Well I did it. After discussing the matter with my editor, I’ve decided my next novel will not be in the suspense genre. The novel in the publication queue was Hostile Takeover, but my editor said it might be a good move to venture outside of suspense and show my talents in another genre. So how does romance sound?

That’s right, I wrote a love story titled Without You. It’s about two performing arts school students — a young man who is a pianist, and a young lady who can sing — who meet and fall in love. That’s all I’ll tell you about the story. If it interests you, then you’ll have to wait until it’s published, probably by next month, and then read it. I will tell you one thing, though, I enjoyed writing the story more than any other I’ve written. So I guess I have a romantic side after all.

I will return to suspense novels and finally release Hostile Takeover, which has been on the sidelines for well over a year. But that’s how the publishing business goes. When your editor says do this, you do it, unless you’re a very successful and popular author and have the clout to say “No”, which I don’t. But when she said that releasing a love story would demonstrate my ability to expand beyond suspense novels and show versatility, I agreed. Mainly because I really, really like the story.

For those of you who don’t know, in my early years I was an artist before turning to theatre arts and becoming an actor. I then went back to school and got a degree in accounting. I was employed by a national accounting firm, received a CPA license, and after many years left to form my own company. My suspense novels are all based on my experiences from the business world. So I enjoyed returning to my artistic roots, even though I branched into an arena that I knew little about: music. But I thought the backdrop of music would be more enduring to readers than a lonely artist or thespian. But who knows, we’ll see.

So if you’re interested, stay tuned and I will announce when the novel is released. If you purchase the book, I hope when you read it, it will hit an emotional spot in you as it did with me when I was writing it.