Finding Escape in Fiction or... 💖⚙️📚
A look back on Forsaken Beauty and the Etherbeast's first year + exciting book news! 💖
Hello!
I hope you’re keeping well. I’m still getting back into routine after TeslaCon, but over the weekend, one of my books celebrated a milestone: Forsaken Beauty and the Etherbeast is officially one! And I have fun book-related news! 🎉
Forsaken Beauty and the Etherbeast was never a story I was planning on writing (just as I never dreamed I’d be an author.) I was in a writing slump while my oldest was completing kindergarten virtually in 2021 when I heard about a new serial platform about to launch called Kindle Vella. On a whim, I sat down at my desk to see if I had a story idea.
Reader, if you’re new here it’s important to pause and say that I’m very much a plotter1 when it comes to writing. I plan my stories with outlines before I sit down to write, though I give myself permission to change the plan immediately as soon as I (or my characters) have a more interesting idea.
Forsaken Beauty and the Etherbeast didn’t start off with a plan. I wrote about the first 10K words with only the idea of my strongwoman Belle and my Beast meeting in the woods for the first time in my head. After I finished those early scenes, I decided that 1.) I loved this story idea and 2.) it was time for a detailed outline.
Soon I had a world populated with airships, automatons, a brand new origin story for Beast based in mad science tropes, and a full cast of some of my favorite characters.
Publishing the serial version created so many opportunities that I’ll forever be grateful for. I found my readers and soon qualified for full membership into SFWA (Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association.) I could pay for a REALLY COOL website, met some of my favorite people, and learned so much more about publishing.
Most of all, writing Forsaken Beauty and the Etherbeast was my escape while I was going through a lot of personal heartache and uncertainty. Sometimes I only had a few minutes here and there to write, but those minutes were precious to me.
When I was nearing the end of the serial, one thing I kept hearing from my readers is that they wanted a physical book of Forsaken Beauty and the Etherbeast. Writing a serial is different than writing a novel: instead of being divided into chapters, serials are divided into shorter episodes and meant to be read on phones.
It was no easy feat taking an epic length serial and turning it into a novel. I will forever be grateful to the team of patient editors, beta readers, and ARC readers who helped me bring the book version to life!
Since publishing Forsaken Beauty and the Etherbeast as a full-length standalone novel last year, I’ve had all kinds of adventures from speaking and reading at conventions to seeing my book on physical bookstore shelves and a sold-out book signing at Barnes and Noble. I'm really excited to see what comes next! 💖 (And I have some related news for next year! ⬇️)
In exciting book news, Forsaken Beauty and the Etherbeast is one of Temporal Textual Talks’ book club pics for next year! It’ll be August’s reading. You can take a look at the list here of everything book club will be reading in 2025, starting in January. There’s no book club in March or December.
Please note: don't vote on any of the books in the official Goodreads list as they're posted in reading order for book club. 💖
Temporal Textual Talks is a virtual book club that reads steampunk and steampunk-adjacent books. Anyone is welcome to join in and you don’t have to finish reading the book in order to participate (just be prepared for spoilers!) I’ve loved going to the meetings. The community is so supportive and talking books with such a fun group sparks a lot of joy for me.
Forsaken Beauty and the Etherbeast is available in e-book form as part of Kindle Unlimited subscriptions and in print everywhere books are sold. Your local library may also carry the print version. If they don’t current have it on their shelves, here’s a quick guide to requesting books for most libraries in the US:
If you’re local to central Iowa, I know the following bookstores stock Forsaken Beauty and the Etherbeast:
Johnston Public Library and Ankeny Public Library also have copies of Forsaken Beauty and the Etherbeast on their shelves.
If you haven’t been able to make any of the events or conventions I’ve been to and would like to order a signed copy of my books, I’m have a Google Form for that here. My website is undergoing maintenance and while most of it’s functional during the process, the Signed Copies page isn’t. Please note I’ll only ship in the US for now to keep costs down. If you already have my books, you can also request a signed bookplate instead.
Thank you again to everyone who helped Forsaken Beauty and the Etherbeast have a wonderful first year! I’m so grateful for all of my readers and can’t wait to share more about what’s on the horizon soon!
Happy reading!
Kelsey
Actually, my writing process can best be described in a Captain Cold (from the Flash) quote: “There are only four rules you need to remember: make the plan, execute the plan, expect the plan to go off the rails, throw away the plan.”