Tag Archives: short stories

Promos, Updates, and releases, OH MY!!

**Read whole thing for news, as this post is a straight running faucet of the mouth, if you know what I mean**

Howdy, Vikans!

So, I’ve been dark on my blog for a while, and I apologize for that. There are multiple reasons for this. One, I’ve been querying agents for an old series of mine. The first 2 books I’ve polished up a ton of times over the last four years, with the 3rd partially written and a chapter here or there for the final 2 books. If you know math, that adds up to a five-book series. I started it in college, and that first book’s writing consumption comes close to how fast I cranked out KINETIC REBIRTH, both only took about a month to write from start to finish.

Speaking of KINETIC REBIRTH…

Unfortunately, this blog post is happening halfway through one of the two Amazon Kindle promotions, but there’s still time for y’all to act. KINETIC REBIRTH, Book One in my KINETICS series, is currently FREE in Kindle form on Amazon! However, this is only through to July 5th at 11:59 PM. Snag a download while you can.

Also, there’s a second promo pertaining to KINETICS. Through the month of July, the second book, KINETIC MEMORY, is only 99c for Kindle. Links for those 2 two books are within the titles in this paragraph.

Since we’re on the topic of new deals, time to talk future publishing endeavors.

Remember my CHAOS ACCOUNTS short stories? If you need the annoying-frustrating timeline….

-(Account #1) ACCOUNT OF ANXIETY – Released 01/17/2017

-(Account #2) ACCOUNT OF UNREST – Released 02/16/2017

-(Account #3) ACCOUNT OF FRIENDSHIP – Released 04/15/2017

-(Account #4) ACCOUNT OF SECRETS – Released 01/01/2018

As you can see, the gaps get bigger and bigger when it comes to Division 3’s dangerous missions against ChaosBlaze, but the stories will be created and published soon.

HOWEVER!

My 5th CHAOS ACCOUNTS story, “ACCOUNT OF RISKS”, is scheduled for release on all eBook platforms on July 7th, 2018 (This Saturday). Preorders are up on the following sites as of typing this blog post…

[Amazon (Kindle)]   

[Barnes & Noble (Nook)]

[Smashwords (All digital formats)]

[iTunes (iBooks]]

Those are the main preorder links for Accounts #5. This one finishes the first Story Arc, with an ending that will keep you tense until the next installments, desperately wanting to know what happens when Division 3 plans to-

….

Oh, almost just spoiled the ending. Glad I caught myself.

Anyway, another announcement on the CHAOS ACCOUNTS front. As I mentioned above, Account #5 is the end for Story Arc #1, collectively labelled as the “Priming” set. The PRIMING set includes Accounts #1 through #5. I’m aiming for a late summer/early fall release of this collection set.

The best part?

IT’LL ALSO BE IN PAPERBACK!

Yes, you read that right. PAY-PER-BACK.

So, stay tuned for more news on that collections preparation progress over the next few months.

Moving to the writing front, or at least the craft part of it, I’ve finished me and JV’s first book in our 4-book series, but I’m putting it on the back burner for… well, reasons. I have also edited the first two in another series I’m in the process of pitching to agents, and hope to pick the third in that series back up. That series’ #3 currently sits at about just under 38,000, with a minimum goal of 65,000 or more.

I have also started CHAOS ACCOUNTS #6, the first in the next collection set. Both the story and the set are currently untitled, and my word count is very, VERY tiny, but hoping to continue the journey with Division 3, and I hope you all will too.

Finally, the other project I’ll be working on will be KINETICS #4. I don’t think I’ve publicly announced this yet, but the draft for KINETICS #3, tentatively titled “KINETIC HISTORY”. It’s been through my preliminary edits multiple times, and is now a polished draft.

BUT….

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know that KINETICS is a series in homage and dedication of my best friend JV, who died a year and a half ago in a deadly car accident. I finished the first draft of KINETIC HISTORY months ago, and I’ve been itching to get that one published, for both my peace of mind, and for you all – my readers- to enjoy as the adventure continues and the plot thickens. There’s just one factor that stands in my way of getting the third KINETICS adventure to publication.

MONEY.

Now, I know what y’all are thinking: “Save up!” It’s not that simple. For starters over the last two years, I have racked up quite a bit of debt. Secondly, sending to my editor and my cover designer ends up spending money as well. Luckily, I cut costs, as I do decent interior layouts myself, but between editing, covers, copies, and marketing/promotion costs… Yeah, it gets pricey.

