Fiction Commons^™

Minutiae 973.1, Lila Bovenzi

Bryant Literary Review

The law of conservation of mass states that matter can neither be created nor destroyed. If something is taken from the earth, it has to be replaced, or else the universe will fall into disharmony.

Why I Cry For Little Girls, Julia Raboy

Bryant Literary Review

I like working with little kids, and since I have been old enough to be employable, my main source of income has been from childcare: camp counselor, babysitter, nursery school “teacher,” etc.

La Escucho, Leah Ryan

Bryant Literary Review

When I started my career as a passionate photojournalist, I never expected it to be my demise. I was a naïve 20-something-year-old, ready to leave the United States and travel the world, capturing its majesty with the click of a lens. That was when there was beauty to capture…

“Around We Go”: The Apocalypse As Revolution And Revelation In David Mitchell’S Cloud Atlas, Emma G. Schilling

Student Publications

The tradition of global disasters in literature is long-standing and David Mitchell contributes to that discussion. For him, the possibility of political, social, and environmental collapse is imminent based on patterns he traced throughout human history. One common thread Mitchell weaves throughout his works is the presence and the relevance of the apocalyptic. In his best known work, Cloud Atlas, Mitchell explores the cyclical trends of humanity across time and space, including the recurrence of predacity, cruelty, and systematic oppression. Rather than being overwhelmed by a nihilistic reality, Mitchell centers Cloud Atlas around recurring figures of revolution, resisting and …

Contemporaries & Other Inklings Collection Finding Aid, Taylor University

Finding Aids

The Contemporaries & Other Inklings Collection features a variety of rare books, pamphlets, and articles written by and about members of the Inklings and those who were their friends or inspirations. Please refer to the separate finding aids for these authors: C. S. Lewis, Charles Williams, Dorothy L. Sayers, George MacDonald, and Owen Barfield.
Last Updated: August 29, 2022

Marilyn's Friend, Nancy's Kaddish, The Dispossessed, Valerie Silver

The Tuxedo Archives

My friend Marilyn has a girlfriend, Roaslind, who converses regularly with her late mother, but only while driving alone in the car. The chats are usually brief, slid in-between runs to the bank or the grocery store. Rosalind checks in with her mom about her day just as she always had, updates her on the latest goings-ons, asks for guidance when she needs it. Often, she gets answers. What is most remarkable to me about these conversations is how routine they have become in Rosalind’s life. She has found a way to accommodate the loss of her mother while continuing …

Monologue, Carina Romano

The Tuxedo Archives

I had to leave 'em, man.

It was s'posed to be a onetime thing-- one deal and it's done. We just needed a little extra cash, man, but it went so wrong. She had a gun man! A gun! She couldn't pay-- we told her to hit the road, but she wouldn't go, dammit, she fucking--

Kiss Me, Aiyana Ross-Beck

The Tuxedo Archives

It was the last weekend of the year and this party was in full flow. Beer pong, quarters and stupid card games were all going on in the different rooms of the house. Maia was alone wandering through the party until she see saw a girl dancing the middle of the floor. She was brunette, tall, and obviously drunk. She was dancing by herself to a Zedd song. Shaking her hips to the beat and to constant crowd encouragement. As Maia stood watching the girl she became memorized. The girl looked in her direction flashing beautiful green eyes and a …

I Cannot Make This Story Come Out Right, Kevin Coates

The Tuxedo Archives

I cannot make this story come out right. I walked in and he was dead. Dead is dead. Nothing I said or did at that moment could change a single thing. I could wish it; I could regret it. But I could not change it. He was dead on the floor, looking like he was uncomfortably asleep, stiff. He did not have on his favorite shirt. There was a small spaghetti stain under his left pocket, and I knew he probably hadn’t even seen it. How distressed he would have been to die with a spaghetti stain on his shirt.

Drink And The Devil, Richard Clark

The Tuxedo Archives

When he was twenty-eight-year-old the man began to have a recurring nightmare. He was on the London Underground with his wife, a little before Christmas. Lunch at Simpsons on the Strand had been followed by shopping at Harrods and Selfridges. They carried big bags of gifts and tasteless tidbits wrapped in cellophane and colored ribbon. They were happy, not a care in the world. As the train trundled along the tunnel beneath the Thames, the wife said she could hear the sound of rushing water. “Don’t worry,” the man told her, “the train is watertight.” They sat quietly but the …

C.S. Lewis Collection Finding Aid, Taylor University

Finding Aids

The C. S. Lewis Collection features a variety of books and articles by and about Lewis. It also includes letters and manuscripts written by Lewis, as well as rare and first editions of his books.
Last Updated: August 29, 2022

George Macdonald Collection Finding Aid, Taylor University

Finding Aids

The George MacDonald Collection features a variety of rare books, letters, and serialized fiction written by MacDonald, as well as scholarship and articles written about him.
Last Updated: August 29, 2022

Volume 53 (2021), C V. Davis, Anna Grace Jones

The Broad River Review

The 2021 edition of The Broad River Review was edited by C. V. Davis and Anna Grace Jones.

