At the hour of your death, a stranger named Thomas Constant visits you. He claims to be the embodiment of time, and he offers you three choices. You can go back and relive any seven hours of your life, before returning to the here and now to die. You can have your life extended from this moment by seven hours. Or you can simply do nothing.
Which one would you pick?
7 Hours, from Tyndale House Publishers, explores this premise with seven authors, including yours truly. Each author weaves their own story, exploring the nature of time, choice, and death. The result is seven e-novellas, each with its own voice, themes, plot, and characters (though Thomas Constant appears in all seven). Myself and my fellow authors have been working hard and building up to this for (what feels like) a very long time, and this week, 7 Hours is finally on sale! Right now, you can nab the 7 Hours ebooks for just $2.99 a piece. (A complete collection is coming later this summer.)
To celebrate the launch of 7 Hours, Tyndale is promoting one novella per week at a discounted price. These sales are ordered the same way, chronologically, that they’re ordered in the collection. So this week only, the first 7 Hours story is on sale for just $1.99. It’s called Rearview, and it’s written by the prolific and talented Mike Dellosso.
(My contribution, The Last Night of Alton Webber, will be the last to go on sale since it’s the last story in the series. But if you just can’t wait, you can get it now at the regular price.)
I know a lot of readers have been waiting for this, and I’m thrilled to announce that bright and early this morning, the printed edition of Corridor went on sale! It’s available now for the low, low price of $7.97. Humongous thanks to my publisher, Stonehouse Ink, for really outdoing themselves with the interior of this book; the chapter headings, scene breaks, and other little touches throughout are just gorgeous.
Order yours now at amzn.to/corridorPRINT. And spread the word! (Swipe the image above and share it on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, your website, t-shirts, bumper stickers, tattoos… Pretty much however you like.)
In each installment of 7 Hours, a character is visited by the enigmatic Thomas Constant, who makes a heart-stopping statement: “You are about to die. But you may choose from one of three options: Live seven more hours, travel back in time and relive seven hours, or accept the inevitable and die now.”
Thomas Constant ventures to a mansion on a remote island, where a powerful criminal empire is gathering to witness the final moments of one of their own and readying their latest dark and dangerous plot.
They weren’t always this way. They were once ordinary people like anyone else. But a lifetime of complicated circumstances and difficult choices slowly molded them into this shadowy organization.
Can their long, complex history be changed by seven hours? The end has come, but this last leg of Thomas’s experiment may be the most challenging task of his remarkable life.
Maybe you noticed that line under the title of my new novel Corridor. If so, you’re probably wondering what it is.
Some have assumed that it’s a subtitle. Or maybe the name of the “Corridor series” or “Corridor trilogy” (even though no one has yet said if there will be further adventures involving the Corridor). Or could it be an imprint of my new publisher?
It’s none of these things. Simply put, MythWorks is a brand name of my own invention. It’s a way of saying, “When you see ‘A MythWorks Novel’ on the cover of a book, this is the kind of experience that awaits you inside.”
People tell me I’m a suspense author. A thriller writer. A “spec fic” novelist (aka, “speculative fiction”). A science fiction and/or fantasy author. Maybe I’m all of those things.
I like to think of myself as a modern myth-maker. Mythologies are the one thing that all of my stories have in common (both past and future), and they’re something that I strongly respond to as a storyteller.
So what do I mean by “mythology”? I’m not talking about an ancient belief system, like Greek mythology, or anything of that sort. I’m speaking in the literary sense of the word, the kind of stories that are built on fictional histories. Huge, epic stories that take place during or after massive-scale historical events.
I love books, movies, TV shows, and even video games that are built on elaborate mythologies, because there’s something about them that speaks to the core of who we are. Our lives are the product of thousands of years of history that happened before we were born, so it’s only natural that fictional stories that are constructed this same way can speak to us in a profound way about who and what we are. (Mythologies are also common to serialized stories, another kind of fiction that I adore.)
My favorite stories are based on mythologies. Lost, Battlestar Galactica, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Myst, The Lord of the Rings, The Matrix. Looking back at all of my books thus far, and my catalog of ideas that I will draw from in the future… They all have mythologies of one kind or another. (Even books like last year’s Vigilante, which is set in the real world with no supernatural elements of any kind, is set in a world with an alternate history of the last ten years or so.)
The whole mythology concept is something I want people to identify with me and my stories. So why do I need a brand?
Well, all professional writers are a brand, whether they try to be or not. For most writers, their name in huge letters on their book cover is their brand. (Many publishers even choose to use the same stylized font when presenting a well-known author’s name.) Or maybe the name of their main character is their brand, such as “A Jack Ryan Novel” or “An Alex Cross Novel.”
I wanted to do something a little more intentional. An original word and brand name to call my own. A guarantee. A promise from me to you.
So there you have it. Whenever you see “MythWorks,” you’re in for a mythic brand of storytelling.
On the eve of his seventeenth birthday, Troy Goggin finds himself inexplicably transported to an impossibly huge, miles-long structure called the Corridor. But what is the Corridor, and why was he brought to it?
It’s a place of mystery, wonder, and heart-stopping danger. It will test him and push him both mentally and physically. His only companion is the girl whose voice he hears inside his head, explaining the rules he must follow if he hopes to escape.
But there is much more to this extraordinary place than Troy could ever imagine. The Corridor’s true purpose — the biggest mystery of all — is revealed only to those who make it to the end.
I can’t believe I can finally tell you about this! I’ve been holding onto this secret for a very long while.
Today I’m super excited to reveal to you a brand new book called 7 Hours, and while I can’t go into specifics just yet, I can tell you that it features seven original stories told by seven novelists: Mike Dellosso, Rene Gutteridge, Veronica Kendig, Tom Pawlik, Travis Thrasher, James Andrew Wilson, and yours truly. This very cutting-edge idea was the brainchild of James Andrew Wilson, and I really believe it’s going to be incredible. Trust me: this one is something special. You don’t want to miss it.
That’s all I can say for now, but stay tuned for updates. Head over to this page for a little teaser, and be sure to like 7 Hours on Facebook for all the latest updates!
Merry Christmas! I’m thrilled to announce that my seventh novel, Corridor, is now available to purchase from Amazon.com in ebook format for just $2.99! Get it now! (Barnes & Noble and iBooks are expected to have it any time now as well.)
If you prefer printed books, I’m told that you’ll be able to order Corridor that way by the end of January. An audio book version is also in the works (my first!).
How you can help:
Buy the ebook. It’s only $2.99 — that’s less than a cup of Starbucks!
Spread word-of-mouth. Tell your friends, families, and strangers on the street!
Post links on your social network of choice (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) to the Corridor page at Amazon.com. Here’s a shortlink that goes straight to it: http://amzn.to/RPcorridor
Write a review of Corridor. Post it on Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, iBooks, Goodreads, and/or Shelfari. PLEASE DON’T POST SPOILERS in your review.
It’s time to enter the Corridor. Are you ready for a whole new ride?
At the hour of your death, a stranger named Thomas Constant visits you. He claims to be the embodiment of time, and he offers you three choices. You can go back and relive any seven hours of your life, before returning to the here and now to die. You can have your life extended from this moment by seven hours. Or you can simply do nothing.
WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH THE TIME YOU HAVE LEFT?
THE ONLY WAY OUT IS TO RUN
robin [at] robinparrish [dot] com