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Need a new book? Check out these February book events

I'm in a whole slew of book promotions this month. Rather than posting about each one one at a time on the different social media places, where no one sees them anyway, here they all are in one place! A great way to discover new authors and genres. Some of these end soon, so don't delay! Read more at https://www.kyrahalland.com/blog/need-a-new-book-check-out-these-february-book-events

Resurfacing with a progress report on Mage of Sea and Sky

Welp. It's been an eventful *counts on fingers* nine months since I last posted. Pandemic and quarantine - hope you're all well, we're fine so far - plus we moved. We downsized to a house more than 1/3 smaller than our old house, the house where we lived for 27 years and raised out kids. So much stuff to get rid of! And all the places where we would normally sell or donate things were closed, and even if having a yard sale wasn't a really bad idea during a pandemic, we just don't have the energy or interest in doing that kind of thing. In general, moving during a quarantine is not recommended. I hate moving anyway, but we had the perfect opportunity to get the perfect house for us in the area where we wanted to be - rare new construction in our established neighborhood - so we went for it.

In other news, I'm now on revisions of book 1 of the Mage of Sea and Sky series. This is actually the second of 4 books; I've already done the big revision on the prequel. I wrote the entire series, beginning to end, in draft before starting the revision process, which is good because yes the whole thing exists, and so many things changed from beginning to end (for example, what was originally the major impetus for book 3 is now just a side note if it still exists at all, and my understanding of the hero has changed drastically since I first started writing) that this way I can make the major changes and get everything consistent before I start publishing.

I'm also working with my wonderful cover artist, Yuriko Matsuoko, on the covers! Subscribers to my newsletter are the first to get sneak peeks at the cover art and excerpts from the book. Sign up to get the scoop before I post it on my blog! Also, subscribers will get Red Jade, the prequell novella of Mage of Sea and Sky, free!

Finally, here are some book promotions I'm participating in; check them out to find someting new to read!

Ends July 15!

Free in stores! July 12-26

July 12-31

Binge on fantasy box sets July 1 - Aug. 31

Mages' Uprising Now Available!

I am very happy to announce that Mages' Uprising, Defenders of the Wildings Book 3, is now available! Through Oct. 14, it's at a special release price of $2.99; after that, it goes up to the regular price of $3.99. Here's the scoop:

Once, Silas and Lainie Vendine, former bounty hunters turned renegade mages, had a home and ranch of their own and the friendship and respect of their non-magical neighbors. Then the mage-hating Chardonikans came and drove Silas and Lainie from their home.

Now, Silas and his children have been captured by the Chardonikans, who are intent on spreading their despotic rule through the Wildings.

On the trail of Silas and the children, Lainie and her companions approach the Broadgrass, territory of the hostile P'wagimet people, in search of the Chardonikan stronghold.

When the true extent of the Chardonikans' plans in the Wildings is revealed, Silas and Lainie must somehow work together, even though they're separated by the enemy, to defeat the Chardonikans, reunite their family, and protect the freedom of all the people of the Wildings.

Mages' Uprising is available at all ebook stores, only $2.99 for a limited time!
Amazon.com
AU | CA | UK
Amazon International
Barnes & Noble
Google Play
iTunes | Kobo
Smashwords
DriveThruFiction
More Stores

Fantasy Box Set Deals

March 22-27: Get your fantasy boxed sets here at the Towers of Fantasy Tomes event, hosted by Romantic Fantasy Shelf. Binge on fantasy reads for 99 cents, free, Kindle Unlimited, and more!

March 20-25: If you're an international Kobo customer (I'm not sure if this sale is good in the US), don't miss the March 40% Off Box Sets sale! All three of my box sets, Love and Magic, Daughter of the Wildings Books 1-3, and Daughter of the Wildings: The Complete Series are part of this sale, in the Fantasy and Science Fiction section. Use promo code 40MAR.

I'm also running a 40% off coupon on these box sets on Smashwords. Buy Love and Magic, Daughter of the Wildings Book 1-3, and/or Daughter of the Wildings: The Complete Series with the on-site coupon code and save 40%! Deal expires March 25.

Mages' Exile Sneak Peek

Um, okay. Finally back :D I've been busy, revising and editing Mages' Exile, book 2 of Defenders of the Wildings, and writing the first draft of my next series, yet to be named, set in the Islands of the Wildings world, the home of Silas's ancestors. I've also got a few more blog posts to write about our trip to Germany, which I'll try to finish soon.

