Story

Take a voyage of the imagination into the depths of space and the deepest parts of the human psyche.

How do you heal from complex trauma? My debut book charts a path into that scary and seemingly unknown territory of healing.

Your inner child is calling.

This beautifully crafted, offset-printed hardcover novella features 15 full-panel illustrations by Italian artist Simone Rotella.

Part sci-fi allegory, part journey into the unconscious, Wayward Explorers Club is an insightful and emotional meditation on what it means to heal from trauma.

Taking inspiration from Voyager 2 — the spacecraft launched in 1977 on a mission to explore the outer reaches of our solar system — this slim, surreal novella charts one man’s path toward recovery. He finds himself exploring the furthest, most difficult parts of his own past and self, not only inwardly but on an extraordinary interstellar adventure. Weaving together computer science, space exploration, astrophysics, music, poetry, rural life, and the relationships we must forge with our inner children and the disjointed parts of the self in order to heal, this is a mystical story at once entirely particular and profoundly universal.

What fellow explorers are saying:

"Like a trauma-informed The Little Prince."

"The illustrations by Simone are stunning!"

"There are so many layers — intellectual, emotional, spiritual."

"Viscerally captures the experience of complex trauma."

"Hauntingly beautiful."

What trauma experts are saying:

“Wayward Explorers Club is a poetic and imaginative exploration of healing from complex trauma. Through rich allegory and emotional honesty, Tylor Neist captures the lived experience of fragmentation, dissociation, and the courageous journey toward integration. This novella is a moving testament to our innate resilience and capacity for post-traumatic growth.”

— Dr. Arielle Schwartz, PhD, clinical psychologist and author of The Post-Traumatic Growth Guidebook

Kirkus Reviews

"Neist, in this debut novella, seamlessly blends genres.... An insightful and engaging examination of childhood trauma."