Changeling The Lost

The Monster and the Mirror

Revelatory memoir and cultural criticism that connects popular fantasy and our perceptions of mental illness to offer an empathetic path to compassionate care Growing up, K.J. Aiello was fascinated by magical stories of dragons, wizards, and fantasy, where monsters were not what they seemed and anything was possible. These books and films were both a balm and an escape, a safe space where Aiello’s struggle with mental illness transformed from a burden into a strength that could win battles and vanquish villains. A unique blend of memoir, research, and cultural criticism, The Monster and the Mirror charts Aiello’s life as they try to understand their own mental illness using The Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, and other stories as both guides to heroism and agency and cautionary tales of how mental illness is easily stereotyped as bad and violent. Aiello questions who is allowed to be “mad” versus “sane,” “good” versus “evil,” and “weak” versus “strong,” and who is allowed to tell their own stories. The Monster and the Mirror explores our perceptions of mental illness in a way that is challenging and tender, empathetic and knowledgeable, and offers a path to deeper understanding and compassionate care.

Changeling the Lost

Changeling

When everything is questioned, friends becomes foes and foes become friends. Megan has recently become a pure blood demon and she struggles to hold onto her humanity and control her crazed hunger for human souls. But at the moment, this is the least of her worries. As hell's darkness seeps into Aiden and his life is put on the line by the rebels, an ancient prophecy passed down by the alchemists for millennia is beginning to surface and it seems that Megan just so happens to play a large part in it. The demons are at war with the rebels and the rebels seems to have the upper hand. Then, when the pearl in Aiden's mother's jewelry box turns out to hold not a random stranger's soul, but a dear friend's, the pieces of an ancient puzzle begin finally falling into place. In the second adventure of the Black Petals series, many lives will be lost, friendships broken, and affections questioned.