These Are The Rules

These Are The Rules is a novel-in progress that follows the lives of Emmanuelle, sole prisoner on a spaceship, and Hector, the advanced artificial intelligence that runs the ship and looks after Emmanuelle. In addition to the overarching plot on the ship, the novel includes scenes from Emmanuelle's life on Earth, as well as moments from Hector's first days of existence. The work also incorporates scenes that reimagine traditional Latin American folklore and colonial history with moments written from the point of view of inanimate objects. Existing within the literary speculative fiction and magical realism genres, the narrative's eclectic framework and use of language combines prose and poetry and the inorganic with the organic, to emphasize the miraculous interlocking combination of details that build up to an individual identity. The chapters also explore betrayal and martyrdom; love and memory; power and helplessness; abandonment and tragic lingering. It asks: How did my ghosts and I arrive here?

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Fine Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Creative Writing

Department dc:contributor.department

English

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Santana, Catalina Enith

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Terazawa, Sophia Emi

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Joseph, Janine Alissandra Fernandez
• Vollmer, James M.

• surreal
• spaceship
• artificial intelligence
• personhood
• literary speculative fiction

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

vt_gsexam:43706

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/133147