Cataclysm and Rebirth

Cataclysm and Rebirth is the first novel of this award-winning author's post-apocalyptic epic, 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 Belle and her 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. In Belle's determination to survive, to maintain her hotel/gallery, her suddenly expanded family, and her art career, she relies heavily on 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 their irrevocably altered world.

Themes

Science, Art, and Spirituality
Climate Change
Lucid Dreaming
Neurotherapy
Tarot Images and Symbols
Compare to authors Emily St. John Mandel, Michael Gruber, Margaret Atwood, Mary Doria Russell.

Gretchen Hummel has created a rich, complex world that's 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.