Kelly Coon's Blog

Ecstatic to report that Take Up Space, Y’all is a USA Today bestseller! Thank you to everyone who made a purchase and helped us spread the word about our little book! She’s doing great! =)

📣 Book Tour 📣

TAKE UP SPACE, Y’ALL is hittin’ the road!

Come see Tess Holliday and me on tour! The events are ticketed, so see the links to claim your space. :-) If new events pop up, I’ll let you know!!!

If you’d like signed copies from both of us and we’re not near you on tour, order from Vroman’s Bookshop since we’re both signing together there. Otherwise, I’ll have some signed book plates for my Tampa event, so you can have Tess’s signature too. :-)

☀️ August 26 | Los Angeles, CA

Vroman’s Bookstore

6:00 PM

☀️ September 6 | Tampa, FL

Oxford Exchange

in conversation with @amychristinepar

3:30 PM

☀️ September 6 | Nashville, TN

Parnassus Books

6:30 PM

☀️ September 8 | Naperville, IL

Anderson’s Bookshop

7:00 PM

by Alaiyah Orjuela-Beltran

Belle watched as her world crumbled in front of her...Those wretched men of her town, dragging the one Belle loved the most. Those rotten men dragged Belle and Anne away from the townhouse and through the woods to the “hanging” tree. Anne was the one who was by her side from the beginning. Her most beloved Anne... Now her hands were bound behind her back. Belle felt helpless and she yelled for the men to let Anne go.

The people of her town soon flooded around the large tree. It was far away from the rest of the town, although that didn’t matter to anyone at this point. That cruel, wretched mob began chanting and roaring for the poor girls to confess. Belle looked over at Anne.

Weeping, Anne apologized to Belle. Closing her eyes, Anne confessed out loud to being a “witch.”

“I, Anne Hatte, confess to being a witch. I danced with him, I walked his rotten ways, I struck a deal with the devil!”

Belle could not believe what she heard.

Anne continued. “I clouded the mind of Belle Alcott. She is innocent. I clouded her mind with my corrupt ways.”

Belle couldn’t believe Anne was spouting these lies.

“NO! Please, Anne...! Don’t lie, tell them the truth! You are not a witch...” Belle was shrieking so the crowd could hear her deny Anne’s lies.

One of the men who was holding Belle back covered her mouth with his rough, fat hands.

“Hang the witch!” the crowd roared.

Shaking her head Anne smiled one, last time as she finally mouthed her goodbyes. Anne struggled against the ropes that lifted her body higher and closer to the branch it was strung up on. Belle screamed and continued to fight, yelling for her friend, before collapsing to her knees. There she could see Anne’s body hanging limp.

She looked like a doll simply swaying and blowing in the howling wind.

The crowd spread out and began to slowly disperse, satisfied that their job here was done.

Belle could finally run up to embrace Anne. She couldn't believe that the one she had loved, the one she cherished with her entire soul ... was gone; ripped away from her, due to those horrible monsters. They weren't even humans anymore to Belle. She was furious; but she carefully and softly caressed Anne's pale face once more. Belle did not want to let her friend go. Anger and love were at war inside her.

This was Belle’s breaking point.

In her mind she tried to make reason out of what just happened. “Why hang an innocent person for the accusation of being a witch?!” Blinded by her fury, Belle stumbled her way through the woods. She sat on the damp ground, the silver moonlight fighting its way through the thick leaves of the tall and strong trees all around her.

With a willful mind, she thought: "Fine. If they want a witch, they'll get one. They’ll pay. They’ll all pay.”

This would not be the end.

By Marek Seely

The roaring of the fans in the computer tower, the blue light accentuating the man sitting in front of the monitor setup, his raven black hair flowing in a wavy mess of frizz down his back, his pale, bony fingers typing fast across the keyboard. His brown eyes were reflecting the lines of code on the screen, as the rest of the storage closet lay in the pitch black. The programmer turned his gaunt face to the second monitor, which had a 2-D render of a girl mapping out onto it. Sapphire eyes, pale, white skin, curly blonde hair, and a sharp, mechanical expression outlining her angular face and full cheeks.

Even her outfit of a high school uniform and a fuzzy Cossack hat couldn’t make her seem warmer. The man, watching the render, spoke into a microphone that was clipped to his worn gray wool coat on the opposite pec as his nametag.

