The most common question I get about my post-apocalyptic paranormal romance series the Envy 
Chronicles is…where did you get the idea? J I can understand the confusion—after all, romances are about Happy Ever Afters and hope and the future…but how could one ever find any of that in a dystopian world?
How can anyone believe in true love or a happy ever after when the world is being destroyed around them? People are dying, in pain, kids, dogs, cats being destroyed, buildings in shambles…no thank you!
But then, one day, I was chatting with one of my friends, and she said, “I think you should write a post-apocalyptic romance.”
And I started to think about it. The more I thought, the more fascinated I became with the idea…or, more accurately, the challenge, of writing a romance set in such a dark time.
And I loved the idea of having a world that had all of our knowledge in technology and science, our pop culture and fashion…but without the infrastructure and civilization that we are used to today.
It would be like writing a historical novel (no cell phones, no computers or cars), but with the ability to know everything we do now—and picking and choosing what parts of society and technology we continued to embrace. Fascinating.
But, yet, the problem of dealing with the devastation of the earth and civilization and all these people dying still bothered me. There was no way I was going to write a romance set in an environment that didn’t seem to have a light at the end of the tunnel of catastrophe.
So I decided to start my series fifty years after the horrible events that ruined the world and destroyed the human race. What exactly happened? Was it a group of bad guys whose plans, for once, weren’t foiled? Was it nature? Was it aliens? An asteroid? Global warming? Nuclear war? (You’ll have to read the books to find out, as the mystery is being revealed little by little…)
Once I figured out who and what destroyed the earth, the rest of it fell into place rather quickly.
Then, I started thinking about how to make a strong connection between our world (in June 2010, when all hell broke loose) and the new world (of 2060). I ultimately decided to build the series around a group of guys who somehow “miss” the catastrophe and suddenly find themselves in this strange new world.
They’re called The Awakening Heroes: Elliott, Quent, Simon, Fence, and Wyatt. Each one of them awakens with a changed life, to find that everything they once knew is kaput. Nada.
Not only that, but some of them have even acquired paranormal abilities, including Theo Waxnicki—a guy who actually lived through the Change, and hasn’t aged for fifty years. And of course, they meet sexy, smart, brave women as they try to build a new life in this strange, horrible world.
The fourth book in the series, Night Betrayed hit the shelves last week. The heroine in that book, Selena, 
was inspired by the many stories and anecdotes I’ve heard and read from people who’ve worked with death and the dying. In Night Betrayed, she acts as a sort of hospice doctor because she’s been gifted (or cursed) with the ability to know when someone is going to die.
And when Theo is brought to her, she knows he’s going to die. She can see his death cloud.
But then…something happens that’s never happened before. She brings him back to life…and thus begins their story. He’s a computer geek who’s trying to rebuild the Internet as an underground movement against the Strangers who repress the humans who survived, and Selena has a secret of her own that involves the zombies.
It’s actually a good book to start with if you haven’t read the rest of the series, because it’s only loosely connected with the first three books.
But, if you’re a stickler like me and prefer to read in order…you’re in luck! HarperCollins is offering the first two books in the series at special ebook promo prices for a limited time…
The series is:
Beyond the Night ($1.99 ebook)
Embrace the Night Eternal ($3.99 ebook)
Abandon the Night (regular pricing)
Night Betrayed (regular pricing)
I’d love to take questions and comments, and I’m going to give away one of the first three books to a commenter….so stick around and chat with us for awhile. I suspect many of you are snowed in and haven’t got anywhere else to go, right??
As always, I’d like to thank the Romance Dish ladies for having me here! Such a great group of ladies that I get to see about once a year…and always enjoy it!
Everyone who’s ever watched a James Bond movie, or read a Clive Cussler novel—or any story where the bad guys are instituting a plan to destroy the earth, raise your hand.
The first book, Beyond the Night, is about Dr. Elliott Drake and the woman he meets when she barrels into an abandoned Main Street on a horse to save a group of teen-agers from a zombie attack. She’s brave and smart and a control freak. What’s not to love?
