Synopsis
When reality utterly fails you, there is always the comfort of the land of dreams. Chloe Valcourt, a tormented nineteen-year-old young woman, has for twelve years hovered between a daily life dominated by an abusive mother and an imagined alternate world that exists only in her mind’s eye. Can she keep track of which is real—and whether or not she is real, too? Schasm is the mind-bending young adult romance by Shari J. Ryan that mines the heart of darkness, where one young woman seeks light in her own shimmering daydreams.
A psychological condition has captured the body, mind, and soul of Chloe, and thrust her into the hands of probing doctors at the continued mercy of her tyrannical mother. As she struggles to break free of the grim life into which she was born, she continues to suffer the daily assaults from her mother and the dispiriting weakness of her dejected father. When Chloe unexpectedly finds herself drawn into a new, warm life abundant in love and romance with a kindhearted man named Alex, the escape at last gives her a happiness that she's never been allowed to feel. However, when hidden truths reveal a life that she cannot remember, Chloe finds herself lost between what is real and what isn't.
Blending extreme daydreaming, alternating realities, and multiple personalities, Schasm is a gripping tale that treads the thin line between a harrowing reality and the captivating terrain of an imagined world. As Chloe plays too close to the edge of insanity, her multiple realities clash, leaving her to question everything, including her own existence. Anyone who relishes a flight of fancy with richly drawn characters and surprising twists of plot will be immersed in the strange new world of Schasm, where nothing is at it seems.
Excerpt
Scared to confirm my location, I slowly
open my eyes and see a lightbulb wrapped in iron bars hanging from a
large rock above my head. The light is just bright enough to
illuminate a few feet on each side of where I’m lying. Feeling very
vulnerable, I stand up quickly and walk toward the wall closest to
me. I find that it’s cold, damp, and has an odd texture. It almost
feels like this narrow, cave-like room is made up of separate rocks
or boulders.
Walking back toward the hanging light,
I see that there is an adjacent room just a few feet ahead. The cave
is empty, so every footstep I take makes the crackling dirt below my
feet sound amplified.
I cautiously walk into the next room to
see four more hanging lights and that the room is spherical. The
lights are evenly distributed along the walls, and they reveal
something so frightening that I’m not sure whether to run away
screaming or take a closer look. But with no one in sight, I decide
to face my fears and walk closer to this nightmare. Lined perfectly
along the walls, I see thousands of skulls and random bones that
appear to be looking directly at me. Where am I? This is the most
sickening thing I’ve ever seen! Have all these people been killed
here? Is there some kind of monster collecting heads of the deceased
and mounting them on these walls? Why am I here? Is this some kind of
place of punishment?
Becoming more terrified as the seconds
go by, I decide it’s best to keep moving. It’s my only hope of
finding a way out of this repulsive hell. Why couldn’t I just end
up on Alex’s couch? I can only assume that those stupid pills must
have caused this. Searching around the room in hopes of finding
another way out, I see a small hole in the ceiling with a ladder
leaning up against the wall. I jiggle it around to test that it’s
sturdy enough to climb. Thankfully, it’s been ground so deeply into
the dirt that there’s no movement, no matter how hard I try to
shake it.
As I begin to ascend, it's clear that
this hole isn't getting any brighter as I had hoped. However, even
knowing that there may be no light on the other end of this
passageway, I’m still going to continue climbing upward, hoping to
eventually reach some kind of solid ground.
After climbing for a few minutes, I
think I sense that the air has become less humid, and I don’t feel
as constricted. I wave my arm around to verify that are no more rocks
surrounding my head, and I thankfully feel open space. I eagerly
reach up for the next bar on the ladder and find that my hand grasps
nothing but air. I must be at the next location.
Cautiously pulling myself up onto the
higher ground, I instantly notice that I’m still surrounded by
complete darkness. It’s making me feel uneasy about walking
anywhere when I can’t tell if the floor I’m standing on will just
disappear or turn into some type of ledge. Searching in every
direction hoping to see at least a shadow, I come to a halt when I
see a tiny speck of light ahead of me. I guess that’s the direction
I’ll be heading in. I’m not sure if the light is at the end of a
long hallway, a hole, or just my imagination, but at this point I
have no other choice but to see what it is. I can only hope that it’s
a way out.
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Shari J. Ryan
Shari J. Ryan has always dreamt of becoming an author and finally decided it was time to pursue her lifelong aspiration by writing her debut young adult novel, Schasm. She has long nurtured a passion for art, reading, and writing, and those hobbies have become a mental escape from her busy life. In the past year, she has put her heart and soul into the creation of her novel, which has taught her that it is never too late and nothing is too hard. The author graduated with a bachelors of science degree from Johnson & Wales University and has written hundreds of articles for various online publications. She is married with two sons.
Website: http://sharijryan.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sharijryan
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/ShariRyan
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/schasmnovel
Twitter: https://twitter.com/schasm_novel
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