Mind Binder

by Susan Nadathur

High school in Hell is not where Jadiel planned to spend his final year as a warden of the state. He was supposed to graduate from Maion, Heaven’s ultra-strict correctional center for delinquent divine beings. But when he rebels against the severe rules and conservative attitudes of his guardians, he is exiled to Abaddon — the notorious school for the fallen under the city of San Juan.

A superior student who has all the intellectual and creative qualities that Headmaster Lucius admires, Jadiel works diligently at his lessons and rises in the ranks. But when he is assigned to secure the damnation of a troubled teen from a small town outside the city, one small act of compassion red flags him to the Headmaster’s watch list.

It is the lessons Jadiel learns in The Halls of Abaddon that will make him either one of the school’s star students … or its greatest enemy.

315 pages, Paperback

Published March 27, 2021

About the author

I was set up to become a writer. Maybe you can relate. Bookworm, glasses since the fourth grade, fashion challenged. The iconic school-yard victim and future writer.

I was born and raised in Wethersfield, Connecticut, a quiet, peaceful little town in picturesque New England. Life was fairly predictable in Wethersfield. I went to school with my four brothers and sisters, was laughed at, picked on, bullied. All the usual things that happen to kids who don't fit in. And then I went home and found solace in the pages of a book.

When I tired of reading, I grabbed my bike and took off for the village cemetery (I always was a little weird). But beside my attraction to the Gothic side of life, I was at peace among the tombstones. No one bothered me there. No one laughed at me. Away from the bullies, I read, wrote in my journal, and thought about the lives of those whose names were etched on the stone markers.

Even though I didn’t know it then, I was becoming a writer.

Some years have passed since the cemetery became my sanctuary. I've lived in New England, Spain, California, Mexico, and lots of places in between. I married a South Indian, moved with him to the Caribbean, raised a daughter in Puerto Rico, and lived among the Gypsies in southern Spain. My life has not been dull, that's for sure. But it hasn't been easy either. Each move brought with it trials, tears, challenges, and joys. I guess that's why I'm a writer. My head is full of the stories that have shaped my life.

Every new experience offered unique opportunities for inspiration and the development of creative projects. My debut novel, City of Sorrows, was inspired by my time in Spain. It was then researched and developed thanks to a now twelve-year relationship with an extended family of Gypsies in Seville. My first young adult novel, Dante’s Kiss, was created with the help of dozens of young people from Leonides Morales High School in Lajas, Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico has been my home for the past twenty-six years. On the island, I mentor the same type of young people I once was—a social misfit who made it through school by escaping into the fantastic world of books. I work with local high school students to build self-worth and cultivate healing through the creative arts. I especially enjoy applying my educational background in English and Spanish literature to enhance the literary and artistic activities I share with the students. They in turn have helped and inspired me to complete the first book (Mind Binder) of a planned fantasy trilogy called The Halls of Abaddon (publication date September 2020).

I don’t quite fit into the culture of Puerto Rico, but in not fitting in, I belong. The legacy of Wethersfield lives in me. I remain a misfit in the colorful, chaotic world that has become my home.