Alter

by K.L. Hughes

Christian Perry is a middle-aged man struggling with a complicated and exhausting combination of mental illnesses. Having both paranoid schizophrenia as well as dissociative identity disorder, Perry often loses touch with reality. After experiencing a traumatic childhood event, being thrown into an awful living situation, and eventually being rendered homeless, the young Perry writes a riveting memoir of his life, rocketing him into success and fame at the young age of twenty-one. His mind, having developed a shocking nineteen fully functioning alters, is at constant war. Perry, terrified after hallucinating physical manifestations of his alters, takes to a rigorous schedule of antipsychotic medication, which effectively silences his alters for twelve full years. In the meantime, unable to write, Perry's funds dwindle as the paranoia effects of his schizophrenia grow. Unable to hold down a job or a relationship, Perry turns to a desperate attempt at finishing his masterpiece. Finally off his medication, his talent for writing flourishes once more, and so do his threateningly angry alters who have spent the last twelve years imprisoned inside Perry's head.

49 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 16, 2012

About the author

KL Hughes is an American poet and fiction author writing in multiple genres. Growing up in a small town of just over 1500 people, she spent much of her time inventing various ways to entertain herself as well as others. Whether it was through vocal performances of original children’s songs or theatrical re-enactments of books, movies, and actual events, Hughes showcased her extensive imagination and creativity at a very early age.
She began writing poetry at the age of nine, a passion that rapidly grew and expanded to include short stories, novellas, and eventually novels. Throughout elementary school and high school, Hughes won several contests and competitions focused in original poetry and short-story composition.
After graduating valedictorian of her high-school class, Hughes went on to pursue and earn a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree in Theatre Arts and English Literature. Her collegiate studies allowed her to develop and hone her skills in poetry, playwriting, screenwriting, and fiction prose.
Working as a writer full-time, Hughes lives in the United States with her wife and their Dalmatian. When not writing, she enjoys theatre and film, travel, visits to old cemeteries and haunted houses, putting on one-woman musicals for her wife, long walks and hikes, and family time.

Reviews

[Ciclochick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant short story. I was captivated right from the beginning by Christian Perry, a 40-year-old man living with multiple split-personality. His childhood was scarred by tragedy, but with pathetic irony, his memoirs of his youth catapult him to literary success. But his daily struggle with his illness and his battle with the effects of the drugs to control it contribute to his downward spiral towards destitution. With a masterpiece to complete, he has to fight the need to take medication which disable his ability to write clearly and silence his alters, or abandon it for the lucidity he needs—but risk animating those alters.

This is wonderfully written; it’s fluent, expressive, touching and emotional, and in only a few pages you feel for this complex, love-starved, mentally ill and brilliant man. Hughes is an excellent writer—she writes with intensity and understanding. I hope she writes a full-length novel—I was disappointed to come to the end of this story and her writing.

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this one up on Amazon a couple of days ago. What I liked best about this short novel is the fast pace of the character development of the protagonist Christian Perry. The ironic tragedy of Perry is that his illness provided him success, and while on one hand he fought the "alters' or manifestations of his mind, he also needed them because in some ways they completed the person he truly was and needed to be. The style of the writing is contemporary, and sequences of action are enough to keep you hooked from start to finish. The author paints a very interesting picture of a brilliant but challenged man who struggles with his own mind, and like all fatal heroes, with the destiny that awaits.

[Tadhg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great short story; was not sure where it was headed and it reminded me how scary being psychotic and mentally I'll in this way is.
Much prefer this to 'fracture by the same author; feels more developed.