Orchard Park

Degree awarded: M.F.A. Literature. American University<italic>Orchard Park</italic> is an original novel that explores definitions of family and community in a post-nuclear country. <italic>Orchard Park</italic> borrows from different genres including science fiction, alternate history (itself a sub-genre of science fiction), and fantasy to create an alternate 1983 in which the Cuban Missile Crisis had a much darker outcome. The story follows characters who have lost much to the two-decade long nuclear war, characters who have lost family to a radical new plague, and ultimately explores how these characters behave when placed in extraordinary circumstances. The fictional and eponymous city Orchard Park lies in a post-apocalypse state in which Gerry and Polly are challenged by the harsh natural word, betrayal and deception, and a fundamental inability and unwillingness to trust strangers in a country on the brink of total war.Made available in DSpace on 2013-05-09T14:11:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Fitzgerald_american_0008N_10418display.pdf: 517069 bytes, checksum: de5757be15b2387bc42048b35cdc6d62 (MD5