Books
Jane Doesn't Save the World
Praise for 'Jane'
What it's about
Jane is sick to death of the voices in her head (especially when they argue about everything from alcohol to the importance of shoes). She’d rather just end it and let her life insurance policy fund her family’s escape from a country torn apart by prejudice and xenophobic laws.
But her plans are hijacked by a ridiculously good-looking alien addicted to Earth sitcoms. Now, she’s on her way to a world where fiction is forbidden, singing pirates roam the suspended sea, and the neurodiverse like her are hunted and imprisoned.
Can she and her voices work together to turn her greatest weakness into her greatest strength—all while outrunning homicidal unicorns and cruel Regulators—so she can save her family and the world . . . or at least her shoes?
Why I wrote it
I’d just started on my own mental health journey, and it occurred to me that a lot of the symptoms of mental illness are a result of suppressed emotion. And a lot of emotion is suppressed because of pressure to adhere to societal standards. But if we were allowed to express ourselves as we needed, could that be the key to mental health?
And then I thought, what if releasing that energy could make us more powerful than we ever dreamed?
So I took that idea and put it on another planet where people already knew how to channel their internal power. And I sent Jane there so she could see it for herself.
The voices came later, after I discovered my own hidden voices and decided to give them shape and sound.
Easter Eggs/Inside Jokes
- The Pirate Captain is heavily based on the Pirate King (Kevin Kline version) from Pirates of Penzance + Firebeard from The Pyrates by George McDonald Fraser
- I hid my sister-in-law's nickname in a Dooklr tag shhhhhh
- 'The Professor' is based on my cat. He's a biter. I have scars just like Ju's.
- Most of the Eorthen names are based on Latin names and the meaning relates to the character. Aidon is short for Aidoneus (Greek) - another name for Hades.