Ocean Heart was free on #GooglePlay during the first week of May. If you missed the deal, thereās still a chance to get it!
For the rest of May, my followers on Ko-Fi can still get Ocean Heart for FREE! Itās Free to follow me Redfae on Ko-Fi and by following me you can make sure you donāt miss out on future freebies that get posted there. ?
Also, donāt forget to checkout my Giveaway on Instagram. Entry is super easy. Also, FREE to enter!
This is book 1 in a trilogy. What can readers look forward to in this series?
As the series goes on, we see Delaney grow as she learns more about her abilities and the people she trusts, especially her father. There are tough decisions sheās forced to make, but there are good things that come about as a result. Itās a reminder that sometimes things donāt turn out the way we want or plan, no matter how good our intentions may be, but thereās still a chance for hope in the very end.
Can you introduce the MC, Laney?
Delaney Murphy is the daughter of the Devil, who was posing as a human rock star named Angus Murphy when he fell in love with a human woman. Laneyās always known who her father is, but it wasnāt until she realized that his powers had been passed to her that she made the difficult decision to limit her contact with other people in an effort to protect them. She only breaks her self-imposed isolation when she recognizes a rogue demon is targeting women. Leaving her self-imposed isolation starts a domino effect that forces her to confront those parts of herself that are the most frightening.
Do Hell Hounds feature in the series and can you tell me about any pets you have?
Hell Hounds do feature in this series and they are the most fun to write about. In fact, Laneyās Hound, Moose, is based on my own supersized Yorkie (who also just happens to be named Moose). The Hounds become even more integral to the plot in Books 2 and 3. Hereās a picture of my Moose, who is always nearby when Iām writing.
What inspired you to write this series?
Delaneyās character came to life in my head because of a comment someone made to me while I was at work. It was not very nice, essentially equating me with the spawn of Satan, but it sparked an idea in my head about a young woman who is really trying to do the right thing, and just happens to be the daughter of the Devil. It definitely turned a negative into a positive.
Who do you think would enjoy your series?
I think this series would appeal to readers whoāve enjoyed the The Hollows series by Kim Harrison and The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, as well as readers who enjoy books by Cassandra Clare.
Is there a date for book 3ās release?
At this time, Book 3 is tentatively scheduled for release in autumn 2021.
Can you share a snippet?
Angus had come to me, after my prom had erupted into mayhem at the sudden emergence of my magic. Heād given me a choice.
āAll of it? All that happened because of you?ā I faced him, tears blurring my vision. I didnāt want to believe what heād just told me, but gut deep, I knew every word had been true. The screams from the gym still echoed in my ears.
āNo Delaney. It happened because of you.ā He gave me a sad smile. āThe sins of the father and all that.ā
The room swam as I fought to catch a breath. My mother. My friends. My future. Everything I thought my life would be was slipping away and there was nothing I could do.
āYou have to make a choice.ā This time his voice was softer. āStay or go. You have to decide.ā
I forced myself to swallow against the bile in my throat. āThatās not a choice, Dad. But you already knew that.ā
He didnāt say anything, but he didnāt look away. No matter what, he would be my witness.
āGo. Itās the right thing to do.ā As I choked the words out, an agonized scream rose up from the hall right outside the room Iād hidden in, as if somehow my answer had penetrated the walls. I recognized the voice that called my name, pleading with me not to leave as a heavy fist battered the door Iād locked behind me. My heart twisted in my chest, a pain I almost welcomed. But the decision was made. I nodded at my father, more strength in my answer this time. āI have to go.ā
āThatās my girl.ā
He came to stand behind me, strong arms wrapping around and pulling me close, snuggling me up against his heart. The scent of brimstone stung my nose even as it comforted me. Then he took one step back and we fell, together, into Hell.
The Devilās Own by K.A. Fox
Where can readers go to find out more about you and your books?
Hello my mermaid loving readers. Itās the month of mermaids and MerMay 2021 is going to be MerMazing!
