K. M. Shea Holiday Short Stories

Last week we celebrated the 4th of July holiday in the United States so in celebration let's take a look at the holiday themed short stories you can always read for free on my website!

I'm only listing the most obvious choices below, since some of them typically have multiple options (such as the Parent's Night short which could apply to Mother's Day or Father's Day).

(I'm going to sort them by holiday starting with January to try to make this more organized!)

New Year's Eve:

A New Year's Celebration (Court of Midnight and Deception)

Queen Leila's adds a full service coffee/espresso bar to the New Year's Ceremony for the fae of the region. What could possibly go wrong?!?

Valentine's Day:

The Love Potion (Fairy Tale Enchantress)

Find out what Enchantress-in-Training Angelique does when I entire village won't stop asking her for love potions.

April Fool's Day:

A Twisted Tale (standalone)

Joan's first assignment as a member of the Covenant of Saint Catherine nuns doesn't go as planned...

National Pet Day:

Begrudging Silence (Puss in Boots)

Bonus backstory! Why does no one know that Puss can talk in the Wild Swans story when he's already saved the day in the Puss in Boots story? This story reveals his motivation for keeping his genius a secret!

Mother's Day:

A Mother's Responsibility (Snow White)

A cute look at Snow White's relationship with her step-mother, Faina. Plus, Faina's impression of Fritz!

National Best Friend's Day:

The Best Friends Part 1 and 2 (Swan Lake)

A bonus epilogue just for the side characters! Find out what happens to Benno, Misha, and Nadia after the events of the Swan Lake.

Father's Day:

Father's Day Special (King Arthur and Her Knights)

Britt doesn't get a lot of time to interact with Sir Ector in the pages of the King Arthur and Her Knights series but that doesn't mean he isn't important to her!

4th of July:

Fireworks for Wizards (Hall of Blood and Mercy)

Hazel and the House Medeis wizards take over Drake Hall so they can have a truly Epic 4th of July party (without worrying about noise violations)!

Boss's Day:

First Officer (Second Age of Retha)

Some Guildmasters have First Officers who shoulder the duties of leadership. Others have First Officers who are the glue that holds the guild together. But Gared has Alistair.

Halloween:

Trick or Treat (The MBRC series)

Morgan takes over the MBRC so her class can experience Trick or Treating but the she apparently didn't explain it well because her students are all throwing treats at her and their costumes are a bit...off.

Thanksgiving:

Thanksgiving (King Arthur and Her Knights)

Find out what happens when Britt and Merlin count their blessings on a castle walls on cold fall night.

Christmas:

The Christmas Wolf (Pack of Dawn and Destiny)

Follow along as Pip teaches Radcliff and Scarlett all about how the Northern Lakes Pack celebrates Christmas (by making tons of tourist money)!

Scavenger Hunt: Summer Camp for Slayers

For the rest of July I'm hosting a scavenger hunt and the prize is a brand new never-before-seen story about Jade from the Magic on Main Street series!

I wrote this story way back when I was releasing the Magic on Main Street series. It was supposed to be the bonus for the first book, but it got so long on me that I couldn't finish it in time so I had to abandon it and write something else instead. I finally finished it after the series released but I wasn't sure what to do with it, so I've just been sitting on it... until now!

Here's your "Treasure Map" for the Scavenger Hunt:

As you can see on the map I'm breaking the story up into three pieces and releasing them separately:

• July 3rd: the first 1/3 of the story will go out to my Newsletter Champions (you have to signup for my Newsletter BEFORE July 3rd if you want to make sure you get this first part!)

• July 10th: the second 1/3 of the story will be published on my Instagram and Facebook Page

• July 17th: the final 1/3 of the story will be published in Discord and in the Facebook Group

• July 30th: I will publish the full story on my website and via a blog post*

*If you follow along with the scavenger hunt you will get to read 1/3 of the story each week. Or, if you are willing to wait until July 30th you can read the full story at that time.

As you can probably tell from the fact that I am breaking this story up, this story is much longer than my typical short stories and I'm not really sure if I should call it a short story or a novelette!

I know it's hard to tell in the tiny thumbnail of the cover (because YES! this story has it's own dedicated cover!) but Jade has long hair in this story because it takes place before the start of The Lies of Vampires and Slayers. She actually references the events of this story in the Magic on Main Street series and it's the reason why she knows so much about werewolf abilities.

I hope you enjoy this fun Scavenger Hunt Champions and have a great time!

Happy Mother’s Day 2025!

Today (May 14th) is Mother’s Day in the USA, so Happy Mother’s Day, Champions! On behalf of children everywhere: I hope you mothers have a lovely day, thank you for all you do and all the sacrifices you have made, and we love you so much! Also, huge thank you to all the women who have influenced, taught, and loved us even if we aren’t their kid(s)! Mother or mother-figure, the love and support you show others is world changing.

In the spirit of the day, I thought this was a perfect time to remind you Timeless Fairy Tale/Fairy Tale Enchantress Champions about my mother-themed short, “A Mother’s Responsibility” (Click here for the PDF!)

A Mother’s Responsibility is a companion short story to Snow White, the last book in my Timeless Fairy Tale series. It does contain spoilers for the series, so you won’t want to read it if you haven’t read Snow White yet!

Snow White’s relationship with her step mother, Faina, was the driving force behind my retelling of the fairy tale, but it always struck me as slightly unfair that I didn’t actually get to show you Champions much of their relationship due to the events of the story. This little short story was a delight to write because it let you see that just as Snow White deeply adores Faina, Faina is fiercely protective of Snow White.

But the Mother’s day fun doesn’t end there! If you’re a Magiford fan, I have a vaguely mother-themed short story for you, too!

We have “Parents’ Night,” (Click here for the PDF) which is a companion short story to the Court of Midnight and Deception series and it is FULL of spoilers.

If you haven’t read Leila’s books you’ll want to skip this! (It's basically a bonus Epilogue.)

I’ll confess, I love this short mostly because it has some Lord Linus antics, and Linus is one of my favorite Magiford characters to write, but it was also nice to be able to tie up a few lose ends I didn’t get a chance to address in Leila’s series, specifically regarding her relationship with her very adorably midwestern and very supportive mother.