K.M. Shea's Blog
May 28, 2024
King Arthur Audiobook On Sale!
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May 22, 2024
Magic on Main Street: Chex Mix
I’ve been meaning to talk about this recipe ever since The Games of Enemies and Allies came out, but it required a field trip to the grocery store so I kept forgetting about it!
In the United States there is a specific type of breakfast cereal called “x Chex� where x is the type or flavor of Chex cereal. There are quite a few flavors to pick from at most grocery stores (see the photo below) but the classic three that matter for this recipe are Rice Chex, Corn Chex, and Wheat Chex. The poor Wheat Chex type has lost a lot of popularity with the need for gluten free products which I think is probably why in the photo below there are generic cereal versions for only Rice Chex and Corn Chex.
The original recipe that was created using this cereal is called “Chex Party Mix� (because it’s using the “Chex� part from the name of the cereal). The Chex cereal box always has the official recipe printed on it � that’s how popular it is!
As a side note in my experience I have heard people call this recipe a variety of names so I polled both Instagram and Facebook to ask what they called it, and the resounding answer was the slightly shortened “Chex Mix� although a surprisingly number of people called it “Trash� in their families! This variety of names for the same recipe is also why I had Jade call it “Party Mix� in the book but her neighbor called it “Chex Mix�. There is a completely different packaged snack mix in the United States called “Party Mix� so this can get pretty confusing!
But what is Chex Mix?
If you’ve never eaten this snack before I realize it can be hard to just look at a photo and imagine what it tastes like.The original recipe is savory in taste and the texture is mostly crunchy � .
The photo below is from @thewellreadpotato from my Street Team and the version of the recipe is her photo looks pretty close to the classic version, although there appears to be more butter being used than the “official� recipe. By the way, Chex Mix uses Worcestershire sauce which is why everything gets a brown coating on it. In the photo below those dark brown chunks in the middle of the pretzels are from the melted butter + Worcestershire sauce + spices that was poured onto the cereal and pretzels and then dried. Those dark brown chunk parts are the best and I remember fighting to get those pieces when I was a kid.
But the awesome thing about this recipe is there are a lot of options to customize it. It’s very common for families to have their own customized version of this recipe that is an ongoing tradition. For example, some people change the flavor a bit by by adding M and M candies to make it sweet, or adding flavored chips to give it a different savory taste. Other families just tweak the existing ingredients (my family uses a LOT more butter compared to the official recipe which would mean all the cereal and other ingredients get more of a buttery coating on them). There is even a completely different recipe that still uses Chex cereal with powder sugar, chocolate, and peanut butter called The end result is Chex Mix is a very well know snack in the United States even though most people don’t eat it very often, but it also typically generates a nostalgia feeling for most people (and their custom family version) so it was a perfect recipe for Jade to attempt!
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May 12, 2024
Happy Mother’s Day 2024!
Today is Mother’s Day in the United States, so Happy Mother’s Day, Champions! On behalf of children everywhere: I hope you mothers have a lovely day, thank you for all you do and all the sacrifices you have made, and we love you so much! And a huge thank you to all the women who have influenced, taught, and loved us even if we aren’t their kid(s)! Mother or mother-figure, the love and support you show others is world changing.
To celebrate this day, I wanted to remind you Timeless Fairy Tale/Fairy Tale Enchantress Champions about my mother-themed short, “A Mother’s Responsibility� ()
A Mother’s Responsibility is a companion short story to Snow White, the final book in my Timeless Fairy Tale series and it has spoilers for the series, so you won’t want to read it if you haven’t read Snow White yet!
Snow White’s loving relationship with her step mother, Faina, was the driving force behind the changes I made to my retelling of the fairy tale. But it always struck me as slightly unfair that I didn’t actually get to show you Champions much of their relationship due to how the events had to play out to match the original fairy tale. I loved writing this little short story because it let you see that just as Snow White deeply adores Faina; Faina is fiercely protective of Snow White.
