The Hotel (Series)
by Michael James
GENRE: Urban Fantasy
No one has ever escaped from the Hotel at the End of Time. Until now.
Vain only wants to be left alone, but the Hotel has other plans. Forces will align against her: a group of multi-dimensional felons collectively named The Wyatts; and their leader, Trick, a mild-to-medium psychopath with a fondness for impractical jokes.
The only way forward is to go back. Back to the one place in the world she swore she'd never return.
Back to the Hotel.
The Hotel at the End of Time
Blurb:
Vain is the only person to ever escape from the Hotel at the end of time. On her way out, she took their prized possession: A Padlock that grants immortality.
They will do anything to get it back.
The forces of the Hotel are aligned against her: mundane items turned into weapons; a group of multi-dimensional felons collectively named The Wyatts; and their leader, Trick, a mild-to-medium psychopath with a fondness for impractical jokes.
Everything changes when Vain meets Emma, a timid grad student with impossible and terrifying powers. Together, they are propelled into an adventure that will see them battle the Wyatts, blow up several objects of significant value, and quite by accident, discover a way to stop the Hotel.
Even with Emma, Vain has a lot of problems to deal with.
She’s exhausted from being hunted.
Stopping the Hotel might kill them.
She has a hangnail.
But Vain is resourceful. Vain is clever.
And she always has a plan.
The Well at the Bottom of Everything
Blurb:
Vain thought destroying the Portal to the Hotel at the End of Time would mean freedom for her and Roman, but her happy ever after is coming to an end.
A horrible mistake and a stray bullet force her to infiltrate the Hotel and contend with a new and terrible power: The Well at the Bottom of Everything.
Friendships will be tested. Loyalties will be broken.
The Hotel will have its revenge.
Excerpt:
“Can you unlock the phone?”
“I think so.” She pecked at the phone with her nose.
“Why don’t you have face recognition turned on?”
“I don’t like my phone judging me. I need to put on lipstick before I text? Come on.”
“That’s not how… it doesn’t matter. Is your code one, one, one, one? You need to change that.”
“This is the exact correct time to have that conversation,” she hissed. Her screen flashed with a green text bubble.
“It’s Roman,” she said. “He’s asking where I am.”
“Tell him to bring Emma and come save us. Actually, I don’t care if he comes. We need Emma.”
“Hey, Siri,” Vain whispered at the phone. “Call Roman.”
“Calling: Rome.” Siri’s robotic voice blared from the phone and Vain cringed. She stopped moving and waited for the Wyatts to come beat the crap out of them. Thankfully, they were still arguing and didn’t hear.
“Don’t call Rome. Turn your volume down.”
“Turning down volume,” whispered Siri. Better. Stupid phone robot.
“Call. Roman.” She spoke slowly, so stupid Siri would do better.
“Calling. Row Man’s boating supplies.” Vain hissed at Siri to hang up.
“Text him back,” Mark said, sounding frustrated.
“Siri. Respond to Roman. Wyatts. Come rescue.”
“Texting. Roman. Whites come stew.”
“We’re going to fucking die,” Vain said.
Interview with Michael James
What made you want to become a writer?
When I was a child, I came across a moose. He had large, cup-shaped antlers, and piercing black eyes. Later, I’d come to find out that that was just Gerald, and like every Canadian, I’d see him at least once a week for the rest of my life, but I was too young to understand what I was seeing then. Gerald told me that Hotels were interesting places, and that I should try to learn more about them. Of course, if you’re reading this, and you’re Canadian, you’ll see immediately that Gerald was just trying to get me to steal some scrambled eggs from a continental breakfast and give them to him (that sneaky bastard), but I really took it to heart, and I grew into a writer.
What inspired you to write The Hotel (Series)?
As I described in the previous section, it was a chance encounter with Gerald that inspired the Hotel series. The decision to name the sequel, “The Well at the Bottom of Everything,” actually came from a lapse in grammar. It comes from an old saying, “When you’ve hit rock bottom, there’s good at the bottom of everything,” but some people mix up “well” and “good.” I’m not one of those people, but I liked the idea of there being a physical well at the bottom of everything, because it goes deeper than rock bottom. Maybe the well has something useful like water. Maybe the well has something like...well, I’m not going to give any spoilers for the book, but I can promise that it has a well in it, and it’s good. Well and good. What more could you ask for in a book?
Can you tell us a little bit about the characters in The Hotel (Series)?
I can! Unlike many other books, my characters are the source of the action and conflict in the Hotel series. Sometimes they are funny, sometimes they are tired, usually they are being chased by somebody or breaking into somewhere and stealing something. There are batteries and conduits, and other things that if I explained further, would make the book sound either like a physics textbook, or would give pretty big spoilers.
You know I think we all have a favorite author. Who is your favorite author and why?
What a strange way to word this question! I know you think we all have a favorite author? I guess I think that? I don’t know. Anyway, to answer the question, I’ve been told that my book is similar to Douglas Adams, which always makes me a little sad, because I was hoping people would say my book was like Terry Pratchett. I love Douglas Adams, of course, but Terry Pratchett was otherworldly.
Can you tell us a little bit about your next books or what you have planned for the future?
It’s hard to give too much information about next books since they’re not written yet, but as to my plans for the future, I will try to convince Gerald to read my Hotel series. I think that if I give him enough scrambled eggs, I can teach him how to read while he’s eating. I think he’ll really like my books, but as we say in Canada, “It’s easier to drown a walleye than it is to teach a moose to read!”
What did you enjoy most about writing this book?
Writing a book has this weird cycle where you alternate between loving your book and your ideas, and being convinced that everything you write is literal trash. What I enjoyed most was the times I loved my book. I think you’ll love it too, but please, don’t spend as much time reading it as I did writing it, or you’ll start going through phases, too.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Michael James spent his formative years writing, and when he wasn't writing, he was writing. A mistaken belief that a "real" job would be more satisfying led him down a dark path that did not involve writing but did involve meetings. Fortunately, he has since course-corrected and is back on the right (write? Ha!) path. The Hotel at the End of Time is not his first book, but it is the one with the most Hotels in it.
He lives in Canada with his family. When he's not writing, he does Canadian things - saying sorry a lot, being polite, talking about the weather, you know how it goes.
Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Instagram ~ Amazon
Buy Links:
The Hotel at the End of Time: Amazon
The Well at the Bottom of Everything: Amazon
2 comments:
The book sound very interesting.
sounds like a fun one
Post a Comment