As veins of lightning discharge through the twilight sky, the classical music Marissa had been listening to on the radio is replaced by the chaotic sounds of many channels bleeding through static. The mingling voices from the radio fill her with a longing for something she cannot identify. As she navigates her way home through the dangerous storm, quarter sized raindrops begin to splatter on her windshield. There is thunder overhead, bringing with it a sudden cloudburst. The rain comes down in a deluge. As she concentrates on the road, the windshield wipers rapidly switch back and forth from a blinding veil of rain, to brief moments of clarity. In this concentrated state her level of receptivity is heightened. The rain takes on a frequency of its own. Out of its ambient sound a word is formed. The rain said "SAMSARA". Marissa knows this word. It means reincarnation and the resolution of karma. The electrical charge of the lightning ignites memories imprinted upon her soul. Like an intricate karmic tapestry woven in the light, vivid images of past incarnations flood her senses. Incarnations with Michael, the man she loves. A man she first met three hundred years ago.
The fantastical, magic, debut novel from Mary Reynard Liss. Mary has lived a life dedicated to the arts. She has travelled the United States as a dancer, living on a show train, a free spirit hitchhiking through Mexico, South America, Canada and the USA, and as an actress, director, singer and vocal coach living in Chicago, Colorado and California. She has travelled through Europe and the Middle East. She has studied, performed, directed and taught opera, acting, Shakespeare, dance, yoga and film. She now lives in California writing her novel, as well as several screenplays and television treatments while performing in films.
--James Sparling
