Welcome to My Mental Breakdown
This site is an archive of Mary VanAlstine’s writing projects from their middle school days through to their first published books, including a walk through the sort of archetypical characters who walk through multiple projects in various iterations.
Mary’s writing projects are comprised of ‘manga’ (novels that used panels and speech bubbles to tell a story) and prose, and vary in length from small novellas to multi-part novels.
The projects will be separated for your exploration based on chronology and length.
A Timeline of Projects
Nikkei
![](https://mymentalbreakdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/trio-edited.jpg)
2004This four-volume manga series follows the dramatic exploits of housecat-turned-teenager Nikkei, his family, and some killer vampires.
Cadence
![](https://mymentalbreakdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/jonas_cirrus_III-1-edited.jpg)
2008In a world of magical element kings, four special children hold the fate of the kings in their hands, and the love of one of the children and the king might destroy them all.
Unface
![](https://mymentalbreakdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/ashlyn-edited.png)
When Ashlyn Taylor gets trapped in a half-dream cityscape, she must hunt down the dream master before she turns into one of her dreamy unfaces forever.
Code: Compromised
![](https://mymentalbreakdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/supernova-edited.jpeg)
University student Micah has always loved Master Code Summoner Andrew Vidasche. But Micah’s childhood Codey, Peel, turns into a dangerous Error bent on destroying Andrew.
Mary VanAlstine (they/she) is a writer, artist, and therapist. Writing and art have been a hobby for some twenty years now since they were a goofy little middle schooler. Mary grew up devouring fantasy, especially urban fantasy, and hearing about the writing craft from their father, a science fiction writer.
Mary lives in the city in Minnesota with their nerdy husband, a dramatic preschooler, a very dumb puggle named Bilbo Waggins, and two perfectly angelic cats.