Now Available in Print!

Because you asked! The four Twelve Kingdoms and Uncharted Realms shorts and novellas that weren’t available in print are now combined into two print volumes! The prequel short story, NEGOTIATION, can be found with THE SNOWS OF WINDROVEN, and the shorter novella, THE CROWN OF THE QUEEN, is in a volume with HEART’S BLOOD. Just go to the book detail pages for THE SNOWS OF WINDROVEN and HEART’S BLOOD, to find those print copy purchase links. If you order the physical copies direct from me, I’ll sign and even personalize them! Happy reading!

What I Have and What I Want

As requested, I’ve put THE SNOWS OF WINDROVEN, HEART’S BLOOD, NEGOTIATION and THE CROWN OF THE QUEEN into print format! You can find those on my website. 

Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is One thing we’re really good at as an author and one thing we’d like to do better. Come on over to find out mine!

THE EDGE OF THE BLADE on Net Galley! (and Other News)

I got this a while back and saved it for you all. Fabulous reader Julie Fine texted it to me upon receipt of an ARC of THE EDGE OF THE BLADE. I think she was pleased. 🙂

I’ve been getting bits here and there about EDGE, which releases in a month on December 27, so I’ll start sharing them. The most important bit of info, it’s on Net Galley now

Booklist gave it a lovely review:

Kennedy (Pages of the Mind, 2016) continues the Uncharted Realms series with Jepp, a member of the queen’s guard more comfortable on a mission than in society, being named as an ambassador. Luckily, Jepp has Prince Kral, once her lover, to help her along. Jepp’s view of how women are to behave clashes with the norms of the Dasnaria hierarchy. She chafes under Dasnarian restrictions until she is summarily banished from court. She just wants to sleep with whomever she wants, whenever she wants. And she wants Kral—again. That’s not too much to ask, is it? Despite her ejection and reluctance to embrace her new role, Jepp ultimately takes to it in her own way, earning respect from the royal family. Fantasy adventure, snarky dialogue, and hot sex help Jepp find her way back to her beloved queen for her next assignment. Readers new to Kennedy’s series will do well to read it from the beginning, though this book can be enjoyed as a stand-alone.
— Ilene Lefkowitz

Exact Warm UnholyIn other news, if you hadn’t heard, two novellas originally only available in collections are now out as stand-alone buys! EXACT WARM UNHOLY, which originally appeared in THE DEVIL’S DOORBELL anthology, is a contemporary erotic romance, with characters unrelated to any of my other series. Kristen Ashley really liked it, saying on her Goodreads blog

And I was again stunned. Stunned by the originality of the concept of this story. Stunned by the emotions it made me experience in such a short expanse of time. Stunned by the beauty of the romance in it that ran parallel to the overwhelming sadness throughout. 

The other, THE CROWN OF THE QUEEN, is a novella set in the world of The Twelve Kingdoms, involving most of the main characters from the initial trilogy and setting up the story that starts up in The Uncharted Realms

Dafne holding the crown of the Thirteen Kingdoms with the stained glass window behind her

Also, a bit of exciting news I think I haven’t yet mentioned elsewhere, I’ll be bundling the first three Sorcerous Moons books into a print volume, using the fabulous cover for THE TIDES OF BÁRA. Will have a release date on that soon! Maybe a good holiday gift! *nods* *flutters lashes*new-landing9

The Right Words at the Right Time – Supporting Newbie Authors

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THE CROWN OF THE QUEEN will be available as a stand-alone novella on November 22! (You can preorder now at Amazon, Kobo and Smashwords.) If you already have FOR CROWN AND KINGDOM, this is the exact same novella in that duology with Grace Draven. You can get mine alone for $2.99 or both of us for $3.99. A deal, either way!! If you haven’t read it, THE CROWN OF THE QUEEN takes place between THE TALON OF THE HAWK and THE PAGES OF THE MIND. It’s told from Dafne’s point of view and bridges the events in the aftermath of TALON and sets up her book, which is PAGES.

Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is “The person(s) most influential on my early writing career.” Come on over to find out who made all the difference for me when I needed it most

Oops. When a Deleted Scene Becomes a Novella

For Crown and Kingdom coverThis month’s theme at one of my group blogs is The Cutting Room floor, where everyone will share deleted scenes or talk about the revision process.

It’s apropos timing for me – and I thought I’d share here, too – because just this week I released a novella that’s essentially one big deleted scene.