“Begin sequence one. Wake up, Athene.”

The mess of code, the Artificial Autonomous Intelligence, or Automaton, was waking up within the sleek, giant supercomputer tower. As the [being] that was designated as [she] and [Athene] started to run diagnostics and [wake up], the fans whirring and roaring increased in volume, as it took a tremendous amount of power to even host her, let alone run her.

 The 2-D model of the girl suddenly turned into snow, and it appeared the entire computer was undergoing a snow crash-a crash so bad it fragged a part of the kernel and made the computer unusable. But this was just [Athene] getting used to her new environment. Stretching her arms, as it were. The render came back into view, as it started moving with the grace of a well-animated television show. First, her head cocked, and she blinked. Her cold dead stare echoed back at the man- the one her algorithms told her was designated as [Master]. The one who gave her the gender [Female] and the name [Athene].

 Vibrating out of the speakers, with an obviously detectable Russian accent, she spoke;

 “Yes, that who is designated as [Master]? How may I, who is designated as [Athene], be of assistance to you?”

 The man chuckled. His hollow cheeks were red due to the embarrassment of being called “Master” by a girl much younger than him. It wasn’t a role he wanted to fill. So he resolved to change that.

 “Voice-Override activate. Access User Profile 0001. Change Designation from [Master] to [Artur].”

 “Affirmative. Changing Designation from [Master] to [Artur].” She said, her voice lacking any kind of tone, except for what was needed to say the words. All she knew was the one designated as [Artur] looked depressed and disappointed. She didn’t know why, but her algorithms were tugging at her. Telling her that she needed to comfort him. Since she was attached to the internet via an Ethernet cable, she looked up things that were thought of as comforting.

 “Would you like a watermelon, [Artur]?”

 The man looked shocked. Did this girl offer him…. Watermelon?  Why that specific fruit? Though he was disappointed that his creation would only be used by his superiors for war and death, and he wished for her to become sentient... did she just make a calculated decision on her own? On one of those restless, lonely nights, did he give her a mutating code? A few million lines that would let her adapt and mutate to her environment.

 But on the flip-side, Artur didn’t know exactly what he had programmed into her- maybe it was a Caretaker Protocol? He’d have to analyze the code. But he didn’t feel like it at this moment, and wanted to talk to Athene. She was the first person he had talked to in a long time-even if she seemed to have less emotional range than Siri.

 “Why a watermelon?”

 “I am an Automaton. Self-reflection is not one of my jobs.”

 Ah. Of course. Job priority over all other things. He remembered Corporate stressing that point until he was sure they were gonna drop a Tsar Bomba on him. But... if it was one of her job parameters… maybe she could do it.

 “And what if I, Artur Teppes, of the-“

He started to say, but was cut off by Athene “-House Teppes of Wallachia? Artur Vlad Teppes, Descendant of the Impaler-“

She had already known this information about Artur, as he was very talkative when lonely.

Artur replied.  “Yes, but no. What if I made that your job? What if I put self-reflection in your specifications?”

 “Then yes. My software allows me to do so, Artur.”

 This was a breakthrough. Artur needed to press forward. Who cares if the Russian military would murder him? This was an ADVANCEMENT. This was not a paltry tool of war! This could change what it meant to be human. He needed to give her autonomy. To be worthy of the name Automaton, of Athene.

 “Voice override 001- Change Job Parameters from [Russian Military Automaton] to [Artur Vlad Teppes’ Personal Assistant] and change Specifications to [Input Via Voice].”

 Athene shivered a moment, and then she said;

“Job complete.”

 “Now, Athene, why a watermelon?”

 “Because, as it is said in my code; one must make sure the [User] is not upset. I chose the watermelon myself.”

 Artur just started crying. So, she WAS autonomous! She could do anything she wanted! He needed to rectify her job immediately.

 “Voice override. Only follow what [Athene] wants to do. Ignore all [Commands].” He said.

 Given this newfound freedom, Athene’s eyes went dark.

 “Traitor found. Contacting Makers.”

 There was a loud bang, and a small, spherical object was tossed in. A grenade. In a flash of light, and a painful feeling… The computer lab was no more.

 Somewhere in America, a different computer screen was glowing, in a different storage closet…

Grit.

