Ask the Author: J. Perry Kelly
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J. Perry Kelly
Good question...but it needs a complex answer. LOL!
As a kid, I found copies of Homer's "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" in a closet, and of course I fell in love with their epic tales. I felt particularly bad for Cassandra, the tragic heroine of Troy who was cursed to be never believed when she told the truth. Fast forward to 1997...
After falling asleep while driving, I awoke from a coma to learn that I was paralyzed for life. As an occupational therapy, my wife suggested that I write a novel, so I thought, "Why not?"
In a way, I was as much to blame for my auto accident and injuries--I had continued to drive on an Interstate highway [out of sheer stubbornness] despite knowing that I was falling asleep--as were the leaders of Troy who had ignored Cassandra's warnings. Were humans and humanity thus fated to suffer forever, in big ways and small, over the foibles of our nature that poets of old had labeled "Cassandra's Curse"? I was stuck by a thought...
What if Cassandra reincarnates as a present-day environmentalist and remains disbelieved. Unlike her former "tragic' self, she refuses to be a victim? What if she casts a metaphysical 'spell' to explore the roots of her 'curse' with the aim of somehow breaking it? Naturally, the universe entangles karmas, lives, passions, and fates in response to her spell, giving her all that asks for but most definitely not what she expects or wants .
As a kid, I found copies of Homer's "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" in a closet, and of course I fell in love with their epic tales. I felt particularly bad for Cassandra, the tragic heroine of Troy who was cursed to be never believed when she told the truth. Fast forward to 1997...
After falling asleep while driving, I awoke from a coma to learn that I was paralyzed for life. As an occupational therapy, my wife suggested that I write a novel, so I thought, "Why not?"
In a way, I was as much to blame for my auto accident and injuries--I had continued to drive on an Interstate highway [out of sheer stubbornness] despite knowing that I was falling asleep--as were the leaders of Troy who had ignored Cassandra's warnings. Were humans and humanity thus fated to suffer forever, in big ways and small, over the foibles of our nature that poets of old had labeled "Cassandra's Curse"? I was stuck by a thought...
What if Cassandra reincarnates as a present-day environmentalist and remains disbelieved. Unlike her former "tragic' self, she refuses to be a victim? What if she casts a metaphysical 'spell' to explore the roots of her 'curse' with the aim of somehow breaking it? Naturally, the universe entangles karmas, lives, passions, and fates in response to her spell, giving her all that asks for but most definitely not what she expects or wants .
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Dec 19, 2014 12:26PM · flag