You would expect me to be a good, conservative, Christian, American girl ;) I am presentable. I am ivy-leagued educated (and even graduated in the same year as artists like Emma Watson and Sofi Tukker). Here’s me giving the Brown University 2014 annual Commencement Speech, ‘Wisdom from Our Traditions.’ I wrote it.
I have worked for 2 of the biggest corporations in the world. I’ve seen the “best” and I’ve been the “best.” I have compartmentalised my sense of self for over a decade to fit in, while slightly standing out. But, if you know me, you can hardly describe me as ‘numb.’ You know I walk to the beat of my own drum - my own curiosity-fueled, justice-leaning, intuitive drum. Can you hear it go, dun dun dun?
But, I often find myself at odds with some. Sometimes, it gets me down. And as a lover of Reddit and Quora, I spend a good bit of time there asking philosophical questions. The answers are usually poignant.
The “best” to me is a community-based world, with little judgement and more honesty, true communion, sharing, self-acceptance, less avoidance and more security by way of open communication and thus the fuel for self and societal actualisation. Yes, a black girl can dream . . .
I dream in my writing. I create realms, portals, and worlds. I wrote and edited ICARUS in 5 years. I joined the infamous 5am club, rising before work to write as much as I could. I’d finish the workday, and continue writing until I needed to sleep. It is a historical fiction book, so I carried research books with me, and interviewed those around me who experienced the Cold War, for insights.
The historical worlds I build are 99% accurate (with an extensive bibliography to show for it), but they feel just as fantastical as the fantasy worlds I build too. And the characters, no matter how short they appear, jump out of the page into your life!
Un-byol, a boy from the Hermit Kingdom, and Liv, a girl from East Berlin while the Wall is up, both yearn for freedom.
A fallen angel named Icarus reveals a portal to both of them. One leads to a vulture-ruled heaven, and the other to an ice-cold, punk-rock underworld. The boy and the girl must get through these places before the actual devil takes the most potent hope away from the boy. By the end of book one, he does take it away from the boy and now has the ability to rewrite history, past, present, and future.
Book Two: Beelzebub, unleashed, rewrites World War II to his advantage. We delve into his rise to power through the eyes of his seemingly unsuspecting wife, Maura. Meanwhile, Un-byol and Liv chase the devil across fractured timelines in a desperate attempt to restore the truth.
Here’s the latest edit of the first chapter of ICARUS - book 1.
Enjoy . . . cue the chilling music.
Part I: Avalanche, Waterfall
Un-byol
Chapter 1
Sometimes I feel as heavy as a wet, wooden barrel floating in the open sea. Maybe it is like being squeezed through the eye of a needle and it is always better on the other side. It is here among the pestilence where the feeling of home is closest to me. We all live to die and die to live again. The beginning is the end, and the end is the beginning again.
They will never let me go.
Slosh. The mud squishes beneath my bare toes and fireflies light the footpath of the runny, filthy, clay-like mud. My head pounds at the thought of getting two hours of sleep and my heart flutters along with the fireflies.
It is at this moment my eyes squint through the shadows and a figure appears.
The figure sways and trips along in the wind. The area below its neck glows like the luminescent fin ray of an anglerfish. Dark matter pulsates and pixelates as the figure draws closer to me.
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