The Truth of All Endings

Perez, Devin (2021) The Truth of All Endings. Masters thesis, Northern Arizona University.

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Abstract

Dark recesses pock the world, cavities of degradation, predation, and perversion both overt and obfuscated. Those places are not just inhabited by us, but are us: the unspoken or unwitnessed potential—made real or fiercely hidden—for horror and evil. One of the major drives of my writing is to contextualize and explore the capacity for the disturbing and maligned. In this collection of work, I both want to speak to this capacity and display a multifaceted approach to writing horror fiction. One of the major themes threaded throughout this collection is amorphic self-identity and its intersection with the supernatural. The unexplainable or the maligned not only challenges and changes the protagonists, but also offers a lens through which to see their make-up and interiority. In this way, my fiction and the horror genre in general reveals the best and worse we have to offer ourselves in spite of ourselves. That connection extends my characters’ identities to a vast, dangerous world beyond comprehension, emulating the tradition of cosmic horror. Cosmicism and the supernatural/paranormal are what suggests a reality beyond our scope and understanding, and I use these elements as antagonistic forces that drive the behaviors and decisions of my characters. This is most notably displayed in “Circle 6,” my cosmic horror story, and my novella, Those That Walk That Do Not Walk. Another concept explored in this collection is dark futurology, or viewing transhumanism and near-future technology through a pessimistic lens. Instead of enriching our lives, technology in this viewpoint is a peril and constraint against agency, autonomy, and the human condition. My essay, “Zersetzung de Dasein,” is a rumination on dark futurology and such complications of constraints of “post-modernity.” Agency and survival, or reductively “fighting against the evil,” is a motif I wish to expound upon as well. I want to push my imagination into stories that captivate my audience the way the world in all its terror captures mine. So many dark narratives hold the public’s attention, a recognition of what we are capable of and what evils are out there, and I want to enter that conversation with my fiction. This collection ranges from supernatural to cosmic horror, and threads philosophical pessimism, dark futurology, and transhumanism in fiction and non-fiction creative modes.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Publisher’s Statement:	© Copyright is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the Cline Library, Northern Arizona University. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.
Keywords:	Cosmicism; Dark Futurology; Horror; Speculative Fiction
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PS American literature
NAU Depositing Author Academic Status:	Student
Department/Unit:	Graduate College > Theses and Dissertations College of Arts and Letters > English
Date Deposited:	05 Jul 2022 22:16
Last Modified:	19 May 2023 08:30
URI:	https://openknowledge.nau.edu/id/eprint/5805

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