Castle of Shadows is up for preorder

 

As you know, I love my fairytale retrellings. I was very pleased to be selected to participate in the Castle of Shadows boxed set. My story is a retelling of the Snow Queen called, "The Ice-bound Heart."

Here's the blurb:

What fairy tales lurk in the dark? Are they good or evil? Who gets their happily ever after, the heroes or the villains? 

Grab your pixie-dust, hoist up your sword, spin some gold, and take a climb into this riveting limited collection of fairy tales!

This collection will leave you breathless with wonder, shower you with laughter, and might even bring on a spout of tears. But have no fear! These twenty authors will be sure to give you a story you won't soon forget. 

Because let's face it . . . Not all fairy tales are meant to stay under the castle's shadow.

Here's where to preorder it for $4.99. It will be FREE on KU. 

The Bachelor and the Geek...out now from Sofia Aves

His brand of grumpy sunshine clashes with her outer geek...on an international stage.

Silver fox and security firm owner Sirius Weston is the eldest of his band of bachelor brothers and feels some responsibility for his siblings’ security. Intent on leading by example, he lets himself be goaded into joining the cast of a reality TV show in an effort to boost his firm’s reputation and find himself some form of stability as a model for his brothers-in whatever form that might take.

Mousy brainiac Annie Pillingston is nothing like what he imagined, either in his bed or out of it. When he’s partnered with her for the duration of filming reality TV show Geekily Yours, ending in the biggest gala event of the year, he helps the chaotic and shy woman battle catwalks, heels and social awkwardness as she transforms from geek into gorgeous in her own way.

But there’s more fingers in the reality TV pie than either of them expect, from exes and interfering bosses to controlling fathers. Together they navigate the political landscape despite the risk of ruin for his firm’s reputation-and his own-until one secret too many threatens the trust they’ve built together. Though Sirius didn’t want to be on the show in the first place, he no longer wants to go home alone, though he might not have a choice.

Buy here for $2.99. It's the first in a series!

Check out USA Today bestselling novelist Sofia Aves:

Instagram: sofiaavesbooks

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Stay tuned for the review!

New books for a new month!

 Who doesn't want to start the new month out with new books--free and priced at 99 cents? Check out this promo here.

Another short story collection

 

I turned my focus from short stories to novellas and short novels a few years ago, but over time, I still wrote the odd short story. And this month I realized...I'd written enough for a new collection. So here it is--dark fiction in short bites. Most of the stories were published in short-term anthologies that didn't get much circulation and collections that are now "out of print." The title story is new.

It's available free on KU. You can purchase it here. 

I am struggling with a story...

 I used to write a lot of short stories. Sometimes I was really lucky and they just unspooled like gifts from the universe. Generally,  I have a starting point and an ending point and that's all I need. But I've been struggling with a dark little story since October.  I want to finish it so I can complete a new collection of short stories. It's the title story, so I can't just leave it out.

But I've been thinking about how lucky I am that I can still write. I know a woman, multiple Pushcart Prize nominee, creative writng teacher, would-be novelist. She's younger than I am, somewhere in her early 40s,  I think, although she might be younger. She's got an eye for photography. She can paint. But since contractng long covid, she can't hold a thought in her head. 

She's extremely frustrated and has simply quit writing until she has her memory back. And of course, she has that niggling fear--what if I never get it back?

Keep writing until then. 

In the meantime, I have to wait until I'm out of Amazon pre-order jail (next month). Once I am, expect to see a lot of books coming up. 

This cold, wet winter has been good for hunkering down and writing!

I'm starting to have moments when I grope for words. They always come but what if, one day, the words DON'T come. I banish that thought as soon as it comes into my head because I have no plan B. Writing is it. 

Enter for a chance to win free books

 It's Women's History month. Enter for a chance to win these three books.

Want a free Gen Z zombie book?

 Free 

Here's the blurb. 

Happy World Book Day! As a special treat After: The New Gen Z Book 1 is FREE for the next 2 days

A world once overrun by zombies...

Jenna grew up in the aftermath, in a broken world where people lived in fear. Now a corporation runs the country, using the Alliance soldiers to do their dirty work, under the guise of keeping the peace.

Alone in the world...

When her father commits suicide, Jenna is left to look after her mother. She feels completely alone in the world. Until the corporation comes knocking, convinced that her father, a lead scientist for them, has faked his death.

No way out...

Kidnapped and imprisoned, Jenna learns a horrifying truth. Along with her father's old lab tech, Wesley, she must escape and find someone who can help them expose the truth.

With Alliance soldiers hot on her trail, Jenna is on a race against time to figure out how she fits into all of her father's lies. Who can she trust? And are the zombies really gone?

Get it here.

Newest Book on my TBR list. She is a Haunting.

 

One review I read of this literary horror novel is that it had serious Mexican Gothic vibes. And the cover of this book is just as gorgeous.  Check it out here.

Here's an interview with the writer. (I love interviews where writers talk about how they came to write their stories. 

The reviews promise a reader will be seriously creeped out, and that the book belongs on a shelf beside Rebecca and The Haunting of Hill House (my favorite horror novel ever. I read it so many times, I can quote the opening and closing pages by memory.)

Here's an excerpt of the first chapter to get you hooked.

Publication Day!! What If?

 What if there were no more happy endings?

My story was inspired by Peter Pan and features a fairy, some lost boys, and a wicked Queen holding sway over a kingdom. 

Buy your copy here.

Writing the story gave me an idea for a new trilogy of tales that re-imagines characters from classic children's lit in a far more sinister wy. No, I'm not going all agro on Winnie the Pooh, but there are a couple of characters that have always bothered me...I felt like there was a story behind them that we never knew. And Tinkerbelle is one. I've commissioned artist/designer Grady Earls to make the covers and I can't wait to share them with you. 

I have two other trilogies planned with his covers and looking at my schedule for the next couple of years, I am going to be busy!!!

MOnday is for giveaways!

 

Discover new authors and get a chance to win. Enter here.

But then there's LitRing's epic journeys giveaway that's all about fantasy and sci fi. Enter and you could be the lucky winner of a Kindle Fire and an Amazon gift card to get you started loadinng it up. Enter here. 

re-imagined Fairy Tales

 

You probably have a favorite fairy tale and if you do, you probably enjoy reading new versions of them. I know I do. This anthology is full of fairy tales with a twist. Some of them are told from the villain's point of view, some of them turn out a little unexpected. My story (written as Katia Kozar) is a retelling of an old tale called "The Fish and the Ring." I set it in the present, and the story features a young working class woman, the wealthy young man who loves her, and his father's attempt to break them up. The title is, "Friday the Special is Fish."

You can preorder Wicked Ever After for 99 cents. Only on Kindle. 

Cozy Mysteries for you!

 

I belong to a bunch of different anthologies and boxed sets and this one is offering a Kickstarter Campaign to go along with it. You can check it out here. 

In addition to the anthology, there are all sorts of goodies--rewards for the different levels. More books are better than no books, right? 

And we've blasted past our initial goals and are working on our stretch goals for this last day of the campaign. Check out some of what you'll get.

Don't wait!