Arts and Humanities Commons^™

This Is Not Your Life, Ella M. Carroll-Smith

Stonecoast MFA Theses and Capstones

My novel, This Is Not Your Life examines themes of identity, class, and fate. Identical twin sisters, Annie and Quinn Graves, shared a troubled childhood, which led each of them down very different life paths. Annie is now climbing the corporate ladder at work, while Quinn leads the perfect family life in Richmond’s elite suburbs. And yet, they’re both unhappy, yearning for something different than the lives that seem to have chosen them. The two women decide to switch places for a while, hoping for a change of scenery and lifestyle. However, that decision has potentially disastrous consequences for them …

Desert Palms, Carolyn D. Pledge-Amaral

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

DESERT PALMS is a contemporary women’s novel set in an Arizona RV park. When Miamians Margie Campos and her husband, Carlos, unexpectantly inherit Desert Palms, a rundown retirement community, Margie reluctantly agrees to stay in Arizona to overhaul the park. With the discovery of a secret letter that threatens to unravel the family, an unscrupulous broker determined to buy the park on the cheap, and a husband bent on hitting it big, Margie digs in and starts to find purpose amidst a desert microcosm.

Told from Margie’s perspective in a closely attached third person, DESERT PALMS is a realistic and …

Paranormal Orgy, Cameron M. Contois

All NMU Master's Theses

Paranormal Orgy is a novel length work that explores a world full of the paranormal— demons and vampires and aliens— and how some very real, very flawed characters get by in the face of these monsters. Many different points of view are utilized in this work, beginning with the point of view of a 15-year-old girl who may or may not be possessed. Haunted by the prospect of growing up, this girl attempts to live and love in the world of the strange. Other point of views explored include that of an addict, an estranged daughter, a strict grandmother, and …

The Lightbringer: A Novel, Brett L. Butler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Lightbringer is about a collision of two worlds: the world of a contemporary South Florida town and the magical world of Zariel, bringing with it the universal threat of the Terra. Childhood friends, Breck and Tom, are thrown into the middle of an ancient conflict between the Terra—a collection of alien races that have been transformed by darkness—and the forces of good. After an encounter with a magical pool of golden water, the boys must learn to use their new abilities to protect against the growing Terranox army. In the midst of their struggle, however, a mysterious companion—the Lightbringer, …

Fragile Saints, Mary-Claire Ibarra

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

FRAGILE SAINTS is a magical realist novel set in contemporary Peru. Elsa is struggling with her recent divorce and childhood memories of her family’s silk-producing farm haunt her, so when Elsa’s dying grandmother requests to see her, she visits Peru. There, Elsa learns she has inherited a country house, near the old family hacienda, which is haunted by a dark secret. Elsa is intrigued with the house, its caretakers, and her new lover Gustavo, yet she encounters disturbing ghostly visitors.

The novel is written primarily from Elsa’s point of view, as she discovers her purpose, but an omniscient narrator is …

The Museum, Julie Yucai Jarema

Senior Projects Spring 2016

The Museum takes the form of a novel. It has a window carved into its steel garage door for the viewer to observe and puzzle over the assortment of ephemera inside the small space. Mia, a girl who does not know her roots, ends up working as a research assistant for the reclusive author who owns the museum. Her life becomes increasingly more chaotic and unstable as the author, Mr. E, sends her and her newborn daughter on an absurd scavenger hunt through Manhattan. Mr. E constructs each of Mia’s assignments around the plot of the novel that he is …

O Is For Olive, Anna Rose Kornfeld

Senior Projects Spring 2016

The suicide of a young woman’s brother results in her return home to mourn his loss. She is forced to reconnect with family members as she explores the past and tries to grapple with the future.