So you may or may not know that March is Epilepsy Awareness
month! My 16-year old daughter, Cait, has had epilepsy her who life and is a
huge advocate for the disorder (you can follow her on Twitter @sandpapersmiles
or at her blog sandpapersmiles.org).
With some friends she created the Epilepsy Awareness Squad
(follow them on Twitter @easquad and check out their website: easquad.org).
These kids are amazing and totally inspire me. Last month they released their
first short film, Epilepsy: A Definition of Courage (it’s on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmrsrsdjsiA).
One of my characters in Five Corners, Thia, has Epilepsy.
Like my daughter, she suffers from ongoing generalized seizures but in Five
Corners there is no treatment for such a condition. Thia has suffered from the
social stigma that is often associated with Epilepsy. She spends most of her
time with her sisters and in the kitchen at the Inn, where she feels safe.
But Thia’s Epilepsy also comes with a gift. Her seizures often
result in visions that, although are often difficult to decipher, have proven
to save people’s lives.
Thia also has a secret that isn’t related her Epilepsy – at
least she doesn’t think it is. Thia can Dreamwalk. She’s been doing it since
she was six years old. And she’s never met anyone else who can do it. But she
does have a special friend in her Dreamwalks. His name is Teague and he’s a few
years older than her. He found her on her first Dreamwalk, ten years ago, and
even though he’s only a dream friend, he is her best friend. Teague knows
almost everything about Thia. He’s always there for her. Even though she’s
lonely sometimes, all she has to do is go to sleep and find Teague in the
dreamscape. Then she’s not so alone.
No one knows about Thia’s Dreamwalks. At first she kept them
to herself because she wanted to have a small piece of her life that was
private and her own. But as she got older, it just seemed silly to talk about
the life she lived in dreams. She didn’t think her sisters would understand and
she was sure that Kiara would tease her.
When Kiara comes home from her trip and tells Thia that they
have three strangers staying at the Inn, Thia isn’t too concerned. Even when
she meets Weylon, the older man who makes her skin crawl just a bit and
Caedmon, the monster of a man who clearly was once a soldier in the Five
Corners, Thia isn’t too worried. But then she meets the younger brother. And
all at once she has to accept that Teague is real. Not only that he remembers their Dreamwalks. And what was a
private fantasy world, suddenly becomes a reality that Thia isn’t ready to
face.
***
I’m donating 10% of all profits from the sale of Five
Corners to Epilepsy programs for the month of March. And on Purple Day (March
26th) I’ll be donating 50% of my profits!
Five Corners: Book 1 of the Marked Ones is available in the
US through Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/five-corners-cathi-shaw/1117922571?ean=9781939156242
And in Canada through Chapters Indigo: http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/five-corners-the-marked-ones/9781939156242-item.html
You can follow Cathi Shaw on Twitter (@cathishaw), Facebook
(https://www.facebook.com/TheMarkedOnesSeries?ref=hl) , Tumblr: http://themarkedones.tumblr.com/
and GoodReads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7745293.Cathi_Shaw
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