2 0 1 9 TO P N O TA B L E I N D I E S N O TA B L E # 8 3
N O TA B L E # 8 4
THE MOUNTAIN'S MORNING SONG
THE NINTH SESSION
by William Graney
by Deborah Serani
In the year 2052, a secret society in the small, remote town of Mountaintop has been meeting and evaluating the nature of their origins since the society initially formed during Prohibition. Based on a divine message, they believe an apocalypse is imminent, but it will not occur until the next century.
"The Ninth Session" is fast-paced suspense thriller where psychoanalyst, Dr. Alicia Reese, begins working with a secretive new patient, Lucas Ferro. During the first session, Ferro suffers a crippling anxiety attack. But as sessions progress, he begins to share the reasons why he's struggling - with details that reveal disturbing psychopathology. As Ferro's narrative becomes more menacing, Reese finds herself wedged between the cold hard frame of professional ethics and the integrity of personal truth. Finally, when Ferro reveals his secrets, Reese learns how far she's willing to go, willing to risk and willing to lose to do the right thing.
Their mission is altered when a rising tide of hate and violence accelerates the projected arrival of prophesied events. The members of La Société de la Frontière Ouverte are instructed to prepare for departure from the earthly realm through a crystal portal in a nearby cave. The only hope for restoring the original timeline is for the presidential candidate from the obscure Science Party to pull off an election day miracle and lead the country toward an enlightened future.
From The Author:
The Mountain’s Morning Song follows a path set in my previous novels Mountain Time and Mountaintop USA. The Mountain series has led me on a journey that includes some of my favorite writing experiences and most interesting characters. Learning to let the characters chart their lives and listening to their demands has led to significant improvement in my writing (seven novels to date). Several of the characters in The Mountain’s Morning Song have been friends for decades and saying goodbye to some of them was difficult. Writing this novel led to sadness in this regard, but observing characters as they suffered, loved, and grew was an incredibly uplifting experience and even though I’m not completely done with the Mountaintop series, this book marks the end of a generation.
From The Author:
"The Ninth Session" was a labor of love for a decade. As a full time psychologist and professor, I had to make time to craft this novel. It took me several years to write the manuscipt. And then it took several more to have "The Ninth Session" find a publishing home. My goal as an author was to tell a compelling and thrilling story that featured the healing power of psychoanalysis. While I also added the textures of American Sign Language and Coda culture to the story, my hope is that "The Ninth Session" offers a unique reading experience about trauma, loss and love.
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