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Hello there,
dear reader
Let me tell you of The Phantom Lake and Death's Train, a dark fantasy book intended for every age and based on two things, my love for children's fantasy, having grown up with it, and my experiences with grief, having suffered a series of losses in a short span of time back in the late 2000's when I was a teenager.
It tells the story of a boy who suffers a great loss and who then ends up in the afterlife while still living. With sword and shield at hand, there he gets to embark on a journey, meeting some peculiar characters along the way, whose interactions with make him come to the realization he must overcome his loss in order to save himself. It deals with grief but also delicately touches on anxiety, depression, and even suicide.
It's inspired by classics such as "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," to more contemporaries such as "Coraline," "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane," and "A Monster Calls."
It's sort of autobiographical in some respects, and what I mean by that is I took personal experiences and turned them into fiction. The best example of it is a chapter based on a summer of the early 2010's, where I spent most of it wandering my hometown by myself from 12 am to 5 am, just walking while listening to music, contemplating everything, how things had gone so wrong, and where on the last night, I slept on top of the grave of a soul most dear to me of whom death triggered the series of events that brought me there years after.
I've been working on and off on it since 2016, and I've poured all of my heart, or what's left, into it. It comes from a place of knowing. There's nothing I discuss in it I didn't experience firsthand, literally and figuratively speaking. Writing it has helped me overcome every loss I still mourn to this very day I'm typing this. It has even helped me understand something that ended up becoming the main message I'm now trying to share through it, one I hope resonates with someone somewhere.
P.S. My book is a one person's work, no editor, cover designer, or beta reader, but despite its flaws, I believe in what I have.
With much appreciation,
Caleb
