Amanda Hocking

One thing that’s great about the internet is the ability to create bonus content for readers who want to know more, and especially with a world as extensive as in the Kanin Chronicles and the Trylle series, there’s so much more I could go on and on about. (Believe me when I say I spent an insane amount of time developing histories and lineages and back stories that were never even referenced in the books).

For those of you that can’t wait for Ice Kissed or even if you haven’t picked up Frostfire yet, here’s some more content from the Kanin Chronicles.

At WorldofAmandaHocking.com, there’s the a new pronunciation guide that just posted today. I did make a video a little while (which you can watch: here), but this one is written phonetically, and it covers words and names from the entire trilogy. Don’t worry, though – there’s no spoilers for Ice Kissed or Crystal Kingdom. You can read it: here.

I also wrote brief rundown of the five troll tribes from the Kanin Chronicles and Trylle series. In one of the books in the Kanin Chronicles, Bryn is reading from a Tracker Handbook, and in the back, it contains a quick overview of each of the tribes. It’s so that in case a tracker runs into a member of another tribe while out in the human world following changelings, they know a few things about them and how to interact with them.

So I wrote the overview for the series, but it was too lengthy and unnecessary to include in the actual series. But I still think it might interesting to readers who wanted to know more about the tribes and read an excerpt from the Tracker Handbook. You can read about the tribes: here. (There are spoilers for those who haven’t read the Trylle series yet).

Royalty plays an important roles in the series, and I have facts about the current royalty of the five tribes posted at WoAH. You can read about the Kings and Queens: here. (Again, there are spoilers who haven’t read the Trylle series yet).

For a more intimate look at Frostfire, I have posted character info at Wattpad. It gives a good introduction to the major and some of the minor characters in the series. You read more about the characters: here.

Groundhog Day is one of my favorite holidays, in part because I like any holiday that involves that animals being adorable. So I thought that it’d be fun to do a couple giveaways to celebrate Groundhog Day – and by celebrate, I mean “they happen on Groundhog Day” because I don’t really know other ways to celebrate it.

So there are three separate giveaways on Goodreads – one for signed paperbacks of Frostfire, one for signed paperbacks of the special edition 3-in-1 Trylle: The Complete Trilogy, and finally, one for a signed copy of the ARCs of Ice Kissed, which won’t be out until May 5, 2015.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Frostfire

by Amanda Hocking

Giveaway ends February 02, 2015.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Trylle

by Amanda Hocking

Giveaway ends February 02, 2015.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Ice Kissed

by Amanda Hocking

Giveaway ends February 02, 2015.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

I did a signing last night at the Barnes & Noble in the Apache Mall in Rochester, MN. I want to thank everybody who came out. It’s always great to meet people who love the same characters as much as I do (sometimes more), and I hope everyone had fun.

While I was at Barnes & Noble, I signed all of my books they had in stock. So they currently have signed copies of Frostfire, Switched, Torn, Ascend, Wake, Lullaby, Tidal, Elegy, and even Grim (the anthology that includes my short story “The Pink,” as well lots of other great stories by authors like Ellen Hopkins, Julie Kagawa, Claudia Gray, Malinda Lo, Jackson Pearce, Christine Johnson, Jeri Smith Ready, and many more).

If you would like a signed copy of any my traditionally published books (Barnes & Noble doesn’t stock self-pubbed paperbacks like the My Blood Approves series or the Hollows), you can contact the Barnes & Noble in Rochester, MN by calling them. The staff at the B&N (who were fantastic, by the way) told me that they don’t currently have a way for people to order signed books directly from their store, so the best way to do order is either by coming into the store or giving them a call at 507-281-7950.

I’m only doing a few signings for Frostfire, all in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois. (For more info, check out the Calendar at the top of my main page.There should be a couple more dates TBA soon.)

The small book tour is for several reasons – some personal (I just got married and didn’t want to spend the first month as a newlywed on the road), some practical (time away on tours means time away from writing). In the future, with other books, I may do a more extended book tour, but I don’t know anything for sure right now.

For people who would like a signed copy of one of my books but aren’t able to make it the signings, this is the best way to get one at the moment. For those of you that can make it to the signings, I look forward to meeting you 🙂

As many of you may know, many of my main characters share a birthday with one of my best friends, Valerie. I can’t remember exactly when it started or why (other than the fact that I think Valerie is super neat), but it’s something that I’ve started to incorporate in all my books. Like how basketball players sometimes have special socks they wear, or they have rituals they do before each game.

That makes today – January 9th – the birthday of Harper from Watersong, Wendy from the Trylle Trilogy, Remy from the Hollows, Alice from My Blood Approves, and now Bryn from the Kanin Chronicles.

