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Alter Alter

$24.99

Alter Alter by Toti O'Brien is a captivating collection of short stories that seamlessly blend the real and the surreal, delving into themes of childhood, displacement, estrangement, and the multifaceted nature of identity.

Structured into seven distinct sections, each narrative navigates altered states of being—ranging from neurodivergence and mental illness to love, death, and sisterhood—offering a profound exploration of otherness and the human experience.

O'Brien's prose invites readers into a world where the boundaries between reality and imagination blur, encouraging introspection and a deeper understanding of the self and others.

This book is ideal for readers who appreciate introspective and experimental fiction that challenges conventional narratives and delves into the complexities of identity and human connection.

Format: Paperback

Language: English

Length: 514 pages

ISBN: 979-8-9853686-8-0

Alter Alter by Toti O'Brien is a captivating collection of short stories that seamlessly blend the real and the surreal, delving into themes of childhood, displacement, estrangement, and the multifaceted nature of identity.

Structured into seven distinct sections, each narrative navigates altered states of being—ranging from neurodivergence and mental illness to love, death, and sisterhood—offering a profound exploration of otherness and the human experience.

O'Brien's prose invites readers into a world where the boundaries between reality and imagination blur, encouraging introspection and a deeper understanding of the self and others.

This book is ideal for readers who appreciate introspective and experimental fiction that challenges conventional narratives and delves into the complexities of identity and human connection.

Format: Paperback

Language: English

Length: 514 pages

ISBN: 979-8-9853686-8-0

Alter Alter is a collection of short stories bridging views of the real and the surreal, covering territories of childhood, displacement, encounter, estrangement, mirror and divergence, while they spiral around a central theme of otherness—how it haunts us, how it constantly eludes us.

This book is a collection of  short stories, articulated in 7 sections.

  1. Cassandra, vision, a “premonition,” is loosely related to neuro difference, mental illness, mental states often considered “altered.”

  2. Hell is death, the ultimate altered state, our imagination of the afterlife, devil/demon, and the idea of evil.

  3. Mozart, a section about love, declined by a number of different love stories, happy, unhappy, complex, some linear.

  4. In Color is also about love from a child’s point of view. It is about girlhood and coming of age, but it goes backwards and closes upon infant memories.

  5. Alter Alter contains the title story, and it focuses on the main theme of the book. It contains several stories of sisterhood, either biological or not.

  6. All the stories in Long Distance add to the relationship with the other an element of displacement and remoteness.

  7. Drift amplifies the distance and resumes a surreal tone, similar to that of the first section.

Watch the BOOK LAUNCH  |  BOOK TRAILER

 

About the Author

Toti O’Brien is the Italian Accordionist with the Irish Last Name. Born in Rome, living in Los Angeles, she is an artist, musician and dancer. She is the author of Other Maidens (BlazeVOX, 2020), An Alphabet of Birds (Moonrise, 2020), In Her Terms (Cholla Needles, 2021), Pages of a Broken Diary (Pski’s Porch, 2022), The Past, Ineffable (Cholla Needles, 2023), and Odd Arcana (Cholla Needles, 2023). totihan.net

Additional information

Weight: 19 oz

Dimensions: 5 × 7 in

Format: Paperback

Pages: 514

Language: English

ISBN: 979-8-9853686-8-0