Missouri Normal: A Psychic and a Marine

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To Jane Montgomery, "Missouri Normal" is everything she's trying to avoid: house-bound, bible-thumping, double-wide trailer trash. As an older returning college student, Jane is a community outlier. After saving her mom's life on 9-11, she can't ignore her psychic ability. Prediction of a near-fatal robbery cements her fate: invent a modern equivalent for psychic readings or fall prey to Southwest Missouri prejudice.

Jane's childhood crush, SAM BATES, believes in empirical evidence. Military engineering stations him in San Diego. When the two meet up years later back home in rural Missouri, Jane falls deeper for him despite his refusal to respect her psychic ability. On vacation with Sam in Oklahoma, a tribal elder of the Muscogee Creek Nation recognizes Jane's gift.

A 'Seer' has no place in contemporary life, so Jane pursues reputable employment to honor her talent. She fears abandoning her disabled mother and bears the brunt of psychic ridicule. An option that moves Sam closer to home arrives right before his deployment to Afghanistan. Jane spends two years in a Social Work graduate program while Sam serves his deployment overseas, their company restricted to holiday visits. Sam's return holds a double surprise that cements this couple as Missouri Normal.

Missouri is one of few states whose residents span a continuum from practicing psychics to military veterans and imagines both as equally viable members of their community. Telory Arendell's debut novel explores this unlikely pairing and argues that society needs both sides of this equation. Her deep characterization prompts an immersive reading experience true to this Southern Midwest locale. It takes you right there in believable ways. Character voices highlight regional dialogue and neurodiversity. A true celebration of difference turns what is considered broken into a gift. Finding your broken defines your gift, and what breaks us makes us. A vision will only help if you share it. In this debut novel, visions lead a Seer to counseled clarity.

Author Bio

Telory Arendell is a Performance Studies Professor at Missouri State University. She has graduate degrees from Stanford University and New York University, and a BA from Swarthmore College. Her scholarship includes four monographs and one edited anthology: Devised Theatre's Collaborative Performance (Routledge 2023), Pina Bausch's Aggressive Tenderness (Routledge 2020), Dance's Duet with the Camera (Palgrave Macmillan 2016), The Autistic Stage (Sense 2015), Performing Disability (VDM 2009). Her current work-in-progress is titled Embodied Playwriting: A Fierce Kind of Love (2023). She is a proponent of disability rights and neurodiversity. She plans to add more states to her Finding Your Broken series, so her next novel's title is Texas Yeehaw: A Storm-Chaser and a Cowgirl.