#MerMay
Readalong with Hannah Read
Author Hannah Read has created a MerMay readathon for May! She has encouraged people to get her novel Tenebrasco and set chapter goals throughout the month, so we can read along together.
As a mermaid fiction author myself, this sounded like so much fun. Iāve downloaded the book to my Kindle and despite being a slow reader I will try my best to keep up.
Follow #MerMayReadalong , #PearlWielders & @hannah.reads on Instagram.
I have been developing my technical skills to produce digital products. I decided to share my Book Tracker as a free download from my Ko-Fi Shop.
In addition, Iāve posted a link there that enables Ko-Fi fans to download Ocean Heart for free from Google Play ALL month.
Itās Free to follow me on Ko-Fi, so why not? That way you can enjoy the freebies and wonāt miss out on future freebies.
Apple iBooks
ITunes Connectās webpage is currently not loading on the page that allows new authors to join. The technical team have apologised for the issues and are working on resolving these.
Update: 30 May, I managed to create an author account but I think I have to wait 24h to add a book. So maybe later this month Iāll be on Apple. ?
Ocean Charity
I want to donate to an Ocean charity. Itās something Iāve wanted to do for ages and there are so many good ones out there.
I recently watched Seapiracy on Netflix and it reminded me of how crucial the ocean is to all of us.
This month I will pick a charity and donate. Let me know if you have any recommendations.
This novel is set in a futuristic world where there are bound and unbound people. Unbound people have powers, and those with more than one power are specialists. Specialists can learn to use cards that boost their powers.
The unbound are rules by the Card Catchers. The story starts with a tournament being held where all the unbound must compete, so the strongest are selected. The tournament can be deadly, hence Neelaās resistance to partake.
Characters
Neela is the main character. She is a feisty vigilante orphan, growing up in the slums with her brother. Neela is an untrained specialist.
Jacen is Neelaās big brother. They are super close as theyāve pretty much grown up only having each other. He doesnāt have any powers.
Brochan is to become Neelaās trainer when she is required (or forces) to compete in the Red Queen tournament. Part of his team includes wife Lily, and brother-in-law Will.
Amil is a specialist trained assassin. He also becomes Neelaās first friend. Thereās a lot of flirting between them. Unfortunately, Amilās brother isnāt quote so friendly.
Review
Neela is a feisty young vigilante, with unbound powers. She doesnāt want to compete in the Red Queen tournament, until she is caught by her trainer. On their way to the tournament they are attacked.
Neela meets Amil, a young assassin that everyone is cautious of. He quickly becomes her friend, which draws the attention of his not so nice brother.
People are targeting Neela. As they try to figure out who they are, more secrets unravel. Could the attacks be linked to her parents deaths?
My only negative is that sometimes it felt too dialogue heavy, and there were a lot of occasions thar Neelaās hair got roughed up or her head patted.
Red Blood is full of fast paced action and superpowers. It reminded me a lot of Naruto, but without the school. Itās a fun read. Kaitlyn has put a lot of thought into the magic system and World-building to bring this story to life.
As if by magic, this book appeared on my Kindle. I read the blurb and knew I had to read it.
The Setting
The story is set up North during winter. The snowy setting got me excited for our forecasted snow.
The MC is an only child living with his mum and dad in the countryside, with his nana in the annex. He travels to his local high school by bus.
The Characters
Mark is the main character. Heās grown up in the small town where everyone knows heās gay and his nana is a witch.
Markās best mate is pretty occupied with his girlfriend. When a new guy starts at the school, Mark invites him over for the winter solstice celebration, as well as his mate & his girlfriend.
My Review
I loved this short story. Itās hard not to blab as I want to gush about it. The characters felt so real, and I loved the magic woven into the tale. The snowy scenes were beautiful and the romance.
They say not to judge a book by its cover but I need you to do just that. If you liked the cover of my book, Ocean Heart (The Soul Heart Series Book 1), please vote for it for the Cover of the Month contest on AllAuthor.com!