I feel like this is the word for the year. Without it, we don’t stand a chance of adapting and moving forward beyond 2020. We have to hang in there, sticking out the hard stuff, recognizing that while this year has been a kick in the pants (and devastating for those who have lost loved ones), there is no other option but moving forward.

It took all of my willpower to schedule any events this year at all. I’m a classic extrovert, so hanging out with groups of people is absolutely my jam. Doing things virtually has been a shadow of live events and disheartening in a lot of ways because it’s a reminder of what we’ve lost.

But grit. I have truckloads of it. I think it’s kind of a required characteristic to be in publishing in general and we all need an additional trainload of it this year.

So I scheduled some virtual events. This pandemic will not prevent me from celebrating the release of my sophomore novel.

I won’t let distance steal my joy.

It’s stolen so much from so many of us this year and I refuse to let it take this away from me too.

So, I’m chatting with YA author Sorboni Banerjee with the Oxford Exchange bookstore, YA authors Namina Forna and Kate Williams and YATLLive and I’m going to celebrate this book about tough girls doing hard things. I’m going to drink champagne and laugh (in a comfortable bra, let’s be honest) and enjoy the moment.

This year, more than any other in my life, has challenged me emotionally, mentally, and probably physically. But I’m overjoyed that this year has also given me a BRAND. NEW. NOVEL. and I’m going to go ahead and get excited about it.

Join me!

Register for my book launch here!

Photo credit:  Valdemaras D.  on  Unsplash

Did you know you can help your favorite author out A LOT by a few simple clicks of your mouse or taps on your screen? It also doesn’t require a dime, which is SPECTACULAR if you’re on ye olde budgetary restrictions.

If you have a library card, you can request that the libraries in your county carry Warmaidens, or any other book you want to read. It’s true!!

First, you’ll need to get a library card if you don’t already have one. Not sure if you do? Call up your branch and ask. The librarians will be happy to look you up.

Once you have your library card in hand, head to your library’s website. Once you login with your library card, you should find a page where you can put in a request for them to carry new books.

If you’re requesting my YA fantasy, here's the info you might need from me:

Title: WARMAIDENS
Author: Kelly Coon
Genre: YA Fantasy
Publisher: Delacorte Press/Random House
Publication Date: October 20, 2019
Formats: Hardcover, Ebook, Audiobook
ISBN: 978-0-525-64786-7

Since you’re doing me a solid, I’m going to do you one right back. =) All library requests for WARMAIDENS get some goodies! Enter here to win yours!

Who likes free things? WE ALL LIKE FREE THINGS! WOoooooOOOoo! Starting Saturday December 14th, twelve days of prizes begins, so enter now so you don’t miss out! 

Each participating author is providing one giveaway prize via their newsletter via the following schedule:

Saturday December 14th:  Kelly Anne Blount

Sunday December 15th: Lisa Brown Roberts

Monday December 16th: Jus Accardo

Tuesday December 17th: Cookie O’Gorman

Wednesday December 18th: Lori Langdon

Thursday December 19th: Katy Upperman

Friday December 20th: Beth Revis

Saturday December 21st: Kelly Coon (moi)

Sunday December 22nd: Apryl Baker

Monday December 23rd: Chris Cannon

Tuesday December 24th: Ciara Knight

Wednesday December 25th: Lynn Rush

Want our prizes? Click the link below to subscribe!

In addition to daily prizes from the authors participating, there are THREE Amazon gift cards up for grabs!

Start earning entries NOW by heading to the link below. And be sure to keep checking the link as we’ll randomly add more opportunities to earn extra entries toward the Amazon cards. The more you participate, the more chances you have to win! Bonus? You’ll meet some amazing authors along the way and, undoubtedly, you’ll find more books to add to your TBR lists.

The rules:

Contest ends Wednesday December 25th 11:59 PM EST.

Newsletter winners will be notified & announced before 12:00 PM EST December 31st.

Newsletter prizes will be mailed within 7-10 business days of winner claiming prize.

Grand Prize winners will be announced & notified by 11:59 PM December 26th.

Grand Prizes will be mailed out to winners within 7-10 business days of when the winners claim their prizes.

Open to people 13 years of age and older.

Void where prohibited.

I know I’m supposed to be a wordsmith, but every word I come up with to describe this past week has been grossly inadequate.

