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Category: Blog Hop

A blog hop is a shared blog event in which readers “hop” from one blog to another, following some type of trail.

Forged in Fire: Bringer of Chaos #SciFi #SpaceOpera

Where is the immortal king today? #Pietas #SciFi #MFRWhooks

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In my books, the immortal king is Pietas. He’s in nearly everything I’ve written. With good reason — as king of the immortals peopling my stories, he’s a major character even when he’s not present. His influence in my story world is galaxy wide.

I began writing the Bringer of Chaos series to understand him better. As I’ve written and explored his psyche, I’ve learned far more than I anticipated.

My upcoming novel about him (Bringer of Chaos: Forged in Fire) is science fiction with romantic elements. It has no profanity or explicit content, but it does have violence.

The book also has a ginormous “kitty” who adores Pietas and follows him everywhere. Tiklaus, the sentient panther who adopts him, protects Pietas without reservation. Although Tiklaus does not speak, they are able to communicate on a telepathic level, using limited, rudimentary language. For example, Tiklaus sends the word “do” to show a command is heard and understood. “Do” also implies “please” or “thank you” depending on the situation. Wait till you find out what Tiklaus names Pietas! The panther’s name means “loyal warrior.” The animal was great fun to write.

What is the immortal king doing?

This Friday, Nov 10, I start a 20 day tour with Crystal Reviews to show off the cover for this new book. Although the book isn’t releasing until Dec 29th, it will be available on preorder.

One of the giveaways during this tour will be an exclusive download of Endure, a 39 page full color illustrated book of quotes by Pietas. The cover is above. You don’t have to do anything or sign up for anything to get this book. Just visit during the tour.

Here are a few sample quotes from the book:
* Would you conquer? Then learn to endure.
* To forgive means to endure betrayal.
* Friends come and go. Enemies endure to the end.
* I might not prevail over adversity, but I will endure. Adversity will never prevail over me.

Track the immortal king

You’ll be able to find Pietas every day by going to the tour home page or by coming here. If you’d like to host the immortal king, you can sign up for that here. The tour host who gets the most comments during the tour will win a $25 Gift certificate (winner’s choice: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Starbucks).

Preorder the immortal king

You can preorder between Nov 11th and Dec 28th. http://amzn.to/2ABIcCI

Tweet the immortal king

Click the box below to share a tweet about the king.

Where is the immortal king today? #Pietas #SciFi Click To Tweet

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Posted in Blog Hop, Read Free Stories | Tagged , , , , , , , , , |

Chestnuts aren’t the only things getting roasted #Excerpt A Romance for Christmas #MFRWhooks #ChristmasRomance

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The Ugly Christmas Sweater, T-shirt version

 

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire...

Scott's parents adore one another, and he loves watching them banter. But this year, it's not just the chestnuts getting roasted.

Excerpt

In his old room, Scott stripped out of his police uniform and put on sweatpants and slippers. On his bed was the loose T-shirt with a blond-haired elf on the front that his mother had given him the year before. The elf was shirtless, wearing red boxer shorts with holly on them, and he was licking a candy cane while dangling a round ornament on one finger of his other hand.

Upon seeing the shirt when Scott unwrapped it, a cousin had started singing, "Don we now our gay apparel..." and had broken into riotous laughter. That didn't stop the family from insisting he wear it. He was sure he'd asked Mary to give it to Goodwill, so how it had shown up again this year he couldn't explain. Yet, there it was. It could only have come from one person.

"The things we do for our mothers." Scott slipped it on over his head and headed for the kitchen.

He leaned against the door jamb, enjoying the sight. His mother was chopping things for the stuffing and adding them to her biggest bowl. His dad sat at the end of the counter, reading a Popular Science magazine. Neither seemed to pay attention to the other, but while his mother was cooking, Dad always kept her company. She'd crochet in a wooden rocker in the garage while he worked on the boat he was building. As if they couldn't bear to be parted from one another, even though they didn't talk much. Maybe they didn't need words.

Scott had thought he and his wife would be the same, but he and Mary had shared a different lifestyle. Both were often busy, and sometimes saw each other only in passing. He'd worked nights, and she'd worked days. She'd had a downtown office, working as an architect for government housing. Time spent outdoors had given her a great tan, but exposed her to hazardous toxins no one had known were in the old buildings being demolished. When she fainted at work, the company sent her in for a check up. After the diagnosis, the project had been shut down immediately, but cancer took a quick toll. Mary was gone in six months. A government investigation into the cause was still ongoing.

Scott now had sole custody of a four-year old daughter and a job that took him into danger every day. He'd shifted to the downtown beat and day shift because it seemed safer, and he could still do what he loved doing: Helping people.

