Angela B. Chrysler

Dolor and Shadow is about Kallan, the Dokkalfar (Dark Elf) princess with magical powers so great she can destroy the gods…and they know this. To hide her from the Fae gods who seek to kill her, Kallan’s family hides her, wipes her memory, and suppress her powers. As Kallan grows up, her powers get stronger until her family can no longer hide her. When the gods move in, Kallan’s father is killed and Kallan's nemesis, King Rune, is framed.
As Kallan is crowned queen, she vows to kill Rune. But the gods have launched a hunt for her head that lands Kallan and Rune in the middle of the mountains in Jotunheim. Kallan's powers are emerging, her memory is returning, and the gods are closing in. To get home and escape the gods, Kallan and Rune must set aside their differences and trek the ancient lands of Midgard back to Alfheim before their kingdoms are torn apart.

Broken is creative non-fiction. This means the events really did happen. The persons involved, names, relationships, locations, and dates have all been altered, distorted, and/or changed to protect identities.

March 2015, I was asked "who am I?" Flashbacks had already started to surface. I was mentally spiraling out of control and had announced that I was moving to Ireland to live as a hermit. I had begun the preparations. Through the chaos, I decided to stop and reflect on my past to find me. Over the next two weeks, I wrote the 98,000 words that would become "Broken." I depict my childhood horrors that resulted in a number of severe psychological disorders. With Broken, I take the reader into the mind of the mentally disturbed. I used the story to answer my questions, find my identity, and evaluate my choices.

Readers are introduced to William D. Shaw, the interviewer, and Elizabeth, a hermit who has shut the world away. Elizabeth grants 24 hours to William. Within that time, she reviews the first 30 years of her life filled with rape, torture, neglect, abuse, and loneliness. Together, William and Elizabeth review the life of someone who is raised without love, family, comfort, therapy, or medication.

Through Elizabeth, I relive my own thirty years of trauma. I show readers the hyperarousal, flashbacks, and disassociation of someone with PTSD. While writing Broken, I reached my awareness and through writing, I show it all. Readers get to witness the road to awareness while it happens through Broken, and it all is based on a true story. My story.