Hello, readers!
I’m thrilled to announce a new series that I’ve just released…
Arctic Academy of Elfery.
{tosses iridescent snowflake confetti}
And there’s so many NEW things to share… about this series, platforms, and formats, so let’s dive in…
Cozy Romantic YA Fantasy
Well, I wanted to write about elves up at the North Pole. Their everyday adventures. Different short-story situations.
Then Arctic Academy of Elfery came to me (as hubs and I lobbed names and ideas back and forth), and away we went. The whole cozy YA fantasy genre picked itself. And what’s the best part of a romance? Especially inside a 2,500-word short story? Well, the meet-cute of course.
Here’s the official series description…
Multiple award-winning author Kat Bastion whips up a delectable cozy young-adult fantasy series, each short story shimmering with a hint of romance, a dash of magic, and sprinkled with mischief…
Welcome to the Arctic Academy of Elfery.
❄️ Sweet & wholesome sixteen-year-old meet-cutes
❄️ Gorgeous world-building: a North Pole like never before
❄️ Ancient Immortal Cadre of six anchor the weekly adventures
YouTube, Author-Narrated, & Audio-First
This series is my first-ever author-narrated audio, which I’ve been wanting to try for a while.
But it’s also the first time anything I’ve created was conceived as audio-first. We wanted to try our hand at DIY author-narration and feature those stories on my first-ever YouTube channel. And violà! Our author-narrated audio and YouTube channel debuted last week!
If you’d like to listen to the first story, Elfery at Blue’s, free on YouTube, you can do so here.
And, by the way, on my same channel Kat Bastion YouTube channel, you can also watch my welcome video. It’s a little stiff at the beginning, cause I’m super nervous. Somehow, I felt like millions of viewers watching me. Lol. But I began to loosen up as the camera rolled, and by the end was laughing.
Substack and Free Written Weekly Stories
(dubbed the AAoE Reading Room)
Because these stories are short (although they’ve gotten a bit longer in the last few), I wanted to offer the written stories free. The goal with that is to have new readers discover my writing and the new series.
In order to make some money on the endeavor, I decided to put the full audio (commercial-free) behind a paywall. So for an $8/month upgrade, or cheaper for an annual membership, audiobook lovers would be able to get the weekly full stories straight to their inbox or RSS/podcast feeds. That’s less than $2 per audio story.
The written stories drop weekly and will always be free, delivered straight to your inbox with a FREE subscription. Here’s the link to my Substack here: Arctic Academy of Elfery on Substack.
And then weekly, every Wednesday, at 5pm ET, you’ll be treated to a new cozy romantic YA fantasy. ❄️
The first story, Elfery at Blue’s is already up. The second story, Unstable Dessert Magic, lands at 5pm ET, November 11th.
ALSO…
Substack has a really cool social aspect. Especially for cozy book lovers. I’ve already connected with a great amount of cozy book-loving folks and the all the feel-good vibes are just incredible. If you’d like to join that kind of cozy corner of the world, please feel free to stop by there and say “Hello!” … I look forward to connecting with you there.
Patreon – A Cozy Space with Lots of Perks
(dubbed the AAoE Studio)
One of the driving reasons for me to explore new platforms is that I miss the social interaction I used to have with fans and readers and lovers of books. On… Twitter. Like 15-years-ago Twitter. Old-school social media before it got ad-driven, billionaire-run, and addictive.
And, I think it was just before the pandemic, I discovered a lovely artist on Kickstarter, who also had a Patreon page. And Patreon and this author won my heart. You mean I can support her art… and be a part of the process? You mean for my choice of monthly support options, I can have access to art extras of my choice? I felt like a kid in a candy store. And I felt honored to be a part of her journey. Sadly, Dina Norlund is no longer with us, taken way too soon. But I still have my connection to her Patreon page.
My ideal space on Patreon is a cozy private space where fans of my writing and fictional worlds get to all hang out together, become part of the process. Whether that’s just to have full access to all the posts and interact with me and others, gain bonus stories and art and comped commercial-free audio, all the way up to being a part of the Arctic Academy of Elfery world with elf-naming and scene-idea brainstorms.
If you’d like to check out my Patreon page, the best place to start is: Start Here! AAoE Studio Tour
Art, Illustration & Cover Design – All by Yours Truly
Gosh, I almost forgot and had to go back in and insert this.
I’m designing all the art for my covers now. Plus… bonus art. And I’m having a blast creating illustrations on Procreate. Got my pretty ice-blue iPad and have dedicated Tuesdays as my art days.
AND THEN… I’m using that art to create the covers. Wednesdays are design days.
So pretty cool to have all the flexibility and control to create, and tweak, and adjust and perfect to my heart’s content.
Kat Bastion Store
We finally have an online store! For now, it features only eBooks and audiobooks.
The format is beautiful. All nine tiles on the Home Page, which mimics the eBooks Page, are gathered by series and labeled by genre, so readers can self-select the types of books they’d be interested in reading… or with AAoE, listening to!
All priced less than standard online retailers, as our thank you for supporting an independent author by buying direct.
Delivered through Bookfunnel to your favorite eReader or audio-listening app.
Check out the new store here: Kat Bastion Store
So there you have it, my friends….
Lots of excitement with the new Arctic Academy of Elfery series. FREE (written stories) over on Substack. Great new private behind-the-scenes fun on my Patreon page. Audio options on YouTube, Substack, and Patreon.
If the idea of cozy romantic YA fantasy interests you, or if you’re a fan of my work and just want to hang out and interact, please join me through the links in the above sections to hang out and share all the cozy feel-good vibes.
Until then… Keep warm, and stay cozy.
~ Kat
© 2026 Kat Bastion. All rights reserved.
All the Coolest Places
Website ❄️ Bookstore ❄️ Substack ❄️ Patreon ❄️ YouTube ❄️ BookBub ❄️ Goodreads