"Well," his dad said, not looking up from his magazine, "Are you going to help your mother or stand there in that dumb elf shirt?"

His mother braced both hands on the counter. "That shirt cost more money than any three pairs of your pants."

"Did not. I paid a pretty penny for these pants."

"Pants were cheaper back in 1982."

His dad snorted, and went back to his reading.

A Romance for Christmas

On Amazon, when you purchase the paperback for a friend, you can get a Kindle version for yourself at no cost. Once you buy the paperback, go to the Kindle version of the book and refresh the page. It will tell you the book is available at no cost. Merry Christmas!

Paperback: http://amzn.to/2nBb37J

 

Image credits: In my honest opinion, this elf is the cutest thing ever!
Created by author/artist Janet E Jones
 

GIVEAWAYS

Thank you for popping in today. Here's the link to the free Christmas cookbook and the free peek inside the book. Both are in Adobe Reader (PDF).

This is not a contest -- everyone who wants one may download it. No sign ups required.
Download a free Christmas Cookbook: https://kayelleallen.com/media/christmas-cookbook-from-kayelle-allen-by-rachel-paxton.pdf
Download Peek Inside A Romance for Christmas: http://bit.ly/rom4cmaspeek
Sign up for my newsletter. You can unsubscribe at any time.

JOIN US FOR BOOKHOOKS
Book Hooks is a weekly meme hosted by Marketing for Romance Writers as part of the MFRW Authors Blog.
It's a chance each week for you the reader to discover current works in progress or previously published books by possibly new-to-you authors.
Thank you for stopping by. Please say hello or leave a note in the comments.

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Visit Spooky Scifi Planets @kayelleallen #amreading

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A World-Building Bible and Guide to Writing a Science Fiction Series, Illustrated by Jamin Allen and Kayelle Allen #SciFi #SpaceOperaWhen I started writing Science Fiction Romance, I needed planets for my characters. Where were they born? What was it like there? This was my strong suit. After all, I’d been thinking about it all my life! I decided to create a “tour” of the Tarthian Empire on my website, and have art and information about each of the planets. This month, Coffee Time Romance designated the tour on my site as one of its elite spots — one of the top twelve for the year. So, when the Just Romance Me blog tour came along, I figured the spookiest planet on Tarthian Tour Company’s site would be perfect.

A little about the Tarthian Tour Company — their slogan is “Where do you want to wake up tomorrow?” They can take you to any of over twenty planets or drop you off on side trips to visit the Conqueror’s palace or see the Droid Discovery Force in action. There’s an interactive star map where you can click the name of a world to visit its page. From each world’s page, you can click the tour logo to return the company’s home page or click the list on each page to visit any other planet in the empire.

Clicking the pictures on the tour itself will open them full-sized, and some are amazing to see. When my son was in art college, I forced him coerced him begged him he volunteered to help me create them. ^_^

The Ministry of Emigration’s official statement reads: “While terraforming is complete, the life-cycle of the planet Drated is not yet within parameters for habitation. Initial investigations revealed a lack of certain necessary nutrients in the soil which will be provided at the proper time. All inquiries should be directed to the Terraformer’s Circle of Fellowship.”

The TCF refuses to comment. Sources inside the corporation say that wild energy fields are not to blame as were previously reported. Speculation abounds.

Gates of Life

Archaeological digs on several barren worlds in the Tarthian Empire and all the non-human ones (Tyris, Felidae, and Ezraki) uncovered the ruins of towering arches. (See picture below) Natives called them the Gates of Life. For an idea of their true size, note the bottom left corner of the drawing.

It is speculated that they originated as monitoring devices for tracking the progress of genetic mutations, but no true use is known. Rituals of “passing through the Gates” after birth are common to Tyrans, Chiasmii, and Kin alike. All three worlds have legends that link the Gates to a god who descends from the sky in a burning chariot. The Tyrans called him Sandargen, the Chiasmii Arjensa, and the Kin Adel Jansaara. When translated to Etymis, the tradestandard language of the empire, all these names mean Saint of Silver.

A detailed description of this saint’s arrival suggests a spacecraft. According to the legends, he was the size of a god, and had white hair. He always wore silver, and demanded a sacrifice of two virgins, male and female, which he took back to the sky with him. Those who did not please him, or had failed in worshiping at the Gates were punished severely, and some were killed. When thousands of years passed without the Saint of Silver’s return, the inhabitants destroyed the Gates. Gates were also found on the planets Ohy and Sanity IV but there is no evidence that intelligent life ever existed on any of these worlds. What happened to the inhabitants is a mystery that is likely never to be solved.

