Date of Completion

Spring 5-1-2023

Thesis Advisor(s)

Sean Forbes

Honors Major

English

Disciplines

English Language and Literature

Abstract

The DreamWalker is a fantasy novella based in the near future city of Nova where beings with extraordinary powers exist alongside "normal" humans. One night there was a mass raid on the homes of extras and they were thrown into the Centrum, a specially curated holding facility that keeps extras and their powers indefinitely imprisoned. Aybis, a Dreamwalker, is one of these beings, though she managed to escape this prison. Now she works for Marco, a handler of sorts, in the underground, using her ability to enter and sometimes manipulate dreams of the wealthy and elite clientele of Nova who pay a pretty penny to keep their affairs secret.

This is how she meets Laz. Laz has been plagued with night terrors for the past few months. Every night he dreams of drowning. To rid himself of this nightmare he hires Aybis. But Laz has secrets that soon come to light. Among them being that Laz's dreams are actually premonitions and Laz himself is an extra -- a seer. In trying to save Laz from this future, from himself, Aybis must confront her past and her inability to save her sister from the fate she managed to free herself from. Together, Laz and Aybis will forge a new bond neither of them expected to gain nor are ready to lose.

The Dreamwalker hopes to magnify the relationships of race, class, and gender. In Aybis and Laz’s story, the complex interplay of these identities are pushed to the forefront and examined through one of the most versatile genres of fiction: fantasy. With themes of discrimination, social subjugation, propaganda, critiques of capitalism, emotional labor and more, this story addresses interests of the sociological discipline wrapped up within the prose, dynamics, and social commentary that is unique to this literary genre.

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