Strangers on Mortal Shores

About the Book

STRANGERS ON MORTAL SHORES is a modern-day parallel of Eurydice´s abduction to the Underworld and a cautionary tale about the shadows of influence we cast. Set in the West and California in the 1970´s late-Hippie world, the story is the memoirs of a young woman careening down into America´s disintegrating culture. Factual and hallucinogenic versions of the truth meld into an emotionally charged tale. This American classic is a round trip ticket thru the dark side of America, to Hades and back.

STRANGERS ON MORTAL SHORES is the haunting and sensual narrative of a young woman in the turbulent early Seventies on a misguided journey of discovery. Wonderfully conjuring up the atmosphere of the times with richly drawn characters that include cowboys, Indians, a Voodoo witch, killers, magicians and dreamers, the narrator takes us along in this emotionally charged tale.

The complex struggle between the narrator’s version of memory and her brother’s disintegrating reality, the blurring of the lines between truth and drug-induced visions, and the disenchantment from truth and the American dream, to re-enchantment of the spirit, depict an unforgettable story of redemption told from a unique metaphysical perspective.

Insightfully mirroring both the mythology of Homer, and Carlos Castañeda’s dreamlike adventures, this classic American Odyssey is filled with strange and delightful imagery as it paints a haunting portrait of the dark side of America, a paradise lost.

About the Author

Sofia Debussy is a published poet and short fiction writer. She studied and taught writing at Southern Illinois University, where she began her novel Strangers On Mortal Shores from a short story. She continued her education and novel’s work at San Francisco State University. She currently lives in Northern California where she is co-authoring a non-fiction book on spirituality and relationships.