But the Mother’s day fun doesn’t end there! If you’re a Magiford fan, I have a few other family themed short stories I want to mention:
First up is “Family Bonding,� () which was the first extra short story released for the Magic on Main Street Series. This short story gives you the opportunity to tag along with Jade’s family for an afternoon of “fun� and it is also a prequel so you can read it without spoiling anything for the books in the trilogy. I wrote this short because I wanted to show you more about slayers, and Jade’s family specifically, so you could see where she gets her intense training philosophy from!
Next is “Parents� Night,� () which is a companion short story to theCourt of Midnight and Deception series, so if you haven’t read Leila’s books you’ll want to skip this!I’ll confess, I love this short mostly because it has some Lord Linus antics, and Linus is one of my favorite Magiford characters to write, but it was also nice to be able to tie up a few lose ends I didn’t get a chance to address in Leila’s series, specifically regarding her relationship with her very adorably midwestern and very supportive mother.
And last is “A Family Tea Party,� () which takes place after the events of the Pack of Dawn and Destiny series. I almost didn’t include this one in the list because it has SO MANY spoilers for the trilogy- so don’t read it if you haven’t finished all three books yet! But I like how each of these Magiford shorts shows how very different families can be while still loving each other. For your sake though I really hope your Mother’s Day celebration doesn’t involve drinking fae charmed tea!
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May 8, 2024
Magic on Main Street: Baking Inspiration
I’ve seen a lot of discussion about Jade’s baking mishaps on the blog/discord/Facebook, so I wanted to share more about the inspiration behind it!
Thanks to from my Street Team for this awesome image!
As we’ve seen in this series (and in the short story, ) Jade is very close to her family � both her nuclear/immediate family and her extended family including her grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, etc. In the Midwest food is a big deal at family get togethers (I realize this happens in other areas too!) and favorite family recipes are a vital part of the holidays and extended get togethers. These recipes are often either a closely guarded secret, handed down with utmost reverence, or given out in broken bits that leaves the family member attempting to reproduce the recipe foam at the mouth and losing their mind.
As someone who has experienced hardships while trying to reproduce family recipes and/or while attempting to document favorite family recipes electronically, Jade’s situations are pulled from my firsthand experiences!
I specifically wanted to show you the recipe that has infuriated me the most. Behold:
Notice the following highlights:
Torn edges and ripsMysterious stainsPlaces where the ink has faded/runThe fact that it is obviously written on a random scratch piece of paper of unknown originThe dividing line after the cocoa ingredient that makes no senseAnd the overall lack of instructionsCan you tell what recipe this is? (Originally this little piece of paper didn’t even have the recipe name on it, but I previously rage wrote the name at the top of the paper, which is why it is folded over in the first photo.)
For those of you that are amazing bakers who have your own trademark recipes I hope Jade’s experience has given you a little empathy for all of us who struggle to follow what you tell us to do. And if you have failed at reproducing a family recipe in the past please know that you are not alone and you are probably in the majority!
The answer to what recipe this is: this is my Mom’s recipe for tuxedo cupcakes AKA black bottom cupcakes. They are very delicious and were a childhood favorite of mine. However, they are a sore spot of mine because one year for Christmas as a gift to my mom I typed out our family’s most famous recipes and uploaded them to the computer. My mom was thrilled, but was surprised I hadn’t included the tuxedo cupcakes since they’re so beloved. I hadn’t included them because this recipe had no title, so when I was pawing through her recipe box I found the scrap piece of paper, was mystified, and continued on. When I said I didn’t include them because I couldn’t find the tuxedo cupcake recipe, she pulled this ratty thing out and apparently thought I should recognize it based on the ingredients alone?? (She laughed hard when I pointed out the recipe lacked a title, and at the time didn’t even have a complete set of instructions.)
So, yes, I have a lot of sympathy for Jade. (Don’t even get me started on the multiple recipes my mom has given me that require a specific bowl that was made in the 70s to reproduce, because she doesn’t know the amount of ingredients that goes in, she just knows what it should look like in the bowl. My family hit up a lot of estate sales to find and purchase multiple copies of that bowl–again, made in the 70s–so we can actually recreate the recipes and just in case the original bowl should ever break.)
Have you ever experienced family recipe hardships? Share them in the comments below!