Add onto that the fact that I’ll be getting married a little over a year from now (yeah, I know I never announced that here, but YAY, I’M ENGAGED!!!!), and money is scarce.

If any of you all like my blog, my writing, or just want to help an author out, here’s ways you can help me:

 

Pledge to my Patreon

–> Patreon is a platform that allows you to support content creators such as Youtubers, musicians, and authors like me, etc, etc. For my pledges, it’s only a once a month pledge, and the prices and rewards vary. Rewards include anything from getting into a selective group on Facebook that will hopefully help me out with ideas or feedback as I find it needed, to free books, etc. You can change or cancel your pledges at any time, but even a pledge for a handful of months would help. If I’ve learned anything in my life, it’s that every little bit helps, because little bits add up FAST. [Patreon link]

Buy my works

–> If you go to [this] link, you’ll be directed to the “My Works” part of this blog. You can also navigate there by the tabs at the top of this website. Each story or novel I’ve published is listed there, with short summaries and hyperlinks to various eBook platforms, or Amazon for print versions. Though I don’t get much from KDP or Createspace when it comes to royalties, it’ll add up.

Donate to my Tip Jar

–> Digital Tip Jar allows you to donate a ‘Tip’ of your choosing, to help fund my projects. Any amount helps. This is also a one-off payment, meaning not recurring/repeating every month like Patreon. This is a one-time donation, unless you want to do more tips for me down the road. The link to my Tip Jar is [here].

Leave reviews

–> This is just a general piece of advice, and applies to any authors in the world that you love reading. Go on Amazon or other platforms where my stories and books are sold, and leave a quick review. Only one or two sentences needed. Reviews are an author’s best friend, and a quite decent motivator to keep chugging along and doing what we do best: writing adventures for you to enjoy. Reviews also improve visibility for the little guys like myself. So, if you like my stories and want to help without breaking the bank, leave a brief review for me. Please. 🙂

Spread the word

–> If you like my stuff, TELL PEOPLE! You could send them a purchase link, give them a borrow from Amazon for the stories that have the capability to lend, or even just loan them your copy. The more people that know about me, the better my visibility will get. Hopefully, I’ll get

a few more fans.

Here’s a treat for you all to close out this (Exhaustingly long) blog post:

For those of you who have read the first two books, below is a small snippet of KINETICS, Book Three. For those of you who haven’t, there aren’t spoilers. Well, at least not too many.

Signing off before the snippet, so keep scrolling if you want to get a sneak peek.

Keep Faith, guys.

-C

////

Snippet from KINETIC HISTORY, “Kinetics, Book Three”::

Jaden heaved a heavy sigh. She fiddled with photos in her hands. Somehow it had ended up in her backpack when they were leaving Hyndon over a month ago. She’d unloaded the large pocket, mainly because that’s where her bag of dirty clothes was. The smaller pockets probably just had gum, or pencils, or feminine hygiene products or other junk stuff. When she decided to clean it out that day, she came across a small stack of photos. Some had crinkles of bad storage for years, others with bent corners.

The photo at the top of the stack of ten-ish pictures had been her focus for the last five minutes. She just stared at it. Her mind flashed between reality of looking at a frozen snapshot of time and the actual scene behind the photo. And no, not just remembering the memories. The memories flashed into her sight, gifting her with re-living those precious moments while not even leaving her bed.

This photo was her at around age eight in third-grade, with her new friends, Lukas and Pip. She just lost Kohei a few weeks earlier, and her eyes still looked a bit puffy. This was their first Fall picnic at their school. The three kids hung off the jungle gym, making nostalgically wild and crazy smiles at the camera. The scene came to life finally, the shrieks of elementary school children making real Jaden wince. She had now been inserted into the scene, with the memory blessing her with a three-sixty-degree view. However, she wondered how much of a blessing this magic really was.

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath in and let it out. When she opened her eyes, her surroundings had returned to her guest bedroom in the Second Kingdom’s palace. Glancing at that photo, she sighed and slipped it to the bottom of the stack. The next photo showed twelve-year-old Jaden, pouting as her sister took pictures as blackmail. The photo yet again came to life.

“C’mon, geek-a-zoid, give us a big smile!”

The glare and hatred in Jaden’s preteenage brown eyes said plenty. Muttering under her breath, she snapped, “Leave. Me. Alone.”

Dove’s musically-grating voice replied from behind the bulky red Poloroid, “One smile, Sneaks. Just one smile!”