COVER PHOTOGRAPHY: Guilherme Bergamini, Dolabela Engineer

THE RASH AWARD IN FICTION: Alan Sincic, The Sinkhole

THE RASH AWARD IN POETRY: John Blair, Eclogue 4: The Woodpecker

POETRY: Estelle Bajou, I Never Learned to Pray; George Bandy, The Ever-Changing City & Life, 1938; Michael Beadle, My Mother’s Rock Collection; Peter Bergquist, Journey; Robert Beveridge, A Salt Rifle; \Vivian I. Bikulege, Read the Water; Adam Burgess, Phantom; Camille Carter, Georgia O’Keeffe, From the Faraway, Nearby, 1937; Kenneth Chamlee, Vision; Sharon Charde, Almost; Stephany L.N. …

Et Cetera, 2019-2021, Marshall University

Et Cetera

Founded in 1953, Et Cetera is an annual literary magazine that publishes the creative writing and artwork of Marshall University students and affiliates. Et Cetera is free to the Marshall University community.

Et Cetera welcomes submissions in literary and film criticism, poetry, short stories, drama, all types of creative non-fiction, photography, and art.

Animal-Human Vocabulary Builder, Domenick Acocella, Rene Cordero

Open Educational Resources

The assignment helps students individually build a usable, expanding vocabulary of terms and concepts, enabling each to further contribute to the ongoing, evolving written, oral, and visual conversations centered on the use of and thought about animals for food, clothing, work, entertainment, experimentation, imagery, and companionship.

Night Of Awakening: Strength And Empowerment In The Young Adult Fiction Genre, Shelby Ann Davis

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Young Adult Fantasy genre is often written off as a useless, or immature form of writing. However, there are studies that prove that this specific genre is not only engaging, but it is also empowering for young readers. By writing toward adolescent readers, authors are able to promote various ways in which their characters adjust or interact with their surroundings, which also influences their readers’ self and social awareness. By representing feminist perspectives and depicting the effects of trauma, YA literature fosters progressive social change and conveys the importance of mental health. In writing my own novel, The Night …

Big Nothing: A Story About Bicycles And The Girls Who Ride Them In The Heart Of West Texas, Keziah Staska

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Their one-way road trip had started the day before when they left their home in San Bernardino for the final time. Paisley was afraid of moving away from the city she grew up in, but not for the same reasons many children her age would be. . So, her social life wasn’t her primary concern when it came time to abandon her home. Instead, she was afraid to leave San Bernardino because she had memorized all the perfect bike routes within a thirty-mile radius. On the other, the fear that their new home would have insufficient routes and roads compared …

African American Literary Traditions In Justina Ireland’S Young Adult Novels Dread Nation And Deathless Divide, Gabrielle Sleeper

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Justina Ireland’s young adult novels Dread Nation (2017) and Deathless Divide (2020) tell the story of a Black girl by the name of Jane living in the aftermath of the Civil War, around 1880.

Cold Snap, Skylar Beauregard

Master’s Theses and Projects

For my Master’s Thesis project, I will be writing an original piece of realistic fiction inspired by the “dirty realism” literary movement of the 20th century. This piece of fiction, at the end of these two semesters, will resemble a novella in length and style while focusing on execution and maintenance of profluence as an element of narrative craft. My first semester will be spent conducting topical research on female urban youth and modern sex work in the form of short interviews and field research, closely reading some relevant contemporary “dirty realism” pieces of fiction, and using craft-based handbooks to …

Delivering Extinction, Tatum Cordy

Honors College Theses

Living during a human extinction is something no one is prepared for. No one thought humans would last this long. Even the sun dies eventually. A child’s drawing with a dripping smile. Sun rays heating soil into dust, melting metals, and large pine trees would light like matches. Smoke would rise into the air blocking out everything but the fires taking over the once livable landscape of Earth. Then, it would be over. The sun would explode. Simple and quick, painless for the few who wouldn’t try to resist their demise. Too bad humans were a few million years early. …

Billion-Dollar Bride: Book 1—Godric's Academy For Young Ladies, Kaylin N. Stickley

