The cover was designed by Sam Perkins-Harbin of Forge22 Design, and is an evolution of the themes and styles revealed in the cover for Urbantasm, Book 1: The Dying City (http://tinyurl.com/urbantasmamazon).
The Empty Room will be published this May and follows the continuing adventures and struggles of John, his friends, and his family in the struggling auto town of Akawe, Michigan.
John Bridge is only two months into junior high and his previously boring life has already been turned upside-down. His best friend has gone missing, his father has been laid-off from the factory, and John keeps looking over his shoulder for a mysterious adversary: a man with a knife and some perfect blue sunglasses.
As if all this wasn’t bad enough, John must now confront his complicated feelings for a classmate who has helped him out of one scrape after another, although he knows little about who she is and what she wants. What does it mean to want somebody? How can you want them if you don’t understand them? Does anybody understand anyone else, ever? These are hard questions made harder in the struggling city of Akawe, where the factories are closing, the schools are crumbling, and even the streetlights can’t be kept on all night.
John and his friends are only thirteen, but they are fighting for their lives and futures. Will they save Akawe, will they escape, or are they doomed? They might find their answers in an empty room… in a city with ten thousand abandoned houses, there will be plenty to choose from.
Stay tuned for more Book 2 teasers and reveals in the weeks and months to come!