Release Day: Secrets in Our Cities

    Hello! I’m still alive, just too busy to blog. But I had to announce this! The publication of the newest Just-Us League anthology, Secrets in Our Cities. This paranormal urban fantasy anthology features tales of our favorite supernatural creatures. And just take a look at this gorgeous cover done by Louis over at Indigo Forest Designs.

The real world and imagination collide in this international collection of paranormal urban fantasies.

Release Day- A Bit of Magic

    Today is May 31st, that means it's release day for my third publication in A Bit of Magic: A Collection of Fairy Tale Retellings. Get it now on Amazon!
    

    ~Allie

A Bit of Magic Blog Tour- Rebecca Mikkelson

    Welcome to my stop on the A Bit of Magic blog tour. My special guest of honor is Rebecca Mikkelson!

Rebecca Mikkelson has been writing fantasy stories since her early teens for fun and is thrilled to turn her dream into a reality. She currently lives in Hawaii with her husband of six years where they enjoy not going outside and avoiding the scare ball in the sky. In her spare time, she likes to cross stitch to relax.

Rebecca Mikkelson is Chief of Business Development at Authors 4 Authors Publishing - a publishing company run by authors, for authors, blending the best of traditional and independent publishing.

    Rebecca, I’m so excited to hear about your story, especially since this is your first publication. Let’s get right to it. 

Q- What inspired your retelling? 

Coming Soon: Cursed Winds

    It’s time to announce Secret Project #2! And yes, it’s another fairy tale retelling. I’m very excited to announce the publication of Cursed Winds, my Beauty and the Beast retelling.

    I’ve been holding onto this idea since Disney released their live-action Beauty and the Beast movie. It left me with a lot of questions that I wanted answered, so I decided to write my own version of the tale, which I never thought I would do. And yes, it involves pirates.
    Cursed Winds will be released on May 31st in the fifth JL Anthology, titled A Bit of Magic. Stay tuned for a cover reveal, coming very soon!
    ~Allie

Of Legend and Lore Blog Tour- Elise Edmonds

    Welcome back to the Of Legend and Lore blog tour! It's time to meet another JL author. I've hosted this author before, so you may remember her. Give a warm welcome to Elise Edmonds!

Elise Edmonds is a writer from the South-West UK. Reading and writing have always been her doorways into another world—a way to escape and spend time walking with wizards, flying with fairies and dealing with dragons. By day she is a finance professional, and in her spare time she pursues writing as a creative outlet, to put the magic back into everyday life. In addition to reading, Elise enjoys watching movies, playing the piano, and going to Zumba classes. Her greatest loves are God, her husband, her family and friends, and her two beautiful cats.

Elise’s Young Adult Fantasy novel, Where Carpets Fly, is available on Amazon.

Q- What inspired your retelling?

Release Day- Of Legend and Lore!

    Happy Tell a Fairy Tale Day, everyone! And happy release day for Of Legend and Lore: A Collection of Fairy Tale Retellings! Here is the link to buy it on Amazon! 

    To celebrate the release, the From the Stories of Old ebook is discounted for the next few days, so grab a copy by the 28th if you don't already have it!
    ~Allie

Of Legend and Lore Blog Tour: Matt Dewar

    Our blog tour kicked off on Monday with an interview of author B.C. Marine. Meet the next author, Matthew Dewar-

Matthew lives in beautiful Perth, Australia, where he makes the most of every day. He has many writing projects on the go, works as a physiotherapist and group fitness instructor, and somehow still manages to squeeze in a social life. He has published his own book, Nightmare Stories, and his short stories have been included in anthologies such as: From the Stories of Old, Between Heroes and Villains, Whispers in the Shadows, Seven Deadly Sins: Gluttony, and Seven Deadly Sins: Wrath.SaveSave

Q: What story did you write for the anthology?

A: Jack and the Storyteller.

Q: What inspired your retelling?

Of Legend and Lore: A Fairy Tale Anthology

    From Rowanwood Publishing comes another JL anthology on February 26th, aka Tell a Fairy Tale Day!

New life is given to eleven old stories in this second collection of irresistible fairy tale retellings.

Royalty faces magical challenges: a prince uses his powers on a rescue mission and reveals a terrible secret about his people; a king takes drastic measures to save his daughters from a troublesome curse; and a princess befriends an unusual frog.

Mythical creatures can be friend or foe: three brothers face a depressed dragon with a legendary treasure; an ancient crow brings a child’s wishes to life; and one young girl discovers dragons aren’t always the enemy.

Heroes come in all shapes and sizes: a miser is in danger of losing everything one cold night; a struggling mirrorsmith meets an invisible recluse; a boy must relive the fairytale based on his ancestor’s life; a child is rejected because of his love of drawing cats; and an evil witch is sealed in a glass coffin.

Be transported to new worlds and enjoy fresh twists on old favorites.

    A big thank you to Indigo Forest Designs for our gorgeous cover! As with our previous anthologies, Heidi Hayden illustrated the artwork inside. 

