The Wishtalker
by C.M. O’Brien
The (a) story follows Anita Abbernathi, a teenager living in a relatively ordinary time and place: Seattle, Washington, near the beginning of the twenty-first century. Haunted by the abandonment of her father, and dealing with the struggles of her well-meaning, yet over-worked and emotionally absent mother, Anita dreams only of escaping her quiet little life and finding adventure somewhere beyond the horizon. However, deep down she knows that she will never find the kind of adventure she truly longs for.
That is, until a mysterious stranger from her past reappears and promises everything she has ever dreamed of—if she helps save his world from a growing, faceless evil. Suddenly whisked away to a fantastic realm where good and evil battle for control and magic is at her fingertips, Anita’s dreams may finally be coming true.
Except, everyone around her is keeping secrets. And despite the promises that were made, she once again finds herself powerless in a world that wants to control her every move. And just to add insult to injury, a shadowy sorcerer known only as the Master now wants her dead.
For some reason, the people of this world need Anita’s power—and the price of adventure may be her life.
The (A) story is about feeling disconnected. Whether that disconnect is caused by loneliness, depression, anxiety—you name it—The Wishtalker explores the idea of disillusioned youth and the seemingly hopeless search for meaning in a dismal existence.
However, the story is also about finding connection. It is about friendship and found family, and sticking together in the face of impossible odds.
Okay, before anyone says anything: yes. I did read my own book. Specifically, I went into it from a reader’s perspective, and not a writer’s / editor’s. And do you want to know what I found? This book is imperfect. It has multiple examples of a writer showing instead of telling; the villains can sometimes get a little mustache-twirly (yes, Trisst, we get it: you’re a bad guy!); and despite how hard the “writer” tried, there were still some parts that seemed too corny for the “reader’s” taste.
Or, maybe I’m being too hard on myself. In the end, I’m going to take a page from Divergent author Veronica Roth’s book (if you happen to subscribe to her newsletter, you will be familiar with this) and ask myself one simple question: do I like it?
Yes, I do. The book has its issues, but in the end I still love my main characters and what they stand for; I love the action sequences (some readers might call it overkill, but I am proud that my climactic scene nears thirty pages instead of being resolved after a disappointing two, like some books I have read); I love the story I initially set out to tell at the age of seventeen, and I love how it has grown and changed since then; and reading it made me anxious to continue working on the sequel. And, it made me anxious to do better with the sequel.
I would tell you to run out and read it and give me your thoughts, but that would just be shameless self-promotion. But if anything about my book intrigues you even the slightest bit, you may be just the reader I’ve been hoping for.
