Date of Award
Summer 8-2024
Level of Access Assigned by Author
Open-Access Thesis
Language
English
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
English
Advisor
Gregory Howard
Second Committee Member
Hollie Adams
Third Committee Member
Rosalie Purvis
Abstract
Dusk (...and other times Death is listening) is a novel that weaves together a modern-day, multigenerational family adventure with fantastical elements, questions of parenthood, reality, and a sense of humor.
Sheila, recently graduated from college, and her ever ebullient mother, Debra, are on an Alaskan cruise. Debra signs up the duo for a day trip to visit a re-created vintage mining town, just a short boat ride and hike into the wilderness. The ragged edges of reality begin to fray as a series of increasingly incongruous events unravel (a randomly appearing tome, visits from a bard elf, stuck in a discordant time loop, etc.) set in motion by an ancient sorceress, Wendolyn, hell-bent on ruining, and rewriting, Sheila's very existence.
The reader, and Sheila herself, come to learn the reason for this: her father, Tarlan, discovered a rift between his world and ours. This allowed him to travel here in the early seventies, with hopes of harnessing hordes of eco-warriors (hippies) needed to confront Wendolyn, who was plaguing his homeland. His unfortunate timing (the last gasp of flower power) was compounded by an even greater distraction: falling in love with Debra and welcoming baby Sheila. Sadly, for all involved, his newfound bliss only further antagonized Wendolyn, his former wife with whom he had a child, one that tragically perished in a fire.
This had prompted him to abandon his wicked sorcery, but only galvanized Wendolyn's march further into the diabolical arts.
Tarlan, previously presumed dead, returns to Earth, via the rift in the Alaskan mine. Sheila, shocked yet increasingly determined to be rid of Wendolyn, offers to return with her father back into his world to deal with Wendolyn, whom they ultimately contain in a bronze box. Sadly, the cost of this victory is Tarlan's life. Sheila returns home and, for fifteen years, attempts to forget the entire ordeal. Wendolyn has other plans: partially escaped from her previous prison, she uses her ability to trans-dimensionally co-locate to once again wreak havoc on Sheila's life. Debra, Sheila, and her teenage son, George, along with his best friend Stanley, are plucked from their mundane lives into another universe. Sheila is now forced to deal with her tangled family web, while hopscotching through cross-sections of time and dueling an increasingly deranged Wendolyn. This is decidedly not the family camping trip Sheila has been promising George since he was five.
Recommended Citation
Aylmer, Jason, "Dusk (...and other times Death is listening)" (2024). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 4024.
https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/etd/4024