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Title: The Neighborhood (&) Cat Eyes: Stories.
Creator: Barth, Brad, Roney, Lisa, Peynado, Brenda, Poissant, David, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: The Neighborhood (&) Cat Eyes: Stories is a collection of short stories dealing with themes related to isolation, otherness in the modern world, and suburban dread. These two sets of stories deal with different variations on these themes.In the (")Cat Eyes(") collection of stories, isolation becomes a more prominent thread. These four stories each center on a different individuals afflicted with having cat eyes in place of normal human eyes. Through the lenses of childhood, adulthood, and...
Show moreThe Neighborhood (&) Cat Eyes: Stories is a collection of short stories dealing with themes related to isolation, otherness in the modern world, and suburban dread. These two sets of stories deal with different variations on these themes.In the (")Cat Eyes(") collection of stories, isolation becomes a more prominent thread. These four stories each center on a different individuals afflicted with having cat eyes in place of normal human eyes. Through the lenses of childhood, adulthood, and someone not afflicted with the cat eye condition, otherness and isolation are explored. Each individual offers a unique glimpse into the lives of these people and how they exist in a world that seeks to other them, often times through force.In (")The Neighborhood(") collection of stories, the idea of suburban dread comes into full-effect with the inclusion of corpses, skeletons, geysers, and medieval style siege parties. These five stories contrast against the very real lives of the individuals living through these situations. The different families affected by these issues come into contention with the unnamed rules of suburban living as well as their own personal torments made manifest through the oddities that surround them.
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Date Issued: 2018
Identifier: CFE0006975, ucf:51653
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006975

Title: Yellowstone Exodus.
Creator: Herceg, John, Poissant, David, Thaxton, Terry, Trouard, Dawn, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Yellowstone Exodus, a novella, is a reminder of society's fragility in the wake of naturally occurring catastrophes. The first of three parts, Yellowstone Exodus is book one in a trilogy of novellas intended to entertain, inspire, and forewarn its reader. Beginning in Denver, Colorado, this story redefines brotherhood and friendship as two best friends, Clayton Rudd and Raymond Montero, set out on a journey to reach the Montero family home in Fort Gibson, Oklahoma. Obstacles awaiting them...
Show moreYellowstone Exodus, a novella, is a reminder of society's fragility in the wake of naturally occurring catastrophes. The first of three parts, Yellowstone Exodus is book one in a trilogy of novellas intended to entertain, inspire, and forewarn its reader. Beginning in Denver, Colorado, this story redefines brotherhood and friendship as two best friends, Clayton Rudd and Raymond Montero, set out on a journey to reach the Montero family home in Fort Gibson, Oklahoma. Obstacles awaiting them include a nightmarish environment caused by the Yellowstone super-volcanic eruption, hostile enforcement of state borders in a nation stripped of its federal government, and the prisons of their own physical, mental, and spiritual endurances. The struggle of these men dwells deeper than simply living during the time of the great American diaspora, as they will need to deal with addiction, PTSD, depression, and denial. Encounters with strangers, along their way, establish impressions and illuminate an understanding of a super-power nation's freshly dispossessed population.
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Date Issued: 2016
Identifier: CFE0006115, ucf:51202
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006115

Title: Blood Moon.
Creator: Stephens, Brendan, Bartkevicius, Jocelyn, Poissant, David, Hubbard, Susan, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Blood Moon is a collection of short stories that explore friendship, addiction, and punk subculture. Centered around a hardcore band called Dead Phoenix, the three members(-)Eliot, Noah, and Josh(-)go on tour, live in a punk house, and plunge headfirst into opioid addiction. The stories explore their lives before they played together in the band, while touring with the band, and after the band's controversial breakup. These stories attempt to show that music, identity, and temporary bonds...
Show moreBlood Moon is a collection of short stories that explore friendship, addiction, and punk subculture. Centered around a hardcore band called Dead Phoenix, the three members(-)Eliot, Noah, and Josh(-)go on tour, live in a punk house, and plunge headfirst into opioid addiction. The stories explore their lives before they played together in the band, while touring with the band, and after the band's controversial breakup. These stories attempt to show that music, identity, and temporary bonds forever alter the trajectory of a person's life.
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Date Issued: 2017
Identifier: CFE0006665, ucf:51216
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006665

