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Albert Camus

Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.

Monday, December 15, 2014

Death was only the beginning - Life AD 2: M.I.A.: Missing in Atman by Michelle E. Reed

Atman City, beautiful and enticing, is an ever-present temptation that is strictly off limits to underage souls. The promise of adventure proves too strong, and beneath the city’s sheen of ethereal majesty, Dez discovers a world teeming with danger.
Welcome to Life, A.D. where being dead doesn’t mean you’re safe, and the only thing harder than getting out of limbo is getting through it.

Description:
Publication date: December 16th, 2014

Dez is finally hitting her afterlife stride. She hasn’t missed a meeting or session in forty-two days, and she’s put the adventures and danger of her first days at Atman behind her. Life after death is becoming tolerable, yet nothing is quite what she’d hoped. Confusion over her feelings for Charlie, residual resentment over losing Hannah, and a continuous stream of unwanted assignments leave Dez restless and argumentative.

In a missed encounter with Crosby, her prying gaze lands upon a single entry in the datebook on his unoccupied desk. These few, hastily scribbled words reveal an enormous secret he’s keeping from her. Possessed by a painful sense of betrayal, she once again sneaks off to Atman City, determined to find answers to an unresolved piece of her life.

It begins as all their adventures do, but as light falls into darkness, a stop in an unfamiliar neighborhood sets forth a chaotic series of events. Dez will have to fight for her very existence, and will face painful, irreparable loss in an afterlife teeming with demons wielding ancient powers.

In M.I.A.: Missing in Atman, the second book in the Atman City series, Michelle E. Reed continues the story of Dez Donnelly, pushing her to her limits and surprising readers at every twist and turn of the vast world that is Atman.
Death was only the beginning.

GUEST POST
Death was only the beginning - AfterLife in modern, fantasy literature and in Atman 

Thank you for hosting this stop of the M.I.A.: Missing in Atman blog tour! 

The topic of the afterlife has been, and continues to be, extensively covered in fantasy literature. It was my goal (and I hope I succeeded) in the creation of the Atman City series to take a well-covered concept and give it a completely new interpretation. 

Atman Station is first and foremost the crossroads of the universe that all souls pass through on their way to the afterlife. Upon arrival at the station, the majority of travelers are ushered on, but some unlucky souls learn they have been “flagged” in Atman’s system, and do not have a ticket out. It is these souls, unprepared for death, which the series focuses on. 

We see this world through the eyes of Dez Donnelly, a seventeen year old girl from Wisconsin who has just died in a car accident. She arrives at the station and learns she is one of the unlucky ones, flagged and unable to move on. Dez will be trapped in this limbo existence until she learns to let go of the life she left behind and accept her death. 

Atman is a regimented world with strict rules overseen by the staff in the sprawling administration building attached to the station. Underage souls “live” in a dormitory setting in towers near the station, where their day to day afterlife is managed by a floor supervisor. There is a daily schedule that covers activities from the moment they rise in the morning until they return to their rooms at night for DSR—Dream State Reflection. DSR is a nightly reflection where souls enter a sleep-like state and are shown events from their lives that have impacted who they are and why they are here. 

Each soul is assigned a Station Guidance and Assistance representative, an afterlife therapist who assists with the difficult work of letting go. Group and individual sessions are part of the daily routine. 

Transitional adults working on getting their tickets out are housed separately in Atman City, a vast metropolis that is strictly off-limits to underage souls. Adults deemed too dangerous to move on, but not bad enough for eternal damnation are kept in separate sectors of the city, where they for the most part have free run, so long as no transitional souls come to harm. The rules of the city are enforced by the City Guard, and any underage soul caught within its boundaries will find themselves subject to discipline both from the Guard, and their own admin staff. 

Atman is a world full of rules, intrigue and adventure that grows in size and stakes with every page turn. Dez’s story continues in M.I.A.: Missing in Atman, book two of my Atman City series.


About the author:

Michelle was born in a small Midwestern town, to which she has returned to raise her own family. Her imagination and love of literature were fueled by a childhood of late nights, hidden under the covers and reading by flashlight. She is a passionate adoption advocate who lives in Wisconsin with her husband, son, and their yellow lab, Sully.


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2 comments:

collenga said...

This sounds like a very interesting and exciting book and I can't wait to read it! Love the cover, too

Unknown said...

Thank you for hosting ! :)