When young Jaden’s mouth opened to form a pissed, teeth-grinding frown, she revealed the colorful braces that had been drilled into her mouth. She then grabbed the nearest couch pillow and threw it at her annoying older sister. “Buzz off, prick!”

Her sister simply laughed louder and said, “Ooh, I’m so scared of the female Inspector Gadget. C’mon, throw out your extendable arm and punch me.”

“Oh, is that an invitation?” Young Jaden roared, leaping at her sister.

Real Jaden closed her eyes, breathed, and returned to present day. She knew what happened next. Jaden had gotten sent to her room, went to Dove’s room once everyone was asleep, and cut off a lock of Dove’s long, blonde hair. Needless to say, the truth came out quick, and furious didn’t even scratch the surface on describing how angry the older sibling had been. Furious was actually a very generous term.

New Release and FREE short story links

Good day, Vikans!

And a good day indeed! I have decided to do my official announcement earlier than planned.

25353950_774331536087850_8225048927092445593_n

KINETIC MEMORY, Book Two in my KINETICS series, released over the weekend. I alerted my Patrons and e-Newsletter subscribers to start with. If you want to get this kind of news first, support my writing endeavors on my Patreon [here], with updates and sneak peeks at Works in Progress for as little as a $1/month. Hoping I can branch out into extra cool stuff once I have more Patrons. You can also subscribe to my [e-Newsletter] list as well, and receive email updates about 1-2x a month at most, for updates on current writing projects, upcoming releases, and giveaways I’m going to be having. I will also occasionally be emailing for ARC readers for future WIPs.

Speaking of giveaways, I’ve got one coming up on my Author page on Facebook in about two weeks. Like my [Facebook Author Page] so you can participate. This one will be free signed, physical copies of KINETIC REBIRTH, Book One of KINETICS. So, like my Facebook page [here], or, rather, follow my [Twitter], where I will direct people to my Facebook page when the giveaway contest starts.

Also, I want to share these photos with you all. These were screenshotted this AM Eastern Standard Time, and I can only comment with *SQUEEEEE!!!” These are my rankings for my “Tales of Terrara Vikos” short stories. The first one, “Cross of Faith”, I first published in June 2012 while still in college. That was the start of my author journey, a journey that as of right now includes 3 full-length novels, eight short stories in two short story sagas, and who knows how many WIPs that either need to be finished writing or deeply edited.

I will put links for the “Tales of Terrara Vikos” shorts with the below pictures. Each section below will have the cover, the ranking, and links to where you can purchase them. My shorts are eBook only right now, but hoping to finish both series collections for print soon.

ALSO! Did I mention that the below 4 stories are ALL PERMAFREE EVERYWHERE!! Yes, including Kindle. Maybe, if enough of you download these 4 shorts, I can get bumped to wider categories! That would make my day! Especially as it was my birthday last week. 🙂

 

Tales of Terrara Vikos short stories::

Summary of series::

Join Lucian, Halden, Michael, and Kimberly as they take on challenges in the magical, hidden Realm of Terrara Vikos that even most adults 3 times their age. As Future Realm Leader, Lucian has a nice little target on his back at all time. With his friends in tow, they go through struggles of secrets, love, torture, and grief as they grow through thei childhood. No normal child could handle all the things that happen, but Lucian is no ordinary kid. Whether he knows it or not, he’s the Protektor and has pretty big shoes to fill. The world is depending on him in the near future, but can he last that long in his twisted experiences of his magical, prophetic life?

 

Cross of Faith (#1)

Cross_of_faith

[Kindle]

[Barnes&Noble/Nook]

[Smashwords]

 

 

As of 2018-01-23::

CoF-2017-01-23-AMRankings_7-20

 

 

Trees In The Storm (#2)

Trees_In_The_Storm

[Kindle]

[Barnes&Noble/Nook]

[Smashwords]

 

As of 2018-01-23::

Trees-2017-01-23-AMRankings_7-20

 

 

Blood On a Broken Hand (#3)

Blood_on_a_Broken_Hand_copy

[Kindle]

[Barnes&Noble/Nook]

[Smashwords]

 

As of 2018-01-23::

Blood-2017-01-23-AMRankings_7-20

 

 

Warped Destinies (#4)

 

Warped_Destinies

 

[Kindle]

[Barnes&Noble/Nook]

[Smashwords]

 

As of 2018-01-23::

Warped2017-01-23-AMRankings_7-20

 

 

 

Did I mention they are FREE ON ALL PLATFORMS?! Please download these, and maybe cheer me up as January 31st grows closer.

