New Romantasy + Where to find me at Romance Con! 💖⚙️📚
Plus, Wickedly Dangerous Fairytales pre-order news! 📚
Hello!
I hope you’re having a wonderful start to September! I took a break prepping for Romance Con and spent Labor Day taking my sons to the Science Center. They had a blast making stop motion videos, learning how to use power tools, exploring space exhibits, and playing with robots!
It was an extra special visit because a local Robotics teams had their robot on display and seeing them brought back fond memories. When I was in high school, I was the Electrical Team Lead and Captain of our Robotics team. This meant that I was in charge of powering the robot (while making it look cool with neon) and strategizing during the competitions. I spent many, many Saturdays as a teen drinking waaay too much Mountain Dew while getting into shenanigans in the workshop like strapping the electronics to a prototype made out of an old orange crate and having mock battles with marshmallows fired out of PVC pipes. My years on the team is part of why I can relate so much to my characters when they're in the midst of an intense project in their lab. 💖
Visiting the Science Center was exactly what I needed before getting right back to drafting and packing. I leave for Romance Con tomorrow! Before then, I have updates on my schedule, more romantasy books for your TBR, and pre-order news for Wickedly Dangerous Fairytales (the series featuring my new book, The Clockwork Coffin.)
Romance Con is September 6-7th at the Baird Center in Milwaukee, WI. I’ll be at Table 115 with copies of Forsaken Beauty and the Etherbeast in paperback and hardcover, a limited number of Monsters and Machines paperbacks, bracelets to trade, signed book plates, and other bookish goodies! For more info and tickets, click here.
📚 Signing hours are from 2-6 pm on Friday and Saturday. You’ll also find me at the masquerade ball on Saturday night. (I love the excuse to dress up!!)
📚 My table is a safe space if you need a moment to breathe or you want to talk books, video games, movies, or crafty stuff! Pics and hugs are fine. You can tag me @authorkelseyjosephson on most social media.
📚 I have a fancy new card reader that takes most forms of payment (tap, swipe, chip, etc) and cash.
Tropes in Forsaken Beauty and the Etherbeast:
📚 Fairy tale retelling
📚 Beauty and the Beast
📚 Slow-burn romance
📚 Emotional scars
📚 Steampunk world
📚 "Who did this to you?"
📚 Cinnamon roll hero
📚 Strong heroine
📚 Found family
⚙️ New to steampunk? Wondering what it is?
Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that combines Victorian-era history, fashion, technology, and fantasy. It's characterized by its retrofuturistic aesthetic, which includes steam-powered machinery, brass, gears, and leather.
In my writing, I keep the tech side of steampunk accessible. I draw inspiration from Howl's Moving Castle and Gail Carriger's The Parasol Protectorate series by keeping my stories character-focused while having fun blending alchemy, airships, and steam-powered machines.
If your planning on attending Romance Con and have accessibility needs, you can request accommodations on their form here.
Have more questions about the convention? The Romance Con Attendees group has been a fantastic resource. You can also download their official app for a better view of the map and schedule.
As always, you can check the Events page of my website to see where I’m heading next.
Not sure what to bring to a book con? Check out this post filled with tips.
In other news, I’m participating in a group promo filled with romantasy reads. Forsaken Beauty and the Etherbeast is one of the featured titles! You can check it out by clicking here or the banner below:
Before I return to drafting and packing for Romance Con, I also wanted to share a fun update about the Wickedly Dangerous Fairytales series! My new book, The Clockwork Coffin, will be part of this shared series with other authors. The first book of the series will have pre-orders available soon! I’m contemplating setting up pre-orders early for The Clockwork Coffin as well, but I’m not quite there yet with the official blurb. (Ask any author, and most of us will tell you writing the full novel is easier and more fun than writing a blurb 😂)
To read about my gothic fairy tale retelling with a HEA, check out this post.
Happy reading!
Kelsey
