<p>Where did we come from? Where are we going? What are we supposed to do in between? Deep into an existential crisis, triggered by his retirement from forty years of teaching, Christopher William Laughton flees to Orcas Island to search for the meaning of life. Instead he finds answers to questions he did not even know to ask. In The Island Chronicles: Book One-Conscious, Christopher learns his journey will not be as expected when he sees Nadezhda Retovna, the older woman who nursed him through his youthful identity crises, even though she died years ago. The mystery deepens when Christopher is seduced by the music that comes at night, which only he can hear. Eventually, the sound draws him to Eleutheria, the woman who lives in the house with the thatched roof, overlooking Bourani Cove and the ancient lime kiln that still breaths life. There he has a glimpse of both her ancient past and his own near future. Christopher is joined in his search for truth by a Belgian Malinois, with whom he may be having conversations. As well as by Lexi, a modern-day Lolita in steampunk who does her best to seduce him, for sport. Eventually, Christopher must make a choice. If choices are even possible. Either believe what Eleutheria has told him about time, eternity, and power. Or escape the island.</p>