For years I couldn’t remember what had happened to me that
night. All I knew was that three hours
of my life were gone, unaccounted for in any way that made sense. The search for those lost hours changed
me. Finding them nearly killed me. Even now, there are times when I lie awake in
the dark heart of night and wish to hell I’d left it all alone.
Except for Ethan. I could
never regret anything about him.
As you all know unless you’ve been on leave
to the Outer Rim, my science fiction suspense novel Unchained Memory releases in less than three weeks (February 24).
The story revolves around Asia Burdette, a
woman tormented by unexplainable memories of an alien world and determined to
find the answer to the defining tragedy of her life. Her only ally in this quest is Ethan Roberts,
a psychiatrist she goes to for help. The secrets they uncover together could
shake the foundation of the world. The
passion they feel for each other, despite all the rules against it, could shake
the foundation of their souls.
That’s a pretty heavy burden to place on
Asia’s slim shoulders. She doesn’t carry the story entirely on her own—Ethan
helps with some of the heavy lifting—but it is Asia’s distinctive smoky
Southern twang that is heard first and most prominently in the book. She came
to me first, and in first person.
(Ethan’s side of the story is told in third person.) So what kind of person is Asia?
Unchained
Memory
is set mostly in Tennessee, in and around Nashville, where I grew up. Asia is a Tennessee girl, born and bred, and
when we first meet her, she’s living with her husband and three kids in the
country. She’s educated, though, and smart; only circumstances common to a lot
of young women kept her from getting the university degree in psychology she
was seeking a few years back. Her life at the beginning of her story is not
much different from a lot of women’s:
she stays home with the kids and makes do, though that wasn’t in her
original life plan.
Then something happens to change all of that,
something horrible and inexplicable. Asia loses her home and her family and
drops into a hellhole of self-destruction brought on by grief and guilt. But
the nightmares are even worse, waking her screaming from dreams of a place that
couldn’t possibly exist. She could continue to spiral down, or find a final
solution in death. Instead she seeks out
Dr. Ethan Roberts.
What Asia finds when she begins work with
Ethan would rip apart anyone’s construct of reality, but this woman faces what
can only be the truth with courage and even a sense of relief. Her sessions with Ethan give her an
explanation that makes some kind of sense, even though it is difficult to
reconcile with what she had previously believed about the world. Asia is adaptable and resilient, though, and
adjusts quickly to this new world view.
She needs more of that talent for quick
thinking as the couple’s discoveries make them the target of black ops
kidnappers. The pair end up on the run,
and Asia has to use what her Daddy taught her about guns, as well as the wiles
of a country fox to extricate them from some tight spots.
Being thrown together with the very
attractive Ethan Roberts through all this emotional and physical turmoil makes him very hard to resist. Asia is not one to wait demurely for a man to
make the first move, especially when Ethan seems to have sworn himself to
celibacy due to his strong sense of professional ethics (though it may kill
him). She takes the initiative and breaks through Ethan’s resistance. Their
love,once openly declared and consummated, carries them through the trials
ahead.
So, what kind of gal is Asia Burdette? She’s
brave, smart, adaptable, resilient, resourceful, sexy. She’s a survivor,
someone who’s been to hell and back and lives to tell the tale. What I haven’t
been able to show you is that she’s also funny and kind, a good friend and a loving
mom. She does have a temper, though. She can be impulsive. (Uh, make that very impulsive.) And she’s been known to
say a curse word or two.
The absolute best thing about Asia Burdette? She’s got a helluva story to tell.
Unchained Memory is available NOW for pre-order on Kindle at Amazon.com.
Cheers, Donna.
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