Date of Award

Spring 4-18-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Department

Creative Writing

First Advisor

Peter Selgin

Second Advisor

Kerry Neville

Third Advisor

Chika Unigwe

Abstract

63 years after the Mad War, an exchange of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, a twelve-year old girl wakes up on a train. She has no memory of where she comes from or who she was before the train, but when it stops, there is no doubt that she is now a slave. Brought to the town of Bludgeonburg in chains, she is sold off, along with a boy named Mohawk, to a man named Aabrax as a pit slave. The odd are firmly against Aabrax, and Gilly is not expected to survive, but by a stroke of luck, she does and gains the name, Guillotine. Forced to fight a new opponent every week, Guillotine must train with Tripe, a Marauder boy Aabrax hired to do his chores, if she want to survive, and survive she does. Each time she wins in the Pit, each time she takes a life, she remembers moments of her past, and loses a bit of herself to her new identity. Enter Blossom, a working girl at the town’s brothel. Blossom tells Guillotine that her position is enviable, that unlike almost every other working girl, Guillotine can fight back. When Aabrax offers Gilly freedom at a price that’s too high, she must chose to who she will fight for, who she was, who she is, or who she will become next.

Download

Share

COinS