The voices of Jynelle Brown, Prince Bolton, and Carlos Kasse come together for the audiobook production of Blood Ties: A Collection of Three Covenant of Blood Shorts. Your new fave Urban Fantasy X Historical Fiction book.
Blood Ties the Audiobook is a short story collection turned audiobook production that blends urban fantasy with historical fiction.
Anyone can read Blood Ties since it's part of a series of interconnected standalones, which means you can enjoy it without reading the introduction novel. Previous fans of The Covenant of Blood will enjoy these additional stories in their new format; and new fans will be introduced to the Bloodlines Series.
I wrote this book because I wanted to immerse readers into stories that blend urban fantasy with historical fiction, while also introducing characters that are near and dear to me, and will become special to you as well. As a Black woman, I also really wanted to tell stories that featured black, brown, and mixed people. Backing this project means supporting BIPOC individuals since all the voice actors are black, brown, or mixed race.
Funding this project will help me create an audiobook version of Blood Ties: A Collection of Three Covenant of Blood Stories and to continue creating stories in The Bloodlines Series.
So, what is Blood Ties about?
What would you do if you were trapped in someone else's body and forced to watch them live a life from the sidelines? What would you do if you were separated from the love of your life? And, what would you do if you were given an ultimatum to marry a stranger or lose your life's work?
It's not easy living in someone else's head. Abandoning the love of your life, or having your father threaten to destroy a project that's taken you hundreds of years to research. No one knows these things better than Liz, Dmitri, and Angelo.
Voiced by Jynelle Brown, Prince Bolton, and Carlos Kasse, Blood Ties will transport you to a world filled with magic, love, and intrigue.
Whether you're here because you're looking for fun short stories or because you read The Covenant of Blood and wondered why these characters make the choices they make in that book, today is your lucky day! All these questions, and more, will be answered in Blood Ties: A Collection of Three Covenant of Blood Shorts.
If you're still with me, then you must be interested in:
Genre:
Blood Ties: A Collection of Three Covenant of Blood Shortsis exactly what it says in the title—a collection of short stories based on The Covenant of Blood. All three stories are urban fantasy, with the first two crossing into the realm of historical fiction, and the third taking place in more modern times (specifically, 2015). It can best be classified as New Adult, although it is appropriate for those at least sixteen years old.
Audiobook Format:
The Audiobook version is the main purpose of this campaign. I am estimating the audiobook to be 1-2 hours long. It features the amazing voices of Jynelle Brown (confirmed), Prince Bolton (confirmed), and Carlos Kasse (confirmed).The audiobook file will be delivered via BookFunnel and will NOT be DRM'd. In other words, you will own this file and will be able to listen to it on whichever device you choose.
Audiobook Format
Ebook Format:
The Ebookversion of Blood Ties will be available in Epub, Mobi, and PDF and will be delivered via BookFunnel. In other words, you'll be able to read the book on any device.
Print Format:
This print version of Blood Ties is a hardcover with six premium color pagesfeaturing artworkfrom DinixLuna and is printed on 70lb white paper. It comes with a Jacketed Case Laminate on Matte Finish and is 62 pages.
There are plenty of rewards for backing this project, and I can't wait to tell you about them all!
Check it out:
EVERY BACKER WHO PLEDGES $2 OR MORE will receive an exclusive postcard that is either written in the voice of one of the characters or has a message of their choosing. Backers will also have their name read at the end of the audiobook. Yes, you read that right! Be immortalized in this audio production of Blood Ties as one of the many people who helped me make this a reality.
XOXO
Reward Tiers
There are a total of six Reward Tiers. Please remember that this is a general overview. Also, remember that shipping will be calculated at the end of the campaign.
The Dreamer: The Support Tier (Tier 1 for $2):
Your name read at the end of the Blood Ties audiobook and printed in my next publication (currently slated for November 2026, but subject to change.)
The Investigator: Build Your Own Tier (Tier 2 Starting at $5):
Build your own tier using the Add-Ons. This tier automatically includes rewards from the Support Tier. Also receive an exclusive postcard via email for digital backers or via postal mail for physical backers.
