Late or early, matters not;

True love comes by fairy-lot.

Some old folk will even say

It grows better by delay.

Yet this good advice, I fear,

Helps us neither there nor here.

Though philosophers may prate

How much wiser ’tis to wait,

Maids will be a sighing still —

Young blood must when young blood will!”

For those who are curious, yes, Perrault wrote this in his French retelling. The website I found it at said the translation of the moral (because it was omitted by earlier translations) comes from Perrault’s Fairy Tales, translated by S. R. Littlewood (London: Herbert and Daniel, 1912).

Though it might seem odd, this is really a moral I could get behind, and that’s partially why I made Briar and Isaia childhood friends and their relationship so long in developing. But while patience in love is the moral, there are still other bits of symbolism and themes in the story that deserve a closer look.

I briefly mentioned it previously, but when the king proclaimed that all spinning wheels should be destroyed and anyone caught owning/using one would be put to death, it was an inspiredly-stupid idea. This fairy tale takes place in a time where the only way for the general populace to produce thread/fabrics, was to spin it. By destroying all the spinning wheels in the kingdom, he was robbing his people of a way to clothe themselves–not to mention I imagine he put a ton of people out of business. (Think about it–not just spinners and weavers, but farmers who owned sheep would now have to take the wool to a neighboring kingdom so it could be put to use! The same goes for flax farmers.)

Furthermore, it would greatly impact the kingdom’s economy. Prices on fabrics would hike up drastically because everything would have to be imported, and while other countries would profit the people would suffer.

But that’s only if people actually obeyed the king. We know they didn’t because the princess pricks her finger on a spindle, so there’s still some machines around. The King’s order is clearly too bull-headed and impossible that the people cannot follow it. It’s very similar to the “turning-straw-to-gold” bit of Rumpelstiltskin. (Which, as you might recall, is extra impossible because straw can’t be used in spinning or for anything, so the king was telling the girl to make something from nothing.)

I feel like the King’s stubborn actions are a second moral. It shows that you can make unreasonable demands based off fear and terror, and what you fear may still come to pass. In fact, reading about the king’s proclamation is what inspired me to have Briar set off the curse on her own free will. Briar’s family–like the king from the original–are filled with fear, and they make poor decisions as a result. Briar, however, acknowledges her fear and steps forward to face her curse anyway. If Isaia hadn’t been so stubborn, her idea to set off the curse would have been smashing, and in the end she’s the hero–not because she fought but because she stirred the Magic Knights and was determined to face Carabosso if no one else would.

And that’s all for today. I hope you enjoy the final extra, Champions!

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Cover Reveal: Snowflakes: A Short Story Collection

Good day to you, Champions! The big news for today is that Snowflakes–the Snow Queen short story collection–is now available for pre-order! Woohoo!

Snowflakes will launch January 14–that’s a Saturday, or Friday night if you’re a midnight reader–and is temporarily on sale for 99 cents! Once it’s released, I’m going to up the price to $1.99, but I wanted to give you all a chance to buy it for 99 cents first.

This collection contains all the extras/short stories that were available on my website, as well as three new ones! 1) A short story told from Steinar’s POV. (I wrote it to finish off The Attendant’s Story and the Captain’s Story, so they’re a matched set now!) 2) A short story that examines where Farrin got his barely mentioned jade wolf statue from. 3) A short story–the longest of them all–that brings in the adorable dogs shown above (those dogs should ring bells for any Rumpelstiltskin fans out there) and also reveals what happened to Aleifr–the soldier who tried to kill Rakel.

I’ve been planning for those dogs since I wrote Rumpelstiltskin, so it was great to be able to finally bring them into the story! And as usual, Myrrhlynn–my cover artist–did another fantastic job with this cover! I fretted a lot because I wanted to make it obvious it was a short story collection and not a new novel, so I really appreciated the banner she added at the bottom. (That banner actually matches the binding of the paperback books. Woohoo for a cover artist who appreciates details!)

That’s all for today! Tomorrow you’ll get another Sleeping Beauty post, and the last freebie! (Which, yes, is about Delanna.)

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