Chrysalis is a story of personal recovery from childhood and adult trauma told in three parts: "The Echo", "Welcome to My Sandbox", and "The Stone in God’s Sling."

The Echo

In a bizarre nightmare world, Gerrold is relentlessly attacked by grotesques which thwart his every attempt at escape until an angelic being, Acquiesce, appears and offers him a way out. Acquiesce does not do the work of escape for Gerrold and instead guides him to make his own discoveries about escaping and what it means to be free. With Acquiesce’s help, Gerrold realizes escaping the nightmare means challenging the taking control of the nightmare and robbing it of its power over him.

Welcome to My Sandbox

Freed from his personal hell, Gerrold realizes freedom comes with a price, and the price is to help others escape their personal hells. This means realizing some people would rather remain in their hells, meaning he is powerless to help him. But this confuses him; how can someone recognize they're in hell and not want to escape?

Acquiesce explains freedom is a choice, that every moment of a person's life is a matter of choice, and freedom's responsibilities can be frightening to those not willing to do the work of healing and compassion.

This revelation causes Gerrold to realize some responsibilities are obvious, some are hidden, and now he wonders if he's fully paid the price of his freedom. He decides to confront the source of his nightmare to learn the truth of it.

The Stone in God's Sling

Gerrold travels to his nightmare’s source and faces its creator only to discover he has constructed the nightmare himself. Can Gerrold destroy the part of himself which has imprisoned him, set himself free, and heal from the things he’s let happen?

Fans of Guillermo del Toro’s and M. Night Shyamalan’s work will appreciate this dark psychological fantasy which forces the reader to recognize their own hells and offers paths out of them.