The Listener: Audiobook Tier ONLY (Tier 3 for $10):
Rewards from the Dreamer, PLUS the Audiobook.
The Ruler: Digital Art Prints (Tier 4 for $15):
Rewards from the Investigator, PLUS two digital character art prints, the Blood Ties eBook, and the Blood Lies eBook.
The Lover: Audiobook + Digital Rewards (Tier 5 for $25):
Rewards from The Ruler and Listener tiers.
The Explorer: Physical + Digital Rewards (Tier 6 for $50):
Rewards from The Lover Tier, PLUS two physical art prints, and Blood Lies Paperback.
The Conquerer: Physical + Digital Rewards (Tier 7 for $150):
Rewards from The Explorer, PLUS The Covenant of Blood Paperback, a handmade resin bookmark, set of five custom stickers, and a 3D Printed Blood Droplet.
Remember that I will apply shipping costs at the END of the campaign.
Pre-launch Incentive
If you followed my pre-launch page, then you received a sample of the Bloodlines Series Recipe book.
But I have more good news for you: At the end of the campaign, those who back a physical tier of $15 or more will receive the complete, fully-edited version of the book along with their other rewards. In addition, you all get to choose the name of the recipe book, so get ready for some good eating!
Reservation Incentive
If you reserved your pledge before the start of the campaign, you're in luck!
Those who back physical tier and reserved their pledge at $3 will recieve a Set of 3 Oracle Cards at the end of the campaign! I'm working on getting some new art, and am planning to put out a poll asking which set of Oracle Cards backers would like.
If you reserved your space, don't miss out on the opportunity to vote on your reward!
Early Bird Rewards
If you missed out on pre-launch and reservation rewards, don't fret! You can still pledge early to a physical tier and receive an Early Bird Gift!
Backer's who pledge to The Lover tier or higher in the first 48 hours of the campaign will receive a special early bird reward based on the poll sent out before the campaign started. The official early bird reward will be announced the day following launch day. The options from the poll include A Challenge Coin, Custom Stickers, or a Backer Exclusive Bookmark!
Click "Pledge" to claim yours now!
Returning Backer Rewards
If you're a Returning Backer...
AND you pledge to any physical tier, you'll receive a 3D Printed Coffin made to hold knick knacks like dice, notes, pins, etc. Currently, only available on Backerkit!
In the spirit of excitement and fun, the stretch goals will be announced once we hit our funding goal of $1000!
I hope you're as excited to unlock the first stretch goal as I am! For this campaign, I decided to be like my counterparts and show you the stretch rewards up front with hopes that we hit all six of them...but only after we reach the basic funding goal. That said, I do have a secret seventh stretch goal that's just waiting to be revealed. I'm really excited about it because it's something I've been wanting to do for a while. BUT! Let's try to hit these six first.
Sometimes the pledges available on Backerkit seem like they're missing something, which is why Add-Ons exist.
If you want to jump into the world of the Bloodlines Series and read an urban fantasy filled with love, family, and steamy slow-burn romance, OR if you're just looking for a gift for a friend, make sure you check out these *Add-Ons:
*This is not a comprehensive list. More add-ons are available.
Okay, so here's what you've been waiting for. Here's the tea, the best part, what you'll be listening to:
The three stories in this collection are about relationships and how they affect our lives. Specifically, relationships between parents and children, significant others, and individuals who are practically siblings. It's about how those relationships can help or hinder us; how they can be nurturing or destructive; and how they can change overtime.
But, to best explain this, you'll have to:
The short stories in Blood Ties follow Liz, Dmitri, and Angelo. If you're curious about what you're going to get when you pledge, read the descriptions and excerpts below!
"A Tuesday Training in 1593" is about Liz, a woman stuck in someone else’s mind who wants to escape, but can’t because Lizzy (the host in charge of their shared body) doesn’t know she exists. During a training on how to feed as a vampire, Liz and Lizzy’s worlds collide. Can Liz break the communication barrier? And what will happen if she does? Read Blood Ties: A Thought for Lizzy and A Tuesday Training in 1593 to find out.
