Post-Apocalyptic Romance with Susanna Strom

I was happy to have Susanna Strom agree to be our post-apocalyptic author. She is part of an Independent author writing group I belong to and I enjoy helping other authors share their work. Here is her bio:

Susanna loves to read— and write— stories full of complex characters who find love, hope, and connection while navigating through a challenging new world. She writes post-apocalyptic and paranormal romance. An Oregon native, Susanna lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with her husband and two very spoiled cats.

My first Question to Susanna is one that I'm sure most readers wonder about. 

Paty: Why do you write post-apocalyptic romance?

Susanna: I’ve always been attracted to end-of-the-world scenarios. When I was a teenager, I loved Nevil Shute’s On the Beach and Pat Frank’s Alas, Babylon. Stephen King’s The Stand is still a favorite read. I’m fascinated by how people behave during a cataclysmic event. What do people do when their old familiar lives are ripped apart and they have to figure out how to survive in a frightening new reality? Do they hunker down and hide? Reach out to others? Hoard or share resources? Fall under the sway of a charismatic figure who claims to have the answers to what went wrong? There are so many interesting questions to explore.

My life and writing have been enriched by the study of the nine Enneagram personality types. Each type has a core desire and a core fear. I’m a type six. Sixes see the world as a place fraught with danger. We crave security and safety. For sixes, the best way to survive in a dangerous world is to build close relationships with reliable allies. Authors who are sixes often write about characters who find the courage to face their fears and work with friends and family to create a better world. I hadn’t heard of Enneagrams when I wrote the World Fallen series, but my innate sixness is in full display in the books. I write about finding love, hope, and community at the end of the world. You might say my Enneagram type makes me hard-wired to write about post-apocalyptic themes.

Paty: Your World Fallen series deals with the issue of a global virus. Did you write or start this series before or after the COVID epidemic?

Susanna: The World Fallen series was in no way inspired by the Covid virus. The timing was entirely coincidental.

I finished work on Pandemonium—the first book in the series—in the fall of 2019, months before any of us had heard of Covid. I decided to hold off on releasing it until I wrote the second book, Maelstrom. I write slowly and thought it might take some pressure off me if I had two books “in the bank” and ready to go when I started work on the third. I finished writing Maelstrom in March of 2020, just as Covid hit.

In the spring of 2020, I faced a moral dilemma. I’d written two books about a deadly virus sweeping across the world, an imaginary pandemic that would kill 99% of the population. I loved the stories, the characters, and the world I created. Writing them accounted for a solid year of full-time work. But real life events had caught up with the fictional flu pandemic described in my novels. The last thing I wanted to do was to add to the pain or to give even the appearance of callously exploiting a genuine tragedy.

I thought long and hard about how to proceed. My editor reminded me that people opt in to reading a book. There’s no such thing as a captive audience. Anyone who found the subject matter too painful, wouldn’t touch Pandemonium. And other readers might welcome a story where characters struggle with and overcome a dire situation that in some way reflects real life. When faced with a global pandemic, my characters learn to be resilient and find the love, hope, and connection that romance novels promise. After talking to my editor, I decided to move forward with publication.

Paty:  I'm sure readers are glad you did publish these books even though they hit close to home. How did you come about picking the setting for your series?

Susanna: I set the World Fallen series in my own backyard, the Pacific Northwest. I wrote about places I’m familiar with: Portland, Pendleton, Mt. Hood, Boise, Prineville. My husband and I visited the locations mentioned in the books, taking photos and making notes, all with the story in mind. Several of the places we came across—like the old penitentiary in Boise and the Ochoco View Point outside of Prineville—found their way into the books.

Paty: I am familiar with the Ochoco View Point. In book one, Pandemonium, you have a romance between a college student and a bad boy. What made you come up with those particular characters?