    Find Swapped written by yours truly when Of Legend and Lore is released. And check out the JL blog for blog tour info to find out about the other authors and tales in the anthology!

    ~Allie

Coming Soon: Swapped

    Remember how I mentioned some secret projects that I was working on? And remember how I said I never started my fairy tale retellings last year? Well, Secret Project #1 is officially finished. And now I can finally tell you what it is.

    Swapped was my Camp NaNoWriMo project back in July (when I only got to work on it for a week before I went into labor). I had to start it early because I knew I wouldn't finish it for a while, but I had strict deadlines. And why did I have strict deadlines? Because Swapped was signed over to Rowanwood Publishing to be included in the fourth JL anthology. 
    Swapped is a retelling of the Prince and the Pauper, and I'm really excited about it. I've been sitting on this idea for a while, and as soon as we started working on another fairy tale anthology, I knew it would be my next project. 
    Of Legend and Lore: A Fairy Tale Anthology comes out in February! Stay posted for an update about a cover. (And Secret Project #2 which I'll have more info on in April.)
    ~Allie

Whispers in the Shadows: A Horror Anthology

    From Rowanwood Publishing, comes another anthology! This time? HORROR.

Giveaway!!!

    To celebrate the release of the second JL Anthology, JL writers are hosting an exciting giveaway! Win our Ebook bundle, including copies of both anthologies, along with four other exciting reads, plus a beautiful leather journal.

Between Heroes and Villains: A Superpower Anthology

    Remember back in December when I was published? Well, now Rowanwood Publishing is bringing you a second JL anthology, coming June 17th!

    Between Heroes and Villains: A Superpower Anthology is a collection of short stories about superheroes, supervillains, and super powers. 

Surprise!

    So after a few days with little to no internet, I'm back! Sorry for the inconvenient and sudden disappearance. But fear not, readers! I have returned once more! And I'm back with that promised surprise!

    That's right! I'm pregnant! And that's why I'm so behind on everything writing related. Now that it's out in the open, I can finally share some fun stories from the past three months.

New Years Resolutions

    Normally I laugh at people who make New Years Resolutions because I'm the kind of person who makes changes whenever I realize I need to make a change, not just once a year. Plus, resolutions without dates are just dreams, not actual goals. And because these are things I really want to accomplish, I'm planning on giving myself an end date for each one.

• Finish draft 3 of Powerful. I'm currently doing another pass through where I'm implementing feedback chapter by chapter and making notes. I'm on chapter 9 out of 36. That's 1/4th of the way through! I plan on reviewing one chapter a day, which means this pass through will be done on January 27th. After that, I plan on actually implementing the edits (which are mostly minor, mainly description because that is my nemesis), which I'll do one chapter a day again. That means I'll finish the third draft by March 4th. I'll regularly update my progress here, and once I start actually writing the third draft, I'll update the word count on the sidebar!

Three Collections for Christmas!

    Three groups of authors have banded together to put together three awesome Fantasy Story Collections, and now we're bringing them to you with a chance for you to win paperback copies as well as a $30 Amazon Shopping Spree!
    Read on to find out more about this anthology and enter the giveaway! The giveaway ends on the 28th, so enter now!

The Anthologies:

From the Stories of Old...An Interview with Renée Harvey

    Hello everyone! Remember how I announced that my writing group was putting together an anthology of fairy tale retellings for publication? Well, it's almost available! And because I'm so excited about it, I invited a special guest, one of my close friends, to share a bit about her piece that is going to be included in the anthology. So without further ado, please welcome Renée Harvey!!!

Renée Harvey is a wife and mother, historian, and writer in Idaho, USA. She graduated from Brigham Young University-Idaho with a Bachelor’s degree in history in 2013, filled with a love of genealogy and pre 1400 a.d. history. Combining those passions, she now primarily tells the stories of little-known people who lived long before. It is her hope that readers will see beyond the cultural differences to the messages conveyed: that individuals matter, and that every person has the ability to choose for themselves the good they will contribute to their world.

A- Welcome Renée!

R- Hi, Allie! Thanks for inviting me.

A- Alright, let's get right to it. What inspired your retelling of The Little Mermaid for the anthology?

Rose & Thorn Coming Soon!

    Back when I started this blog, I was working on a novel that was supposed to be part of a trilogy. That novel was called Rose. It was a retelling of Sleeping Beauty set in modern-day France because I love France.
    Unfortunately, the story didn't end up panning out. There wasn't enough content to it to fill up a whole novel. I decided that since it was going to be part of a trilogy where the characters interact, that I would combine all three of my story ideas as novellas into one novel. But I put it off because something wasn't right.

    My other ideas, my retellings of Cinderella and Snow White, also were not panning out. The stories didn't quite make sense and their plots were also seriously lacking in depth. Eventually, I was inspired with other ideas for retellings for both those tales, but they didn't fit along with Rose, because they both took place in medieval times and were set up to be more traditional fantasy stories. So what was I going to do?