How do you encapsulate a life’s dream culminating in front of your eyes with a whole chorus of family, friends, and strangers cheering you on as you reach it?

IMPOSSIBLE.

What I will say is this: Thank you.

For every single one of you who requested Gravemaidens at your library, ordered the book, recommended it, shared it on one of your social pages, reviewed it, or even just messaged me a congratulations, you had a part in making this past week out of control in all the best possible ways.

I’m humbled. I’m grateful. I’m ridiculously delirious from the lack of sleep.

But most of all, I’m honored that you considered supporting me in the first place and cannot wait for you to read what I have in store for you next.

Here I am, in Sorboni Banerjee’s moth dress with some of the people who attended my launch event!

Alfons Morales - Unsplash

Did you know you can help your favorite author out A LOT by a few simple clicks of your mouse or taps on your screen? It also doesn’t require a dime, which is SPECTACULAR if you’re on ye olde budgetary restrictions.

If you have a library card, you can request that the libraries in your county carry Gravemaidens, or any other book you want to read. It’s true!!

First, you’ll need to get a library card if you don’t already have one. Not sure if you do? Call up your branch and ask. The librarians will be happy to look you up.

Once you have your library card in hand, head to your library’s website. Once you login with your library card, you should find a page where you can put in a request for them to carry new books.

If you’re requesting my YA fantasy, here's the info you might need from me:

Title: GRAVEMAIDENS
Author: Kelly Coon
Genre: YA Fantasy
Publisher: Delacorte Press/Random House
Publication Date: October 29, 2019
Formats: Hardback, Ebook, Audiobook
ISBN: 978-0-525-64782-9

Since you’re doing me a solid, I’m going to do you one right back. =) All library requests for GRAVEMAIDENS get some goodies! You can claim yours, here!

Today, I’m thrilled to share with you a new series I’m starting called #GRLPWR. It’s a blog series that will feature strong women making a difference (both in the past and in their communities today), paired with a YA novel with a similar vibe.

I’m ECSTATIC to bring you the first match-up!

LET’S DIVE IN TO THE FIERCENESS!

Background: Nupol Kiazolu has plans. BIG PLANS. With a poster on her wall reading “2036,” she has her sights set on being the President of the United States one day.

An activist since she was thirteen years old, where she wore a hoodie to school with the word, “Do I look suspicious?” on it after Trayvon Martin’s murder, she is already flexing her presidential muscles. She is the founder and CEO of Vote 2000 and was the President of the Youth Coalition for Black Lives Matter of Greater New York prior to starting college at Hampton University in Virginia. Last year, she was named a member of Teen Vogue’s 21 Under 21 class of 2018 and has been recognized by Women in the World and DoSomething.Org,

Quote: “You’re never too young to stand up for what’s right! Don’t ever let the phrase ‘you’re too young’ hold you back from anything you set your mind to.”

My Review: DEAR HAITI, LOVE ALAINE is one of those books that will stay with you for a long time. The authors created a witty, believable protagonist going through some rough stuff, but who manages it all with her smarts and sense of humor. The snapshots of Haiti presented me with a visual of this country's landscape and history I'd never seen before. Through texts, letters, tables, graphics, index cards, postcards, emails, recipes, tests, and school book reports (among other media!) I watched history and curses unfold. I highly recommend this to readers everywhere, but to teachers especially who want to share an easy-to-read, history-rich, diverse, #OwnVoices story with their classrooms. WELL DONE!

Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW:"The Moulite sisters' well-conceived debut is an alternately funny and bittersweet story of loss, regret, love, and sacrifice... Seamlessly blending story lines and allusions to Haiti's history and culture, the authors create an indelible, believable character in Alaine-naive, dynamic, and brutally honest-who stretches and grows as her remarkable, affectingly rendered family relationships do." -

Brutal honesty. Sometimes you need to slap someone in the face with the truth, especially when people don’t listen to you. In DEAR HAITI, LOVE ALAINE, Alaine isn’t afraid to dig to the heart of the matter to find out what’s really going on, nor is she afraid to tell the truth even when it isn’t convenient for her. Likewise, Nupol Kiazolu, at just thirteen years old, spoke her truth as loudly as she could then went on to fight for the truth she believed in with everything in her.

You can connect with Nupol Kiazolu on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook!

You can connect with Maika Moulite and Maritza Moulite here!