In our world, where we often keep our pain and suffering hidden deep inside, “Tortured Souls” becomes a symbol of hope and connection. This deeply personal memoir takes you on a profound exploration through the darkest aspects of human experience, showcasing the incredible resilience of the human spirit. The author, who has faced their share of traumas and emotional challenges, shares their heartfelt story with a poetic touch that speaks to those who have felt lost or shattered. Through a collection of moving narratives, “Tortured Souls” delves into how our struggles can mould us with empathy, fortify our character, and ultimately guide us toward healing. By drawing inspiration from ancient Eastern philosophies, particularly from Chinese and Indian traditions, this memoir uncovers timeless wisdom that has provided solace and purpose to many grappling with hardships. Going beyond survival tales, this book acts as a companion for those looking to rediscover their inner strength and kindle their inner light amidst life's tribulations. Whether you are navigating your personal journey of healing or simply seeking deeper insights into human emotions, “Tortured Souls” offers a poignant and relatable storytelling experience that will resonate in your heart and soul. It's a must-read for anyone ready to embark on a quest toward self-discovery, compassion, and emotional resilience.

'Goodwill, YOU ARE GOING TO DIE!' They pointed a gun at my head and they were going to kill me, they told me: 'Goodwill, YOU ARE GOING TO DIE.' how did I end up in this situation? I will tell you. My name is Arthur Goodwill and this is my story, I will start from the beginning... This book is the true story of an individuals experiences of psychosis (Hearing Voices) and recovery. It is essentially an autobiography or memoir of a sufferer of psychosis. If you have ever wondered what it is like to be a schizophrenic or to suffer from mental health problems such as psychosis then look no further than this book. It also provides tips on how the author coped with psychosis. It has been described as "sobering" but also "funny in places" as it demonstrates the life of Arthur Goodwill and the imagined torture that he suffers. Introduction: This book is the true story of my experience of having a psychotic breakdown. Everything written here is true, I have however changed the names of all of the characters to protect their identities, in case they do not want to be identified. I wrote this book to show the world what it is like to experience psychosis and hear voices. Hopefully having texts like this 'out there' will raise awareness of psychosis and other mental disorders such as schizophrenia and depression. My intention in writing this book is to normalize these experiences and limit the stigmatism and prejudice suffers of mental health problems experience. Hopefully those who have not suffered these problems will be able to see things from a sufferer's point of view and be more willing to accept them as individuals after reading this text. As one of the above quotes demonstrates people who do not know the facts about mental illness fill in the gaps of reality with fantasy or information they have gathered from the media, most of this negative. I hope to change this through education. This book is basically a short autobiography or memoir that mainly focuses on incidents which have lead me to experience psychosis, and that demonstrate what it is like to hear voices. I also found writing this book very cathartic and calming, for the first time I felt able to convey some of my experiences to others, ones that I could not convey in words before. In essence I am also attempting to decode my own experiences of psychosis in addition to sharing them with willing readers. In order for readers to have the experience of hearing voices I have included things the voices say throughout the text, this sometimes disrupts the narrative and is similar in style to Vladimir Nobokov's Pale Fire, or Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves, my aim being to mimic the effects the voices have on my own conscious and the interruption and distress they cause. I will italicize these comments so that they do not confuse the reader. The voices I hear are actually those of two former friends, whom I have chosen to call Kian Fosco and Dale Bile, and occasionally a third unknown voice also comes into play. Mostly it is Kian's voice that I hear and that you will read. I will explore the voices later in the book. I have however kept the use of this technique to a minimum to avoid unsettling the reader too much, I have also toned down some of the graphic details that the voices go into for the sake of everybody's sanity!

This book is a true story about how I was sexually abused from the time I was a small child into my adulthood. I talk about when a neighborhood boy and myself was kidnapped off my front porch by a stranger. My story goes on to talk about my mom being a divorced mother of two. She went to her sister and asked if she could babysit my older brother and myself while she worked? During that time I was sexually abused by my uncle and two of my cousins. My book talks about when my mom had met a man and had a baby with him. It goes on to talk about how much my moms, my brother and my life would change from that point on. It talks about our family vacations. How we dressed, from the type of clothes to the school and kids we were around. This book will tell you how I came to admire and adore this man as my father. How I would put in a little extra work to make him proud of me. Or how I would want to spend time with him like a daughter and father do together. How I felt that I had let him down, when I was nineteen years old. My story then comes to the point where my world came crashing down ( and my drug use began) at the age of twenty one, when the man I came to look so highly up to raped me.

The legend of Primordium.

A single woman evicted from her family home. A terrifying specter that only she sees. A dark connection between his past and hers... After her father's tragic death and her mother's recent passing, loss leaves an emptiness Jeannie Lyons can't fill. Now she must leave her family home, the one place where her parents' memory still lives. An old house on the edge of town becomes Jeannie's new home, one too big for her and her three-legged cat, but she soon gets the impression she's not alone. Her brother blames her overactive imagination. Her sister-in-law suggests counseling. Her would-be boyfriend is the only one who believes her, but can she trust him? With nowhere to turn, Jeannie must face her inner demons and confront this soul from beyond the grave. Set in modern times, this supernatural thriller is loosely based on the apparitions to Eugenie von der Leyen (1867-1929).

An award-winning journalist’s extraordinary account of being kidnapped and tortured in Syria by al Qaeda for two years—a revelatory memoir about war, human nature, and endurance that’s “the best of the genre, profound, poetic, and sorrowful” (The Atlantic). In 2012, American journalist Theo Padnos, fluent in Arabic, Russian, German, and French, traveled to a Turkish border town to write and report on the Syrian civil war. One afternoon in October, while walking through an olive grove, he met three young Syrians—who turned out to be al Qaeda operatives—and they captured him and kept him prisoner for nearly two years. On his first day, in the first of many prisons, Padnos was given a blindfold—a grime-stained scrap of fabric—that was his only possession throughout his horrific ordeal. Now, Padnos recounts his time in captivity in Syria, where he was frequently tortured at the hands of the al Qaeda affiliate, Jebhat al Nusra. We learn not only about Padnos’s harrowing experience, but we also get a firsthand account of life in a Syrian village, the nature of Islamic prisons, how captors interrogate someone suspected of being CIA, the ways that Islamic fighters shift identities and drift back and forth through the veil of Western civilization, and much more. No other journalist has lived among terrorists for as long as Theo has—and survived. As a resident of thirteen separate prisons in every part of rebel-occupied Syria, Theo witnessed a society adrift amid a steady stream of bombings, executions, torture, prayer, fasting, and exhibitions, all staged by the terrorists. Living within this tide of violence changed not only his personal identity but also profoundly altered his understanding of how to live. Offering fascinating, unprecedented insight into the state of Syria today, Blindfold is “a triumph of the human spirit” (The New York Times Book Review)—combining the emotional power of a captive’s memoir with a journalist’s account of a culture and a nation in conflict that is as urgent and important as ever.