SPOTLIGHT: Earthbound by Gwendoline Courreges
Earthbound
by Gwendoline Courreges
Hello readers!! Take a look at this unique story from Gwendoline Courreges! Below is a blurb, summary, about the author and a short excerpt from the book. Happy reading!
Blurb:
Following the philosophical shredding of modern society into smithereens, Earth's sole survivor is free to narrate the jellyfish fueled post-apocalypse, by unabashedly celebrating nature and the perennial philosophy in this metaphysical fable of ultimate female redemption.
Summary:
In the near future, an increasingly flooded Earth has become the stage for one final war: Man vs. Jellyfish. Part one has our first character feeling philosophical. While pondering upon the red sky and the advancing sea, he sets out to list the four downfalls of humanity, working himself into a fury of disgust that leads to his suicide. Fast forwarding to the multicolored and peaceful post-apocalypse of the second part, we meet our protagonist, a mysterious woman living as a hermit on the 6th floor of a Hausmannian building in a submerged Paris, France. Without any flora or fauna in sight, our heroine connects to nature through alchemy, but her yearning for green Earthly growth becomes increasingly potent. Throughout her personal musings, she delivers an account of the last seven days of human self-awareness. She will discover a special tree, meet a cat that will become her guru, harness the power of her dreams, unleash her mind and survive a tsunami, discovering a powerful secret. Her enlightenment leads to the destruction of self-consciousness as she becomes one with the planet, inversely echoing Eve's doom and the fall from Eden.
About the Author:
Gwendoline Courreges is a Native born Parisian currently residing in Austin, Texas, teaching French privately and pursuing her passion: writing. She has written two short novels, a satire which is soon to be produced into a film, as well as countless short stories and articles published in various local magazines and online. Graduate student from Florida State University, she's taught English in Thailand and Cambodia. Her writing style is as eclectic as her background.
Excerpt:
Sitting on the beach, I was more worried about the temperature of the water than the changes in the sky, which were nonetheless rather notable. A few summers ago there was still some blue and streaks of white, and the water, though nothing like the turquoise you would see in the heavily chlorinated pools of “luxury” hotels, would still allow you to guess its original color: blue too. Now the dull greenish-brown waves, far from lulling onlookers, came in strong, hot surges to beat the new shore closer than ever before, a deep ominous red glow above us all. A black cloud of pollution coming from either some distant coastline or from the sea itself, burning with spilt oil, prevented the sun from illuminating us as usual. The golden light of the creeping Mediterranean now sustained a scarlet blaze that would have reminded us more of hell than summer, if we hadn’t already gotten used to it.
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