Darksight received a 4+ star review, making it an IndieReader Approved title.
Following find an interview with author DC Mallery.
What is the name of the book and when was it published?
Darksight. Published by Black Opal Books on June 8, 2019.
What’s the book’s first line?
The rain was heaven.
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
Darksight tells the story of a young deejay in New York — Audra Carter — with cortical blindness who reluctantly agrees to a radical medical procedure to restore her vision. It’s also the story of her father — Dr. Jenson Carter — who is tortured by guilt over the car accident that blinded Audra when she was a child and killed her mother. The risky procedure, which he invented, is his last and best hope to ever restore her vision. And it is the story of sinister agents who hijack the experiment to trigger within Audra a remarkable and dangerous new ability: Darksight.
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
Darksight was inspired by the real medical phenomena called blindsight, which is the amazing ability some individuals with cortical blindness have to sense objects they can’t see. With that type of blindness, the retina and optic nerves still function, but the part of the brain that processes vision — the visual cortex — is badly damaged. Yet some people with cortical blindness are still “aware” of objects they can’t consciously see. That is, they see without seeing.
Darksight takes blindsight to a new and ultimately very dangerous level.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
Readers who like a strong but flawed female protagonist will love Darksight. And readers who like stories based on fascinating medical phenomena should enjoy how Darksight takes the real phenomena of blindsight and turns it into something that is unexpected and terrifying.
What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character? Who-real or fictional-would you say the character reminds you of?
When we meet Audra, she is blind but fearless. She uses her keen hearing to get around as though she could see — even riding her bike in the rain (since she can hear the world around her illuminated by the sound of raindrops). Then, when her father’s risky experiment fails, those abilities are lost and replaced with something altogether unexpected.
With a snarky sense of humor and a no-nonsense attitude, Audra might remind some readers of Princess Leia from the original Star Wars. But she has deep-rooted and unresolved issues stemming from the car accident that blinded her and killed her mother — issues that will need to be resolved in the end if she hopes to save her father’s life and her own.
If they made your book into a movie, who would you like to see play the main character(s)?
Great question! I’m hard at work writing a screenplay adaptation of Darksight so I’ve already given that some thought. For Audra Carter: Kristen Stewart, Daisy Ridley, or Emilia Clarke. For her father, Dr. Jenson Carter: Kiefer Sutherland, Ewan McGregor or Tom Hanks would be fine.
Which writer, living or dead, do you most admire?
Michael Crichton. He could take real medical phenomena and state-of-the-art science and craft gripping thrillers. And Ray Bradbury for his elegant prose and the humanity of his stories.