Sanity IV – Gone Forever

Sanity IV is nearing completion of mining. The myth that Sanity I, II, III and IV destroyed themselves in a civil war is false. They were surface-stripped and mined for raw materials, and exist now as asteroids in the Sanity system. The name origin is lost, but legend says Sanity IV began as a slang term in a song often sung by miners. The gravity well in the Sanity system makes it an ideal jump point. Occasionally, an errant asteroid interferes with navigation. It is a myth that jumping into Sanity IV’s space can trigger space time disruptions. If that were true, events would repeat at random intervals. This has never been observed. If that were true, events would repeat at random intervals. The name origin is lost, but legend says Sanity IV began as a slang term in a song often sung by miners. Sanity IV is nearing completion of mining.

Begin your own tour

Click here to see all 22 planets and side trips: https://kayelleallen.com/ttc

Caution: While you’re hanging out on the tour, or perusing the excerpt pages, be on the lookout for little icons that seem out of place. Clicking them might transport you to a hidden rebel base, or land you in the custody of the Praetorian. Whatever you decide, I hope you’ll enjoy the visit to the Tarthian Empire, where Romance Lives Forever.

UPDATE
The winner of the blog contest was Jennifer M. JustRomance.me picked her name from the list as my winner. Jennifer received a puzzle book and the first edition of the Tartian Empire Companion book, a nonfiction look at the tour on my website.
Congratulations, and thank you to everyone who took part.

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Easily search your computer for character mentions #MFRWhooks #SciFi

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Welcome to Book Hooks! This is a blog hop with Marketing for Romance Writers authors. Click links at the end to visit the other hops. Today’s post is on character mentions. How to find any mention of a character in any of your books. It’s easier than you think.

If you’re writing a series, it’s easy to casually slip in a mention about a character from one book into another book. But what if you also mentioned that he is left handed? Or that he was born in Chicago. Or some other detail? When you’re writing yet another book, how do you go back and find all those places? Here’s a snippet from my book the Tarthian Empire Companion, to show you how.

Find character mentions on your computer

Here’s a cool trick if you have several books and you want to find out which book mentions a character. Create a separate folder and into it copy each of your books. Don’t put your originals in there. MAKE COPIES. Take out any bit at the end of the book that mentions upcoming stories (such as sneak peeks) that might contain the character’s name. You want only the actual story in these documents. Keep this folder. You’ll be surprised how handy it is for searching details when you write a series.

Now that everything is together, look at your folder menu. You’ll see something like “Tools” at the top. Your computer might call it “Organize”. Click that, and open Folder Options. Click the Search tab. Under “What to search” there are two choices. Pick the one that says “Always search file names and contents.”

When you click in the search box and type a name, the program will show you which book has the character’s name.

NOTE: It warns that this might take several minutes, but since you’ll mainly use it for searching this folder, that’s fine. I use it routinely on all folders, and it’s a great way to find info I’ve lost or a document for which I can’t remember the title. I have a 2 TB hard drive and to me, it’s not that long — maybe a few seconds. Click OK to save the option. Don’t worry. If it does prove to be too long for everyday use for you, you can easily change it back.

Think about the name before you assume the person is mentioned. For example, if you have a guy named Van Smith, both those words have other meanings. Does one character drive a van? Does the other have a Smith and Wesson? Does someone who is a smith live in Van Nuys? Be sure you know how the word was used within the document if it has shades of meaning or uses. If you aren’t sure, open the document, use CTRL+F (or CMD+F for Mac) and type the name. Then you’ll know for sure. But rather than open each document for each character, it’s super quick to type it once and search all the books at the same time.

Because I have two different versions of the same book from two different publishers, I wanted to know what/who was used in each. When deleting or adding material, it’s easy to remove a mention. So I added a copy of each version and changed the document name to include the publisher’s initials. To quickly change the name, select the document and press F2. Once the name is highlighted, make any changes needed.

I used this method when writing the Tarthian Empire Companion. The book has a listing of all my characters and place names, a history, and much more. I intended it as a companion book for fans of my various series. It quickly became my own go-to for details. Had I spelled homeworld as home world or home-world? This book is my definitive answer (It’s homeworld, btw).

Where to find the Tarthian Empire Companion

Universal Buy Link https://books2read.com/guide-tec

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“Just part of the circus that is my life” #MMRomance #SciFi #MFRWhooks

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"Just part of the circus that is my life" #MMRomance #SciFi #MFRWhooks

In this scene, due to an injury Izzorah suffered previously, he is taking pain medication. It makes him a little high. He and Luc have ventured outside towards a long black hoversine, and a thousand of Izzorah's fans are waiting. When he and Luc appear, a cheer goes up.