TheProtektorsReality_400x640_115dpi

Oh, and my first full length novel, THE PROTEKTOR’S REALITY, takes place soon after the events of “Warped Destines” short above, the 4th and final one in my “Tales” saga for my Terrara Vikos universe. Maybe will be able to introduce you to more of that world soon. 😉

Here’s the links to this novel:

[Kindle]

[Amazon Print]

[Barnes&Noble]

[Smashwords]

 

I also have another short story series called “The Chaos Accounts”, which I can find a link to that page [here].

Also, here’s links to my first 2 KINETICS books as well, just on the off-chance you’d like to support them too. They are dedicated to my best friend, who died January 31st last year (hence why I said I need cheering up as the 31st grows closer). I’ve actually inserted her into the series as accurately as I can, and almost all the characters were ones we’d come up with for fun writing and forum-based roleplaying. Both are also in KINDLE UNLIMITED subscription service, if you happen to be enrolled in it and want to take a look-see at these two books. I also have a promotion at the end of the month where the first (Kindle version) will be free for EVERYONE for 5 days. Again, [Newsletter], [Facebook], [Twitter], and becoming a Patron on my [Patreon] are the best ways to keep up to date and as an occasional reminder should you want to wait. Also, Book Two (KINETIC MEMORY) (aka- the one I just released) will be at 99c for only another couple of weeks, so grab your copy while you can!

KINETIC REBIRTH (#1)

KineticRebirth_promo

[Kindle/KU] / [Print]

The mystery of life and Limbo might ultimately be the death of her…

Jaden Walker has her future figured out. Seeing people who aren’t actually there is troubling, but she can handle that. That is, until she meets Kiran and Jessica Theron. The twins reveal three very important details: they have supernatural abilities, Jaden’s hallucinations are actually real dead people, and they want to take her home to her real parents. The twins rip Jaden from her peaceful, college student life into a world of magic and the unexplainable. But Jaden doesn’t just see the dead–she can communicate and interact with them. And someone else is hunting her for those abilities. For Jaden, this rollercoaster of a fantasy story should have remained in its book. Because, now that she’s living it, she’s finding it harder and harder to believe that anybody will tell her the truth. Even her closest friend.

 

KINETIC MEMORY (#2)

25353950_774331536087850_8225048927092445593_n[Kindle/KU] / [Print]

The Past is a complicated place… After bringing Kiran and Jessi back from the dead, Jaden assumed things would get better for her. Even with worries lingering on the horizon, her immediate frustration was dealing with the twins’ deceased father and his arrogant demon who developed a strange fascination with her. When their friend and companion Shalbriri falls ill, the annoying demon has a plan that might just save the Fifth Kingdom heir’s life. However, it requires returning to the twins’ birthplace, a town outside of the Five Kingdoms. With her sister-mother Dove in tow, Jaden, Lukas, and the twins all venture to the run-down village of Hyndon. The longer they stick around, the more Jaden realizes there’s more to the place than meets the eye, and those shadows offer no comfort. The answers they seek lead them to the most unexpected place. There is truth hidden in their parents’ past… but it all leads to a man she wishes was merely an ancient myth.

*****

Also, if you’ve read or will eventually finish reading these or ANY of my works, PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW ON AMAZON! Reviews are an author’s best friend, and I would be eternally grateful!!

 

Well, back to part-time author time. Keep Faith, everyone.

And, as they say in the Five Kingdoms, “Assume Nothing.”

– C

Wild New Wed (2017-08-30) – Coping and Updates

I… I just can’t, right now.

This week is only halfway over, but my heart aches. The thoughts of disbelief still swirl in my head, but the unfortunate truth is that she’s gone, and I can’t fix that.

If this is your first venture into my slice of the internet called Terrara Vikos, go through some of my previous posts to catch up, like [this one] or maybe [this one]. The long story short: my best friend, my co-author, and my co-Youtube vlogger JV died unexpectedly in a car crash on January 31,2017. She was my age, low 20s, and she and her husband of just over a year were expecting a child.

A child that was due tomorrow.

August 31st, 2017.

Exactly seven months after her death.

You know, the last seven months without her have been extremely difficult. I received the same message every weekday night, “Heading Home Now”, which was my cue to call her and talk with her during her 45-50 minute drive home.  It’s hard to wrap my mind around the fact that it’s been seven months since I got one of those messages. I can still hear her voice, her laugh, her hyperactive shouts of joy. She had a bright future ahead of her, one that was destroyed in a second because someone ran a red light and T-boned her.

