Crepuscular

In the Appalachian South, where twilight lingers and belief runs deep, a young woman enters a world that will remake her from the inside out.

When Utopia begins taking music lessons in Chattanooga, she expects discipline-not revelation. But the Gunn family operates by its own logic. Her teacher demands perfection with near-divine authority. His sister dismantles the foundations of Western thought with a smile. Together, they initiate Utopia into a series of rituals, "catechisms," and confrontations that blur the line between instruction and indoctrination.

At the center of it all lies Voluptia-a secluded mountaintop refuge where an alternative mythology is taking shape: one rooted in reimagined Christianity, maternal power, and resistance to Mammon. What begins as intellectual curiosity deepens into something more dangerous, as Utopia is drawn into a system that doesn't just question belief-it seeks to replace it.

As her certainty dissolves, Utopia must confront a growing unease: when does awakening become control? And what is the cost of surrendering one faith for another?

Crepuscular: An Appalachian Apocalypse is a work of Appalachian literary fiction that blends Southern Gothic atmosphere, magical realism, and philosophical fiction into a haunting, genre-defying narrative.

Perfect for readers of experimental literary fiction and book club fiction, this novel invites discussion on faith and its alternatives, myth in modern life, gender and power, and the fragile boundary between enlightenment and indoctrination.