It’s release day, yaaaay! I really can’t say it enough, Elysium is one of the best stories I’ve ever written, and I am so very in love with this entire project, from the first flash of an idea to the gorgeous cover design. I’ve already shared the blurb, so today I’m posting the official excerpt:
We sat in silence. It was the first time a client had asked me so many personal questions. On one hand, I worried about coming across as unprofessional, but on the other, it felt good to verbalize those thoughts for a change. Putting that aside, April hadn’t come to play psychiatrist with me. I had a job to do.
“Anything else before we get started?” I pushed off the edge of the desk and straightened.
She didn’t get up. “Do you ever go into your own virtual realities?”
“Actually, I don’t.” I ran a finger along the top of one of the screens. “First of all, it needs to be monitored from the outside. I can’t do both at the same time.”
“Got it.” She nodded. “What else?”
A clammy feeling crawled over me. “Nothing.”
“You said ‘first of all.’ That means there must be a second.”
She’d paid attention, I’d give her that. I tried to backtrack. “Forget it.”
Sliding her arm off the chair, she leaned forward, ginger hair spilling over her shoulders. “I want to know what I’m getting into. Tell me.” Face upturned, she stared at me and I struggled to breathe in a normal rhythm. “Please?”
Don’t say it, don’t admit to it, she doesn’t need to know…. Talking to her eased a little of the tension that had been twisting tighter and tighter over time. I ignored the voices telling me not to make a confession, but the words spilled out faster than I’d intended.
“With all the misery and heartache I see in the world, the temptation exists to disappear into a painless fantasy.” The chill spreading through me intensified. “I’m afraid I’d lose myself and never want to come out.”
April blinked her long lashes and straightened in the chair. “That’s one of the reasons I’m anxious about going in there.”
Elysium is available at all major online book retailers. As an additional bonus, I also have a guest post up at the 1Night Stand blog today about why I chose to write in first-person this time around. Stay tuned for news about future guest appearances!