In the meantime, here's a sneak peek into Mages' Exile. (My newsletter subscribers got to see this first, and they'll also get first look at the cover, a tiny snippet of which illustrates this post.) This scene shows why you don't take the kiddos along on your fantasy quests if you can possibly help it, though if you've read Mages' Home, you'll know that Silas and Lainie didn't have a whole lot of choice in the matter. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. (Note: this is not the final version; still some edits to go.)

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Half-climbing, half-crawling, Silas left the winding path and headed straight up. Another measure and a half up, he pulled himself up onto a shelf cut into the slope, a good bit wider and longer than the ledge below. At the far side of the shelf, where the canyon wall rose again, five or six swordbeaks strutted in an agitated circle, spitting out curls of flame that hissed in the rain. In their midst, Garis sat on the ground, laughing and clapping his hands.

Silas’s heart skipped a beat and he stopped short. He suppressed an urge to run right over and pull Garis away from the swordbeaks; the last thing he wanted to do was upset the critters even more and provoke them into attacking. He held silent and motionless for a moment, observing the situation. It didn't look like the swordbeaks had hurt Garis, but they were clearly unhappy at his presence. A dark cleft split the canyon wall behind where Garis was sitting. The swordbeaks' den? No wonder the beasts were angry.

"Garis," he said, fighting to keep his voice calm.

"Look, Pa, fire chickens!" Garis shouted. The swordbeaks chittered, flapped their tiny forearms, and breathed out more fire.

Fire chickens. Silas closed his eyes, overcome by one of those brief, unexpected moments of sympathy for his own parents. “Hold still, Garis. Don’t scare them.”

“They ain’t scared, Pa. They happy and dancing!”

Great gods, what was he going to do? Silas studied Garis and the surrounding flock of swordbeaks, trying to work out how to get the critters away from the boy, or the boy away from them, without provoking them. He could slip a shield between the beasts and encircle Garis with it, keeping a strand of power extended to pull Garis and the shield out with, through the ring of swordbeaks. But wielding that much power with that much precision and control, without hitting any of the swordbeaks, in this place of wild magic while he was still suffering the effects of that weapon, wouldn’t be easy.

Still, it was the best he could come up with. Ignoring the discomfort, he began to draw power, shaping in his mind the shield he meant to make.

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Watch for Mages' Exile, book 2 of Defenders of the Wildings, coming (hopefully) in January 2019! And in the meantime, stay tuned for the reveal of the amazing cover! To make sure you don't miss out on the release, and for early cover reveals, sneak peeks, special offers, and more, sign up for my email newsletter.

Mages' Home Now Available!

I'm pleased to announce that Mages' Home, book 1 of Defenders of the Wildings, is now available at all major ebook stores (and a number of smaller stores) for $2.99 or the international equivalent.

Amazon.com
AU | CA | UK
Amazon International
Barnes & Noble
Google Play
iTunes | Kobo
Smashwords
DriveThruFiction
More Stores (This takes you to Books2Read, where you'll find links to a number of other international stores)

You can read the prologue and first chapter here.

Defenders of the Wildings is the follow-up series to Daughter of the Wildings, and Mages' Home catches up with Silas and Lainie some six years after the end of Daughter of the Wildings. They have a new home and the life they've dreamed of, and things are much better for mages in the Wildings now. But the Plain settlers aren't the only ones who hate (or used to hate) mages, and when a company from across the western sea comes to town, trouble soon rears its ugly head again. Only Silas and Lainie have a lot more at stake now than their own lives.

Defenders of the Wildings tells a self-contained story, and can be enjoyed even if you haven't read Daughter of the Wildings. (Though I hope you have, or will!) It's a three book series, Mages' Home to be followed by Mages' Exile and Mages' Uprising. It introduces a bunch of new characters I had fun writing, and gets us caught up with the characters from Daughter.

Defenders was originally 6 books, and I kept changing the order of books 1, 2, and 3 before I really got a handle on how the story went, then I combined them into 3 books. So there was a lot of work to do revising this series, and book 3 (formerly book 6) was nearly double in length by the time I finished the first big revision on it. It turned out to be a lot more epic in scope than I thought it would. But I think it's all come together pretty well :) The second revision of book 2 is proceeding apace. No promises on a release date, but I'm aiming for 3-4 months from now.

I've also started writing my next series, which is set in the Islands of the Wildings world, where Silas's ancestors came from, in a time period well before the migration of Island mages to Granadaia. This will be a trilogy plus prequel. It's still a long ways off; stay tuned for updates. In the meantime, I hope you'll pick up Mages' Home and enjoy starting this new adventure through the Wildings with Silas and Lainie.