You know, I’d been telling her for years that someday she’d make a great mother. She just had that personality and temperament that would have raised an amazingly kind child.

If you have been reading my blog posts and are up-to-date, you would know that I’m releasing my first book in my KINETICS series, titled KINETIC REBIRTH. If you didn’t know that, check out my cover reveal post [here]. If you did, and you read on a Kindle, click [here] to preorder your eBook copy. The eBook releases September 19th, a full month before the Print version goes live on October 19th.

KineticRebirth_promo

This series is special to me, as every character was one that JV and I came up with to roleplay together since 2011. Except one, which is JV herself. I have written her as accurate to the real JV as I could. She is also in my prequel short for the series, available on Instafreebie only [here]. KineticTragedycoverThis series is my ultimate dedication to her, and the friendship with her I so cherished.

If you are a print reader, and want a reminder closer to the release date and/or on the release date, sign up for my newsletter [here].

Also, you can LIKE me on FB [here] to stay up-to-date on all my doings: https://www.facebook.com/cmcdonnellauthor/

Also, some surprising news.

I’ve picked The Chaos Accounts up again!

Yep, working on Account #4 right now, alongside working on KINETICS #2 as well. If you haven’t read my CHAOS ACCOUNTS series, click [here] to be taken to my page with links to the first three stories, which will be updated with each subsequent release.

Anyway, guys, as always, Keep Faith.

And, also…

“Assume nothing.”

#KineticsReference 🙂

A Special Treat for Everyone Everywhere

With Ravencon just two days away, I decided to take the appearance and run with it. Meaning you guys all win.

First off, a favor to ask of everyone reading this, a fantasy fan or not. If you had already checked out the links on the “My Works” tab above, you would know that my Tales of Terrara Vikos short story saga short stories are free everywhere but Amazon. If all of you could take a link of those free short stories (off sites like Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Inktera, iBookstore), go to their equivalent Amazon page, and paste the link into the box that appears when you click the “Tell Us About A Lower Price” link. Hopefully, with enough people reporting this to them, we can get them to change the price to free there as well.

For the special surprise? In honor of every professional everywhere who had to face fears in their careers, I have created a coupon FOR SMASHWORDS ONLY that you can use to get THE PROTEKTOR’S REALITY for free!

WHAAAAAA???

 

This is a limited time only offer, so jump on it while you can! Smashwords ebooks come in many different formats, for practically any device that can hold ebooks. The coupon can only work on their site, but you can download the correct format to, say, your Kindle, Android, iPhone-or-similar-iProduct after buying it.

As I mentioned above, the four short stories are already free, and will remain free for a while, but they precede the novel. My recommendation? Download all five at once and read in order to get the best experience. You can read the novel without reading the stories first, but, c’mon, you gonna pass up five free stories that recount the major events of my Lucian’s life? Please, that would not be recommended.

The coupon code is MB29A, and it will only work until May 6th, 2016. Head over to the pages of the stories on Smashwords (which I will link with the titles at the bottom), download, and enjoy the ride! For those of you still loyal to your other ebook sources, you can still get the short stories for free on all ebook platforms (except Amazon. Yet.), and THE PROTEKTOR’S REALITY is only $2.99, a steal considering the paperback price. The links are on the “My Works” tab, and I will be adding the other missing sites shortly.

If you prefer a physical book, Amazon sells it for list price of $11, but frequently discounts it about a dollar or so sometimes. If you are someone attending Ravencon this weekend in Williamburg, VA, I will have PLENTY of physical copies, along with business cards, series overview postcards, snacks with a twist, temporary tattoos of the Trimaleït , and a special little surprise for anyone buying a copy. Oh, and did I mention I’m only charging $9/book during the convention? Just look for the young, bespectacled, ball of nerves rolling around a black monstrosity that says “Realm Documents – DO NOT TOUCH” and that has tiny Avengers stickers all over it. Yes, I’m that kind of dork.

This is a big first for me, and I’m super excited! My panel schedule is [here], and I will be around for a majority of the weekend. Don’t be afraid to come say Hi! I may seem timid and shy, but the fact we are both there, at my first home-away-from-home, where I found my mentors and now, hopefully, where I’ll find fans and friends, I’ll be more than happy to talk to a kindred spirit.

Keep Faith everybody, and Happy Reading!!

 

Smashwords links::

Tales:
#1- Cross of Faith
#2- Trees in the Storm
#3- Blood on a Broken Hand
#4- Warped Destinies

Novel:
THE PROTEKTOR’S REALITY: A Trials of Terrara Vikos prequel