Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Shadows Of The Morning Twilight, Philip A. Lapadula

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Shadows of the Morning Twilight is a collection of seven short stories and one novella about men who, facing transitions in their lives and in society, grapple with issues of sexual identity, residency, past traumas, and corruption. In the noir-influenced title novella, Nick Esposito, a mid-1970s journalism student, faces dangerous choices when he reports on the sale of a gay bar that is covertly owned by the mafia. Some characters see themselves as trapped. In “Final Score,” a former football player struggling with dementia finds a reason to live when he mentors a young gay man. In “Psyched,” “Phantoms of …

Embrace The Moon, Natalie J. Havlina

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

EMBRACE THE MOON is a collection of six stories that explore how people respond when faced with the impossible. A young woman welcomes a visit from her recently-deceased grandfather in the title story, while the narrator of “A Unicorn in Paris” dismisses the magical creature as a side effect of heartbreak. Like the dark power in Truman Capote’s “Master Misery,” the reality of the ghost and the unicorn remains ambiguous. In other stories, the uncanny is dangerously real, as in Karen Russell’s Vampires in the Lemon Grove. “The Norban Birds of the Count Bartello-Sauvigny” feast on the women they charm …

The Greatest Is Love, Leslie Charles Taylor

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

THE GREATEST IS LOVE is a collection of ten short stories showing the painful manifestations of romantic relationships in the lives of contemporary American characters from many walks of life.

As in the stories of D.H. Lawrence, these characters are often driven towards what may be bad for them, finding that love overrides their rational thoughts. In “The Mechanic” a woman whose legal career has left her isolated becomes irresistibly attracted to her friend’s ex-husband. Three stories center on one character, Charles, whose early failures both in college and at work lead him to become a detective, only to be …

Existential Bebop, Brett Kaplan

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

EXISTENTIAL BEBOP is a collection of thirteen short stories that use humor and satire to address some of the absurdities of human existence.

In some stories, characters are forced to come to terms with mortality, such as the six-year-old boy in “A Goldfish Memory,” who learns about death for the first time. In “Cassandra Knows All” a rational twenty-something is lured by a charlatan who convinces her that there is an afterlife. In others, the comedy centers on human frailties, such as “Weekend in Deceit,” where two couples confront infidelity. “The Sacrifice of Mikey Horowitz” explores family values, ancient and …

Calle Panadero, Giselda Aguiar

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This collection of nine short stories follows Adelia Villalobos and Isidoro Belmonte, two Cuban Americans solving crimes in present-day South Florida. The former best friends have grown apart during college, but when Adelia is drawn into a murder case, the outcome leads Isidoro to return home and the pair to found the unlicensed detective agency, Calle Panadero (Spanish for Baker Street). Their cases explore the underside of many facets of the community, including bigamy, fraud, and criminal organizations. Along the way, they deal with love, death, and family obligations, and arrive at a new understanding of how their destinies are …

Out Of View: Stories, Justin Bendell

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

OUT OF VIEW is a collection of stories set in the American Southwest about people coping with loss—the death of parents, children, ideals, innocence.

The characters in this collection reap or resist lessons of life as they struggle to find their place in the world. In “First Rain,” 15-year-old Tessie struggles with the loss of her father and the demands of her mother as she navigates the rocky terrain of adolescence. In “Monsters,” middle-aged Maury has to choose between a new relationship and protecting the well-being of his 4-year-old ‘daughter.’ The stories are influenced by the Western realism of Maile …