April 19, 2021
More than Survival Week
Week 16 – More than Survival
Genre: Apocalyptic Romance
Release Date: August 31, 2016
Cover Design: Kate L. Mary
Formats: ebook, audiobook, and paperback – grab the ebook for just $0.99 for a limited time!
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For the past eleven years Lucy’s lived in seclusion with her Uncle Seamus, a prepper who was more than ready for the end of the world. But all of Lucy’s skills are put to the test when Seamus disappears, leaving her to face the harsh winter on her own.
Sawyer went into the mountains to escape his past, and when stumbles upon Lucy in the middle of a blizzard, he doesn’t think he’s ready for the responsibility having another person in his life will bring.
Only, Lucy isn’t as helpless as she first appeared, and as they brave the long winter together, Sawyer will soon come to learn that even at the end of the world, there’s more to life than just survival.
More than Survival was the first of eight zombie apocalypse romance novellas that I dropped, and it was a surprise for readers, but this isn’t the original story. When I first wrote More than Survival, I wrote it under a different name and published it as a steamy romance novel – my family is a big conservative and I didn’t want them to know. I’ve since unpublished the book because I like this version better, but despite what one reviewer said, they were NOT the same. I revised it before publishing it under my name, because the original was more explicit and the main character, Lucy, wasn’t the strong woman I typically add in my books. In the original story, she’s a lot more submissive, and since my books are all about strong female characters, I wanted to change that. Anyway, here’s the cover for the original version.
I can’t even remember where I got the idea for this story, but I do remember writing the original version, which was over thirty-three thousand words, over a weekend. I first published it in January of 2015, which means the original version was out there for more than a year before I revised it and put it out under my own name. In that time, I didn’t do any real marketing. I think I’d planned to write a little more under this name, but it was unrealistic. I have way too many ideas to put out under my own name to add anything else. I only put out one other novella under that pen name, which I’ll get to in a later post, before deciding to chuck the idea. But I didn’t want to just walk away from stories I’d created, so I revised and released it under my own name – while keeping the others out there.
I don’t think the original had zombies in it – I think it was just a virus that killed most of the population – but when I went to revise it, I decided it needed to be part of my Broken World universe. Some readers complained about the lack of zombies in the story, but those are obviously people who’ve never read my books. It’s winter in this story, and if you’re familiar with my Broken World universe, you know my zombies freeze when it gets cold. Which is why they never show up. It’s the only one of my Zombie Apocalypse Love Story Novellas like that, though, so no worries. If you read any of the others you’ll be happy to find lots of zombie action.
I’ve been asked many times over the years if I’m going to write a sequel to this novella, and the answer has always been yes. Now, though, I’m not sure. Yes, Seamus is still missing, but the point of these novellas is to have two people fall in love during the apocalypse, which Sawyer and Lucy already have. What I may do, however, is write a different book with a different couple where we learn the fate of Seamus. We’ll see what happens!
There isn’t much else to say about this book except that I love how strong Lucy is despite being so secluded her whole life, and I love that Sawyer is able to so quickly accept that she’s an independent woman who doesn’t need a knight in shining armor. It’s a quick read, but a fun one, and I’m so glad I decided to revise it!
