Insanity by Cameron Jace
Publication date: December 20th 2013
Genres: Fantasy, New Adult, Paranormal
Synopsis:
After accidentally killing everyone in her class, Alice Wonder is now a patient in the Radcliffe Lunatic Asylum. No one doubts her insanity. Only a hookah-smoking professor believes otherwise; that he can prove her sanity by decoding Lewis Carroll’s paintings, photographs, and find Wonderland’s real whereabouts. Professor Caterpillar persuades the asylum that Alice can save lives and catch the wonderland monsters now reincarnated in modern day criminals. In order to do so, Alice leads a double life: an Oxford university student by day, a mad girl in an asylum by night. The line between sanity and insanity thins when she meets Jack Diamond, an arrogant college student who believes that nonsense is an actual science.
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EXCERPT:
Excerpt from Chapter 1
The
writing on the wall says it's January 14th. I am not sure what year.
I haven't been sure of many things lately, but I’m wondering if it’s my
handwriting I’m looking at.
There
is an strange key drawn underneath the date. It's carved with a sharp object,
probably a broken mirror. I couldn’t have written this. I'm terrified of
mirrors. They love to call it Catoptrophobia around here.
Unlike
regular patients in the asylum, my room is windowless, stripped down to a
single mattress in the middle, a sink, and bucket for peeing--or puking--when
necessary. The tiles on the floor are black-and-white squares, like a
chessboard. I never step on black. Always white. Again, I'm not sure why.
The
walls are smeared with a greasy pale green everywhere. I wonder if it's the
previous patient's brains spattered all over from shock therapy. In the
Radcliffe Lunatic Asylum, politely known as the Warneford hospital, the doctors
have a sweet spot for shock therapy. They love watching patients with bulging
eyes and shivering limbs begging for relief from the electricity. It makes me
question who is really mad in here.
It's
been a while since I was sent to shock therapy myself. Dr. Tom Truckle, my
supervising physician, said I don't need it anymore, particularly after I
stopped mentioning Wonderland. He told me that I used to talk about it all the
time; a dangerous place I claim I have been whisked away to when my elder
sister lost me at the age of seven.
Truth
is, I don't remember this Wonderland they are talking about. I don't even know
why I am here. My oldest vivid memory is from a week ago. Before that, it's all
a purple haze.
I
have only one friend in this asylum. It's not a doctor or a nurse. And it's not
a human. It doesn't hate, envy, or point a finger at you. My friend is an
orange flower I keep in a pot; a Tiger Lily I can't live without. I keep it
safe next to a small crack in the wall where a single sun ray sneaks through
for only ten minutes a day. It might not be enough light to grow a flower, but
my Tiger Lily is a tough girl.
Each
day, I save half of the water they give me for my flower. As for me, better
thirsty than mad.
My
orange flower is also my personal rain check for my sanity. If I talk to her
and she doesn't reply, I know I am not hallucinating. If it talks back to me,
all kinds of nonsense starts to happen. Insanity prevails. There must be a
reason why I am here. It doesn’t mean I will easily give in to such a fate.
"Alice Germany
Listening
to the rattling of her large keychain, my heart pounds in my chest. The turn of
the key makes me want to swallow. When the door opens, all I can think of is
choking her before she begins to hurt me. Sadly, her neck is too thick for my
nimble hands. I stare at her almost-square figure for a moment. Everything
about her is four sizes too big, all except her feet, which are as small as
mine. My sympathies, little feet.
"Time
for your daily ten-minute break," she approaches me with a straitjacket, a
devilish grin on her face. I never get out. My ward is underground, and I take
my break in another empty ward upstairs, where patients love to play soccer
with a hedgehog’s head.
A
big muscled warden stands behind Watlraud. Thomas Ogier. He is bald, has an
angry-red face and a silver tooth he likes to flash whenever he sees me. His
biceps are the size of my head. I have a hard time believing he has ever been a
4-pound baby.
"Slide
your arms into the jacket," Waltraud demands in her German accent, a
cigarette puckered between her lips. "Slow and easy, Alice
I
comply obediently and stretch out my arms for her to do whatever she wants.
Waltraud twists my right arm slightly and checks the tattoo on my arm. It’s the
only tattoo I have. It’s a handwritten sentence that looks like a thin arm band
from afar. Waltraud feels the need to read it allowed, “’I can't go back to
yesterday because I was a different person then.’” I was told I have written it
myself while still believing in Wonderland. “That Alice
The
tattoo and Waltraud’s mocking is the least of my concerns right now. I let her
tie me, and while she does, I close my eyes. I imagine I am a sixteenth century
princess, some kind of a lucky Cinderella, being squeezed into a corset by my
chain smoking servant in a fairy tale castle above ground, just about to go
meet my Prince Charming. Such imagery always helps me breathe. I once heard
that it was hope that saves the day, not sanity. I need to cool down before I
begin my grand escape.
Q&A:
Q: Is insanity an Alice
A: It’s not quite a retelling of Alice
Q: Why did you call it Insanity?
A: Well,
insanity is the main theme of the book. All what Alice
Q: Is the story told from many point of
views like the Grimm Diaries?
A: Just a few, but most of the story is Alice
Q: The Grimm Diaries was filled with
research, how much did you put in Insanity?
A: I think the research in Insanity is even
greater than the Grimm Diaries. The book is also more action oriented. Alice travels from Oxford , London , Vatican City then
Belgium
Q: The blurb says Alice
A: It’s about Wonderland. The idea is that
all puzzles, action scenes, and even romance have a Lewis Carroll background to
them. The main reason why this book came to my mind is my fascination with both
Alice Alice
Q: You said Insanity is more of a TV pilot.
How so?
A: I did write it as a novel but also as TV
pilot. The reason is that once you get the idea of the book, the possibilities
are infinite, and incredibly amusing. When outlining my plot, I found out it
would take books and books to write it. So I wrote one story with a beginning,
middle, and end. It’s satisfying on its own, but if I succeeded in peaking your
interest you should like to read the next books. The beauty of it is that once
you read one book, each other book will be a story of its own. It’s very much
like a TV series.
Q: Anything you want to add?
A: I wish everyone and awesome Christmas
and a Fantabulous new year :) And
if I messed with you childhood memories of Alice
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AUTHOR BIO:
Wonderlander, Neverlander, Unicorn-chaser, enchanter, musician, survived a coma, & totally awesome. Sometimes I tell stories. Always luv the little monsters I write young adult paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and science fiction mostly. The Grimm Diaries series is a seven book saga that deals with retellings of fairy tales from a young adult POV - it connects most of the fairy tales together and claims to be the truth about fairy tales. I live in San Fransisco and seriously think circles are way cooler than triangles.
Author Links:
Website: http://cameronjace.blogspot.ca/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/camjace
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cameronjace
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