Iām getting closer to clinch the “Cover of the Month” contest on AllAuthor! Iād need as much support from you guys. Please take a short moment to vote for my book cover here:
During October & November, I have been doing fortnightly Live author chats with my launch party team, on writing and books. Itās been a lot of fun and is leading up to the big event -My Launch Party!
To make sure you donāt miss the lives, be sure to follow me on YouTube and hit the notification bell.
Catch up / Replay
Donāt worry if you missed the lives, you can watch the replays on my channel.
This is my awesome launch party to celebrate the official release of Ocean Heart. Celebrate live with us here.
We will be talking all things Ocean Heart but Iāll be careful not to spill any spoilers. Come along and ask questions. Iāll also be announcing the Preorder Giveaway winner.
The next character to make an appearance is rival, Kiely. Although, this month Iām working on book 2 of the series and sheās the MC. She would claim Mariah is the rival.
Role in Ocean Heart: Antagonist (Poor Kiely is the enemy simply for being Jaceās girlfriend. Jealousy is an ugly trait.)
Kiely OāNeil
Kiely and her friends are gorgeous and it. But, the demands of being popular comes at a price.
Kiely tries hard to be nice, not a stereotypical mean girl. Girls want to hate her, and being nice seems to make them more mad. Her best mate Fallon has always got her back and puts the haters in their place.
Despite being gorgeous and friendly, Kiely has struggled to get a boyfriend. Fallon says itās because high school boys canāt handle a goddess…
…Until Jace asks her out. She is smitten and gives the relationship her all. She even lets his best friend, Mariah, borrow her clothes. Although, Mariahās and Jaceās friendship makes her feel insecure, she trusts they are just friends.
Kiely can be a little superficial, her image is important. She worries so much about what others think sheāll tell little white lies. Kielyās lies will get her into deep trouble, but youāll have to read SKY HEART to discover more about that. Sky Heart is book 2 in The Soul Hearts series.
What my editor said…
Avery didnāt analyse Kielyās characters. Although, there were inline comments on my manuscript relating to her.
This is probably because Kiely isnāt a main character in Mariahās life but she is a main character in THE SOUL HEART SERIES. The next book is all about Kiely and Iām hoping to get that ending written during NaNoWriMo.
Kiely was called Kya which means Diamond in the Sky (book 2s original title). Avery pointed out a lot of characters names ended in an āAhā sound. As a result, I changed her name to Kiely. This wasnāt her first name change.
This is the first time Iāve taken part in an Xpresso Book Tour but I just loved the look and sound of Oufoxed. The chance to find out more was so tempting, I applied to host a Behind the Book interview.
What inspired your novel Outfoxed?
This is a weird answer, only becauseā¦ itās just going to sound weird. Which is weird. So, I often do āwhat ifā speculative questioning about Life, the Universe, and Everything. This time, I wanted to pursue several things: what would happen if I fractured the United States in a āhardlineā fashion? In this case, quadrants due to fluctuating magical zones, with distorting boundaries separating the quadrants. This makes traveling between the quadrants difficult.
How would society change if the United States became separated in such a fashion?
The next question I wanted to pursue was āunder what circumstances would people willfully sell themselves into slavery?ā I also expanded that to āWhat would happen if parents could sell their children into slavery?ā
Side-note: most parents absolutely do NOT sell their children into slavery, but some do because they can in this society. Some pare paid to enroll their child into the system, but most parents who do are upgrading life for their kids. Before you get out the pitchforks, let me explain a little.
Here is the scenario: You have a child. You are from a destitute part of society. You are in a situation where you canāt really provide for your child as you want.
You have some things going for you. The right kind of magic. Good looks. Some desirable trait. More importantly, your child has those qualities as well, thus your child is a desirable for someone in a higher bracket of society.
In the system Iāve created, the person being sold is the one who is paid for the sale, most of them do so voluntarily, and there are strict requirements on how they are treated.
Your child, who had no opportunities, now may become the wife or husband (itās equal opportunity) of someone in a position of power. They are given money to set up in their new life.
This is the pitch voters were successfully sold in the society, and they, as a nation, voted to have this system put into place.
For another fun side note, this system is founded on historical systems from several different countries, where people absolutely did buy the daughters or sons of one family to join theirs. I just implanted pre-existing systems into the United States and modified it to better fit the evolution of the society thanks to magic.
Note: I do not, in any shape or form, support the creation of this sort of society. I just got curious and wanted to see what would happen if I wrote a society like this, put characters in it, and wrote out how the system worked and how the characters fight to change it.
Novels would be boring if I didnāt give them something to work with or a conflict, after all.
And of course, what can go wrong in the book will go wrong, as Jade discovers for herself.
What did you enjoy most about writing your urban fantasy novel?
Just about everything. This story is so complex, and itās set in such a rich version of Earthā¦ it wasnāt easy to write, but it was a delight, a challenge, and a passion. Itās a lot of things I love about urban fantasy in one packageā¦ with a twist(er) tossed in for good measure.
This is book 1 in The Fox Witch series – Did you know you were writing a series from the start?
Yes. Before I even started writing Outfoxed, I had all three covers of the trilogy purchased, titled, and in my hands. I also started the ground work on its sister quartets and trilogies. At current count, there are something like twenty books across a bunch of trilogies and quartets, each one following a different set of characters. The next set in the world to come out will have connections to Jade and her friends in one way or another. (I donāt want to spoil anything, so Iām not going to tell you how theyāre connected yet.)
How many books do you anticipate in the series and what can we look forward to in the series?
The Fox Witch books are a trilogy, but there will, as I mentioned above, be a collection of a bunch of trilogies and quartets. There will be a āmainā series consisting of ten books, but until I have the cover art for the first book of that set, it isnāt being fully announced. However, I can announce the name of the model for the cover: Mr. Grace Draven, the husband of the wonderfulauthor of the Wraith King series. (I love these books, and Iām extremely biased; I format and proofread for Grace.)
I begged for Mr. Grace Draven to model for me. I begged. He finally agreed, and I screamed happily when it happened.
How long did Outfoxed take to write from the first idea to publishing?
Good question. I think about two years. When I initially started it, it was a pure passion project, and it wasnāt until I started wrapping up a different series I began working on it in earnest.
If you could have any super power what would you choose and why?
Regeneration and brain refreshing. After about six hours of working, Iām so exhausted, but I want to keep writing, but my brain checks out. Iād like to be able to refresh my brain on command. Also, sleep without tossing and turning for hours. I love sleepingā¦ but it doesnāt happen easily or as often as I would like!
Which character in your novel do you relate to most and why?
Hrm. This is a good question. I really donāt know. I try to write myself out of my characters as much as possible, because readers are trying to read adventures about those characters, not about me! I insert food I like into the books. (If you see a character obsessed with a food, itās probably a food I like. Not always, but often. Itās a controlled self-insertion, and itās now an ongoing joke. I also do this with cars, althoughā¦ look for the vehicles I destroy in creative fashions. Chances are I really like that car, SUV, or truck. The more creative I am about the destruction of it, the more I like it.)
In life is stranger than fiction, I bought the truck from one of the books. For my husband. Itās his truck. His dream truck. (Itās also my dream truck, but I would have my dream truck in a different color.) But the lead character in Cheetahs Never Win, following the very creative destruction of his truckā¦ got his dream truck.
Which I now own.
I named my husbandās truck Dipshit. (After the horse in Water Viper.)
My sense of humor is strange.
For the record, my husband calls the truck Warspite. After the battleship.
Can you tease us with a short snippet from Outfoxed?
Absolutely!
The rumble escalated, and the lamp swayed on its chain, a warning one of the twisters passed directly overhead. Sandro frowned, his gaze locking on the light. āI wonder how much damage that swarmās doing.ā
People from all over the United States came to the Alley, and Iād joined everyone else in no longer caring where someone came from. He had an accent compared to the locals, but I couldnāt tell if he was deliberately hiding where he came from or if he always sounded like he could have lived anywhere in the world and magically fit in.
His question, however, told me a simple truth: Sandro hadnāt been in the Alley long. Those whoād survived through their first tornado season no longer cared about the damage ratings of a twister or a swarm.
It didnāt matter.
No matter how bad it got, like a weed in the cracks of a sidewalk, Tulsa endured.
When and where can we buy Outfoxed?
Outfoxed is available at all major retailers, and releases on November 3, 2020!
Beyond that, I am rather reclusive, usually because Iām hiding in my cave writing more books.
Thank you so much for hosting!
Outfoxed R.J. Blain (The Fox Witch, #1) Publication date: November 3rd 2020 Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy
Death is a way of life outside of the safety of Inner Tulsa, and Jade means to keep flipping Mother Nature off until old age claims her. With one eye always on the sky, the last thing she needs is a pack of bounty hunters out for her living head. With no idea of why anyone would want her, her wits might keep her free, assuming she can resist the charming lures of Sandro, one of the men out to claim her as his own.
Left with the choice of being the evening snack of a tornado or taking shelter with the bounty hunter, she does what she does best: she lives on the edge.
Striking a bargain with the handsome bounty hunter buys her another day of life, but it also dumps her into the heart of a sinister plot, one meant to enslave the residents of the storm-tossed cityāand the others brave and foolish enough to call the Alley home.
RJ Blain suffers from a Moleskine journal obsession, a pen fixation, and a terrible tendency to pun without warning.
In her spare time, she daydreams about being a spy. Her contingency plan involves tying her best of enemies to spinning wheels and quoting James Bond villains until satisfied.
Well… I have not one, not two, but THREE projects for November. And, I still probably wonāt make the 50k goal.
Thatās not me being a defeatist. Iām not quitting before I start. In fact, despite the odds, Iām still going to try. And, you should too!
November is always a busy month. Itās my sonās & Iās birthdays, and the birthday of lots of other loved ones. On top of that, Iām launching Ocean Heart. Thereās a lot going on. Plus, someone always gets ill in November – Iām hoping the social distancing is going to help avoid that this year.
Realistically, November is not the best month for me to write. However, the NaNo challenge encourages me to be more focussed and accountable. Because of this, I write more because I took part. And, I love the community spirit, writing with us.
Project 1 – Sky Heart
This is the main project. Sky Heart is book 2 in The Soul Heart Series. Getting this published will be my 2021 big goal. So, I need to get it written.
Kiely got dumped for Christmas. Heartbroken she makes rash decisions to get over her ex-boyfriend, starting with a blindfold and a mystery kisser.
Kiely’s new wild lifestyle places her in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now she must stay alive, as she’s drawn into an ancient shifter war with werewolves and reapers.
Kiely’s battle to overcome her ex is about to take her to new heights.
Project 2 – Prequel
This will be a short novella. I may give it away as a readers magnet for newsletter signups. Itāll be a Historical Fantasy, but not set a long time ago. Itāll be in the 90s.
Project 3 – Luna
My werewolf villain wants me to tell her story. Iām not sure if it will be written just for me so I know her better or to share her with the world.
Lunaās story is also to be a Historical Fantasy. This will be going back to medieval times. Itās anticipated to be a novella.
What about you?
Are you doing NaNo this year? And, what do you think of my projects?
I usually focus on just one but Iām really feeling all three of these right now and just want my creativity to flow.
Iām planning on attending a few live write ins with World Indie Warriors on Instagram.
TUE 20 OCT @ 8PM ( London) 
TUE 17 NOV @ 8PM (London) 
TUE 1 DEC @ 8PM (London)