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May 2, 2024
Important Book Announcement
It’s time to talk about future book projects, and this news is going to disappoint a lot of readers so I’m going to jump right into it.
Some of you are likely very worried about my poor health (or getting sick of hearing about it) but the truth is that due to several ongoing issues I’ve had physical health problems since 2021. This has now started to impact my mental and emotional health and it’s also impacting my ability to write.
Writing a fiction book isn’t the same as many jobs in that there is a limit to how much I can force myself to write when I am burned out/in bad health before my brain just gives up.
I have already pushed myself beyond the point where I should have and the support professionals I use are all saying the same thing: I shouldn’t continue pushing myself when my body and brain are clearly telling me I need a break.
Therefore, effective immediately, I am going on hiatus and no new books will be written or published until the hiatus is over.
I can’t tell you how long the hiatus will be for either of my pen names, but it will be at least two years from now before I will start writing again.
This does not mean I am abandoning my unfinished series, and I am still committed to finishing Retha, Elves of Lessa, and the Fairy Tale Enchantress series. I also have more stories in the Magiford world I would love to tell. But to do any of these things I need to take the time needed to get well again.
I’m really sad this is necessary. Writing as a career was my dream for most of my life, but that is also the reason why I must take extreme measures and put myself on a hiatus, because I want to keep doing this, and if this goes on much longer I won’t be able to.
I recognize that this announcement is disappointing for many of my Champions and you might have very strong feelings about this. Our community is amazing, so I already know the vast majority of you will be understanding and concerned for me and I’m so thankful for you.
Of course, many of us will be sad about this announcement (including me), and that’s totally understandable. I want to make sure you reach out to a supportive friend locally if you feel more than sadness, though. I’ve learned the value of mental health support these last few years, and I’m going to advocate for you to take care of yourself, as well.
Additionally, we want to protect the community’s wellbeing, so we will be deleting email, posts, and comments that cross the line of what the community needs in order to grieve this together. Anything mean or hateful will be deleted. This is also the reason why commenting is turned off on this post. We will return to our regular posting schedule on social media and the newsletter, once this letter has been seen by the community.
The KM Shea brand will still release audiobooks as scheduled and there will be series sales and community fun ongoing as well, because those are supported by the entire KM Shea team. You can also expect to see an ebook boxset for both Chloe’s trilogy and Jade’s–though we don’t have any release dates on those at the moment. However, there will be no new content (no new stories) until the hiatus has passed.
Thank you all so much for all the support and encouragement you’ve given me—not only now during my health struggles, but throughout my career as an author. I appreciate how much you love my stories and have acted as their Champions. I wish you all the best as you continue to enjoy these worlds, and you’re always in my thoughts.
FAQ:Kitty, I’m really worried about you! / Kitty, are you secretly dying?
I promise this is not a secretive way for me to announce that I am dying. I am already working with multiple medical doctors to improve my health and I am optimistic that things will get better but I need to give myself the time needed for this to happen. I feel bad that this announcement is likely giving some of you ulcers in worry for me � please know that I appreciate your support and I love every one of you who has sweetly but firmly lectured me in the past to take good care of myself � you gave me the courage to make this scary announcement and I wish I had listened to you sooner.
What about Angelique, Retha, or Elves of Lessa? / What about Magiford?
I am not abandoning my unfinished series, and I am still committed to finishing Retha, Elves of Lessa, and the Fairy Tale Enchantress series. I also have more trilogies in the Magiford world I want to write. However. This hiatus will definitely last at least two years and therefore I do not have an expected release date I can share.
Pestering or harassing my team for a release date you would prefer will not get you the books any sooner. Any future emails demanding a release date will be deleted and the community moderators have full authority to delete any rants or demands for book release dates.
Will you still be posting on social media, the newsletter, or the blog?
As part of this hiatus I am turning the blog, newsletter, and all my social media over to my team to manage. They have been helping me with all the graphics and content ideas so this will be an easy transition and they will continue the fun games and posts you know and love. The newsletter for KM Shea books will be shorter but it will still be delivered twice a month.
As I mentioned above, there will still be sales and more audiobooks and ebook boxsets of already completed series will be made available, so there will still be fun to be had despite my absence!
