K.M. Shea's Blog, page 65

Dökkàlfar Trivia

Farewell to the MBRC? has been out for a few days now. I think I’m all caught up on sending out the extra chapter for review, however, I had two reviewers who requested the extra chapter. I tried to send it to you but I got delivery failure notices. So if you sent me an email over 48 hours ago and I haven’t responded with the extra chapter, please send it to me again!

OK, on to fun things! Farewell to the MBRC? was a challenge for me because I needed to find new magical races/beings to poke fun of, and to be a part of the story. The new race that was most central to the story were the Dökkàlfar. Dökkàlfar come from Norse mythology and translates to dark elves. There are different theories about what Norse dark elves are. Some say they might be a kind of dwarf because they are said to live in the earth and are described as swarthy. It seems unlikely, though, because there are Ljósálfar–light elves who live in the heavens. Modern culture–most notably the video gaming industry–has made dark elves into extremely attractive elves who usually have purple colored skin, silver hair, and spikey armor and weapons.

I wanted to make my Dökkàlfar more of a mish-mash, so I made them reasonably attractive with ash colored skin and colorless hair. However, I had to give dark elves the customary kick-in-the-pants that I give all the MBRC races. So Krad Temero did for Dökkàlfar what Madeline and Dave do for Vampires. He, when cursed anyway, makes them much less “Hollywood-ified” (Which is a word because I say it is) and a lot more dorky. The Dökkàlfar actually suffered a lot of dorkiness that I couldn’t easily fit in the story, but I still consider the facts to be true. For instance…

Krad–if you haven’t guessed already–walked around wearing clothes far too big for him because they were his clothes from before he was cursed. (Did you really think he would deign to acknowledge his new childish stature and go out to buy new clothes to fit him? Pfffft!) Also, during his imprisonment at the MBRC, Krad becomes a total comic-book junkie after Morgan gives him an X-Men comic book. Ethan’s date ideas were terrible because he was relying on a date-book he bought from a second-hand store. The date-book was organized by season, but Ethan didn’t comprehend that and plucked the ice cream and zoo dates from the summer section.

That’s all for today, Champions. Thanks for reading!

Farewell to the MBRC Released

It’s official. Farewell to the MBRC? is out! It’s a few hours early, but I’m glad. There was a part of the story I really slaved over for the past two days, so I’m relieved it’s finished and bundled up for you, Champions!

I already sent the book out to the three Name Game grand prize winners–Erin, Celia, and Tricia–but honorable mentions please check the back of the book for my repeated thanks for your brilliant names.

As you can tell by the top post, I’m running another Book It special. If you Read and review Farewell to the MBRC? and send me an email, I will send you an extra chapter. The special doesn’t start until Monday, but feel free to submit before then, I just won’t be able to respond until Monday.

I think that covers everything. I’m anxious to find out what you think of Farewell to the MBRC? so please leave a comment or drop me a message with your thoughts when you finish it. Thanks for reading, Champions. Enjoy the story!

Farewell to the MBRC Cover Reveal

Myrrhlynn finished the cover for Farewell to the MBRC? (Note the question mark!) I owe her a big, fabulous thanks because it turned out fantastic! I think my favorite part is the lute. The scene that involves the lute was the most fun to write, so I was thrilled when she mentioned she was going to add it in the cover. Anyway! There are two characters on the cover who make their debut in Farewell to the MBRC?, Harrison–the goblin on the left–and Grogrintork–the dwarf wielding the huge axe. That leaves three characters for you to guess, although to be fair, the sphinx wasn’t named in My Life at the MBRC. 

Champions, hang in there! Farewell to the MBRC comes out this Friday! (Hopefully it will be uploaded Thursday evening!) Thank you for reading, and good luck guessing the characters!

Annoucements

I am very  happy to reveal the title for the MBRC sequel. It is–drumroll please–Farewell to the MBRC? Please note the question mark! The title is a question, not a statement! Also, I wanted to let you know that I am tentatively planning for Farewell to the MBRC? to be released October 3. That’s less than two weeks away, so hang in there!

Next order of business! My Life at the MBRC is scheduled to be available for FREE from 9/25/2014 to 9/27/2014. Tell a friend. Tell a couple of friends. Tell a hundred friends! Then tell them to visit this place so we can continue our discussion in the comments about sourpuss Aysel and playboy Devin.

