Shattering Truths
Kyrian Lyndon
(Deadly Veils, #1)
Publication date: January 30th 2017
Genres: Suspense, Young Adult
She was left fighting her demons alone . . .
For sixteen-year-old Danielle DeCorso, the old house in Glastonbury was an eerie place to grow up. Coping with mental health challenges exacerbated by a traumatic family dynamic, Danielle watches from the window for two men in a dusty black sedan who keep circling the house and harassing her with phone calls. The two predators drugged her and her cousin, Angie, and then lured them from Pleasure Beach in Bridgeport to a secluded cottage on Long Beach West. She remembers feeling dizzy, the room spinning. She recalls screaming, crying, fighting, and then slipping in and out of consciousness. Angie, however, has no recollection of the incident.
When Danielle attempts to jog Angie’s memory and convince their best friend, Farran, that the two strangers had victimized them, no one seems to believe her. Alone in her pain, Danielle remains guarded, obsessed, and withdrawn. Soon she is sinking deeper into a tumultuous world of adolescent isolation and change. Grief, guilt, and anger send her spiraling into an even darker place.
Tormented by terrifying nightmares, she fears she will lose her sanity, or possibly her soul. Is she having post-traumatic stress hallucinations, as one of her friends suggest, or are her recurring nightmares as real as they seem? Trapped in an unyielding emotional bondage, Danielle continues the fight to reclaim her power. Startling revelations awaken her newfound spirit, inspiring a once naïve girl to grow into a woman of defiance and courage.
Guest Post:
FIRE IN THE SOUL
Interesting conversations with readers give me a lot to
think about, so I like to provide a platform for those conversations.
Someone recently brought up amateur/aspiring v.
professional.
I have known people who create guidelines for when a person
can call himself or herself an author (or even a writer). It's the same with
most artists. Are they amateur and aspiring or professional and experienced?
Many of us have had this burning passion or determination to
do something since childhood. Ideas and urges came, and we responded. We
delivered. I feel we know whether we identify as poets, writers, artists,
musicians before we ever have a book published, show our work in a museum or
get on stage with a band. We may be aspiring to succeed and to master our
crafts, but we are not aspiring to be what we are.
I remember a fifth-grade poetry assignment. The kid behind
me copied my poem. When the teacher (nun) caught him, he told her he copied it
from a book. I imagine he thought he'd get in less trouble for that, I don't
know. Maybe he just wanted me to go down with him. Nevertheless, she believed
him. She asked for the book, and I was so confused that I was trying to find
this book that didn't exist... in my desk. (Nuns raising their voices to me
invoked terror.) Then something strange happened. All these kids began calling
out that this boy was lying because I was a writer, and I had always been a
writer... other ten-year-olds! Amusing as it seems, they touched my heart for a
lifetime. She asked me again if I copied the poem from a book, and I finally
found the courage to say I didn't. She gave me a gold star and displayed it on
the wall for Parent-Teacher Conference Day. I will never forget this; how the
kids knew this thing about me because it was already part of my identity.
As another example, my nephew was drawing since the age of
five. I have never seen anything amateur about his approach, his expression, or
his final product. (As an aside, he's amazing.)
People may tell you things like, well you're not published,
you're not an author, or you're not a writer, even though you have been doing
this thing ever since you can remember.
If there is anything to separate the amateurs from the pros,
for me, it is the desire and willingness to give your best and your all.
Pros focus on mastering their craft. They set goals. It is a
priority in their lives, and they will devote as much time to it as is
possible. They can't "not" do it. They know the passion is the fire
in their soul. It's their heart. They know it's who they are.
Whether we are good or not, that is another story, but we
have control over that, too.
From early on, characterization and dialogue were my
strengths. Description was my weakness. I was not observant. I kept my mind
clouded with other things, the obsessions of the moment. Eventually, I realized
I had to work hard on that area, and I did with much success.
There's no doubt in my mind that we often feel we don't
measure up, as people, as artists. If we believe that, that's when we work to
get better: identify problems, find solutions, expand our knowledge, and hone
our skills. The desire exists for a reason, and learning is perpetual. We can
always do better. That is all a part of mastering.
© Copyright February 7, 2015 by
Kyrian Lyndon at kyrianlyndon.com. All rights reserved. No reproduction
permitted without permission.
Author Bio:
Kyrian Lyndon is the author of Shattering Truths, the first book in her Deadly Veils series. She has also published two poetry collections, A Dark Rose Blooms, and Remnants of Severed Chains. Kyrian began writing short stories and fairy tales when she was just eight years old. In her adolescence, she moved on to poetry. At sixteen, while working as an editor for her high school newspaper, she wrote her first novel, and then completed two more novels at the ages of nineteen and twenty-five.
Born and raised in Woodside, Queens, New York, Kyrian was the middle of three daughters born to immigrants —her father from Campochiaro, Italy; her mother from Havana, Cuba. She has worked primarily in executive-level administrative positions with major New York publishing companies. She resides on Long Island in New York.
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