In
Another Life
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Self Published
Date of Publication: 13th May
2016
ASIN: B01BZ7S9L8
Number of pages: 316
Word Count: 72120
Cover Artist: Carys Jones
Book Description:
Pans Labyrinth meets Once Upon A
Time in this fantasy thriller from Carys Jones
Returning home one weekend Marie
Schneider’s life changes forever when her car collides with a lorry on the
motorway and she is left fighting for her life. Whilst in a coma, Marie awakens
in the fantastical world of Azriel which appears to be right out of the pages
of a Fairy Tale book. Here, Marie learns that she is their long lost Princess
North, and that Azriel is where she truly belongs.
When Marie eventually wakes from
her coma her thoughts of Azriel are still very present in her mind and she
struggles to adjust to her 'normal' life. Everyone around her insists that
Azriel is just a figment of her imagination but as she tries to recover from
her wounds people start approaching her on the street, insisting that Azriel
needs her and that she must return there at once.
Confused, Marie tries to discover
which reality is the right one. Could she truly be a long lost princess from
another world or is she just losing her mind? As the world of Azriel starts to
creep in to her current life it gets harder for her to ignore that perhaps she
really is Azriel's Princess after all...
Excerpt:
Beginnings
The unusually
bitter October wind pulled at loose strands of Marie’s hair as she walked
briskly along the busy pavement. Checking her watch she noticed with a plunging
sensation in her stomach that she was already running five minutes late.
“Damn it,” she
cursed aloud as she tried to increase her walk from brisk to fast. Her high
heeled shoes clipped manically against the floor creating a sharp staccato
soundtrack to her commute.
With as much
speed as the six inches of her stilettos would afford her, Marie descended down
from the pavement and the ominous grey clouds overhead into the underbelly of
the city and the tube railway system.
Despite having
lived in London for almost eighteen months Marie still struggled to accept the
infiltration of her personal space each time she rode the tube to work. People
would push up against her as though she were completely invisible. She’d learnt
to use her bony elbows as a weapon against the more persistent of intruders.
Clutching her handbag tightly to her chest she boarded her train, moving with
the same militant precision as the commuters around her. Everyone seemed to
move with such urgency, as though their very being depended on boarding the
waiting train before them.
As the train
surged in to motion and swept the passengers deeper into the city, Marie dared
to remove one hand from her hand bag to wipe wearily at her eyes, careful not
to smudge the mascara she’d barely had time to apply.
Marie was tired.
The previous night, like all the nights before, the twenty seven year old had
struggled to sleep. She lay awake, anxious, as though she were waiting for
something though she had no idea what.
It took twenty
minutes for Marie’s train to arrive in central London. Not quite long enough to
remove her Kindle and delve in to the latest fantasy novel she was reading. She
thought about the story as she looked forlornly out of the train windows.
Endless miles of nothingness sped by. She missed travelling through the
countryside and looking out and seeing endless fields of luscious, green grass.
Marie Schneider was a city girl by necessity, not choice. She’d grown up
amongst trees and fields not sky scrapers and stop signs.
Every morning as
she stood on the tube she wished the same thing; that she didn’t have to go to
work that day that instead she could stay home and read and get lost in another
world.
“You spend far
too much time with your head in books,” her mother would note with disapproval.
“Reading stories
won’t get you anywhere,” she’d add callously. Marie would just roll her eyes.
Her mother didn’t understand the magic which existed within a great story. She
was too pragmatic, existing only in the moment. But Marie dared to dream
bigger. She always secretly harboured the belief that she was meant for great
things, that her destiny would somehow be wondrous.
Yet as she
stepped off the tube and an overweight man in a suit already covered in sweat
pushed a little too close up against her Marie realised she was hanging on to
her romantic notions of a better life with a very thin thread.
“Excuse you!”
Marie exclaimed as the man peeled himself off her and headed towards the
escalators. He didn’t so much as turn back and offer an apologetic glance.
“Chivalry is so
dead,” Marie muttered to herself as she straightened her blue dress which was
adorned with patterns of white tipped daisies. Checking her watch she realised
she was still running late, so taking the briefest moment to tuck back any
loose strands of hair which had wrangled themselves free of the bun at the nape
of her neck Marie headed out of the tube station, back up to the surface.
Emerging in to
the dim light of an autumn morning Marie squinted slightly, feeling momentarily
as blind as a mole squinting up from the ground. She could scarcely afford even
a second to get her bearings. Her boss, Amanda Pickens loathed tardiness almost
as much as she loathed those who opposed her right to wear real fur.
When Marie
finally pushed her way through the glass doors of the office building where she
worked her cheeks were flushed and a slight spattering of perspiration had
formed upon her forehead.
About
the Author:
When she's not writing, Carys
likes to indulge her inner geek by watching science- fiction films or playing
video games.
She lists John Green, Jodi
Picoult and Virginia Andrews as her favorite authors and draws inspiration for
her own work from anything and everything.
To Carys, there is no greater
feeling then when you lose yourself in a great story and it is that feeling of
ultimate escapism which she tries to bring to her books.
For more information about Carys
please visit www.carys-jones.com
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