*cough*

And, really – I almost never do this. I save pretty much everything I cut from manuscripts, which typically isn’t much. The revision process for me almost always consists of adding, not deleting. However, I’m usually of the opinion that I cut them for a reason and they don’t need to ever see the light of day.Crown-of-the-Queen-Final-Type small

This novella, The Crown of the Queen, is with Grace Draven’s The Undying King in our brand new duology FOR CROWN AND KINGDOM. And it’s obviously seeing the light of day in a big way.

pagescover397See, what happened was that I wrote THE PAGES OF THE MIND, which is technically book one in The Uncharted Realms, but chronologically follows book three in The Twelve Kingdoms, THE TALON OF THE HAWK. The way my story brain works, and because I moved to a new point of view (POV), I picked up the tale with the heroine of the new book, Dafne, who’d been left behind in Annfwn for safety and wasn’t there for the climax of the ultimate events in TALON. This was important to me for a number of reasons. One is that it’s key to Dafne’s character – and her journey – that she’s always sidelined. She’s been forever on the fringes of everyone else’s adventures. So, she needed to start from that place. Another reason is that she discovers things in the Annfwn library that become relevant much later.

There was one huge problem with this – by the time I finished THE PAGES OF THE MIND, it was 1) too long, and 2) took way too long to get to the heart of the story. My editor asked me to decapitate the book (his actual words), which meant cutting about 17,000 words. I wasn’t surprised, as I’d worried the story would be too top-heavy, but I also felt that part of the story formed a critical bridge and needed to be told. My editor, frankly relieved that I didn’t have a fit over the “suggestion,” suggested that I self-publish the story as a novella.The Undying King cover

Serendipitously enough, Grace Draven had asked me to do a duology with her around the same time, so woo hoo!! I revised and expanded Dafne’s interim story to 26K and called it THE CROWN OF THE QUEEN. Amusingly, Grace also expanded her story considerably and it’s as lovely as all of her work.

Two epic tales of Fantasy romance from Jeffe Kennedy and Grace Draven.

FOR CROWN AND KINGDOM

The Crown of the Queen: a novella of the Twelve Kingdoms

It’s been a lifetime since librarian Dafne Mailloux saw the coronation of the tyrant who destroyed her family. She did her part to pull him off the High Throne. But his daughter, the would-be Queen, and her sisters must still tame their conquest. If her victory is to last, Dafne must forge peace with the subtle, ruthless methods of a diplomat—and the worst memories of her life . . .

The Undying King

The stories are told in whispers, even after so long:  of a man whose fair rule soured when he attained eternal youth.  Imprisoned by a sorceress wife in a city out of time and place, he has passed into legend.  Few believe in him, and fewer would set their hopes on his mercy.  But Imogen has no choice.  To break the curse that’s isolated her since birth, she’ll find the Undying King—and answer his secrets with her own…

Buy the Book

How to Write Through the Bad Times

The Undying King cover

Hi all!!

I’m back online after about ten days away and look what I returned to! The fantabulous Grace Draven shared the cover for her story in our duology FOR CROWN AND KINGDOM. Her story is THE UNDYING KING and, wow – I dunno about you guys, but I’d take him for my forever king anytime!ChsYKYhVIAAHGw2

I like how her story cover works with mine, her hero and my heroine gazing out at the reader with an implicit call to adventure. Both individual covers will be included inside the digital versions, which should be very cool!Cim_r8YUYAA2v9D

The duology technically releases on Tuesday, May 31, the same day as THE PAGES OF THE MIND. That said, I believe buy links will be going up very soon! 

I’m over at the SFF Seven today, talking about Writers in the Storm – handling adversity, stress, and generally terrible shit while still producing

Cover Reveal! For Crown and Kingdom

Sword hilt on blue backgroundA couple of years ago, in the fall of 2013, I read a book called MASTER OF CROWS – because Ericka at Bookpushers nagged me into it. I loved that book every bit as much as she promised I would. Because it’s my thing, I began stalking  following the author, Grace Draven.

I must have been fairly subtle in my efforts, because we didn’t become actual Facebook friends until the following October. (Facebook: The Ultimate Metric for Everything About Our Social Lives.) We became virtual friends, then met in real life at the RT Convention in Dallas the following spring. Let me tell you folks – we had an epic, nearly three-hour “coffee” meeting. You know when you meet someone and just immediately click? We had that. Toward the very end (I think once she decided I wasn’t a psycho stalker), Grace asked if I’d be interested in doing a duology with her. My answer?

Pride & Prejudice, Jane Bennett, "a thousand times, yes"

Fast forward to a year later and we did it! FOR CROWN AND KINGDOM comes out May 31! Dafne holding the crown of the Thirteen Kingdoms with the stained glass window behind herIt contains my story, THE CROWN OF THE QUEEN, which takes place in the aftermath of THE TALON OF THE HAWK and ends right where THE PAGES OF THE MIND begins, which is also out May 31. the pages of the mindGrace’s story is a stand-alone called THE UNDYING KING. 

Grace designed this fabulous cover for the duology and we released it last night to the interwebz with great joy. 

We exchanged the following messages:Jeffe: "I'm grabbing your hands and dancing you in a mad circle." Grace: "and I'm signing warbly and off-key"See why we like to work together?

At any rate, I’m so twirly about this joint project. I’m headed out of town for the latter half of May and don’t expect to be online at all, so Grace will be handling the last-minute stuff on this. But I’ll be back for release day! 

Moar dancing! Moar warbly singing!