Susanna: I love reading motorcycle club romances. When I set out to write my first romance, I was determined that the main male character be a biker, with all of their dangerous, bad boy allure. Ripper is a perfect character for a post-apocalyptic story: strong, tough, competent, and loyal to his chosen people. You’d want someone like Ripper on your side when law and order falls apart.

Kenzie, the heroine in Pandemonium, is a conscientious college student determined to earn a degree, get a good job, and find the security and stability her childhood lacked. The pandemic upends all her plans. She has to discover strength and resilience she didn’t know she possessed. Kenzie and Ripper aren’t an obvious match. I love exploring how two very different people learn to trust each other and build a relationship.

When I was brainstorming this series, I deliberately created a cast of disparate characters, people with so little in common that they’d be unlikely to cross paths or form bonds before the pandemic. My heroes are an outlaw biker, a rodeo star, a spoiled frat boy, an idealistic young doctor, and a rancher. Two of my heroines are college students, one is a tattoo artist, and another is a soldier. They all overcome their differences, create a found family, and work together to rebuild the world.

Paty: This sounds like a great cast of characters! Do you have a favorite recurring character in the World Fallen series?

Susanna: As far as I can tell from reviews and from the readers who’ve reached out to me, Ripper is everybody’s favorite character, including mine. He’s a natural leader, a man of integrity, who will burn down the world to keep his people safe.

Paty: While you stayed true to the Pacific Northwest setting, what other types of settings have you read for apocalyptic romance books?

Susanna: Hmm… Many of the post-apocalyptic romances that I’ve read have characters spending a lot of time on the road, wandering the country in search of resources and a safe haven. My favorite series, Rebecca Zanetti’s Scorpius Syndrome, is set in California.

Paty: You mentioned Rebecca Zanetti as a favorite author of this genre. What are some other post-apocalyptic writers that you like?

Susanna: There are so many! Imogen Keeper, Jessica Gomez, Claire Kent, Kit Rocha, Kylie Scott, HR Savage, Gwendolyn Harper and more.

Paty: Just for fun—Tell us what is your favorite thing to do besides writing and reading, because we know that’s a given.

Susanna: I’m an above-average home cook and I love to bake. Baklava babka is probably the best thing I’ve ever made. The entire loaf tastes like the ooey-gooey center of a decadent cinnamon roll.

Paty: Thank you Susanna for answering my questions and sharing your genre with our readers. If you'd like to learn more about Susanna and her series, you can find that information at: 

https://susannastrom.com/ 

https://www.facebook.com/susannastromauthor/

Facebook Readers Group:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1572291033136914 

https://susannastrom.com/

Pandemonium, book #1 in the World Fallen series:

I knew better than to trust bad boys. But that was before the end of the world…

I was a normal college student when the pandemic hit.

Now, the world I’ve always known is becoming a dystopian nightmare.

Taking refuge with my cousin seemed like a good idea at the time. After all, he’d been prepping for the apocalypse for years.

Nothing could’ve prepared me for his best friend, though.

Ripper Solis, ex-Army Ranger and current motorcycle club enforcer, is not a nice guy. I shouldn’t trust him.

But I do.

Ripper’s everything I ever wanted. Sexy and commanding. Protective.

With law and order breaking down and the viral threat looming over our heads, it’s not long before I need his strength and resourcefulness as much as I need his touch.

But in this dark new world where I’ve already lost so much…can I really afford to lose my heart, too?

Pandemonium, book 1 in the World Fallen series, is a tense, action/adventure romance that’s perfect for readers who love The Last of Us AND spicy love stories with happily ever after endings. Download today and buckle up—it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Buy links for the World Fallen series

All of my books are available both wide and in Kindle Unlimited.

Pandemonium: https://books2read.com/u/bxnRzv

Maelstrom: https://books2read.com/b/mldGlY

Bedlam: https://books2read.com/u/mKRlx5

Cataclysm: https://books2read.com/b/4ERXqz

Requiem: https://books2read.com/b/bo2WG0