Fiction Commons^™

The Holiness And Other Stories, Leslie Michelle Nichols

Dissertations

This dissertation is a collection of an introductory essay and ten original short stories written and submitted to fiction workshops in the PhD program at The University of Southern Mississippi’s Center for Writers.

Disappearing Children, Beth Lynn Couture

Dissertations

This collection of short stories is primarily concerned with the dynamic between adults and children—parents and their own children, teachers and their students, and other adult/child relationships. In each of the stories, children present a psychological or emotional challenge to the adults, one with which they are not always equipped to cope. They are a problem which cannot be solved easily, if it can be solved at all. On a formal level, the stories in this collection seek to blur the line between the mundane and the magical. Though the collection is riddled with the fantastic, at its center is …

Other People's Houses, David Williamson

English Theses & Dissertations

The stories in this collection concern the suburban demography as an American landscape, as unique as Manhattan or the West Coast or the Mississippi River or the Arizona desert, with its own lore, mythos, and expectations. These stories attempt to retell those myths and ask why expectations fall short, when they do.

These stories are similar in their exposition and context: male viewpoint characters who live in middle class neighborhoods and communities and spend their days battling anxiety and paranoia and fear and mystery and confusion. Each story represents a piece of suburbia and how a specific landscape and culture …

Fiction Fix 07, April E. Bacon, Marianne Mckey, Louise Freshman-Brown, Devin Balara, David Greenwood, Dan Buyanovsky, Malcolm Murray, Harmony Neal, Russell Gift, Chad Senesac, Travis Wildes, Stephen Williams, Tim Gilmore

Fiction Fix

No abstract provided.

What Did I Do To Susan Orlean And Other Stories, Brian C. Wilson

English Theses & Dissertations

From the seat of a bicycle, behind the stage of a lumberjack competition, atop a boatful of oyster shells, and from other unusual perspectives the nonfiction stories in this collection explore a variety of subjects. In some cases I position myself as an outsider, learning through research, interviews and observation. In others I begin as an outsider and then dive in personally, making myself the subject of the experiment. Through it all I hope to make readers, at least temporarily, as interested in online encyclopedias, fixed-wheel bicycles, replica schooners and hungry stingrays as I am.

The proper audience for the …

Bad Girls Of The Bible, Dana Staves

English Theses & Dissertations

Bad Girls of the Bible is a collection of short stories set in the South and dealing with the themes, manners, and ideals of the region. Thematically, the stories are concerned with religion, family, gender, sexuality, and identity, exploring generational gaps and misunderstandings, working from, or beyond, Old South ideals toward New South diversity and progressiveness. Every story features a female narrator or point of view character who is greatly influenced by the Old South/New South dichotomy, the sense of obligation to those people who uphold the past, the momentum toward a better future, and each character's willingness to draw …

Fiction Fix 06, Melissa Bryant, April E. Bacon, Klemen Pisk, Shay Wood, Laura Ferrara, Nancy Gessner, Thomas Karst, Renee Press, Themba Mabona, Christine Utz, Sean Thompson, Beau Denton, Shannon Estlund, Sarah Prevatt, Laura Murren

Fiction Fix

No abstract provided.

Absence Makes The Heart, Paula L. Mcmahon

English Theses & Dissertations

Absence Makes The Heart explores, in six short stories, characters who face ordinary problems, but search for grace through extraordinary means. Inspired by the tragi­ comic styles of writers such as Lorrie Moore, Lee K. Abbott, Ron Carlson and others, these stories follow regular, if somewhat oddball folks, who - intentionally or by accident - invoke creativity to overcome or circumvent desperate circumstances. Throughout their journeys, these mothers, fathers, fishermen, and saxophone players find support from surprising co-conspirators: other oddballs, equally vulnerable and in need of redemption. Though the characters don't necessarily find the answers or forgiveness they seek, they …

The Projectionist, Travis Keith Kurowski

Dissertations

The Projectionist is a collection of short stories composed during my studies at The University of Southern Mississippi Center for Writers between the years 2006 and 2009. n

Companionship Through Standard Question And Answer Routines, Ryan Saxon Davidson

Dissertations

Companionship through Standard Question and Answer Routines is a collection of short stories and short shorts dealing with the nature of human relationships and the ways in which people get to know each other.

Chasing Martins, Jade Hellen

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for the BSU Honors Program.

Marathon, Ohio, Alan Guido Rossi Jr.

Dissertations

Marathon, Ohio is an original collection of fiction, accompanied by a critical introduction. All of the stories were written between 2005 and 2008 at the University of Southern Mississippi's Center for Writers. The stories are arranged for a thematic and formal effect, rather than by chronology.