Finally, my cover artist, Myrrhlynn, in her infinite generosity, made a My Life at the MBRC desktop wallpaper. It’s available in the freebies section, or you can click the image below, which will take you to the full sized image. Once you see the full sized image, right click and select save as. After you save it, you can put it up as your desktop screen’s background by using your computer’s preferences panel.

That is all for today. Thanks for reading, Champions!

Sneak Peek

If all goes well a corrected copy of My Life at the MBRC will be available for free this time next week. (I’ll make the official announcement when I have the book scheduled and ready to go. I’m currently groveling to Amazon to get My Life at the MBRC in the program that will let me set the price as free.)

Thank you to everyone who voted in the poll. I had a great time with the various character conversations that popped up as a result. I enjoy over-thinking characters. I find it difficult not to analyze their personality, so it was highly enjoyable to discuss the nuances of Morgan’s romantic possibilities with you all. Aysel’s domination of the poll came as a bit of a surprise to me. I’m very fond of him, mostly because I like sourpuss characters, so it was gratifying to see how highly he is esteemed.

The still yet-to-be-titled MBRC sequel should come out the last few days in September, or the first few days of October. The manuscript was a little longer than I was planning, although that shouldn’t surprise me anymore. ALL my books turn out longer than expected. Anyway. As a thank you for answering the poll, I’m giving you a sneak peek of a MBRC II scene. Please keep in mind that this hasn’t been as well edited as the final product will be.

Enjoy the preview, Champions. I’m off to start writing Rumpelstiltskin!

Saturday morning rolled around, and I was more than prepared for my class’s field trip to the Museum of Science and Industry. I arrived at the MBRC, took roll, and inspected everyone’s glamours.

The students going on the fieldtrip were what I consider my core group: Dave, Frey, Frank, Perseus and Athena—his centaur girlfriend—Madeline, a drabby wood elf nicknamed Oak, three drabby fairies—Corn, Sage, and Zinnia—Sacmis the sphinx, and Asahi and his high elf girlfriend Kadri. Esmeralda came with—more to commiserate with me than out of any sort of curiosity—and Harrison, of course, trailed after us.

Perseus, Athena, and Sacmis wore glamours—which served to disguise their less-than-human bodies. Everyone else, though, was disguised mostly by wearing hats, gloves, and jackets. And with good reason.

Because I am occasionally stupid, when we were mapping out the trip everyone begged me to let us walk to the corner of State Street and Jackson Boulevard where we would pick up Bus 10, instead of tacking on CTA bus 7 as well to cover the distance. It was a little over half a mile between Union Station and the bus stop we needed. They reasoned it wouldn’t take long, and they badly wanted to people watch as they walked.

They were right. Relatively speaking it was a short walk. But there was just one problem.

IT WAS FREEZING COLD!

“Whose idea was it to walk?” I asked Madeline through clenched teeth, longing to strangle someone.

“Asahi’s I think.”

“Let’s kill him,” I said as Madeline huddled closer to me while we waited for the bus.

“Okay,” she agreed.

Dave and Madeline faired the worst, being that they’re pretty dang cold to start with since their blood wasn’t pumping. Poor Sacmis wasn’t doing much better than them, but Frank and Frey were disgustingly chipper about the whole thing.

Frank tipped his head back to scent the air. “I smell popcorn,” he said, his eyes bright. He wore a medium coat, no gloves, no hat, and was fine.

“There’s a Garret Popcorn Shop back there,” I said, tipping my head down Jackson Boulevard, hopping in place to keep my feet warm.

“It smells good,” Frank said.

“Yeah,” Frey agreed after sniffing the air. “Let’s stop and get some on our way back.”

“Oohhh no,” I said. “You are not going to convince me to walk that distance again. No, we’re taking bus 7 back.”

“Morgan?”

“What?” I said a little more sharply than I meant to as I turned around.

Kadri—dressed in a warm, green colored ski jacket that set off the green of the hazel in her eyes—cringed and took a step back. (Over the past two years her clothing choices, and thus Asahi’s, had gotten increasingly more fashionable and sophisticated.)

“Sorry, Kadri. I didn’t know it was you. Did you need something?” I asked, making a big effort to sound cheerful in spite of the fact that my fingers were soon going to fall off.

Kadri scratched at her ears—the glamour used to cloak the pointed tips probably itched. “I was wondering if you have time to meet me for coffee next week?”

