Room Fifty-Eight - Book 5 in a Shared World Anthology

With Room Fifty-Eight about to go live following a period of pre-orders, I wanted to talk a bit about the story, the anthology, and what it's like writing in a shared world antho.

First, though, an apology. It's been a LONG time since I updated this blog. Things in my life exploded a bit, and something had to fall through the cracks. Sadly, this blog is what fell through. I'm back now, and as an Independent, or "Indie," author. Winlock/Permuted and I have parted ways on amicable terms, and I plan to self-publish all my romance works now, starting with this one.

When fellow author Gwynn McNamee approached me about this anthology, I jumped at the opportunity. For one thing, Gwynn is a highly successful Indie romance author, and brought in a cast of similar successful authors. So I got to ride on their coattails. Second, I've always wanted to write a shared world story, and this anthology is completely set at the Last Resort Motel, in the middle-of-nowhere, Nevada. It contains just about every sub-genre of romance, with mine of course being a Supernatural Romance.

The story's also a bit different from most romances, as it is a framed story. The best way to think of a framed story is that it's a story inside another story. Think of The Princess Bride. There's the story of the boy and his grandfather, and the actually story itself. In Room Fifty-Eight, the main story is that of Claire, an elderly woman waiting for her husband to celebrate their anniversary. The frame, or the "smaller" story, is that of Maggie Peck, and her hesitant romance with a local biker. The interactions between Claire and Maggie help each one in their romantic journey. I also wrote Claire's portion in present tense, in order to raise the tension. You see, Claire is suffering from a disease, and is on the edge of death for much of the story. The present tense adds to the urgency of her situation. We'll see how that plays out with romance readers, who are used to a different formula.

Room Fifty-Eight goes live at midnight, in both e-book and paperback formats. Here's where you can get it:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Smashwords

And while you're at it, grab copies of the first four books, too!

That's it for now. I promise to keep this up better from here on out!

B.T.