Title: Kidron Road and Other Stories.
Creator: Molohon, Jason, Neal, Mary, Powell, Mark, Poissant, David, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Kidron Road and Other Stories is a collection of fiction that ranges from the soberly tragic to the magically real. The characters in each selection are molded by their choices, the choices of others, and the cruel whims of fate. I am fascinated by the way fatalism and free will intersect in the human experience. Therefore, my work often explores the paradoxical way lives are molded by past decisions while, at the same time, those decisions seem determined by outside forces.
Date Issued: 2016
Identifier: CFE0006146, ucf:51158
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006146

Title: Antipodes: Ways to See the World.
Creator: Sallee, Brenda, Neal, Mary, Bartkevicius, Jocelyn, Poissant, David, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: This thesis is an examination of the geographical oddities of my past, the process of transitioning between worlds, and the kinds of relationships that survive those transitions. In a world where I can fly from Atlanta to Beijing non-stop in fifteen hours, I sometimes convince myself that geography no longer matters. I was born in the tropics, raised in the arctic, and became a dual citizen of the same two countries twice. I could distinguish gunshots from fireworks by age five and have...
Show moreThis thesis is an examination of the geographical oddities of my past, the process of transitioning between worlds, and the kinds of relationships that survive those transitions. In a world where I can fly from Atlanta to Beijing non-stop in fifteen hours, I sometimes convince myself that geography no longer matters. I was born in the tropics, raised in the arctic, and became a dual citizen of the same two countries twice. I could distinguish gunshots from fireworks by age five and have ridden the Trans-Siberian Railroad in both directions. I have milked a water buffalo and played Tchaikovsky's piano and been interrogated by a Maoist by firelight on the top of a mountain at the far western edge of the earth. I have seen the Louvre and the Hermitage and the highest point in Iowa and The Pit, the outhouse that connects directly to Hell. I sometimes believe I can go anywhere. See anything. Befriend anyone. But I deceive myself. Some places are so far away, it takes years to settle, to adjust, to reach a level of familiarity where the world outside your window, and the people in that world, no longer shock you. I have seldom stayed that long.The transient life does not get easier, but you can get better at it. I have gotten better at it. Distance is a matter of perspective and convenience and desire. The farther two places, or two people, or two lifestyles are from each other, the subtler and more intricate the connecting lines. My contentment and sanity and relationships depend upon deciphering those lines. This is the story of what I've learned.
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Date Issued: 2013
Identifier: CFE0004746, ucf:49765
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004746

Title: Preventable Conditions.
Creator: Wight, William, Milanes, Cecilia, Poissant, David, Bartkevicius, Jocelyn, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Preventable Conditions is a collection of literary short stories intended to explore themes of familial communication, complementary dysfunctions, and the degree to which we all try to cope with our own mistakes. The first five stories in the collection are related, while the last three stand alone. Each of the stories before (")Fair Grounds(") is told from the perspective of a different member of the Powell family, a fictional clan from Marietta, Georgia.The Powell family stories largely...
Show morePreventable Conditions is a collection of literary short stories intended to explore themes of familial communication, complementary dysfunctions, and the degree to which we all try to cope with our own mistakes. The first five stories in the collection are related, while the last three stand alone. Each of the stories before (")Fair Grounds(") is told from the perspective of a different member of the Powell family, a fictional clan from Marietta, Georgia.The Powell family stories largely adhere to the basic conventions of realism, while the three remaining pieces somewhat strain those boundaries.
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Date Issued: 2013
Identifier: CFE0004773, ucf:49798
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004773

