Greetings, Champions! I’d like to start with a big thank you to everyone who took the time to leave an honest review on The Revived! I really appreciate reviews because they give me feedback and help other readers decide if the book is something they would be interested in. So thank you from the bottom of my heart!
To celebrate the reviews and The Revived‘s launch in general, I’m releasing a short story: Return To Luminos. (PDF in the link)
The short story–which maybe could be called an extra chapter??–continues where The Revived left off and follows Kit back to Luminos where the guildmasters of the big/elite guilds are waiting for her. I hope you guys enjoy it!
This weekend–over on my A. M. Sohma facebook page–some Champions and I were discussing who of the new characters were their favorite! Noir seemed to be the most popular, but Trash Panda, Fame & Fortune, and Alistair were all really well liked too. Surprisingly–happily so–Solus Miles popped up a lot as well! Since he has a bigger role in this book you get to know him a lot better, and he proves he has a sense of humor (maybe?) in several different occasions.
What do you guys think? Who was your favorite new character?
As usual, thanks for reading, and enjoy the short!
The Retha books are great – I just hate waiting for the next one! I’ve been trying to think of more fun names to pass the time. I adored Trash Panda and Noir. Medical terms would work well – “Borborygmus” (medical lingo for grumbly stomach noises). “Peau d’orange” (describes pebbled skin like an orange peel). “Pellagra” (vitamin deficiency). And so many more…(and this is not ever how I anticipated using my medical degree but so much better than yelling at insurance companies), I also like “Twinklefrost Moonshinetoter”, which sounds like another elf dancer 🙂 Skullstench. Roid Masher.
My husband was looking at me funny the whole time I was reading laughing out loud. I like the pirates and found them very unique 😊
Noir is definitely my favorite new character, and Trash Panda just makes him better! I can’t help thinking he needs to find his own girl though. Kit already has her hero, who is rapidly becoming my favorite Shea/Sohma hero.
What do you think, a total newbie who’s too endearing for even Noir to resist, or a veteran player who never has need of his healing services and pretty much ignores him until he starts acting nicer? 😀
Ok, so the creative in me can shut up and enjoy the tale as Kitty unfolds it. Whenever book 4 is done that is! I’m waiting on dancing toes…internally anyway. My two kids keep me too busy to physically dance that long! 😉
Absolutely loving this series despite not being a gamer. Thanks for the hard work you put into all the writing, editing, etc, Kitty!
*Gasp* You’re right! Noir does need his own girl XD I would love that
I think her life skills are hilarious. I mean, who would think of Swear Proficiently and Center of Attention as Life Skills. And the way she Swears to get the cap on that is hilarious. I’m an accountant/auditor myself. We aren’t supposed to have a sense of humor. So I really enjoyed seeing an abacus wielding pirate. And then to have Kit cap out the Swear Proficiency life skill while yelling at said pirates was priceless. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I may have read that part out loud to my husband due to his deep…love…of Excel ;-).
Just seeing character names like ViolentAlice and Trash Panda makes me enjoy the reading process even more. Noir is a great addition to the crew!
Yes!!! I think Trash Panda is my new favorite name!
Yay!!! Thank you for the extra chapter, Kitty!
Quick question (maybe someone with more video game experience than I will know): why does Kit’s team work so hard to keep each other alive? Besides being nice of course. I mean, what are the consequences of one or more (or all) party members dying in a world where you will just respawn immediately?
Noir keeping Kitty alive has obvious reasons (they need her tactical ability), but seriously, why does everyone else make such a big deal out of dying when by all accounts, being injured/cursed/etc hurts more?
Thanks!
~ Megan
Typically, they’re going to respawn somewhere not by the fight, so you lose their fighting capacity for some time. Likewise, some games penalize you in XP, strength, or other factors for dying (especially dying repeatedly). But loosing their presence in the current fight is usually the big motivator not to let someone die.
Ok, thanks!
Jocelyn perfectly hit the nail on the head! I couldn’t have described it better myself. 😉
Loved that Solus Miles is part of the group now. His taciturn steadiness and dry sense of humor are a great balance to Kit’s impulsive liveliness. He’s just there for her in an unobtrusive way and is secure enough to follow her. Looking forward to more of the two of them in the next book.
Yeeees, I had so much fun showing off Solus’ humor in this book. (He sorta inherited his humor from years of working with my Editor #1. She writes the most hysterical comments on my manuscripts–particularly about the romance–and Solus is loosely modeled after that.)
I loved the book so much! I honestly can’t choose a favorite new character and everything was amazing!
I’m so glad you liked the characters that much! I am weirdly fond of the Half Fang, Long Claw, and their guild. (They’re a bunch of grumps, which is half the fun!)
No doubt, Noir is my absolutely new favorite character– partly because of Trash Panda, of course. And the story is great! Thanks, Kitty!
You’re welcome! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
I know the event is over and I already participated, but I just thought of a character name so bad I absolutely had to share it. It is …. Rawrger (similar to Roger).
That’s so fun! 🙂 I have to say that the Second Age of Retha names are a lot of fun to play around with because they can be simple, pun-filled, ridiculously fantasy-like, or even silly!
Eek, I’ve been stalking your site waiting for the bonus to drop – just read it and LOVED it! I especially enjoyed Kit’s super solid squad support (she can’t play down others’ mistreatment of her w/ Noir around to tattle 😹) as well as the random loin-cloth player.
Thanks so much and have the best vacay ever!
Thank you! It has been a blast so far. 🙂 And I’m glad you liked the extra! (Life is more fun with Noir around–at least in my opinion.)
Noir is my favourite too and Trash Panda is so cute. But there are the pirates… they are so funny.
I’m so glad you liked the pirates! It took me a bit of thinking to develop them as I wanted to make them unlike any other group in Retha. Ahaha, the downside was I wasn’t completely sure you guys would embrace them since they ARE a bit strange. 😉
Great short story! It is nice to see how everyone, especially noir and teara and SOLUS backed kit against those harpies…
I’m glad you liked it! I have to be careful not to let everything turn into mass chaos with all those characters running around…
Yeah i sometimes get confused with so many secondary characters..
Fortune and fame are so amazing too.
I can’t imagine what would happen if they had their not-so-affordable triplet after all..
I got a lot of joy from those Excel cursing pirates! I really enjoyed that they were all doing this as a second career option after a mid-life crisis, essentially.
A “second career option” is probably the smoothest/best way to describe the pirates ever! Buwahahah!
Yup i totally agree. Noir is my favourite new character.