The title of this post is so close to rhyming, but it doesn’t quite get there. I think the only way to finish the job would be to take some poetic liberties on “Romance,” but something sounds wrong about “Rome-ass.” I guess it just feels a little cheeky.

And speaking of British slang, I have more news from the London-based bookseller Flame Tree Publishing! They’ve decided I need to branch out into new genres, presumably because they got sick of reading excerpts from my book on the math of baking: Shephard’s Pi. In an effort to get me to expand my horizons, they’ve bought a story from me that’s not my usual fare: a romantasy.

That’s right–I’m soon going to be a romance author! I’m not sure what exactly this means for me, but I’m really looking forward to finding some well-perfumed fan-mail in my post office box.

Flame Tree’s new line of romantic fantasy anthologies is starting with two volumes: Love & Dragons and A Breath of Time. My story, “Rising Mountain, Made of Glass,” will appear in the latter. And when it does, I’ll officially be a romance author! Which is definitely not something I ever thought I’d mark off on my personal Bingo card. But there it is, right next to the squares for “Become a Responsible Adult” and “Make Diet Less Than 75% Candy.” If I can cross those out, I’ll really be on the road to success!

Thanks, as always, to Flame Tree’s editorial team for publishing my stories. My vanity shelf would be much less shiny (and much more empty) without your beautiful books.

-Z

P.S. For those just checking in, I also had some big announcements a few days ago. Check the post below for more info! (Or don’t, if you’d rather not. At zachshephard.com, we respect every reader’s freedom of scrolling.)