Title: Mirrors and Vanities.
Creator: Salas, Leslie, Rushin, Patrick, Poissant, David, Bartkevicius, Jocelyn, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: "Mirrors and Vanities" is a multi-modal collection which showcases the diversity of working in long and short storytelling forms. Featured in this thesis are fiction, nonfiction, graphic narrative, and screenplay.Using unconventional approaches to storytelling in order to achieve emotional resonance with the audience while maintaining high standards for craft, these stories and essays explore the costs inherent to the subtle nuances of interpersonal relationships. The fiction focuses on the...
Show more"Mirrors and Vanities" is a multi-modal collection which showcases the diversity of working in long and short storytelling forms. Featured in this thesis are fiction, nonfiction, graphic narrative, and screenplay.Using unconventional approaches to storytelling in order to achieve emotional resonance with the audience while maintaining high standards for craft, these stories and essays explore the costs inherent to the subtle nuances of interpersonal relationships. The fiction focuses on the complications of characters keeping secrets. A husband discovers the truth behind his wife's miscarriage. A girl visits her fianc(&)#233; in purgatory. A boy crosses a line and loses his best friend. Meanwhile, the nonfiction centers on self-discovery and gender roles associated with power struggles. A schizophrenic threatens to ruin my mother's wedding. I rediscover my relationship with my father through food writing. Sword-work teaches me to fail and succeed at making martial art. The title work of the thesis is a collaged story highlighting the tribulations of a physicist fixated on recovering his lost love by manipulating the multiverse. The multi-modal format implicates the nebulosity of physics theories and how different aspects of the narrative can be presented in various formats to best suit the nature of the storytelling.Through the interactions of characters in mundane and extraordinary circumstances, the works in this thesis examine the consequences of choice, the contrast between reality and expectation, coming of age, and the Truth of narrative.
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Date Issued: 2013
Identifier: CFE0004745, ucf:49789
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004745

Title: The Former Lives of Buildings.
Creator: Duvall-Francisco, Bethany, Poissant, David, Uttich, Laurie, Hubbard, Susan, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: The Former Lives of Buildings is a novel about thirty-one-year-old architect Adelle Corey. Adelle is a woman in denial. A nightmare figure called the Baron steals memories of her closest relationships and most poignant experiences. He hides the memories in Adelle's dreams, where he reconstructs them into buildings. The only way she can recover the memories is by cutting or tattooing these buildings into her skin. Adelle uses notebooks, mnemonic devices, and academic trivia to keep track of...
Show moreThe Former Lives of Buildings is a novel about thirty-one-year-old architect Adelle Corey. Adelle is a woman in denial. A nightmare figure called the Baron steals memories of her closest relationships and most poignant experiences. He hides the memories in Adelle's dreams, where he reconstructs them into buildings. The only way she can recover the memories is by cutting or tattooing these buildings into her skin. Adelle uses notebooks, mnemonic devices, and academic trivia to keep track of her daily routines. The novel takes place in contemporary times and opens in the burn unit of Bridgeport Hospital, Connecticut, where Adelle has been recovering for two months. She does not remember her stay prior to the opening day of the story, but she retains her memories from this day forward. Adelle's parents, her husband, and the mysterious woman Celesse St. Armand, who has been given charge over her care, refuse to allow Adelle to see her six-year-old son, Ben, until she can recover the missing days. Adelle suspects that something has happened to Ben. She seeks the help of Sam, her tattoo artist, to recover memories. The search uncovers painful truths about Adelle's childhood and marriage, ultimately forcing her to face that the Baron is a device she created to protect herself, not an outside force acting upon her. Adelle goes from a lonely, untrusting existence to a willingness to form deep friendships. She gains the capacity to face the whole truth instead of selecting only the comfortable parts. She does not find her son in any of the buildings. However, confronting the experiences hidden there gives her the strength to accept that she has passed her memory problems on to her son, who has not been able to remember his family since the fire. Although their marriage does not survive, Adelle and De learn to work together as parents.
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Date Issued: 2013
Identifier: CFE0004676, ucf:49853
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004676

Title: Road Stories.
Creator: Mindar, Louis, Rushin, Pat, Bartkevicius, Jocelyn, Poissant, David, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Road Stories is a collection of three novellas that explore the pull, allure, sanctuary, serendipity, and adventure of life on the open road. The novellas examine how for some, the road holds the promise of a new day, an improved life, a better opportunity, or a deeper love; while for others, it is nothing more than an assortment of jumbled blue lines on a map. In Tierra del Fuego, a man takes to the road to figure out how to deal with the grief and sense of betrayal he feels following the...
Show moreRoad Stories is a collection of three novellas that explore the pull, allure, sanctuary, serendipity, and adventure of life on the open road. The novellas examine how for some, the road holds the promise of a new day, an improved life, a better opportunity, or a deeper love; while for others, it is nothing more than an assortment of jumbled blue lines on a map. In Tierra del Fuego, a man takes to the road to figure out how to deal with the grief and sense of betrayal he feels following the death of his wife.Lake of the Falls involves a decades-long dispute between a father and son who take to the road and come to realize that home is not always where you live.In Back on the Road, three recent college graduates set off on a road trip inspired by Kerouac's On the Road to celebrate the end of their college years and lament the imminent approach of adulthood, only to learn that their lives are soon going to take vastly different paths.
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Date Issued: 2015
Identifier: CFE0005670, ucf:50194
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005670

