About Room 223

—and who the heck even is Andy...anyway?

Room 223 was built for the kind of storytelling that lingers and narratives that crawl under your skin, sit in the quiet between scenes, and refuse to resolve cleanly. It’s a space for fiction that feels personal, speculative, grounded, and of course a little nostalgic, and never quite what you expect.

At the center of it is Andy LaPlante, a voice rooted in Generation X storytelling and sharply tuned to the subtleties of identity, memory, and longing. His work pulls from a life shaped by the edges of New England—Cape Cod, suburban Massachusetts, northern Connecticut and from years of chasing the stories he couldn’t find on shelves growing up.

His debut novel, I Never Knew I Needed You, reframes the coming-of-age genre through a 1990s lens, as a protagonist is thrust back into the unresolved knots of his youth. It’s not just a time-travel story, it’s a reckoning with who we were, who we are, and the moments we never really escaped.

In Becoming Boone, Andy expands the world introduced in his first book and deepens it through the story of Nathan Boone, an anxious college transfer trying to reinvent himself at Northern Connecticut State. Enter: a charmingly overwhelming roommate, some unresolved ghosts, and a not-quite-magical piece of biotech called MIND. What unfolds is part techno-suspense, part emotional unravelling and a little bit of textbook cheesiness. Classic LaPlante territory.

Andy writes with a fiercely personal lens and a cinematic eye for detail, guided by the belief that fiction should do more than entertain. It should give shape to the quiet moments that often go unnoticed—the contradictions we carry, the memories that refuse to fade, and the parts of ourselves we’ve convinced no one else could possibly understand.

The Huxley Universe is still unfolding. Room 223 is where it lives, and where it grows.

Fresh content, delivered

Room 223 wasn’t built to shout into the void. If you subscribe, you won’t get spam or filler. You’ll get an occasional note when something new is worth sharing. That might be a book, a behind-the-scenes look at how a story came together, a character extra, or something in between that doesn’t quite belong anywhere else but still feels important.

This space is for people who care about story. Not just the surface, but the way it lingers. If that sounds like you, then you’re already part of what this is. Subscribing just means you won’t miss what comes next. And there is quite a bit coming.

Contact

If you want to reach out directly—whether it’s about the books, the site, a question, or something you just feel like saying—you can email Andy at Andy@room223.com.

I'm pretty much tethered to my devices so I'll more than likely respond before you even hit the send button.

And if you’re on Instagram, I’m there too: @andylaplante.

I’m easy to find. Reach out however makes sense.