A Sweet Surprise - Cover Reveal of a New Novella • Karin Kallmaker • Author

ON THE PAGE

Some things go as planned, and other things don’t. That’s life. In the case of To Boldly Follow, changing plans ended up being a very good thing.

How it Started

I wanted to release the story, written back in 2017, into the wild for readers who didn’t catch it in its original iteration. That’s it. So simple, right? It’ll just take a couple days, sure. I literally said that aloud because I NEVER LEARN.

And then it grew FIVE TIMES the size and became a novella at just over 12,000 words.

The original story is called “LARP,” and appeared in Conference Call. The anthology was expertly edited by the award-winning Ann Roberts and published by Bella Books.

Why it Grew

When writing for anthologies there’s often a word count limit. I consider it a challenge to meet the limit while creating a fun, quick immersion into a moment in lesbian lives. (I really enjoy writing short stories!) As I revisited the story, the live-action-role-play-curious, navigationally challenged Quinn Simmons woke up in my brain.

Quinn: “Hey, stuff happened later that night, you know.”
Me: “I’m sure it did.”
Quinn: (sighs)
Me: “Oh – do you want to tell me about it?”
Quinn: (rolls eyes) “Duh. Plus you left out some stuff from when we met.”
Me: “Let me get a document open.”
Quinn: “It wasn’t my fault I got lost, you know.”
Me: “If you say so.”
Quinn: “Do you want to know what happened or not?”
Me: “I do. Yes I do.”

And she told me!! She told me everything. And then she told me about the very nervous next date and maybe, just maybe, a chance for more.

So Yeah, It Took More than a Couple Days

See above: I never learn. Also, Life Happens.

Over the past few months there was restful, fun, long vacation. That ended with one of those Life events as my mom went through a bad spell – she’s on the mend now. So it’s taken a while to get a version done that I like. That’s why I’m so happy to say that To Boldly Follow is on it’s final “let it sit a bit and cook a little, then read it aloud” step. It should be in final epub format in less than a week from now.

First Available Exclusively on My Site

There will be a brief period when the shiny new novella will be on my site at a 33% discount – $1.99 instead of $2.99. Basically, what the big sellers take in their commission I’m passing onto my site users. I’ll post a new blog and send a newsletter when it’s here. (Do you need to subscribe to my newsletter? It’s free, no ads, and sent only when there’s book news.)

Then Kindle Unlimited and Amazon

After that, for 90 days, the story will be in KU and for purchase at $2.99 exclusively at Amazon. That means I have to remove it from my site for that period of time.

Then Everywhere

The moment the 90 days are up it’ll be available again here and everywhere else at $2.99, like Bella Books, Kobo, and Apple. With the blessings of the cyber deities, it will eventually make its way to library users who are soaking up the sweet, sweet, free reading courtesy of their local library and apps like Libby.