I blinked. “You want a personal field trip?”

“No-no. I meant coffee at the MBRC. I just, I would like to talk to you,” the high elf said, fixing the way her matching scarf covered her neck.

“Sure. Does Tuesday work for you? Say, 4:30?”

Kadri beamed, hitting me with the full force of her high elf beauty. “That would be great. Thank you, Morgan.”

“You’re welcome,” I said, mollified by Kadri’s brilliance. I turned just in time to see our bus coming down the street. “Okay guys, this is it. Everyone have their passes?”

My students got on the bus without gawking too much, and they were pretty well behaved during the ride. In about twenty minutes we were outside the Museum of Science and Industry.

“Into the entry hall. Go, go, go,” I said, running into the building. I counted my students as they came in, ticking them off.

“The museum entrance fee is $18—Krusher I already have your ticket. Everyone get your money out. I’m going to put you in a line in pairs,” I said, observing the ticket lines. Thankfully it was early enough in the morning that it seemed pretty slow. As long as the ticket sellers weren’t in a hurry, my students were advanced enough to buy their own tickets.

“Asahi, Kadri, you go here. Sacmis, Esmeralda, here please. Perseus and Athena, right here. Frank and Madeline—” I paused and squinted at the backpack Madeline carried on her back. It moved as I watched it. “Madeline, what is in your backpack?”

Madeline twisted to face me. “What do you mean?” she asked with false innocence.

I spun Madeline around, ignoring her outraged squawks, and unzipped the largest pocket of her bright pink backpack.

A blue tinted dragon that was a little bigger than a housecat poked its head out of the backpack and held out a cookie to me with one of its front paws.

“Doggy,” I said, recognizing the little dragon from my stint at working the information desk of the MBRC. He is a Miniature Doodle—a dragon-poodle, don’t ask. Basically he is a housepet dragon. His owner is a flamingo pink dragon named Miss Bea who teaches at the MBRC. “What is Doggy doing here?”

“I’m watching him while Miss Bea is visiting relatives in Europe,” Madeline said.

“But what is Doggy doing here?”

“I couldn’t leave him alone,” Madeline protested.

“Madeline, you have brought a dragon into a human museum!” I said, zipping the backpack up again after Doggy ducked inside.

“Do we need to go back?” Frey asked.

“We might,” I said before turning, looking for a student. “Corn, could you come over here, please?” I called to one of the three drabby fairies in my class.

“Yes?” Corn asked.

“There is a Doodle in this backpack. Do you think you can glamour it to look like a service animal?”

“I can try,” Corn said, looking around the museum entryway. “Could we go somewhere more private?”

“The bathrooms,” I said, dragging Madeline along. When we reached the bathrooms Harrison took up a post outside, looking conspicuously nonchalant for a guy wearing a suit and sunglasses in a museum.

Madeline, Corn, and I claimed the handicap stall—which was big enough to fit all three of us. I unzipped Madeline’s backpack, my arms dipping when doggy popped out of the bag and climbed up my arms so he could sit on my shoulder.

Corn cast her magic, and when the glamour was complete I had a furry service animal on my shoulder.

“I’m sorry, I’m not very good with animal glamours,” Corn apologized as I skeptically looked Doggy over.

Doggy no longer resembled a dragon, but a fluffy…thing. He had a little blue vest identifying him as a service animal, but it was anyone’s guess whether he was a cat or dog. When I pushed back the fur on his face I was mildly repulsed. He had the bulging eyes of a pug, and the nose and muzzle of a slightly squashed faced cat—although he still had the teeth and lower jaw of one of those toy/purse dogs.

“No one will mistake him for a dragon. And that’s the important thing,” I said, brightening when I discovered Corn had somehow given Doggy a collar and ID tags. “Madeline, your belt,” I said.

“What?” Madeline said.

“Your belt. I need it.”

“Why?” Madeline asked, struggling to remove it under her puffy jacket.

“Because even if he’s a service animal, Doggy has to be leashed.”

“What? Why do we have to use my belt? What’s wrong with yours?”

“We’re using your belt because you are the one who brought Doggy here. Now hand it over,” I said.

Madeline grumbled, but eventually fished her belt out from under all her layers. She was wearing a neon pink dress today, but it had a matching, cloth, neon belt that went around her waist. It was quite long since it was meant to be tied in a bow, which was great because I had to knot it around doggy and then weave a hand loop for myself. It made a passable leash—it was more convincing than Doggy was, anyway.

