RELEASE DAY SPECIAL: Sight Unseen
We're pleased to spotlight Sight Unseen, a series of romance novellas -- with a twist! Keep reading to learn more about the book and enter to win an ebook copy of Sight Unseen!
By Sherry Thomas, Meredith Duran, Emma Barry, J.A. Rock, Erin Satie
Published on June 6, 2017
Authors Revealed: September 2017
Published by: Open Ink Press
Purchase: Here or here
Authors Revealed: September 2017
Published by: Open Ink Press
Purchase: Here or here
What stories would you tell if you could? Where would your mind take you, if you let it? Five of the top voices in romance dare you to explore the most distant corners of their imaginations as they test the limits of storytelling and break the boundaries of what even they thought possible, teasing and tormenting you shamelessly as they go.
But there’s a twist—the author of each story is a secret at the time of release. They’re each plumbing the depths of the human heart and mind in ways they’ve never attempted before. Taking you high, bringing you low, until you will be hardpressed to guess who wrote what. Can you tell? Want us to?
Too bad our lips are sealed . . . for now.
**Use hashtag #SUwho to
follow in the fun of guessing which author wrote what!**
About the book, from the introduction:
We all have auto-buy authors, but what is the promise made by the name on the book cover? Is it about voice? About a certain type of story? About how reading it will make you feel?
If we took that name away, would you even still recognize it?
That question is where Sight Unseen began: gather five authors, publish an anthology in which each novella is anonymous, and see if readers can correctly connect the stories with the authors.
The concept didn’t stop there because once you remove the name from the story, it’s free in a way other writing isn’t. There’s no brand to worry about, no expectations to meet. The writing has to stand by itself.
The project took on a life of its own, becoming an experiment wrapped in a puzzle. It offered a space to play for authors and a game for readers, but it raises questions for all of us about how brand and marketing shape books, how we read, and what we think we like.
Because it would be maddening to never learn who wrote what, Sight Unseen comes with an end date. Three months after release, the authors of the stories collected here will be revealed. But in the meantime, we offer five intriguingly different stories. Each is unsigned, but also smart, sexy, offbeat, and most importantly, surprising.
Want to know more about the concept? Here's each of the authors talking about their experiences.
Emma Barry, author: Almost immediately, writers get pigeonholed by their
subgenre. That choice affects what you write, how you sell it, who you query,
your website design, what pen name you pick, and basically everything else you
do. Writing anonymously snipped those strings. This project got to exist
totally outside of my work in a way nothing has since my debut.
Meredith Duran, author: As a reader, I’ve sometimes felt jarred when my favorite
novelists switched genres (or even subgenres). It seems to me that a genre
novelist, in particular, enters into a subtle contract with her readers: they
await her next book with expectations formed by the last one she wrote. But the
key feature of this anthology is the unlikeliness of a particular set of
authors writing stories totally outside their accustomed areas of focus. So,
the anthology felt like a chance to experiment without violating the trust that
undergirds that unspoken contract between readership and writer. (So I hope!)
Erin Satie, author: In retrospect, I signed on for exactly the wrong reason.
I was thinking about how much fun it would be to read the novellas completely
blind and guess at the authors. By writing one of the stories I made that
impossible but it's still the coolest, funnest idea for an anthology project
that I've ever heard.
Sherry Thomas, author: I was so happy when Judith asked me to be a part of her
anthology--finally, a deadline so I can finish an intriguing story. I'm doubly
delighted because this is also the first time I've written a straight-up
romance in about two years. Love writing romance!
Still curious? Here's some more details about each of the stories:
Lost That Feeling
Alma
knew who she was, once—that is, before she erased her memory with a spell.
Some, like the guards at the prison in which she’s held, say that she was a
thief, a murderer.
Others
say she was a hero. Like Driss, the man who rescues her. He claims to be a
friend. He's certainly handsome. And charming. And brave. In a word: perfect.
That's
the problem. If he's perfect and she's a hero, how did she end up in prison
with a seven-year hole in her memory to begin with?
A Clear View of You
As a child,
Kate had one dream: to escape her mother’s deluded hippie commune and live in
the real world, where mature adults know that magic isn’t real. But the real
world also has its downsides—like rent, student loans, and a cutthroat job
market.
Happily,
Kate is uniquely qualified for one in-demand position: psychic. Of course,
she’s as fake as the rest of them, but nobody plays a fortune-teller as
convincingly as a girl raised by a would-be witch. If only Kate’s newest client
weren’t so perceptive . . . and attractive. If only crystal balls didn’t have
the habit of lighting up in his presence.
Magic isn’t real, right? Kate is
about to find out otherwise . . .
Free
Brad White would be an ordinary
accountant with an unrequited crush except for two things: he works for a
criminal motorcycle club, and he’s in love with the club president’s daughter.
When she discovers the truth about the family business, Brad has to move beyond
ordinary and put his life on the line to keep her safe.
Wren Masters, unlike everyone else in
her graduating class, chose to stay in Fallow, Montana because, also unlike
everyone else, she loves it. But when she finds out her father’s club is
running drugs, her family and world crumble. She and Brad risk everything to
uncover the truth . . . and begin a scorching affair.
As the conspiracy—and their
feelings—deepen, Brad and Wren must choose between family and justice. And
neither seems to include a future for them.
Chariot of Desire
CJ Crespo, drummer for the once
wildly popular rock band Donjon, has always had a thing for frontman Donny
Times. They spent the seventies getting high together, making music together,
self-destructing together. But her qualms about ruining a creative partnership
with sex kept them from ever hooking up. Now, Donny’s conversion to a bizarre
fringe religion that won’t allow him to engage in—or even sing about—sex,
drugs, or other “sins” threatens to tear Donjon apart.
As the band struggles to embrace a
new decade and a new Donny, CJ must decide where she belongs: by Donny’s side,
even if he can’t ever love her? Or out there making her own music, away from a
man who gives and takes in equal measures?
The Heart is a Universe
On the remote planet of Pax Cara lies
the greatest secret of the universe. Once every generation, the inhabitants
must offer up an exceptional young person—the Chosen One—who sacrifices his or
her own life for the sake of that secret, and the planet itself.
However, Vitalis, the current Chosen
One, is desperate to free herself from the yoke of destiny. An unexpected
invitation to an aristocratic summit seems to be the perfect opportunity for
escape. But almost as soon as she arrives, the most eligible prince in
existence proposes marriage.
Sparks fly, but Vitalis is wary.
Eleian of Terra Illustrata can have any woman he wants. Why has he set his
sight on Vitalis, who, unless she manages to flee, will die in sixteen days? Is
he hiding an ulterior motive, one that could put everything in jeopardy—her
plans, her life, and her heart?