What about reader events?
The Readers Take Denver Event that I was originally scheduled to attend in 2025 was cancelled by the organizers several days ago. I will not be attending any other in person events during the hiatus.
I will be attending virtually the SheaCon 2024 event. It is an online event planned and hosted by a team of dedicated Champions. It’s hosted on Discord and is scheduled for July 19th � 21st 2024.
During SheaCon I won’t be answering questions about my hiatus—I’d rather spend my time chatting with you all and talking about books!
Do I really have to wait at least 2 years for a new book?
Correct.
I suspect this news is going to hit my longtime fairytale/epic fantasy Champions hardest. So, during this time I really want to encourage you to consider trying out new-to-you authors in Fantasy or Fairy Tales. There are many wonderful authors who have debuted in the last couple of years but have not found an audience and are at risk of having to give up their author writing and focus on another career so they can pay the bills.
This is your chance to be a hero and find these unknown authors and SHARE them with your fellow readers!
You are always welcome to ask for other author recommendations on the Discord/Facebook communities. You can plug other authors you have read on the communities as long as the book content matches our community guidelines.
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April 29, 2024
Readers Take Denver Cancelled
The 2025 Readers Take Denver event I previously announced I would be attending was cancelled by the event organizers over the weekend.
According to their website if you purchased tickets you will automatically be reimbursed. If you booked a hotel room or anything else related to the event you should go ahead and cancel that now. There is more information on their website about ticket reimbursement:
I was looking forward to meeting many of you in person and I am sad we won’t have this opportunity anymore. I will not be attending any other in person events in 2024/2025 but you can join me at our online event, Shea-con, this year July 19th-21st (more info to come!).
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April 24, 2024
What to read after Magic on Main Street series?
So you’ve finished The Order of Blood and Ruin and now you are wondering what to read next? Here’s some helpful information about books and bonus content related to Magic on Main Street and other popular series I’ve written so you can decide what to binge next!
Recommendation #1: If you haven’t finished the other Magiford Supernatural Series trilogies go read those now! The official Kitty recommendation is to start with Hall of Blood and Mercy series and then Court of Midnight and Deception series. There are two more trilogies after that (Pack of Dawn and Destiny and Gate of Myth and Power) but you can read them in any order. But you can also read them in any order you want as each series is mostly self contained.
� An underdog wizard is driven out of her house in a coup and is taken in by the most dangerous vampire in the region. If you loved the Drake vampires in the Magic on Main Street series then this trilogy will feel like your favorite dessert as a follow up! Tropes: Opposites attract and enemies to lovers.
� A reluctant half Fae is selected as the new Queen of the Night Court and picks the deadly court assassin as her consort. Tropes: Marriage of Convenience, coffee, and magic pets!
� When werewolves start turning feral and mindlessly attacking innocent humans Hunter Pip is forced to team up with werewolf Alpha Greyson to crush the source of the outbreak. Tropes: Fated Mates and Found Family
� Chloe can turn into a cat! Unfortunately for her Noctus, the deadly elf king secretly living in her city, decided to do a good deed and adopts the “stray cat� that the local fae are picking on. Tropes: Hades & Persephone retelling (yes, really!) and found family
Recommendation #2: Make sure you’ve read all the bonus short stories I’ve written Magiford books! In addition to the short stories there are a ton of other fun things like character bios and worldbuilding blog posts that talk about the different types of supernaturals in Magiford. The full list is on the page!
Recommendation #3: Have you seen the ? It’s related to the Hall of Blood and Mercy series, so if you haven’t read it yet signup for my newsletter and get the link! (If you don’t want to receive my newsletter long term it’s ok to unsubscribe after you get the short story � I promise it doesn’t hurt my feelings!).
Recommendation #4: I have several other books I’ve written that have the same humor, magical fantasy, and slow burn romance as the Magiford stories. But before I can recommend which you should try I need to know what fantasy genres you like?
