Transatlantic approach: This project explores British and American texts in conversation together. Use of archival materials, which is relatively unusual within Gothic studies, and even in literary studies more generally. A focus on poetry, drama, and periodical writing, genres that are often ignored in the study of the Gothic. A focus on women’s work (both on the labor of women and on texts by women). A focus on local Gothic (especially in Lowell and Manchester), with a connection to larger international trends of the genre.

Emerging from the wreckage of the outside world, Pencil and Nickel at last stand before the symbol of their desperate search-the fabled "Aluminum Tower."

In the aftermath of a deadly bombing, fugitive lovers Pencil and Nickel are suddenly separated and left to their own devices in an increasingly hostile new world. Embarking on a desperate search for his lost companion, Pencil encounters a sculptor and her garden of earthly delights, while Nickel finds herself in an institution where the injured and insane aren't easily differentiated.