Amnesia: Myth vs. Reality
Have you ever woken up after
having too much to drink the night before, only to realize you have no idea as
to what happened? You might have some vague recollections, some vague outlines,
but the rest is black. Your friends tell funny stories about the way you acted
and you have no choice but to accept them as truth, no matter how preposterous
they sound. After all, why would the people you trust steer you wrong?
Regardless of what happened that night, those memories never trickle back.
In movies, books, and television,
amnesia is often presented differently. A freak accident leaves the main
character without memories, but over time, or with triggers, memories come
creeping back. By the end, they’re whole and full of memories again, the same
person they were before this horrible event.
The brain is a misunderstood
organ. Scientists are still studying to determine its various functions and map
the ramifications of various stimuli. The smallest discrepancy can cause the
brain to malfunction, as it were. Too much alcohol is only one example. A blow
to the head can cause damage, sometimes irreparable, sometimes only temporary.
Psychological trauma can do the same. And what about sleep deprivation? You may
not think of it as amnesia, but overtiredness can lead to a poor or even absent
recollection of the events occurring under that state.
Aside from multiple causes, there
are also multiple kinds of amnesia. You’ve all heard of long term and short
term memories, right? Amnesia works on the same principle. Sometimes only your
short term memories have been affected, but you can remember the far past in
perfect clarity. Sometimes a person with amnesia is unable to make new memories
at all.
This isn’t the case with Eva, the
heroine in my new book Hellish Haven.
In the beginning of the book, she finds herself in the middle of a war zone
with a man claiming to be her husband. She doesn’t remember him or their young
son -- but she can recall working as a nurse in a hospital just fine. She thinks
there’s been some sort of mistake.
Like many who suffer from
amnesia, Eva never regains those memories; she forms new ones instead. Even
some of the memories she makes in the beginning of the book she finds herself
losing due to a reintroduction of the cause of her amnesia.
In my book, an Orwellian
government controls everything and everyone, thanks to a drug they administer
to the public. The immediate effects of this drug include a heightened
susceptibility to suggestion, but long term use results in the elimination of
past memories which don’t coincide with the brainwashing the government
implements. In this way, while Eva is in captivity she is made to forget about
her husband and son. Until she breaks free and washes the drug from her system,
she isn’t able to recall anything at all. But being exposed to this drug for a
day is different than being exposed for several months. After a day, she can
recall some facts, names, or images. Enough to get the picture of her life and
the gaps she’s missing, but not the whole story. The months she spent subject
to this drug prior to the story beginning have wiped and replaced her memories
of being a nurse in the resistance movement. Instead, she is reduced to
believing that her life before the government took power has continued in the
same way. That she works in the same hospital, in the same position, with the
same colleagues. And, for those few months she was under government control,
that was true. The government can only instill new memories by repetition,
after all.
This amnesia-inducing drug plays
a larger role in the book than simply forcing Eva to unwittingly do the
government’s bidding. It is also used to control the perception of other
people. Through other stimuli like the constant propaganda spouting from
televisions without a power-off button, and photo frames which change according
to the whims of the government and are used to monitor citizens, the memory of
a certain person can be completely wiped from the mind of the people who knew
him or her. In this way, a “traitor” to the government can be completely wiped
from history.
I enjoyed playing around with
this horror scenario, simply because the brain is so delicate an organ. It
allowed me to deepen complications and stakes in the book. Certainly, I could
have written your typical girl-meets-boy romance story in the middle of a
dystopian setting, but I wanted to explore the characters later in life. What
if they were already married? How would amnesia of one party affect their
dynamic -- and how far would the spouse be willing to go to fight for her?
Amnesia complicates every second
of Eva’s life, and it will until the day she dies. In the book, she has to
focus on what she wants, not only who she is or was. In my opinion, the battle
makes the inevitable happy-ever-after all the more potent.
What would you do if the person
you loved most suddenly forgot you existed?
Hellish Haven
L.K. Below
Genre: Dystopian Romance
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp.,
Lyrical Press Imprint
Date of Publication: November 17, 2014
ISBN: 9781616506254
ASIN: B00NJ0VL6A
ASIN: B00NJ0VL6A
Number of pages: 72
Word Count: 33,718
Cover Artist: Renee Rocco
Book Description:
Two lives. Two realities. But only one truth.
The Senator reigns all-powerful in a manifested picture-perfect world. No worries. No wars. Only the unspoken threat of oblivion if you step a toe out of line. On the other side of the divide, the rebels face a debilitating war against an invulnerable robotic army. Every day is a struggle to earn back their freedoms. Freedom to feel. Freedom of speech. Freedom of thought.
Sergeant Grant Baker is pivotal to the war effort. But ever since his wife’s abduction, he’s been walking around in as much of a daze as the Senator’s brainwashed citizens. Then Eva reappears—without memories of him or their son. And he’s willing to do anything to keep her. Even if it means jeopardizing the war.
Eva doesn’t know which side to believe. Her predictable life as a single nurse, or the man claiming to be her husband. All she knows is she needs to discover how to end the war, quickly. If she doesn’t choose sides soon, she may lose the man—and the life—she never knew she wanted.
Available at Kensington Books BN Kobo Amazon iTunes
Excerpt
Acting as
vanguard for the injured squad, Grant turned a corner and froze. A hulky man
carried a limp woman over his shoulder.
Grant
automatically reached for his gun. Even if they weren’t yet across the divide,
he couldn’t stand idle as a man accosted a woman. Or worse. He aimed the rifle
at the criminal. “Set her down nice and easy.”
The man froze.
He glanced over one meaty shoulder, his unshaven mouth set in a scowl.
“Set her down,
or I’ll shoot.”
A gold tooth
flashed as the criminal grinned. He hurled the small woman at Grant and dashed
for the slim space between two buildings.
Grant moved
without thinking. His gun clattered to the ground as he lunged forward to catch
the woman before she split her head open on the sidewalk. He grunted as he
caught her with her weight against his bruised forearms. He shot a flickering
glance her way. A riot of brown curls obscured her face. He set her gently on
the ground.
He dashed for
the opening the shady figure had disappeared into, but saw no sight of the man.
The delinquent was long gone.
Ashland panted
as he jogged to Grant’s side. “What happened?”
If Grant never
heard that question again, it would be too soon. He shook his head wearily.
“Mugging, I guess.”
“They still have
those here? I thought the Senator brought an end to violence.” Ashland drew
sarcastic quotes in the air as he spoke.
Grant didn’t
bother to answer. He turned to the woman and where his squad was now gathered.
A horrified private glanced from the woman to Grant and back again. “What do
you want us to do with her…sir?”
If they left
her, the Senator’s people might find her and stick her back in the pen with the
rest of their brainwashed sheep. Then again, that same goon might double back
to continue what he started.
He crossed to
the woman and crouched to lift her into his arms. Her tangled hair fell away
from her face. He nearly dropped her. “Eva?”
Frantically, he
pressed his ear to her chest. Her breathing was shallow, but her heartbeat
steady and strong. He clutched her tighter. He couldn’t believe it.
He’d found his
wife.
About the Author:
L.K. Below wrote Hellish Haven to bring her love of Orwell’s classic 1984 into the modern day…or near future, as it turns out.
She reads as obsessively as she writes and likes to Tweet about both at @LBelowtheauthor.
1 comments:
Thanks for organizing and hosting me, Roxanne. It's been a pleasure. :)
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