Thursday, January 28, 2016

Swords Of Darkness Is Free Today!


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UPDATE: While the "free for everyone" offer has expired, Swords of Darkness is still free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers!

Do you like free books? Have I got a deal for you!

Swords of Darkness is free today (January 28, 2016) for everybody!

For today only, you can get your fill of stories about swords and the adventures of their owners. And it just so happens that I have a story in this collection called The Sword of Hexworthy Manor. It's about a fourteen-year-old girl named Gwendolyn with a very active imagination. It's her impressive imagination—along with an heirloom sword—that leads her into an interesting, and sometimes humorous, adventure.

Get it today!



Swords of Darkness
    edited by L. C. Mortimer 


Cover image of Swords of Darkness, edited by L. C. Mortimer
Cover image:
Swords of Darkness

The Book:
A sword holds power.
A sword holds promise.
And a sword holds darkness.

L.C. Mortimer's editorial debut features tales of magic and darkness from authors who explore what it truly means to wield the power of a sword. From a courageous young lad who wants to honor his grandfather to an unlikely hero who will face anything to win the heart of the one he loves, these stories will lead you on adventures you won't be able to forget.

My Story - The Sword of Hexworthy Manor:
Gwendolyn is a young girl living with her grandfather and a housekeeper named Mildred in an old manor near Hexworthy, a village in the moors of Dartmoor. As the last direct descendant of the family, he presents her with a sword, the only family heirloom left of any value. With her imagination in overdrive, she goes to play in the old ruins on the estate and finds, quite by accident, the way to a world she never knew existed. But with passage now sealed, can she ever return home?

Available for Kindle on Amazon:
    US Kindle
    UK Kindle



© 2012-2015 K. R. Smith All rights reserved

Sunday, January 24, 2016

If You Don't Hear From Me For A While



...I'll be shoveling.


Image of snow on my stairway - 2016-01-24 - KRS.
Won't be using the basement steps for a while

Yes, I do believe we had a few flurries...


Image of my back yard from doorway - 2016-01-24 - KRS
Such a pretty scene

By the way, any reader is may use these images for free. I'm not sure why you would, but they could help the authorities locate me when I don't show up after a few days. I'll probably still be outside shoveling, singing while I work to my version of a song Hank Snow* recorded many years ago.
There's a salt-splattered snowplow driving somewhere
On a distant street so many miles away
Only those with lawn chairs get to park there**
Where I wished that I could also live someday...
Looks like it'll take me a while to get a handle on things. Pun intended.



* Hank Snow was Canadian, so he would know about snow. Maybe that's how he got his name. The song is "There's A Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere"

**It's a Baltimore thing


© 2012-2015 K. R. Smith All rights reserved

Sunday, January 17, 2016

Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On


Just a reminder: It's okay to leave comments!


Yes, I know I haven't posted anything lately. It's been a rough month with too much to do that is mostly out of my control. I probably wouldn't have posted this (even to shamelessly promote the latest book, Swords of Darkness, in which I have a story, The Sword of Hexworthy Manor) if an unusual event hadn't spurred me to do so.

It seems there has been an earthquake in my end of the country and I'm not particularly pleased about that.

Map with location of magnitude 3.0 earthquake on January 17, 2016
Location of 3.0 magnitude earthquake
January 17, 2016
Source: US Geological Survey

I know what you're thinking. This is supposed to be a blog concerning my writing. What could possibly be important enough about a (relatively) minor earthquake that would merit a blog post and how could this real event have anything to do with fiction? I shall explain.

  1. As stated previously, it's on my side of the country. These sort of disturbances should be kept at least three states to the west unless it is an absolute necessity.
  2. I once lived just a few miles south of this location, and I've hiked all around the area, so it is an area I am both familiar with and have fond memories of.
  3. It's dreadfully near the location of a graveyard described in a story I've written. 

See, this post is about writing after all.

The story is called Neersville. Neersville is a real place, although not much of a place. Not too far from "town" is a small church graveyard which holds the remains of a renegade Confederate soldier named John Mobberly. He wasn't particularly a pleasant sort of fellow, although the young ladies of the area (at that time) thought he was the bee's knees

The point being, having visited the cemetery in question, I can vouch that a certain uneasiness exists whenever I'm there. Even driving by can make a shiver go up my back. In my story, John decides he doesn't like people disturbing his peaceful rest and makes life difficult for a photographer one autumn night.

That's fiction, of course. I've never actually seen a dark horseman awaken from that eldritch burial ground.

Still, I don't want to take any chances with all this shaking going on nearby. Enough with the earthquakes. There's no need to push our luck, is there?


© 2012-2015 K. R. Smith All rights reserved