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Bean to Bar Mysteries No.4

AMBER ROYER

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Be Part Of My Story

I love to hear from readers, especially if my stories have touched you in some way.

I also love talking to writers, about craft. And to journalists and bloggers about the writing process and the Chocoverse.

Books

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Grand Openings Can Be Murder

Bean to Bar Mysteries
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70% dark intentions

Bean to Bar Mysteries
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OUT OF TEMPER

Bean to Bar Mysteries
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a shot in the 80% dark

Bean to Bar Mysteries
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A STUDY IN CHOCOLATE

Bean to Bar Mysteries
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SOMETHING BORROWED, SOMETHING 90% DARK

Bean to Bar Mysteries
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Free Chocolate

Chocoverse Book 1
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Pure Chocolate

Chocoverse Book 2
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Fake Chocolate

Chocoverse Book 3
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There Are Herbs in My Chocolate

Cookbook
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Story Like a Journalist

A Workbook for Novelists
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About

Amber Royer

I’m the author of The Chocoverse Science Fiction Series and The Bean to Bar Mysteries. I like to tell stories that involve complex characters caught up in sticky situations larger than themselves, with no easy answers in sight. If you’re looking for flawed romantic leads, danger and adventure, and optimistic multicultural themes, you’re probably in the right place.

Writing Instructor

Over 14 years experience teaching creative writing for both teens and adults. My classes emphasize sound psychological character creation, and will help you ensure that your characters are displaying agency right off the bat, which will ensure that your story has momentum.

Writing Day Workshops
UT Arlington Continuing Education
Teaching and Speaking

High-Octane Author

I write fiction about chocolate, aliens, solving murders, saving the galaxy, falling in love and more. My stories usually have a comedic element that comes across as the hope the characters need to get through the toughest times.

I’m also the author of Story Like a Journalist and co-author of There Are Herbs in My Chocolate.

Complete list of Publications

Blogger Youtuber

I blog about writing craft, and do interviews with other writers and with people I have met who work with chocolate. I love to experiment with food and recipes, and many of these experiments are documented on my Instagram and on my YouTube channel. You’ll also find writing prompts, coffee and chocolate pics, and my newest joint venture: The Office Cacao Project.

Chocoverse Highlighted Reviews

Complete list of Chocoverse Reviews

PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY

On Free Chocolate: “[A] clever debut … darkly comic and sometimes deadly serious.”

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British Fantasy Society

“Humour, drama, action and pathos fill the pages as Bo and Brill adventure across the stars in a fun easy-to-read sequel that keeps your attention from start to finish.”

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B&N Sci-Fi Blog

On Free Chocolate: “This space opera-meets-soap opera debut is, ultimately, a rollicking adventure; a heist story in which chocolate is the greatest prize of all. Yum.”

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Litcast of Doom

On Free Chocolate: ” . . . The prose is excellent – even with the English/Spanish language mix – and the characters charming. This is an excellent book!”

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Bean to Bar Mysteries Highlighted Reviews

Complete list of Bean to Bar Mysteries Reviews

books a plenty

On Grand Openings Can Be Murder: “ Chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate comes together in this solid start to a new cozy series. ”

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forgotten winds

On Grand Openings Can Be Murder: “Grand Openings Can Be Murder by Texas author Amber Royer combines my love of Galveston, chocolate, and the suspense of living through a hurricane.”

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missus gonzo

On Grand Openings Can Be Murder: “It is difficult to put into words why Felicity quickly won my heart. Maybe it is because she is clearly talented, smart, and beautiful, yet is self deprecating and just a wonderfully kind human being.”

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my reading journey

On Grand Openings Can Be Murder: “One of the best new series I’ve read! Amber Royer brings the reader a mystery that keeps you guessing and turning the pages.”

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The Quillery

Question: What has influenced / influences your writing?

Amber: Obviously, there are a ton of books that have influenced me, but can we talk for a minute about old movies? I’m talking black and white classics, where they couldn’t do much in the way of special effects, so it all came down to the acting and the dialogue. Some friends and I were talking about this recently, and I came to the conclusion that some of the stuff I stumbled on as a teenager/twenty-something with access to the classic movie channels helped shape (and perhaps warp) my sense of humor.

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Paul Semel Bog

Question: Where did you get the idea for Pure Chocolate, and how, if at all, did your idea evolve as you wrote this story?

Amber: I was looking at the intersection of science fiction tropes and soap opera tropes. One of the biggest, most over-used soap tropes is the evil twin, second only to the character who dies, but turns out to not really be dead. I mean seriously, if there’s no body, there’s a good chance that character will show up at the most dramatic moment possible. . . . I tried to think what the science fiction equivalent of this would be, and I wound up with a character who, in effect, comes back as his own evil twin. I had to fit that into the Chocoverse, and use it to move the overall narrative forward, knocking down some of the plot-dominos I’d set up in Free Chocolate.

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My Life, My Book, My Escape

Question: DJ: What was your favorite part about writing Pure Chocolate?

Amber: Developing the Krom language and culture. Brill is such a part of it, and Bo has such a hard time understanding it, it colors everything about their relationship. And that relationship is a metaphor for the relationship their respective peoples’ have with the galaxy, so it’s truly important to the book.

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Scribe (Writer’s League of Texas)

Question: What author would you most like to have a drink with, and what’s the first question you would ask them?

Amber: Mark Twain. His travelogues are both hilarious and personal (though no one seems to know — or care — which parts are actually true). I would ask him what it was really like to travel in the late 1800’s and what real events were too weird, sad, or boring to put into the books. I love to travel, too, and I think it would be amazing to take one of his books and go some of the same places to see how the world — and people’s perceptions of it — have changed. I play around a lot with history in my own writing, and in the “Chocoverse” (the universe for the book I have coming out this summer) there is a race of long-lived aliens where individuals alive in my protagonist’s time could have overlapped the later years of Twain’s lifespan.

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We Write The Stories We Need to HealCharacters Are What We RememberYou Have to Love ALL Your CharactersPlot Tests CharacterWrite to Find Joy

— Thoughts on Writing —

photo gallery

Some Recent Projects

Here are some choctastic photo galleries and videos that will take you into the Chocoverse and beyond.

You can find other fun bonuses on these pages:

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