Excerpt from "A Thought for Lizzy"
Read by Jynelle Brown
There's something to be said about being cursed. Because that's what this is: a curse. Witches gave my family the ability to turn into creatures of destruction.
But, for those of us with a more—how can I put it, ah, yes—volatile natures, we were given the extra special ability to manifest an additional consciousness. It's funny, Lizzy, I am stuck in your subconscious mind while you get to live a full life. I only come out when your mind is too weak to handle what life has thrown at us. I should be the one out there.
Liz is a force to be reckoned with, and plays a dual role in Blood Ties: she is Lizzy's protector. She is fierce and powerful, and she stands up for herself and what she wants. She is bossy, intelligent, and even a bit manipulative at points. But, at the same time, she isn't given much agency in terms of what she can and can't do. Liz just wants to be free to make her own decisions.
Blood Ties explores WHY Liz wants to break free. She's an entire person stuck in the mind of someone else and can't do things for herself. All of her senses are secondary to Lizzy's, sort of like an echo. Liz is a truly amazing person all around, but she's also jaded due to her experiences, and I think this makes for a unique character. But, since you're the reader, you can tell me.
"A Death Day in 1600" is about Dmitri, a twenty-eight-year-old former slave who wants to marry Elizabeth (Lizzy) Bathory-Tepes (also known as Vlad Dracula's daughter) at her birthday party. When Dmitri asks Vlad Dracula for Lizzy's hand in marriage, he says no. This angers Lizzy and she almost kills everyone at the party with her fae abilities. Will Dmitri survive to complete his proposal, or will he perish with everyone else? Read Blood Ties: A Poem to My Love and A Death Day in 1600 to find out.
Excerpt from "A Poem to My Love"
Read by Prince Bolton
A woman of death/A queen of the world, the woman I love/She is the dearest of dears/The sweetest of sweet/The bloodiest of blood/She outshines the moon and the stars/Outruns the fastest creatures/Will outlast me and this dreadful world/I, however, am but a man/Born into poverty, raised to greatness/ Destroyed by those closest to me/Brought up in fire and brimstone/and turned into ashI come from nothing/Will be nothing/Am nothing
Dmitri is a well-rounded male character who had to build himself up from a lowly servant who hailed from North Africa to one of the most powerful humans in existence. His interactions with slave traders, merchants, Lizzy, and Vlad Dracul allowed him to learn many languages as well as societal norms for Europeans. He is the kind of character who wears his heart on his sleeve initially, but there are times when he has to let events run their course to get the outcome he wants, even if it's a detriment to himself. He's also headstrong.
In Blood Ties we see that Dmitri is the type of person who will stand up for what he believes in; but, at the same time, he knows when he needs to sit back and bide his time. Dmitri knew he wouldn't be able to win a fight against the "great" Vlad Dracul, that going against the person who gave him a chance to gain wealth and influence would be suicidal, and that cutting a deal that favored himself was the best chance he had at gaining his true objective. He is a consistent person in that he has a one-track mind. Everything he does is to reach the one goal that he's laser-focused on, and that makes him flawed.
But, who doesn't stan a flawed character?
"Placating a Parent in 2015" is about Angelo, an immortal who wants to die, but can't because his maniacal father, Anton (also known as Ferenc Ndasdy) injected him with Lizzy's blood when he was an infant. When Anton proposes that Angelo marry and impregnate Lizzy, Angelo wants to decline. But Anton always gets what he wants, even if he has to threaten to destroy something precious. Will Angelo cave into his father's whims? Find out by reading Blood Ties: Remembering My Past and Placating a Parent in 2015.