If you love Paranormal Romance and/or Urban Fantasy then I have another series I wrote that is not part of the Magiford world. The (MBRC) is a completed series that follows the journey of teenage Morgan discovering vampires, werewolves, dinosaurs, and elves are both real and secretly living among regular humans. Once she learns their secret they draft her into teaching them about the very confusing human culture topics and slang. This is arguably the funniest series I have ever written so as long as you are OK with some paranormal satire (I tease because I care!) you should give this a read!If you love Epic Fantasy then I have two potential series I recommend!
If you want something with lots of battles/fighting or if you like the King Arthur myths then try the ! This is my own spin on the classic King Arthur stories and features a time traveling modern women who is forced by the surprisingly young and handsome Merlin to pose as the King Arthur from legends. And there is NO LOVE TRIANGLE in my version (although Guinevere and Lancelot do appear). Side tip: The audiobook version of this series is amazing so go listen to the preview on Audible even if you don’t plan to buy it � you’ll thank me!If you love Epic Fantasy mixed with fairy tales then check out . In this timeless good versus evil story the princess Rakel must team up with the very people who have kept her imprisoned to save their country from an invading army of magic users who intend to destroy them all.Finally, if you’d really love some good Romantasy in your life then try one of these:
In the the humans of Calnor have protected the elves of Lessa for centuries but have remained divided due to the deep differences in their languages and culture� until now! This is a series of standalone books so even though there will eventually be four books in the series you can read the existing three books with no cliffhangers. If you’ve ever wished you could read the story of how Aragon and Arwen from Lord of the Rings fell in love then these books are exactly what you are looking for!If you love fairy tales I have a 11 book series of standalone, but related, stories that are just what you are looking for! includes Disney favorites (like Beauty and the Beast) as well as lesser know stories (like The Twelve Dancing Princesses) and since they are standalone you can read them out of order so I recommend you start with your favorite fairy tale and go from there.The post appeared first on .
April 17, 2024
Magic on Main Street: The inspiration
A lot of my urban fantasy series have kernels of inspiration from fairy tales. (Hall of Blood and Mercy is my PG take on Donkey Skin, I used a lot of fae lore from the Ballad of Tam Lin for Court of Midnight and Deception, and Gate of Myth and Power is my version of Hades and Persephone.) The Magic on Main Street series doesn’t have any direct fairy tale source, instead it came from an idea I’ve been pondering since back in the “Ye Olden� days of my career when I wrote my Timeless Fairy Tale series. Specifically, my retelling of Sleeping Beauty. It all started with this image�
This meme/image has been making the rounds of Facebook, Instagram, and social media for over a decade, and I stumbled upon it when I was doing research for my aforementioned Sleeping Beauty story. This image, combined with the original story which explained that the Sleeping Beauty’s parents only had 12 sets of gold dishware for fairy visitors when there were 13 fairies and so they decided to leave the one fairy out of the guest list which resulted in Sleeping Beauty’s curse, made me ponder the intricacies of fae lore.
Across the board, fairy tales usually imply that fairies/fairy queens/fairy godmothers all know one another, and see each other frequently. In some stories, it’s implied that they even have meetings that they all show up for, or perhaps even live near each other, and that they have their own society with complex rules and factions. Not all fairies got along, and there were often sides–like Maleficent and the three fairies, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather in the Disney movie.
For more inspiration fodder, around the time I was writing Sleeping Beauty, superheroes were dominating the movie industry. In 2016 Batman V Superman and Captain America: Civil War both came out, showcasing superhero versus superhero movies.
All of this got me thinking…what if a “bad� fae and a “good� fae fell in love–wouldn’t that be similar to if a supervillain fell in love with a superhero? I’m sure all Batman fans are mentally screaming at me about Catwoman right now, but I specifically wanted to know what would happen if the genders were reversed and the male love interest was the villain while the woman was the hero.
The idea was full of possible tension. If I looked at it from the fairy perspective it would be an interesting idea as they’d be able to understand each other, their history, their abilities, even though they disagreed about things. If I went at it from a superhero angle, it would be both interesting and entertaining to have the supervillain and superhero injuring each other at night, and then being dismayed that their daytime bestie had gotten hurt, never knowing it was their doing.