“Ok, let’s try this,” I said, taking a deep breath before shifting Doggy to my arms. “If they ask for certification, we are in so much trouble,” I said as we left the bathrooms.

“Why?” Corn asked.

“Because I won’t be able to show them any,” I said.

“So? Can’t Harrison use his goblin powers on them?” Madeline asked, sulking a little as she trailed behind me.

“Oh,” I said, pausing. “Krusher, would you do that?” I said, stopping to ask my bodyguard.

“It’s Harrison, Miss Fae.”

“Thanks, Krusher. You’re the best,” I said.

Everyone except Corn and Madeline had purchased tickets—I bought Harrison’s and mine online the night before—so as one big group we stormed the entrances. (Getting up the escalators went well. Which was lucky, last time we encountered them Perseus almost took a tumble.)

Sure enough, at the actual entrance into the museum—where they look at your tickets and stuff—I was stopped by a museum guard.

“Miss, may I see some certification for your service…animal?” the guard asked.

“Um,” I said.

“You don’t need to see this animal’s certification,” Harrison said, his voice smooth and rich like chocolate cheesecake as he took off his sunglasses to look the guard in the eye. “We can move along.”

“You know, I don’t need to see any papers after all. Enjoy your visit,” the guard said with a smile before waving us on.”

“So are you a big Star Wars fan?” I asked.

“I beg your pardon, Miss Fae?”

“Hmm. Did George Lucas base jedi knights off goblins?” I asked, putting Doggy on the ground, but holding tight to his leash.

“I do not know, Miss Fae.”

“That’s totally a yes. Okay, gang. We’re starting with the Coal Mine. It’s pretty popular since it’s an interactive type experience, so we want to go on it now while the line is short. Anyone claustrophobic?” I asked.

Everyone shook their heads.

“Good, this way,” I said, leading the way—Doggy trotting at my heels.

Curious

Some of the responses to the My Life at the MBRC cover got me curious. So now I have to know…who do you think Morgan should end up with?

Take Our Poll

If you say other, let me know in the comments who you’re thinking of.

I suspect one of my new characters, Harrison the goblin, will probably be incredibly popular with my older readers, but sadly he’s too old for Morgan. Still, I’m anxious to find out who is the Champions’ favorite, so please vote!

MBRC News

I am thrilled to share that I finished writing MBRC 2 on Saturday! I start editing this week, and I hope to release it near the end of September. In celebration of the pending release, Myrrhlynn has redone the cover of My Life at the MBRC, so it will match the sequel’s cover. (Yes, she’s already hard at work on it.)

Brownie points to the Champions who correctly guess what characters are on the cover.

Isn’t it fun? Myrrhlynn had to draw this on her computer instead of using photos as she has done for most of my covers. It’s a new style, but I think it fits with Morgan and her pals. (I especially love the little blue dragon sitting on the R!) Thanks Myrrhlynn for another fantastic cover!

Continuing with the MBRC themed celebration…I’m hoping to make My Life at the MBRC either free or available for a discount in the middle of September. I’m a little slippery on dates right now because I don’t have a very good idea what day I’ll release the sequel. Yet.

So what do you think of the new art? Any guesses who will be featured on the next MBRC cover? Thanks for reading, Champions. I will keep you posted with my editing progress!

Crawling to the finish line

I am excited to report that I am nearly done with MBRC II! I’m at 65,000 words, and I expect the book will be 70,000–perhaps a little longer. I am HOPING I can make a mad dash to the finish line, and officially end the first draft by this Saturday. Time will tell if I make it.

Anyway, it’s been quite a while since I last did a round of questions for Who Am I? So I found a few interesting-type questions on some author interview sites, and I’m including a few questions some Champions have posed to me.

Q: How do you come up with your book titles?

A: Usually I sit around for about 8 hours, pound my forehead with my fists, and snivel on the ground before I give up and call my mother to complain. I’m half joking. With a few books I know the titles right away. (My Timeless Fairy Tale series is a perfect example of that.) Other books give me trouble. Sometimes I’ll talk it over with my beta reader, other times I’ll make a list and choose what I think is the least stupid idea. It took me over a month to come up with the Timeless Fairy Tales series title. I was being extremely indecisive when one day I was languishing on my page for Beauty and the Beast, and the series title struck me. Naming a book is a lot like getting a bucket of ice water dumped on your head.

