Repressed and Sojourn in Captivity

by M.L.S. Weech

Repressed: Some girls grow up watching cartoons of princesses and unicorns. Some girls grow up wearing pretty dresses and dreaming about meeting a nice boy. Some are even tomboys, taking more active roles in sports or getting their hands dirty with the boys. Kaitlyn Olhouser didn't have any of those options. She was a long-term experiment that resulted in becoming an empath. She was rescued by her now adopted family, a team of people each gifted with psychic powers that calls itself Oneiros. She has abilities just like them. She's even more powerful than all but one of them, but she's 16, and her caretakers seem more interested in making sure she graduates high school that letting her use her abilities to join the team.A short encounter with some bullies inspires her to find her own opportunity to be the hero she knows she's destined to be. But being a hero isn't exactly what comic books make it out to be. Her actions put an Oneiros mission in danger, and her antics in school create more problems than she could imagine. Kaitlyn must embrace what it is to be a hero to make a real difference, not in the war against bad guys, but in the lives of her friends.

This book also has a second title

Sojourn in Captivity: Elele is about to meet her god. She’s about to be elevated to the highest evolved form of her species. Even as she prepares to step before the most powerful entity in the universe, she refuses to confess her secret. She doesn’t want to change. However, the only thing worse than changing, would be failing to transform. Those who don’t evolve are regarded as Ketz, forsaken. Her faith demands she go through the ceremony, but she’s torn between her desire to keep the life she’s known, and what happens to those Seferam who don’t become Var’lechen. When the ceremony begins, she’ll learn that she wasn’t the only member of her family with a secret. Elele must kneel before Adhol, but what happens after that will change how she sees her family, her role in the universe, and the being her planet has chosen to recognize as their god.

179 pages, Paperback

Published March 31, 2019

About the author

M. L. S. Weech was born in August 1979 in Rapid City, South Dakota. He fell in love with fantasy and science fiction at an early age. His love of writing quickly followed when he tried to write a sequel to his favorite movie. He didn't know what copyright infringement was. He can't remember a time he wasn't working on some sort of project from that day on. He wrote for a junior high project. The only way his freshman English teacher could get him to settle down was to let him start writing a book. He completed what he calls his first manuscript when he was 17. He got a ton of feedback that was honest, helpful, and not much fun to listen to, but instead of quit, he simply wrote another, and then another.

He fell in love with reading in high school when he was introduced to Timothy Zahn and the Star Wars novels. Then he was handed Anne McCaffrey, Robert Jordan, Dean Koontz, Brandon Sanderson and so many more. He went from reading to complete homework to reading more than three books a month.

He joined the U.S. Navy as a journalist in 2005. He served on aircraft carriers and destroyers. He served in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan. He finished his Navy career in 2015 at the Defense Information School, where he still teaches journalism as a civilian instructor. When he wasn't taking pictures or writing features or news stories, he was writing fiction. Photojournalism was a hobby he enjoyed getting paid for, but writing fiction has been and remains his true dream.

His first book, The Journals of Bob Drifter was published March 3, 2015, and he’s published more than ten since. He’s happily married and a father of three wonderful sons.

Reviews

[Lynda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Repressed was a perfectly fine novella, well written, and likely to be enjoyable for its intended audience. (I haven't been YA for decades.) I thoroughly enjoyed the second story, Sojourn in Captivity. MLS Weech has done a wonderful job of painting this world, and creating a smart girl on the cusp of becoming a strong young woman. I look forward to reading more about Elele!