Black Dreams Series

Cataclysm and Rebirth is the first novel of this award-winning author's, post-apocalyptic epic, the Black Dreams Series.   The year:  2030. The setting:  a grand opening gala at the remodeled San Francisco mansion--Belle's Art Gallery and Inn. All is aglitter when out of the blue Belle and family are spun into chaos by a climate-triggered earthquake and tsunami that devastate San Francisco. Pandemonium ensues, only intensified by the mixed-blessing birth of three "earthquake babies," which Belle and husband struggle to raise in the tumultuous aftermath.   Once relative calm is restored, the world is rocked by yet another climate-triggered event--this time illness and infertility. Belle's determination to survive, to maintain her hotel/art gallery, her suddenly expanded family, and her art career, she relies heavily on environmental journalist husband, Forrest, and physician friend, Rush Rorrie. Unexpectedly her art background and artist friends also play a crucial part in what it will take to continue to survive an irrevocably altered world.   Gretchen Hummel is a 2011 Writer's Digest Award Finalist and a 2011 USA Best Books Award Finalist in two categories. She has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing as well as a Master of Science in Psychiatric Nursing.   Themes Science and Spirituality Climate Change Lucid Dreaming Neurotherapy Brainwave Training Art and Mystical Symbols Compare to authors Emily St John Mandel, Michel Faber, Margaret Atwood, and Mary Doria Russell.   "Gretchen Hummel has created a rich, complex world that is both beautiful and scary--," Alison Baker, O'Henry Award Winner.   "...from the beginning, I was gripped by Hummel's ability to pull together science and imagined technology with myth and spirituality, a winning combination..." Jaclyn Dolomore, librarything.com.   Author   Gretchen Hummel is a 2011 Writer's Digest Award Finalist and a 2011 USA Best Books Award Finalist in two categories. She has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing as well as a Master of Science in Psychiatric Nursing.      

Black Dreams, Silver Linings is the second book of this award-winning author's post-apocalyptic epic, The Black Dreams Series.   In a post-plague, baby-hungry world Waverly searches for her kidnapped daughter. She works as a tour guide on what mainlanders call Devil's Island--all that's left of a future San Francisco. The island is infamous for its high rate of plague survivors, its thriving arts community, and its suspect spirituality.   Islanders are fascinated by mysterious "plague gifts"--knowledge and skills acquired by surviving the plague and are covertly experimenting with the virus. Mainlanders abhor the mere mention of anything plague-related.   The island is quarantined, yet mainlanders Dr. Lourdes and his daughters insist on a visit. Their stated agenda is to shop the arts district and to adopt a child. But Dr. Lourdes' curiosity about rumored plague virus experiments has Waverly worried about the true purpose of their visit.   When the doctor's youngest daughter contracts the plague, Waverly must call on all her plague gifts to help her survive. The girl's fight for her life and Waverly's search for her own daughter dovetail in a startling conclusion that is beyond Waverly's wildest dreams.   "Gretchen Hummel has created a rich, complex world that is both beautiful and scary..."   Alison Baker, O'Henry Award Winner   "...from the beginning, I was gripped by Hummel's ability to pull together science and imagined technology with myth and spirituality, a winning combination..."  Jaclyn Dolomore, librarything.com   Gretchen Hummel is a 2011 Writer's Digest Award Finalist and a 2011 USA Best Books Award Finalist in two categories. She has and MFA Degree in Creative WRiting and a MS Degree in Psychiatric Nursing.

Green Dreams is the third novel of this award-winning author's post-apocalyptic epic Black Dreams Series.    Islander families fragmented during the chaotic plague years either through death, dislocation, or baby-hungry kidnappings now seek to salvage some sense of wholeness. Waverly's search is for her daughter, kidnapped eight years ago by mainlanders. In the last book, Black Dreams, Silver Linings, her search turned up a brother she had thought long dead. Her niece also resurfaced. And while Waverly's search for her daughter continues to be frustrated, new information gleaned through plague gifts and plague survivors give her new leads and renewed hope.   The worst of the plague years are over, yet isolated cases still occur. Mainlanders abhor the mere mention of the plague to the point of denying outbreaks in their midst. On the other hand, islanders continue their controversial research into what they consider the plague's coveted gifts. The intriguing dimension of consciousness reached during the plague delirium is explored via lucid dreaming techniques, brain wave training, and archetypal dream interpretation. This, in turn, leads to a discovery by islanders of yet another way to access this rich dimension and another way for families like Waverly's to return to a sense of wholeness.   "Gretchen Hummel has created a rich, complex world that's both beautiful and scary…"                     --Alison Baker, O. Henry Award Winner   Gretchen Hummel is a 2011 Writer's Digest Award finalist and a 2011 USA Best Books Award finalist in two categories. She has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing as well as a Master of Science in Psychiatric Nursing.