Q: Do you have a favorite character?

A: Yes, and no. I don’t have one top favorite character, but usually I have one or two special characters per book. Also, my definition of “favorite characters” usually morphs into “the most fun to write.” Currently a few of my favorites are: Isaac Eastgate, the Director of Saint Cloud Library from Life Reader (he has the best insults, and I love how cruel he is to Daire. He says the things to Daire that I would love to say to Daire!); Seir Ringali, Tari’s mentor from Red Rope of Fate (He also has the best insults, and he treats Arion like a dog which is always funny.) Sybilla the fairy godmother from Cinderella and the Colonel (She only appears for one scene, but it is one scene of pure win!); and Lancelot from King Arthurs and Her Knights (His two-faced personality is an absolute blast!).

Q: Do you have a least favorite character?

A: Hmmm, not really. Surprisingly my villain characters are usually interesting to write, so I don’t dislike them. I find Daire of Life Reader to be insufferable at times, and more than once I wanted to shake Arion while writing Red Rope of Fate. Possibly the WORST duo I ever worked with, though, were Elle and Severin. Talk about two people who were completely uninterested in each other. I enjoyed their characters over all, but I really had my work cut out for myself in herding those two together.

Q: If you could cast a Hollywood version of The Wild Swans, who would you get to play the main characters?

A: Oohh, that’s a fun question! Jennifer Lawrence would make an awesome Angelique. William Moseley (Peter from Chronicles of Narnia) is an absolute shoe-in for Rune. Lilly Collins would be a great Elise, and I don’t know who I would cast as Falk. Any ideas?

Q: If you were an animal in a zoo, what would you be?

A: A koala, hands down. All they do is sleep, eat, and look cute as they either sleep or eat. Talk about the perfect life!

Q: What is your writing advice to hopeful writers?

A: It’s been said it takes 10,000 hours to become skillful at something. While I don’t think 10,000 is a magic number, I do know you have to invest a lot of time and practice in order to be great at something. It’s the same for writing. Try to carve out time each week to practice your craft, and be sure to get out of your comfort zone. Even if you’re only interested in writing fiction books try writing short stories, poems, song lyrics, kids books, adult books, news articles, book reviews, everything. The more you write, the more quickly you will become skilled at writing.

That’s all for this week, Champions. I’ll update you as soon as I finish MBRC II! (Yes, I promise I will come up with the official title soon. Read the top question again for an explanation for my tardiness in that area.)

Good Sci Fi & MBRC II report

For some odd reason I’ve really been craving some good science fiction books. I’m usually a fantasy girl all the way through, but I do stray to various other genres. Science Fiction is the one genre that I have a hard time liking–not because I feel the genre is filled with poor writers, but more because it feels like there aren’t a lot of science fiction stories with strong female characters in the starring role.

I own more fantasy books than I care to admit, and in comparison I think I have approximately two science fiction books. (As a side note, I don’t count dystopian books as straight up sci fi.) I’ve been trolling Goodreads, hoping for excellent titles, but since I don’t really know of any female science fiction series, I don’t know where to get started.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

My search for books aside, I have good news to share about the MBRC sequel! I’ve written 104 Microsoft Word pages, or 52,000 words. I’m hoping to finish it up in another 50-40 pages, so I should be finished by the end of the first week in September. I’m a little nervous about this sequel since it’s been so widely requested, but I have to compliment the champions who won the Name Game contest. The characters matched to their names–Baobab, a fairy; Harrison, a goblin; and Grogrintork, a dwarf–are my favorites in the batch of new characters you get to meet.

That’s all for today, Champions! Thank you for reading, I will see you next week!

DYI bookends

As some of you older Champions might remember, I have a major thing for bookends. After all, what better companion can a library of books have than tasteful, beautiful bookends?(My favorite set that I own is a pair of rearing unicorns. Today I was stumbling through the all-too-abundant-forest of Youtube, when I stumbled upon this gem:

Awesome, right? I don’t think I would do jungle animals, and I would probably use the wood base that she recommended instead of brick, but I’m thinking of a line of toys that happens to have a lot of knights/dragons/unicorn plastic toys that I could use. (I just looked it up, the company with these toys is named Schleich, Google them and you won’t be disappointed.) Anyone else have any good ideas for bookend toppers? I’m all ears!