Excerpt

Izzorah hung back and Luc waited beside him. "They're all friends, Izzorah. This is a party. Wave." Luc raised his hand and Izzorah lifted his.

The cheer was deafening.

Izzorah smiled, but his chest rose and fell rapidly, his lips a faint blue.

"Relax, Izzorah. Focus on me. Deep breath in. Let it all out."

Izzorah sucked in a gulp of air, blew it out.

"Good. Now, do it again. In... out. You're doing well. Wave again."

Izzorah did so. "Wow." He rubbed his eyes. "This pain pill is making me see things. The sky is full of colors."

"You're not hallucinating. Those are balloons. Someone's handing them out."

"Someone's handing out balloons?" Izzorah sounded incredulous. "Are you sure? That's crazy."

"Don't let it rattle you. It's part of the circus that is my life, although, thankfully, there aren't usually balloons."

Antonello Brothers: Immortal - Because Romance Lives Forever

Click covers for the buy link. Click text for the website page and excerpts.

#SciFi #WriteLGBTQ #Romance

a cuddly cinnamon roll hero who purrs, and an alpha male who has met his emotional match, this #MMRomance #SciFi

Welcome to Book Hooks!

Book Hooks is a weekly cooperative blog hop hosted by Marketing for Romance Writers as part of the MFRW Authors Blog.
It's a chance each week for you to discover current works in progress or previously published books by possibly new-to-you authors.
Thank you for stopping by.

Please say hello or leave a note in the comments.
 

Characters mentioned on this page might be found in multiple books in my story universe. Download a printable book list and check them off as you read.

~ Copyright ©2024 Kayelle Allen. All rights reserved ~ Kayelle Allen participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates program, an affiliate advertising program which provides the means for sites to earn fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com. If you purchase an item listed on the site from Amazon.com, Kayelle will earn a small commission. Other sites might be affiliate links as well. These will not result in higher prices for you. Thank you for your support!

To experience art, sci-fi, romance, and space opera with unstoppable, unshakeable, unforgettable characters so real you'll swear you've met them, join me on Ream Stories!

Posted in Blog Hop | Tagged , , , , , , |

3 brothers. 1 missing mother. The Antonello Brothers cover reveal #MFRWhooks #SciFi #Romance

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Snuggle up with the Antonello Brothers!

This boxed set contains all five exciting stories in the science fiction romance series, plus links to three bonus books.

♥ A Stolen Heart - This child can steal anything. Including a warrior-pirate's heart...

♥ Bro - He can be invisible, but he can't hide from the truth...

♥ At the Mercy of Her Pleasure - She's addictive. He can't touch her. But what if he kissed her just once...

♥ For Women Only - His secret truth is her people's darkest lie...

♥ Crystal Clear Truth - How can you trust when your own truth is a lie...

Three brothers. One missing mother. Not raised together, none of the brothers knows about the other. That is, until fate brings the youngest into the life of a former warrior-pirate. From the moment Luc decides to intervene and save a frightened child, nothing in his life will ever be the same.

If you like science fiction romance on the sweeter side, have an ache for wounded heroes, and admire heroines who don't wait around to be rescued... The Antonello Brothers series is for you.

Preorder Link: https://books2read.com/ab-complete
Series Reading List: https://books2read.com/rl/AntonelloBrothers

Antonello Brothers

Click covers for the buy link. Click text for the website page and excerpts.

Series page https://kayelleallen.com/antonello-brothers-immortal

#SciFi #Romance

Complete Set Antonello Brothers Series

You'll find these characters mentioned in multiple books in my story universe. Download a printable book list and check them off as you read.

Characters mentioned on this page might be found in multiple books in my story universe. Download a printable book list and check them off as you read.

~ Copyright ©2024 Kayelle Allen. All rights reserved ~ Kayelle Allen participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates program, an affiliate advertising program which provides the means for sites to earn fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com. If you purchase an item listed on the site from Amazon.com, Kayelle will earn a small commission. Other sites might be affiliate links as well. These will not result in higher prices for you. Thank you for your support!

To experience art, sci-fi, romance, and space opera with unstoppable, unshakeable, unforgettable characters so real you'll swear you've met them, join me on Ream Stories!

Welcome to Book Hooks!
Book Hooks is a weekly cooperative meme hosted by Marketing for Romance Writers as part of the MFRW Authors Blog.
It's a chance each week for you to discover current works in progress or previously published books by possibly new-to-you authors.
Thank you for stopping by. Please say hello or leave a note in the comments.

Posted in Blog Hop, New Book | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , |