Smoke and Shadow News

Feb 8

A long awaited update for you regarding The Blade of Severed Bonds - I’m getting my rights back!

TLDR

The collection known as The Blade of Severed Bonds (with five short stories) is being dissolved
In March 2026, The Blade of Severed Bonds (short story only) will become a newsletter freebie and free on ebook platforms (full distribution list tbd)
two short stories associated with the prequel will become newsletter bonus content for The Bones of Crystal Sand
two short stories associated with the second book will become newsletter bonus content for The Wings of Shattered Fire
The paperback collection listed on Amazon will no longer be available

Personal note

So, this is a long explanation that requires some information dumping. It’s not really important, but I tried to be incredibly transparent with the collection when it was published and I still received some pretty disappointing and mean messages about it despite trying to make the info accessible, so this is me just reiterating and hoping that y’all will forgive me for the mess that Blade was for a bit.

The Lukewarm gossip

Back in my foolish days (aka before I had my beautiful PA Alyssa who helped me understand the business a little bit better), I submitted my story - The Blade of Severed Bonds - for an anthology, which I thought would be a huge win in my author career. The group was (again, I thought) a big cheerleader for indie authors and a chance for me to get my story in front of readers who otherwise wouldn’t see my books.

It was one of my biggest mistakes because in the end, I lost the rights to publish my story how I wanted. Thus, to make up for having a book (1) unable to be offered for free and (2) unable to be offered in KU, I added four bonus content scenes to make that $0.99 book not feel like a waste when the rest of my books are offered on KU.

To this day, Blade is my most returned book and has earned me the most angry emails from readers accusing me of scamming them.

We’re not going to talk about the red flags I didn’t see at the time of relinquishing control over my own writing. I don’t need advice. I’ve learned and that’s the end of it.

What I am going to talk about is how a change in that group’s structure has given me my story back.

Recently, with new leadership, the anthology collection made an addendum to the contracts which allowed me to take back my rights and leave. Which means I now have the power to offer my story how I want.

The Blade of Severed Bonds has always been something special to me. It’s an origin story set in the Smoke and Shadow world, a twist on Beauty and the Beast, but if the MMC was separated from his “beast” form and wanted it back. In packaging it with other scenes, I had hoped to make up for the ‘price tag’ by making it a bit longer, but now we can do what we want!

So what is that? Everything becomes FREEEEEE.

First, I’m dissolving the book as it is. 2.5 will cease to exist in paperback (though what I have in stock on Etsy will remain until it’s sold out).

The ebook The Blade of Severed Bonds will now be released as Adrienne’s and Vyttas’s story only, and with some maneuvering, will appear as ‘free’ on Amazon as well as any other retailers (tbd).

The two short stories that were prequel-type stories will become bonus newsletter content available at the end of The Bones of Crystal Sand.

The two deleted scenes that were part of The Wings of Shattered Fire will now become bonus newsletter content available at the end of that book.

And, moving forward, I will not be joining any anthologies without very thorough vetting and retention of my rights.

I’m so relieved to be able to have this story back. When I initially submitted Blade, it was with business in mind, with the hopes of finding new readers, and with the dream of some support for a tiny indie author just trying to share her love of fantasy romance. Unfortunately, things don’t always go as planned, but in this instance, I’m able to turn it around.

I know it looks messy to explain all these changes, and I’m so grateful for those who have been patient with me in this journey. I never imagined being where I am now, so being able to shape the Smoke and Shadow series, my romantasy baby, how I want is really wonderful.

When everything becomes available, I’ll be adding the links below. If you would like to be the first to know, you can join my newsletter now and get the update directly in March.