Tag Archives: Q&A

GOLD SHIMMER Q&A

GoldShimmerCover150x232Answering a couple of questions about GOLD SHIMMER…

Q: Why does GOLD SHIMMER feel familiar?

A: If you’ve read the previous three books in the IN THE SHADOWS series and you get a sense of déjà vu when you first start reading GOLD SHIMMER…that’s because the first 30 or so pages of GOLD SHIMMER are of the masked party that you read about in MISTER BLACK…only this time you are reading it from Cass’s point of view (and her love story with Calder) versus Talia’s love story with Sebastian. In this part of the book you not only get the beginning of Cass and Calder’s story, but you also get to see things that happened between Sebastian and Talia that you didn’t know in MISTER BLACK (for those die hard Sebastian fans!). Then you move forward in time reading Cass and Calder’s love story throughout the rest of the book. See buy links for GOLD SHIMMER here: iBooks |Amazon | B&N | Kobo |  Amazon.co. uk 

Q: Can I read GOLD SHIMMER without having to read books 1-3 first?

A: Absolutely you can read GOLD SHIMMER without reading books 1-3 first. Though I have a feeling you’re going to want to read Sebastian and Talia’s story after meeting them in GOLD SHIMMER! 🙂 The good news is you can get book 1, MISTER BLACK, for FREE on the on-line retailers. See buy links for MISTER BLACK here:  iBooks | Amazon | Kobo | B&N

Q: You mentioned that GOLD SHIMMER is a novel in the BLACK SHADOW duet, but then you also said it’s part of the IN THE SHADOW series. Can you explain?

A: That’s correct. GOLD SHIMMER is the first book in the BLACK SHADOWS duet featuring Cass and Calder’s love story. There is one more book coming to SteelRushCoverOption5_400x618complete Cass and Calder’s story, STEEL RUSH, which releases Jan 26. The BLACK SHADOWS duet falls within the IN THE SHADOWS series as books 4 and 5 chronologically, but as I said, their story can be read as a stand alone if you wish. The first three books in the IN THE SHADOWS series: MISTER BLACK, SCARLETT RED and BLACKEST RED tells Sebastian and Talia’s love story.

To check out all the books in the IN THE SHADOWS series, here are the buy links to the different retailers. Note: STEEL RUSH is currently available for PREORDER on iBooks.

iBooks | Amazon | B&N | Kobo

BestsellingSeriesInTheShadows2

Answering a couple questions (Q&A)

I posted this on my Facebook page, which is where I’m the most active with my readers if you care to join us…

I wanted to address a couple of questions I’ve seen about DESIRE’s length. Yes, DESIRE is shorter. I stated that up front (on my FB page) when I was about to publish DESIRE. Please keep in mind that most Young Adult (YA) books are 60-80K words. My BKoD books have been long, running from 93-123K. That is VERY RARE in most YA or even NA (New Adult) books. I had no intention of DESIRE being more than a novella length (35K words max) when I first started it. As I’d initially planned it, DESIRE was supposed to be an aside to the main story, since it was going to be more about Nara and her family and Ethan and his family. But the story took on a life of its own, and before I knew it, DESIRE turned out to be almost 65K** and WAY more than an aside story.  I added so much more to the development of Ethan and Nara in DESIRE, things that fundamentally tie back into the main story arc.  **As a FYI, 65K is considered novel length by industry standards.

In a follow up question on the thread, I posted this about book 5.

Here’s the long answer about book 5. I don’t plan to write another honking doorstop book like DESTINY. 128K is too long and becomes unwieldy to edit and dangerous in Microsoft Word, due to instability issues with files larger than 120K. I know, I had it happen with my book A TASTE FOR CONTROL years ago; ATFC’s file data got corrupted and it was a nightmare to fix. I would’ve split DESTINY if I could’ve found a natural place to split it, but I couldn’t, so I left the length.

If book 5 turns out to be 110-120K, I can deal with that length. But if book 5 is going to run over 130K I will consider splitting the book into two parts, and instead of one more book, the last “book” will come out in parts I and II. There’s a lot of story left to tell…so we shall see.  🙂

As for more books…after that. I’ll see how things pan out after this last leg of Ethan and Nara’s journey.

Thank you all for loving ETHAN and NARA, for cheering for them and telling others about their epic journey. I hope you’ll continue on their path with them.
P.T.