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This thesis contains the first five chapters of a young adult romance novel featuring a young woman named Theadosia Lee. The plot is heavily influenced by Cinderella, and the biblical braiding technique is heavily influenced by that of Kiera Cass and C. S. Lewis. The piece was inspired by my desire to create more young adult romance novels that contain the biblical values that are sorely lacking in most modern young adult literature. I seek to write a love story that is based on mutual respect, a strong foundation of friendship, and an intentional decision to avoid sexual activities …

Owen Barfield Collection Finding Aid, Taylor University

Finding Aids

The Owen Barfield Collection features a variety of books and articles by and about Barfield. It also includes letters and manuscripts written by Barfield, as well as rare and first editions of his books.
Last Updated: August 29, 2022

Dorothy L. Sayers Collection Finding Aid, Taylor University

Finding Aids

The Dorothy L. Sayers Collection features a variety of rare books, pamphlets, and articles written by and about Sayers. These include multiple first editions of her poetry books, crime novels, and reflection on theology.
Last Updated: August 29, 2022

Charles Williams Collection Finding Aid, Taylor University

Finding Aids

The Charles Williams Collection features a variety of books and articles by and about Williams. It also includes letters and typescripts written by Williams, in addition to rare and first editions of his books.
Last Updated: August 29, 2022

Challenging The Traditional Narrative: A Discussion On Ntzake Shange’S For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When The Rainbow Is Enuf And Beyoncé’S Lemonadex, Nadia Yonan

Canterbury Scholars

This paper discusses Beyonce’s Lemonade, a visual album released in 2016, and Ntzake Shange’s famous choreopoem, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf. The paper will seek to put in conversation the two works and analyze their commentary on redefining the traditional narrative while also working to understand Black Womanhood and the pain, trauma, reconciliation, and healing that comes with it. My Canterbury project will look at the ways in which Shange’s For Colored Girls and Beyonce’s visual text Lemonade merge arts and literature to create a space of healing and renewal for Black women today.

Mythic Circle #42, The Editors

The Mythic Circle

The Mythic Circle is a creative writing journal devoted to fantasy-inspired creative works; it has been published by the Mythopoeic Society since 1987, and earlier versions of the Society’s creative writing efforts extend to Mythril (1971 to 1980) and Mythellany (1981 to 1987). These journals have now been archived in their entirety at https://dc.swosu.edu/mythsoc/ through the efforts of the Society’s archivist, Phillip Fitzsimmons, and digital assistant Benjamin Dressler. All but the current issue may be downloaded for free, and the current issue may be purchased as a digital download or ordered as a print-on-demand title from Amazon.

In its thirty-three …

I Love You, Go Away (A Novel), John Matthew Steinhafel

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

I Love You, Go Away, a novel set in Milwaukee, tells the story of a twenty-two year-old nobody, Gabriel Driscoll, who meets and befriends a middle-aged, drug addicted, recluse actor, Beau Brooks. But less than six months into their friendship Beau commits suicide. At the funeral Gabriel meets a twenty-nine-year-old corporate executive, Michelle, the daughter of Beau’s long-time girlfriend. Gabriel and Michelle bond over their mutual grief and quickly strike up a romance. At the same time, Gabriel’s semi-estranged mother, Sadie, a recovering heroin addict, reaches out to him in an effort to rebuild their relationship. What follows for Gabriel …

My Ribcage Makes Eye Contact, Erika Rasmussen

Canterbury Scholars

Erika Rasmussen's "My Ribcage Makes Eye Contact" is a collection of poems completed during her time as a Canterbury Scholar at Santa Clara University. The poems address questions, experiences, and images that speak to spirituality, family, loss, uncertainty, hope, the body, and love.

"Strong Female Characters"? An Analysis Of Six Female Fantasy Characters From Novel To Film, Valari Westeren

Honors Projects

This project is twofold. The first section analyzes six female fantasy characters in their literary and filmic incarnations—Dorothy Gale (The Wizard of Oz), Susan Pevensie (The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian), Arwen Evenstar (The Lord of the Rings), Princess Buttercup (The Princess Bride), Hermione Granger (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone), and Annabeth Chase (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief)—noting adaptational changes made to each and placing the twelve incarnations in conversation with each other. This conversation centers around the concept of the “strong female character,” …

Another Perspective: Telling The Hero’S Story Without The Hero, Renee Hopper

Honors Projects

Can a YA story be effectively told through the lenses of side characters that typically exist to further the main character’s plot? What gives a side character agency? How do you make a hero without ever getting close to them through the narrator? This Honors Project seeks to answer those questions through a YA-style novella in which four different "side characters" tell their stories, and the hero's point of view is never followed.