With most of my books, I’ve tried to use a floating timeline – meaning it’s always present day, regardless of when the book was written. So even though today is Harper’s birthday, she hasn’t really aged, because I haven’t grounded her with a birth year.

I started out trying to use that same approach with the Kanin Chronicles, but eventually I realized that since past events effect so much of the present day, and there’s discussions about previous royalty and history that, I felt like I had to ground it in a timeline. In doing so, I had to ground the history of the Trylle in a timeline too.

For perspective, the Trylle series takes place between October 2009-January 2010. (These dates aren’t specifically mentioned in the Trylle series, but the beginning of Frostfire does set the date of the end of Ascend in that time). The Kanin Chronicles, meanwhile, takes place in 2014, aside from the prologue in Frostfire.

That means that unlike many other of my characters, Wendy and Bryn have actual birth dates, with years. Wendy was born January 9, 1992, and Bryn was born January 9, 1995.

Another thing that separates the Kanin Chronicles from some of my other series is that the characters are a bit older. The three main female leads – Bryn Aven, Tilda Moller, and Ember Holmes – are all relatively young. Bryn is nineteen,Tilda is twenty (though I don’t if ever specifically mention her age in the book – I think she’s simply alluded to as being roughly the same age/grade as Bryn), and Ember is sixteen turning seventeen at the outset of Frostfire.

It’s more the supporting cast that’s a bit older than normal, particularly the Kanin King and Queen, Bryn’s love interest Ridley Dresden (27), and her nemesis Konstantin Black (29). The reason I decided to make them a bit older is two-fold.

One, I thought they’re characters needed to be older to have accomplished the things that they have. It wouldn’t be unrealistic for Ridley to be in charge of all the trackers at the age of twenty, or Konstantin to have risen up the ranks of the guard as a teenager. I also thought that given Bryn’s age, experience, and maturity, it would be reasonable and acceptable for her to be attracted to someone several years older than her.

Two, I wanted the book to be a bit more mature than the Trylle series. Not exactly New Adult, but more like a bridge between Young Adult and New Adult (which I know is really splitting hairs at this point). And even though Ridley is a bit older, I still think he’s definitely a young adult – he’s still figuring who he is and what he wants out of life. In fact, even though Bryn is younger than him, she has a better grasp on both those concepts (or at least she thinks she does at the beginning of the series.)

Ultimately, I think the main characters in the Kanin series are figuring out who they are, what matters the most to the them, and what right and wrong mean to them – and how far they’ll go to make things right. And I think that despite their various ages, these are things that most young adults are struggling with (and many older adults too).

The great things about these concepts is that they’re so fluid – who Bryn thinks she is and what matters and even what she thinks right and wrong are on page one of the first book is going to be so much different than what she thinks on the final page of the series.

But that’s all part of growing up. So with that, I want to wish Valerie and Bryn a very happy birthday. 🙂

Frostfire is finally here!!! Some people have found copies of Frostfire in bookstores, but today is the first official day that Frostfire is released into the wild ebook, paperback, hardcover, and audio form. Here’s a just few places where you can order your copy: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and iTunes

For those of you that haven’t heard of Frostfire, here’s the description:

The first book in the new trilogy the Kanin Chronicles is set in the world of the Trylle. Hidden deep in the heart of a snow-covered wilderness lies the secret kingdom of the Kanin—a magical realm as beautiful as it is treacherous… Bryn Aven is an outcast among the Kanin, the most powerful of the troll tribes. Set apart by her heritage and her past, Bryn is a tracker who’s determined to become a respected part of her world. She has just one goal: become a member of the elite guard to protect the royalty. She’s not going to let anything stand in her way, not even a forbidden romance with her commander, Ridley Dresden. But all her plans for the future are put on hold when Konstantin—a fallen hero who she once loved—appears to be up to something dangerous…

Also, fun fact: the second book of the Kanin Chronicles – Ice Kissed – will be in May 2015 and the final book in the trilogy – Crystal Kingdom – will be out August 2015, so there’s hardly any wait time at all between books.

If you’ve already finished Frostfire, or you just want to find out more about the world of the Trylle and the Kanin, here’s some other fun things you can check out:

Read about the characters of Frostfire at Wattpad
Check out the inspiration board for Frostfire at Pinterest
Watch the pronunciation guide and intro video for Frostfire
Find out more tribes and other troll facts at World of Amanda Hocking

For the post few weeks, I’ve been posting teaser quotes from Frostfire, and I thought since today’s the pub day, I would finish the post with a few of my favorites 😉