On the surface, Alexander Christos is a seemingly upwardly mobile young professional rapidly approaching middle age. But scratch beneath the surface and what is exposed is a soul that is emotionally, mentally, and spiritually burnt to a crisp. He's done. And he wants out... all the way out. But then, in the very process of fashioning his own demise, something intervenes. That "Something" is about to breathe new life - and death - into him. Lured to the Island of Diarma, Christos believes it a near-Utopian advanced living state. But it proves to be no Utopia at all; rather, an arena that employs a methodology that is at once brutal, merciless, and magnificent. In the spirit of John Fowles' The Magus, Michael Staley's Diarma will take you on a trip that will stretch the bounds of your imagination. In the process, it lays out a very interesting and feasible blueprint for mankind's "Next Step." Reality... is a Place, a state of mind in which you live, thrive, and grow... "One of the most fascinating places on this planet just might be the inside of Michael Staley's mind." Deborah Smith Wotring, LCSW, MS, CRC, CCH, LCSW, MS, CRC, Monterey, CA.