Hall of Blood and Mercy Reveal!

You thought the surprises were over because you’ve all seen the cover for book one, and figured out what fairy tale it’s based on, huh? Well, hold on, because I’m about to blow your minds, Champions!

That’s right, Hall of Blood and Mercy is a trilogy! Even better, all three are already written! (Or nearly written. I’m working on book #3, Magic Unleashed right now.) Magic Forged drops February 28th, Magic Redeemed will launch 3 weeks later in mid March, and the final book in the series, Magic Unleashed, will launch 4 weeks after that, in mid April! (We’ll have solid dates out soon!) For those of you who just did a double-take, let me say that yes, that’s right. You are getting three books over the course of seven weeks! And yes, it ends at three, so it will be a complete, finished series!

Buwahahah, how is that for the surprise of the year? (Please, please be surprised. I really don’t think I can top this in 2020.)

I planned the series out after I realized I was burned-out from epic fantasy once I completed Reign of Magic. Originally I was planning to just take all of November and December off, but it turns out I’m terrible at taking vacations and not working, but the idea of working on the next Angelique book made me sick.

Myrrhlynn suggested I try something entirely different from what I’d recently been writing–to clear the slate so to speak, and to give me the chance to use some writing muscles I hadn’t used in a long time. Her advice was right, because I just flew through writing Magic Forged and Magic Redeemed. I think it’s the fastest I’ve written in about two years. More importantly, I do feel a lot better having written them–the provided the exact sort of break I needed.

And hey, you guys are getting three books–an entire complete series–in less than three months! 😉 Not bad a trade, right?

Moving along, since last week we took the time to meet Hazel, I thought you all might like to meet Killian Drake, who is my version of Donkeyskin’s prince and the story’s…I hesitate to say hero?

Killian: Are you saying I’m not heroic?

Kitty: You’re the most feared vampire in the Midwest.

Killian: That merely displays my leadership capabilities. Or that the

Midwest is a particularly pathetic region in the United States.

Kitty: You might wanna hit rewind and listen to what I said again: MOST. FEARED. VAMPIRE.

Killian: It’s part of my mysterious charm.

Kitty: If you say so. So you are a key figure in vampire politics, and although you are acknowledged to be really ‘hot,’ you are also known for being conniving and pretty brutal.

Killian: It’s part of my mysterious charm.

Kitty: You can’t write off all your flaws as ‘mysterious charm!’

Killian: I can certainly try.

Kitty: Annnd that’s enough. Thanks for reading, Champions!

Thanks for hanging in there with me, and I hope you stay tuned as I release more pieces and bits about what to expect! We’ll have some solid release dates coming your way soon, and soon I’m going to go over the original story of Donkeyskin, so bring your popcorn!

Hall of Blood & Mercy Fairy Tale Reveal!

On Discord, my blog, and Facebook we’ve had brilliant champions correctly guess what fairy tale Hall of Blood and Mercy is based on, so I decided to confirm! It’s…

Yes, Donkeyskin–a tale that is equal parts icky and charming.

Not gonna lie to you, Champions, when you first started asking for a retelling of this one roughly two years ago, I wasn’t going to touch it with a ten-foot-pole due to some of the content in the original story. (The dead giveaway is the icky-ness that is the Father deciding to marry his daughter.) But the more I chewed it over, the more I thought I could change up the icky parts a bit and have a whole lot of fun with the story if I really explored the relationship between the princess and the prince, and how it evolved as a result of the plot.

Rather that go into detail here, in a future post I’m going to take an in depth look at the original story–so ya’ll can see why I didn’t want to plunk it down in my Timeless Fairy Tales world, ugh.

I did change the story a lot–as you know from the description both of Hazel’s parents are dead. But what didn’t fit in the description is that the wizard who betrays her initially tries to blackmail her into marrying him, which is why she runs, just as the heroine from the original Donkeyskin tale runs from an unwanted marriage.

It’s been so much fun revealing bits and pieces of this series. I had a great time–though I know some of you would say all the teasing was awful, hahah. (Going over the Donkeyskin fairytale will be a lot of…’fun.’ I can’t wait to hear what you guys think of that in a future post!) Next week I have some really big news about the book/series that will (hopefully) blow you away! 😉 So stay tuned!

Magic Forged Cover Reveal

The Cover Reveal for Magic Forged is here!

As you can see, Magic Forged is book #1 in Hall of Blood and Mercy. Our intrepid heroine is named Hazel Medeis who is–as shown by the lightning in her hands–a wizard. As I’ve teased before, her story is based on a fairytale–you’ll find out what specific one in the next post!

Across Facebook and Discord, I’ve been releasing little bits of a description! In warning, it’s pretty bad–it usually takes me weeks to write these things, and I’m so incredibly BAD at them, so this isn’t the final product!

22-year-old Hazel is a wizard and heir to the magical House Medeis. Unfortunately, she has barely any magic at all, and has been bullied all her life as a result. When her parents die in a tragic car accident, Hazel is left to care for House Medeis and all the wizards sworn to it with only her flicker of magic…but it’s not enough.

Betrayed by a member of House Medeis who wants the House for himself, Hazel is forced to flee for her life. Allies abandon her, and everyone refuses to aid her, except Killian Drake…the most feared vampire in the region. But when Killian accepts her as a servant he isn’t doing so out of the kindness of his heart.

On the brink of a war with the fae, Killian believes Hazel could become a powerful weapon for the vampires. He never imagined she’d become so much more…

*** Now let’s have a bit of a conversation with the wizard herself so you Champions can get to know her better!

Kitty: Okay, Hazel. You are part of a top secret series so you cannot give too much away, but please say hello to all the wonderful Champions!

Hazel: Hi, everyone! Thanks for inviting me here, today. It was so nice to get out of Drake–

Kitty: No spoilers!!

Hazel: Sorry.

Kitty: Could you describe yourself for us?

Hazel: That’s kind of a hard question. Uh, I guess I’ll start with I don’t have much magic at all–which is pretty miserable because, go figure, wizards are snobs–and I’d like to think I’m smart.

Kitty: You are also quite short.

Hazel: Should I be concerned that you’re my author and you think that’s one of the most remarkable things about me?

Kitty: I thought I should mention it so people are aware just how badly you struck out on the DNA lottery. You don’t have your parents’ magic or their height, which means you are a prime target for a bully!

Hazel: Yeah…you are on my side, right?

Kitty: Always!

Hazel: Okay, good.

Kitty: Which is why I wish to promote personal and emotional growth for you!

Hazel: …I am really not liking the sound of that.

And we’ll end it there! In my next post I’ll reveal a little more about the series, as well as the fairytale Hazel’s story is based on! Do we have any last minute guesses what it could be? Or now that we have the series name, does anyone want to guess what other paranormal race–besides wizards–is prominently featured in this book?