Excerpt from "Remembering My Past"
Read by Carlos Kasse
I was barely even a month in the womb when he injected my mother with a so-called "medicine" that would stop her aches and pains—it didn't. I was one when he tried killing me the first time—which failed. And, when I was five, we went to the lake. I thought it was going to be a fun day in the water—it wasn't. After all, he tried to drown me. I remember being pushed under the water. I thought we were playing a game. But then, Father's cold hands held me under. I tapped his hand to tell him to let me up, but he didn't. I thrashed and kicked, but it was to no avail. He wasn't going to let me up. The water rushed into my lungs. I couldn't breathe. I gasped for air, but I was unable to get any. After a while, I passed out.
Angelo's head is a bit of a dark place due to the abuse and trauma he suffered at the hands of his father when he was a child. He is a complex character because, although his head tends to be filled with dark memories, he also has some really good ones— specifically of his mother. Unfortunately, his mother is only mentioned in passing in this particular story, and only enough for you to understand the background Angelo is coming from. What you DO see in this story though is a man falling in love with a woman for the first time without even knowing it, which is beautiful considering the person who raised him was a complete monster.
Angelo's complex background allows him to be both likable and, to a certain extent, relatable. (I mean, who hasn't had to fake a smile to get through a day or pretend like everything was okay when it wasn't? On the flip side of that, I'm sure many people have also had to use a smile to hide their true nature.) The cool thing about Angelo is that you never really know which side you're going to get.
In Blood Ties Angelo is a wild card. You never know what it is he's going to say or do, and he's usually the type of person to pull a full 180 on you after you think you've figured him out.
For this campaign, I am using Backerkit's Pay Over Time feature! If your pledge is over $149, after you select a pledge and go to Checkout, you'll be given the option to pay 4 equal interest-free monthly installments of your pledge total over the course of 4 months.
If you select Pay Over Time, you acknowledge that:
your rewards will not qualify for shipment until you have paid in full.
any partial payments made are not eligible for a refund.
you will not be able to access the pledge manager survey until after you have paid in full.
Please note, this means that Pay Over Time pledges will not be able to answer their surveys until their payment plan is completed; and, thus, might have a more limited range of options for things like character prints and stickers.
**Remember that shipping is charged after the campaign!**
You should keep in mind that I will apply shipping costs at the END of the campaign.
The Dreamer, The Ruler, and The Lover are digital only tiers, so there are no shipping costs associated with them.
The Investigator tier is a Build Your Own Tier, so shipping costs will vary depending on the Add-Ons you choose.
The Explorer tier is the only tier with physical rewards. I expect the shipping cost will be around $5-$10for residents of the United States. Due to current shipping laws and the changes in the GSPR, I will not be shipping internationally. If you live outside the United States and wish to purchase one of my books, please email me at info@thejsliving.
Since this is my first time producing an audiobook, the timeline for this project will be different from previous timelines. I have a much larger learning curve, so I tried to be generous with the timing. That said, I expect that all orders will be fullfilled between December 2025 and March 2026, just in time for the release of Blood Lies.
Also, there will be several things happening at once for this campaign, so there is some overlap. The main thing being that from now through 30 December I will be in the process of choosing and confirming the last audiobook narrator. The rest of the timeline looks like this:
2025
12 November-3 December: Backerkit Campaign and beginning of audiobook production.
2026
1-15 December: Complete set up and send out Smoke Surveys
1-28 January: Order physical products that need to be shipped out.
1-28 February: Complete ordering of physical products and begin packaging and shipping rewards.
1-30 March Ship any rewards that weren't shipped out in February
1-30 April All rewards distributed and shipped to Backers.
Keep in mind this is a tentative schedule that will continuously update/shift as the project moves forward. For updates on the schedule, refer to the FAQ page.
The funds raised for this project will help me create an audio production of Blood Ties: A Collection of Three Covenant of Blood Stories and to continue creating stories in The Bloodlines Series. One day, I'd like to be a full-time author who can create and tell stories every day from the comfort of any place in the world. And, with your help Bloodlings, I can get there.
Because The Book Bazaar is a celebration of all things indie and small press! We're collaborating to help make each creator's dreams come true with their publishing project. The more you back, the more goodies you earn. Here's how you can earn more:
🌟 Back two paired creators, get their rewards when they fund. Each creator is paired with another project. If you back both, and they reach their funding goal, you'll get exclusive collab rewards from each creator! The more you back to help push them towards their funding goals, the more you'll get when they fund!
