#the study

It will be available on Amazon and Audible on 8.3.26. However, only orders placed through this link or my website will be signed and include character art stickers. If you would like to support me early, I would love that.

Book Summary:

Relief. Stability. A healthy mind.

That is the promise of Swanson & Nile’s newest pharmaceutical breakthrough, Neuralvista.

Five years later, Banks Ahn realizes she signed on for much more than a clinical trial. In a select few, results went beyond healing, unlocking heightened intellect at an unexpected cost.

When a patient rapidly declines, Banks searches for answers alongside her husband, the company’s head chemist. The secrets she uncovers point to a conspiracy stretching far beyond the company and the limits of the human mind.

The closer she comes to the truth, the less certain she is that her thoughts, her memories, and her choices are even her own.

If you would like to follow my journey you can find me on instagram and tiktok @christinatheauthor

Samhain is the gaelic languages (remember, gaelic =/= automatically equal celtic; in Welsh 31st October is called Nos Galan Gaeaf and Welsh is an even more ancient language than the gaelic languages) name for the festival that marks the celtic new year.

A central part of the festival was the belief that this time (along with its polar opposite festival, Beltane) the veil between this world and the otherworld was at its thinnest. It was a time to connect with the "good spirits" of ancestors as they were at their closest to us, but equally the "bad spirits" were close too. So, the ancestors were to be honoured and welcomed, the bad spirits were to be scared away and in this part the modern festival of Halloween has its root.

Ancestors would be welcomed around the hearth at the centre of the home with some form of depiction or item that belonged to them in order that they could help those living today. The tradition is still a part of many cultures today and is included in almost all neopagan descriptions of samhain celebrations.

Honouring ancestors then is a large part of Samhain, but what if this means nothing to you? Perhaps you're young and haven't lost anyone close to you yet. Perhaps you're happily exploring neopagan spirituality and all your ancestors were very strongly christian. Perhaps your ancestors were horrible racists, sexists, homophobes, transphobes etc and you don't want that in your life. Perhaps there's even more reasons why connecting to ancestors isn't something that you feel you can engage with or have any enthusiasm for.

So pick your own ancestors.

'Why not? The belief in ancestors is that they have made us who we are today and, with a little thought, it is easy to think of people from the past who have made us who we are today. What about the author of a favourite book? Why not even one of the characters from that book? This is about choosing for yourself, not having the decisions made for you. Just like we can choose our friends but not our families, we can choose to honour those who have helped to make us who we are today. So, if you don't have ancestors you wish to honour then pick the ones you do want to honour. Be grateful for those authors, artists, world-changers and creatives who make you feel good about yourself. Pick a favourite character who taught you to be a better person. Celebrate who you are!

Samhain is also a new year, so its a good opportunity in the year to try to be better. You never have to wait for a specific date to try and improve, but this is as good a line in the sand as any other. Is there anything you want to differently, or perhaps there's something you want to make better. Samhain is a good time to begin that.

Its the time of the year when the rule of the night over the day becomes longer and longer. Samhain is a good time to embrace that and embrace your night self. Step into the Samhain night (if its safe to do so) and feel the difference in all your senses between the night and the day. There's long nights to come yet, so make friends with the night if you can.

(One quick extra - if you've carved a pumpkin lantern don't just throw it away! Its food that can be easily roasted and pureed and can make some great recipes, so take the time to do a quick search for pumpkin recipes - and especially don't leave your pumpkins out on the ground outside as wildlife like hedgehogs can become very ill from eating them.)