We'll Hang Ourselves Tomorrow, Samuel Brendan Ruddick

Dissertations

This is a collection of short stories. They are all first person narratives. Most of them are told by men in their late twenties to mid-thirties. A couple of them are told by boys on the verge of adolescence. I can not tell you what they are about. I can tell you that they are very sad. I can also tell you that they are full of hope and wonder. Hence the title, a line taken from Godot. The reference to suicide might sound grim, but I would argue that if the world were without hope, we would hang ourselves …

The Life And Death Of A Pizza Boy, Nick Simberg

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduate requirement for the BSU Honors Program.

Et Cetera, 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.

Fiction Fix 05, Troy Puls, Vicki Winslow, Todd Kincaid, Christine Utz, Ann Marie Byrd, Mark Fields, Shane Horn, Joseph Derepentigny, Kristen Iannuzzi

Fiction Fix

No abstract provided.

Art Therapy, Valli Jo Porter

English Theses & Dissertations

The five stories in this thesis explore how people comprehend identity, especially in the context of geographical region, religion, relationships, and genetics. Each story's suburban setting plays largely into the characters' crises of identity, even though the protagonists range in age from teen to middle-aged father of four. Through the action of each story, the five protagonists awaken to new facets of their own characters.

In "Love Your Neighbor," college student Julianne debates whether she can take revenge after a neighbor invades her privacy. Jacob Ritter, in "1-90," contemplates whether he understands his children now that they are grown and …

Et Cetera, 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.

Shattered Wholeness, Kassie D. Heisserer

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for the BSU Honors Program.

Et Cetera, 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.

Fiction Fix 04, Melissa Milburn, Sarah Clarke-Stuart, Kristen Iannuzzi, Vanessa Wells, Nathan Holic, Joshua Kreis Mctiernan, Ron Perline, Tina Helvie, Gavin Lambert, Jamie Hughes, Tim Gilmore, April Fisher

Fiction Fix

No abstract provided.

Fantasy Writing Theory And Practice, Kristi Hager

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for the BSU Honors Program.

Here And There, Warren D. M. Reed

English Theses & Dissertations

HERE AND THERE is a collection of short stories bringing both outré burlesque comedy and tragic moments from the human drama under one heading. I believe, as Victor Hugo pointed out in his Preface de Cromwell, that comedy and tragedy are intrinsic elements of human life and therefore ought to be represented together. The first section is mostly comedy, and explores the ironic grotesqueries of life in the West. The concluding section, whose stories are set in Francophone Africa, examines in a more serious tone conflicts arising directly and indirectly from contact with the West.

A Little Slice Of The Moon: Stories, Fatima Rashid

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A Little Slice of the Moon: stories is a collection of short stories that explore the struggles of various characters to find their place in the world. And the world, despite its familiarity, can be a hostile place. The characters in this collection learn that families are a fragile lot, that every desire contains a paradox, that the Road of Life can seemingly be grasped by the horns, but that the future twists and turns, yet never escapes the past. And it is the past that haunts these characters' lives. One word, one act, impacts a lifetime. In A Little …

Fiction Fix 03, Thelma Young, Tim Gilmore, Sarah Stuart-Clarke, Jeff Geloneck, Blake Mccorkle, David Jordan, M. J. Howe, Stephanie Ouellette, Laura Havice, Christopher Sylvester, April Fisher, Gavin Lambert

Fiction Fix

No abstract provided.

Calliope : War, Love, & Wisdom (2004), Calliope

Calliope

No abstract provided.

Fire And Ice, Anne Wilson M. Gregory

English Theses & Dissertations

Fire and Ice is comprised of five stories, each of which features a female protagonist at a crossroads in her life. Each of these women pursues a quest for personal fulfillment in the face of her shifting familial and emotional landscape. The stories deal primarily with domestic issues, such as childbearing, marital relationships, aging parents and personal faith. Though each woman feels alone in her individual incidence of alienation and loss, the stories imply the universality of each of these life-altering situations. All of the stories are set in modern-day Virginia; four are contemporary, and one, Fire, spans the decade …

Fiction Fix 02, Sarah Howard, April E. Fisher, Danielle Dieger, Robert Orndorff, Thelma Young, Gavin Lamert, Jeff Geloneck, Tim Gilmore, Melissa Gollegly, Shannon Mcleish, Robert Panaro

Fiction Fix

No abstract provided.

Calliope : Across The Disciplines (Spring 2003), Calliope

Calliope

No abstract provided.

Et Cetera, 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.