Valya’s neural implant is amazing.
CASUAL managed her depression and anxiety, stabilized her mood, and helped her get pregnant; but new laws forbid her from using the device when she’s sole caregiver for her infant, so Valya needs to detox before giving birth. The full-blown panic attacks have her considering a controversial clinical trial that would place a tandem implant in her unborn baby and allow Valya to keep hers active. Her only options are to attempt solo parenting without CASUAL, or install a minimally tested device in her vulnerable child.
CASUAL is a stark and cutting glance at a near future that looks uncannily like our present, exploring themes of bodily autonomy and the struggle for mental health in a world increasingly divided.
Where To Buy
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Compelling and incredibly imagined. Akin to 1984 and Brave New World. It left me reeling.
– Ivy Grimes, author of Glass Stories
A complex, compassionate exploration of mental health and motherhood. Unlike anything I’ve ever read before.
– Emily Ruth Verona, author of Midnight on Beacon Street
I’m not sure I’ve ever felt as inside a main character’s mind as much as Valya.
– Sam Logan, author of The Night Demon
If you’re looking for something that will grip you, terrorize you, but subtly, softly, slowly, to the point you don’t even know it’s happening, Casual is for you. It’ll still be wrapping its crystal filaments around your brain after the last page. Trust me.
– Leo Otherland, author of Inflicted: Explorative Tales of What Breaks and Binds Us
Read the full review on GoodReads
… “engrossing, intense read that left me stunned by what it had to say and how it said it.” … “It is achingly plausible; one of the most plausible futures I’ve read recently.” … “this a stunningly written near future parable about class, mental health, women’s autonomy and all the myriad ways a controlling society can challenge these in a future so real I could almost touch it. I inhabited this tale; it is remarkable.”
– Ed Crocker on FanFiAddict
See full review on fanfiaddict.com
Contact for more information
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