My protector is gone, revealed to be a monster. But I remind myself that I am not a damsel. I’m no princess bound within a tower.

I am a shadow.

Vasalie Moran was once a dancer in King Illian’s court – until he framed her for murder. Barely surviving her two years in the dungeons, she’s suddenly called to face her King. He offers her a deal: become his spy at the month-long royal Gathering and he’ll grant her freedom.

As Illian’s orders grow bloody and dangerous, forcing her to harm and betray those around her, Vasalie discovers the monster she serves may be aligned with a bigger monster – one far closer to home. With her world threatened, Vasalie enlists the help of Illian’s brother and greatest adversary, the King of the East.

As the rivalry between brothers escalates with Vasalie caught in the middle, the truth of her past comes to light. If she wants to survive, she must decide who to trust, who to fight for, and how much of her soul she’s willing to damn in the process

A Dance of Lies is out today! You can order your copy HERE

Escapism within Fantasy

by Brittney Arena

I grew up being told that escapism was a bad thing. That running from your troubles or real-life difficulties was a weakness. People preached that divorcing oneself from reality was irresponsible, lazy, and childish. And what genre is more escapist and imaginative than fantasy?

I’m here to challenge that viewpoint—and to help anyone weighed down by it to shed their guilt.

I proudly argue that escapism is one of the healthiest ways to cope through difficult times, to give your brain a rest, and find joy again. As for reading in particular, it’s often within those very pages that we find the strength and will to pick ourselves up again. Beyond that, society touts the idea of treating oneself. How is reading, even if only for pleasure alone, any different?

Besides, what an opportunity it is to be planted in someone else’s shoes, stretch your imagination, and explore the most vivid of worlds.

I’ll never forget the spring of 2016. I was the art director for a large bank, working full time in a corporate office with what I considered my dream job at the time. I had hustled hard to get to where I was. This, I thought, was what I was meant to do. At least, that’s what I told myself over and over while I snuck off to the bathroom multiple times a day to hide how sick I was. Then it got to the point where I could no longer fake it. I didn’t know what was wrong at the time, but my chronic illnesses had flared so badly that I was no longer a functional human being.

I had no choice but to leave my dream career behind. Following that, I could no longer hang out with friends. I was bed bound 80% of the time, the rest spent traveling across multiple states, desperately searching for help and trying failed treatment after failed treatment that left me sicker than before.

I felt like I had nothing and no one, save for my sweet husband who worked full time to keep us afloat. I was lonely, depressed, and I had lost everything I had worked for.

In my darkest hours, I turned to reading, and in a way, it saved my life. It gave me something to look forward to each day, when it was otherwise spent in an IV chair, or in bed. It gave me a window back into the world—or rather, a pathway into a more exciting one where I could live out dashing adventures during a time when I felt much like a corpse.

But fantasy is so much more than exploring worlds, I quickly found. It’s a way to quite literally step into someone else’s shoes in a setting that challenges one’s views in the most extraordinary of ways. Reading diversely is such a gift, as is experiencing someone else’s truth within a high-stakes plot. Sure, fantasy might not be reality, but it can mirror one’s beliefs and allows an avenue by which we can learn and develop empathy. More so, we can experience someone else’s hard-won triumph and joy, which alone is incredibly inspiring. And that inspiration, at least for me, translated into something tangible that helped me find the drive to fight—for my health, to reclaim my life, and beyond that, to allow myself a voice and tell my own story.

This is something I always struggled with in nonfiction, or even many real-world settings across different forms of media. I spend enough time in our world. The drive to trudge through it, even in fiction, has always a struggle for me. I don’t buy into the lie that we can’t gain just as much from other worlds.

Nor will I entertain the idea of guilty pleasure reading, or that reading for pleasure is somehow wrong. Life is hard enough. Find joy where you can. Claim it boldly! Brain science proves that we are better humans when we’re happy. Depression makes us sick—not just mentally, but physically. Reading is a fantastic tool to combat all that. A 2009 study by the University of Sussex proves that reading can reduce stress by up to 68%, more than listening to music!

So, I would challenge you to be doubly proud of enjoying fantasy, and the escape within. I would remind you that while we have one life, we can experience so much more by reading. I would reinforce that there is much to be gained in stretching your imagination, wrapping it around new worlds (let’s face it, that’s an achievement in itself), and allowing yourself a new adventure whenever you’re ready for it.

A Dance of Lies is out today! You can order your copy HERE

With a background in design, art direction, and marketing, it wasn’t until Arena’s health took a nosedive that she developed a fierce love for reading and writing. This became not only a method of coping, but a way to travel and experience new worlds from home. 

In addition to telling stories, she mentors for Author Mentor Match, and runs an Instagram with over 18,000 followers (@reverieandink) where she discusses all things reading, craft, and illness/disability.