🌟 Back ten projects, get an exclusive reward. We're offering an exclusive The Book Bazaar reward to anyone who goes all out and backs ten or more projects.
Aw snap, did I forget to introduce myself? That's okay. Here's your chance to (virtually) meet:
From novels and novellas to comic books and short stories, I write character-driven urban fiction that will excite you with its fresh lore and slow-burn romances.
Hey, hey, Bloodlings!
Once again, it's ya girl J.S. Living, but you can call me by my government name: Jaleesa, because I've got the feeling we'll be REALLY, GOOD friends by the end of this campaign.
To kick off this new-found friendship (or continuing friendship if we've met before!), I would like to tell you a little about myself. So, here it goes:
I'm a published author, and I currently live in Maryland. However, my hometown is in Georgia. That makes me a Georgia Peach, lol. When I'm not at work, I love watching TV shows with supernatural elements—such as Grimm, Lost Girl, and Supernatural—and curling up with my cat while reading books by indie, BIPOC, and women authors. I'm also a huge fan of smart retellings of classic stories that spin outdone cliches and overly used tropes into magic, like Kalynn Bayron's Cinderella is Dead or Kayla Ancrum's Darling.
I've held a plethora of jobs in my life; but, right now, I'm proud to say I'm a Communications Specialist for the Federal Government. I'd tell you all about my degrees (plural), but that might be a bit much; so, instead, I'll tell you this:
If you want to connect with me over cats (and animals in general), anime, reading, learning, and/or food, you can contact me via social media (@thejsliving on ALL platforms), my website (www.thejsliving.com), via email ([email protected]) OR, do me the honors of sending me a good old-fashioned letter in the mail (contact me for the info) because I LOVE that kind of thing!
Anyways, if you've been following me the last few years on socials, or if we met in person, you know I released my debut novel The Covenant of Blood (CoB) in November of 2022. I'm so happy to say the book has been doing well, and I can't thank y'all enough!
The Covenant of Blood
During that time, I also wrote Blood Ties: A Collection of Three Covenant of Blood Shorts (Blood Ties), which my existing readers were able to access via a QR code in the back of the book. Eventually, Blood Ties will be traded with a different freebie, but as I continue to work on that project, life will continue on.
If you're unfamiliar with CoB, Blood Ties will be a great way for you to dip your toes into my corner of the urban fantasy world, and the upcoming audiobook production will be an excellent way to immerse you in the world.
Blood Ties: A Collection of Three Covenant of Blood Shorts
So, whether you're just now hearing about CoB, or have already purchased the first book in the series, you'll want to add Blood Ties to your collection and discover how little decisions can have a ripple effect on the rest of our lives.
That said, I'm super excited about this new project and I hope you'll support me in turning it into an audiobook!
And, of course, I couldn't do this without my AMAZING voice actors:
Jynelle Brown, voice of Liz
Prince Bolton, voice of Dmitri (pending)
Carlos Kasse, voice of Angelo
Last, right before launching this campaign, I created a campaign for the next installment in the Bloodlines Series titled Blood Lies: A Collection of Seven Brotherhood of Blood Shorts. I'm happy to say that it funded! I'm currently in the process of finishing completing first round revisions and beginning reward production! So, if you backed that project, you'll be glad to know I'm right on track. And, also, THANK YOU!
Once Blood Lies and the audiobook production of Blood Ties are complete, my next goal is to fund The Brotherhood of Blood,which is the companion novel to Blood Ties. Surprisingly, the first draft of the book is complete, but due to some plot issues, I had to put it on the back burner. But, with Blood Lies complete, and new insight on the characters, I think the second draft will be a breeze to get through. In any event, keep an eye out for that campaign sometime in 2026.
Also, as you probably know, I'm looking forward to connecting with you all, and I can't wait to get the audio version of Blood Ties! While we wait, though, if you love fantasy as much as I do, check out these Backerkit Campaignsas well:
