Fiction Commons^™

A Home For Friendless Women With Critical Essay "But What Was She Wearing?", Kelly E. Hill

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a historical novel accompanied by a critical lyric essay. Through a combination of scholarly research and creative activity, the novel reimagines the lives of the women who lived as inmates and administrators in the Home for Friendless Women, a charity home that operated in Louisville in the late nineteenth century. The critical essay draws from my interdisciplinary background to combine personal experiences, archival and scholarly research, and literary analysis to connect the U.S. dress reform movement in the 1850s, and its failure to change public perception about what was acceptable attire for middle and upper class women, …

Taunggyi Dreamer: Exiles, Diasporas, And Pleasures, Singh Kaur Singh

All NMU Master's Theses

Taunggyi Dreamer: Exiles, Diasporas, and Pleasures, a collection of poetry and prose (creative non-fiction and fiction), reflecting themes of trauma, memory, psychic fragmentation and survival is told through hybrid narratives. The writing arises from my own multiple migrations from Taunggyi, Burma, to India and eventually to the United States of America. Taunggyi Dreamer is inspired by: my exile from my birth country, Burma, after the military coup of 1962; my resettlement as a stateless citizen in my ancestral home in India during my teen years; and my arrival to the United States of America in my thirties as a …

Impression, Storm, Victoria Rego, Victoria Anne Rego

All NMU Master's Theses

This novel, set in a cypress swamp near Charleston, South Carolina, explores issues in gender, sexuality, the body, and place. An experiment in form, the novel is structured to replicate the passing of a hurricane over land. This model allows the narrative to expand its scope to encompass the swamp as a larger entity amidst the ecosystem of the coastal south. By weaving together the narratives of the plant, animal, human, ghost, and mythic members of the swamp, the narrative seeks to interrogate the ways that these different levels of an ecosystem intercede upon, assist, and redirect each other in …

Sundered: A Novel-In-Progress, Erik Renner

Honors Scholar Theses

Sundered: A Novel-in-Progress is a creative thesis that discusses the creative process involved in preparing for and writing a fiction novel. It is a thesis of four parts: a critical preface documenting the history of the project and breaking down the creative process involved; the prologue to the eponymous novel-in-progress; an annotated example of an in-progress first chapter; and an annotated transcript of a character sketch made of the book's protagonist. The novel itself is a post-apocalyptic western, with some additional steam-punk and historical influences. The core theme of the project revolves around finding a peaceful way to fix a …

Secondhand, Julia Grunes

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

A Perfect Day For Caiman Hunting, Nick Pattilio

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

Life, Love, And Loss: Redefining The Trauma, Samantha Crystal Rae Barnette

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This thesis begins with a critical introduction analyzing the use of defamiliarization and the Dostoevskian hero in literature as a catalyst for a change in perception for victims of trauma. I create a relationship between the theories of Viktor Shklovsky and Mikhail Bakhtin as applied to both my own and published works. Short stories from Carmen Maria Machado and Marly Swick and Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale help to situate my own writing within this theoretical approach. The basis of my hypothesis lies in the blurred effect that trauma can have on the individual, causing an automatic response to …

The Infinite Crisis: How The American Comic Book Has Been Shaped By War, Winston Andrus

War, Diplomacy, and Society (MA) Theses

This thesis project argues that war has been the greatest catalyst for the American comic book medium to become a socio-political change agent within western society. Comic books have become one of the most pervasive influences to global popular culture, with superheroes dominating nearly every popular art form. Yet, the academic world has often ignored the comic book medium as a niche market instead of integrated into the broader discussions on cultural production and conflict studies. This paper intends to bridge the gap between what has been classified as comic book studies and the greater academic world to demonstrate the …

Artificial Magic, Tawny Ventura

Senior Theses

This novella by Tawny Ventury emerged from a short story written for a creative writing course on speculative fiction.

Who Is Neil Wells?, Colin Anderson

Senior Theses

This creative writing thesis takes the form of a mystery novel by Colin Anderson.

In Space, Sarah Street

The Purple

No abstract provided.

'I Want The Feels Of I Be On Top' Said Little Angela Black, R.T. Guerra

The Purple

No abstract provided.

My Father's Self-Defenestration, Sam Lively

The Purple

No abstract provided.

Spiral, Anna Davis

The Purple

No abstract provided.

Making A Name, Kimberly Fetherston

The Purple

No abstract provided.

Capitulated Memory, Anna Davis

The Purple

No abstract provided.

Everything But The Girl, Olga Wiktoria

The Purple

No abstract provided.

The Houseplants, Christine Mclaughlin

The Purple

No abstract provided.

Once Upon A Re-Imagined Time: A Series Of Lgbtqiap+ Fairytales, Elizabeth Groth

Honors Projects

: Is it possible to merge the genres of LGBTQ+ literature and fairytales? How would one go about doing it in a way that doesn’t perpetuate stereotypes? Is it possible to convey those positive LGBTQ+ messages in a way that is accessible to an eight to twelve age range? Which LGBTQ+ groups would benefit the most from this representation? Why are stories like this necessary in a society that is becoming progressively more accepting of the LGBTQ+ community (and other minority communities) on its own? Is there an added benefit to including characters of other marginalized communities within these stories …

A Mile And More: A Novella And A Reflection On Body-Swapping, De'avion Reid

Undergraduate Theses

The story takes place in a quiet town and follows two high school juniors, Jerome-Tyler Hodges and McKenna McKinley. Having no prior affiliation with one another, Jerome and McKenna find themselves caught in the predicament of having switched bodies after an unforeseen comet crashes on the roof of their high school. Not wanting to attract the wrong kind of attention, the two decide to weather the storm and spend some time in each other’s shoes, in hopes of the issue resolving itself. Despite living in the same town and going to the same school, Jerome and McKenna have lived different …

The Butte, Natasha Bailey

Senior Theses

The Butte is a collection of short stories about a small town in the Pacific Northwest. In these short stories I explore idealistic small-town culture and blend it with the Pacific Northwest’s own (modern) paranormal mythology. This medley of different genre aspects in my stories makes The Butte difficult to label, but ultimately, my goal while writing was to explore various styles and points of view.

The nine stories set in The Butte shift styles on a variety of levels from character switching, point of view (1^st person, 3^rd person, and omniscient), and formatting (structure and linguistics). These …

Rocky Waters: Exploring The Intersections Of Romance And Travel, Jessica Bragg

Honors Projects

The genres of romance and travel have been explored by several authors, but this 60,000-word novel provides a unique combination of the two by exploiting a younger demographic of characters and placing the setting of the story in a fascinating realm of this world: the Mediterranean islands. Despite possessing an extensive business background, this creative project has encouraged versatility, adaptability, and enhanced time management skills that will transfer into all other aspects of my life. Research regarding the history of the romance and travel genres took place during the Fall 2020 semester, and the weekly process of writing and revising …

Trying To Fix It, Alisha Ragon

The Tuxedo Archives

She was trying to fix it.

She walked in with purpose, and nerves on fire.

As hard as she tried to hold up her badass countenance, they could still tell she was tired. She walked with swagger, put distance between her steps. This convenience store’s law of awkward nondisclosure was helpful in self-defense. As messed up as she had become, there were still people here much more fucked than her. She said hello to the man at the counter, with lowered eyes. She avoided other consumers with grace; she simply stepped down the wrong aisle.

In The Beginning, Jeffrey Wincek

The Tuxedo Archives

In the beginning there was the Computer and the Screen, and the Computer was inert and void and darkness was over the face of the Screen. And the Author’s finger pressed the Power Button and the Computer Booted Up and there was Light on the face of the Screen. And the Author saw it was good.

Gil And Ki In Couples Therapy, Jeffrey Wincek

The Tuxedo Archives

The office is tidy and uncluttered; tasteful and well lighted. The decor is mid-century modern with an occasional treasure from antiquity featured here and there: tiny bronze and terra cotta Nabatean oil lamps, Sumerian fetishes, facsimiles of baked clay tablets bearing cuneiform script. Other objects de vertu rest on rosewood bases or under glass on the desk and in bookcases. Except for a glorious Persian rug, ruby, topaz, lapis and carnelian in hue, the color scheme is muted and neutral. Dr. Esther Aalyah sits at her desk. She has a manila folder in front of her. There are colored tags …

F People Were Seasons, Yvonne Bamba

The Tuxedo Archives

He and I are sitting in the middle of my staircase, squished together on the same step, our limbs overflowing and dangling off the edges. We have our respective beverages in hand—his beer and my glass of red wine—facing each other with our legs bent, contently intertwined. We already touched base on our weapons of choice for the zombie apocalypse, the sports and instruments and dreams we gave up on in high school, and whether our day was more like The Weeknd’s Can’t Feel My Face or Fetty Wap’s Trap Queen. Now, we’re brainstorming names for the future Alaskan husky …

A Story For Alex, Or For Me, Alisha Ragon

The Tuxedo Archives

It was the whoring hour.

Ready the sheets and the lingerie.

Ready the moans and the delicious delights to be discovered.

Ready the bodies wanting and hungry.

Ready the minds, sore for distraction, aching for bliss.

Slowly the sliding of cloth, flesh venturing out into the open air

Hands gliding over the landscape of his torso; breath breaking from composure to ecstasy A landscape not her own. Breath not meant to be broken.

Rein it in.

The Clinic, Bri Wilson

The Tuxedo Archives

“What are you here for?”

Jeanette glanced up from her clasped hands. The questioner - a middle aged woman wearing a kitten sweater - stared at her expectantly.

Jeanette spun the ring around her fourth finger. “To forget,” she muttered. She should have taken it off.

The Shattering, Bri Wilson

The Tuxedo Archives

I’m dead. But I’m still here. My soul got left behind. I didn’t believe in souls but now I have to and

I don’t remember when I was last alive. My memories have been blurred, shaken, chopped. I can’t recall how it ended, there was a lot of pain, then it stopped. Suddenly.

(how did I die.)

Stress To Success: A Children's Book About Handling Stressful Situations, Marina Pennycuff

Honors Projects

For this project, I investigated the importance of bibliotherapy with school-aged children through the construction of my own children’s book that is focused around social-emotional aspects that are important for development. In particular, this children’s book was focused around different stressful events that can occur in a child’s life. This project allowed me to have a hands-on approach in researching this central topic. Another major goal for this project was that it granted me the ability to create a physical copy of a book that I will be able to use as a tool in my future career working with …