However, I didn’t want to write an actual superhero book–even though I am a fan, that isn’t my writing vibe–and I couldn’t find a way to work it into my Timeless Fairy Tale world because my lore was already set and I wouldn’t be able to fully capture the good fae/bad fae vibe with what I had planned for the spinoff series Fairy Tale Enchantress. So I kept the thought in the back of my mind and let it ferment.
And then came Magiford.
As urban fantasy, Magiford walks that line between fairy tales and superheroes, borrowing abundantly from both genres. It was the perfect setting that would let me capture the best of both worlds and spin them into one story. Thus, Considine and Jade strutted their way into existence. (Well, Considine strutted. Jade marched in and then smartly saluted.)
Jade being a slayer and Considine hiding from Killian and the Dracos kiddos meant I was able to implement the superhero secret identity aspect of the story, and Jade’s job is basically to be a magic cop, which made it easy to draw moral lines to show how different the pair was.
In the same way, their backgrounds meant Jade naturally understood Considine, and that the relationship between their night identities was a lot more personal than the typical superhero story and much more in line with how personally fairy tale fae knew each other.
Considine’s brand of morally gray-ness was directly inspired from the original Sleeping Beauty story (called “Little Briar Rose�) as the original never actually calls the fairy that curses Briar Rose evil, it just states she was angry she wasn’t invited, so she stormed in and cursed the princess out of spite. Similarly, Considine is perhaps one of my least dark/antihero urban fantasy heroes–particularly considering Noctus� and Rigel’s history, and Killian’s political machinations–but instead his long life has worn him down and made him cynical and tired to the point that he mostly lives to cause chaos and acts out much the way the uninvited fairy did.
And that’s the story about how fairy godmothers and superheroes inspired a vampire and slayer romance! The more you look the more you’ll see similarities from my inspiration reflected in Magic on Main Street, so share other examples you think of in the comments down below. I hope you enjoyed that peek into how I craft stories, and until next time, Champions, thanks for reading!
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April 6, 2024
Short Story: Committee Chaos
The book reviews have been pouring in on ŷ and Amazon which means it is time for a bonus short story!
which means the Magic on Main Street trilogy is now complete, and there has been a corresponding tidal wave of reviews and ratings! Since this book is quite a bit longer than the previous books in the series I thought it would take longer to reach the 100 threshold on ŷ + Amazon but once again I’m surprised every time by how quickly the Champions can rally to reach a goal. 
As I am posting this there are already more than 70+ ŷ reviews!
Thank you so much for the crazy number of reviews and ratings you have left and thank you so much for the support you have given this series. I’ve had the basic plot idea for this series for a long time and it’s the most awesome feeling as an author to watch readers enjoy the story that has been living rent free in my head for years! (I have a blog post coming later this month sharing more about the inspiration behind this series.)
To express my thanks, . (It has some spoilers, but nothing major related to the plot of book #3.)
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April 5, 2024
Order of Blood and Ruin: Spoiler Post
Greetings, Champions! The Order of Blood and Ruin is officially released! Did you read it yet?
I’m bringing back the tradition of aSpoiler Postbecause I want to give you blog-reading Champions a place to voice your reading thoughts during this initial book launch so please talk away!
Warning:If you haven’t gotten a chance to read The Order of Blood and Ruin, book 3 in the Magic on Main Street series, then I’d suggest waiting before you check out the rest of the post or read the comments, or you’ll spoil the story for yourself!
As usual, I’ve will be writing short story as my “thank you� for the launch of this new book and for it reaching 100 reviews–that’s 100honestreviews pooling from ŷ and all the Amazon stores!
Speaking as a reader, honest reviews can help readers decide if a book is the type of story they want to try. Reviews and ratings are a big deal for authors and I’m so thankful that you’re willing to spend your time leaving a review–which is why I’m happy to write the shorts! I’m really excited for your to see the bonus short and I’ll be watching to release it as soon as we hit the 100 mark. But until then, let’s talk spoilers!
So, Champions, now that the series is over, I’m curious to know what your thoughts are on the Task Force, Killian’s siblings, or slayers in general?
What was your favorite scene in the series? Or what was your favorite Jade + Considine scene?
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