Title: Friday is a Planet: Stories.
Creator: Pinkerton, Allison, Poissant, David, Neal, Mary, Hubbard, Susan, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Friday is a Planet: Stories is a collection of short fiction that explores the ways loss can alter family bonds. Characters in these stories have lost daughters, sisters, mothers, and friends. Some characters go to extreme lengths to return to their loved ones(-)one woman hallucinates, another time travels. Others deal with the loss in more conventional ways, through support groups and the emotional outlet of community theatre. What ties these stories together is a sense of post-loss...
Show moreFriday is a Planet: Stories is a collection of short fiction that explores the ways loss can alter family bonds. Characters in these stories have lost daughters, sisters, mothers, and friends. Some characters go to extreme lengths to return to their loved ones(-)one woman hallucinates, another time travels. Others deal with the loss in more conventional ways, through support groups and the emotional outlet of community theatre. What ties these stories together is a sense of post-loss confusion and mystery. The characters are unsure how to move forward, or if they should try. The men and women in these stories struggle with faith as they navigate life after loss. They question who to have faith in. They wonder whether it is ever okay to let faith lapse. While attempting to answer these questions, the characters discover different questions. What are the connections between faith and loss? Faith and hope? Faith and forgiveness?
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Date Issued: 2015
Identifier: CFE0005688, ucf:50155
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005688

Title: Ascending Mango Hill.
Creator: Camueiras, Lorri, Poissant, David, Bartkevicius, Jocelyn, Neal, Mary, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Ascending Mango Hill is a collection of work that represents me. The intention is to connect with readers by depicting protagonists who are unable to fit in, a theme most readers can relate to. Many times the protagonist must find the courage to confront a situation rather than remain quiet. The collection is separated into two sections: The Essays and The Short Stories. The essays detail my own experiences at being an outsider while exploring the topics of family and personal growth. In the...
Show moreAscending Mango Hill is a collection of work that represents me. The intention is to connect with readers by depicting protagonists who are unable to fit in, a theme most readers can relate to. Many times the protagonist must find the courage to confront a situation rather than remain quiet. The collection is separated into two sections: The Essays and The Short Stories. The essays detail my own experiences at being an outsider while exploring the topics of family and personal growth. In the stories, characters must overcome unresolved childhood issues, recognize unhealthy relationships, and decide when to set off on new journeys. I bring the sections together by using my travel experiences as the setting for several stories. Aspects of who I am show up in the stories through character motivation and characterization. Ultimately, Ascending Mango Hill is a reflection of the girl I was, the woman I hoped to be, and the woman I have become.
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Date Issued: 2015
Identifier: CFE0005585, ucf:50266
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005585

Title: These Romantic Dreams in Our Heads.
Creator: Ironman, Sean, Uttich, Laurie, Bartkevicius, Jocelyn, Poissant, David, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: These Romantic Dreams in Our Heads is a collection of linked essays that study how key relationships in the narrator's life intersect. The essays attempt to show the complicated nature of relationships and how multiple lives are affected by one's decisions. Taking place over two years, the relationships in focus involve the narrator's parents, his girlfriend, and his dog. The essays deal with themes of manhood, parenthood, gender roles, religion, and memory. The characters deal with...
Show moreThese Romantic Dreams in Our Heads is a collection of linked essays that study how key relationships in the narrator's life intersect. The essays attempt to show the complicated nature of relationships and how multiple lives are affected by one's decisions. Taking place over two years, the relationships in focus involve the narrator's parents, his girlfriend, and his dog. The essays deal with themes of manhood, parenthood, gender roles, religion, and memory. The characters deal with discovering their limitations and searching for a balance between responsibility for others and responsibility for their own lives.
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Date Issued: 2014
Identifier: CFE0005510, ucf:50355
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005510

Title: A Clutch, A Pride, A Murder.
Creator: Miles, John, Rushin, Patrick, Neal, Mary, Poissant, David, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: A Clutch, A Pride, A Murder is a linked collection of seven short fiction pieces and one novella that examine a world much like our own, but with the cover revealed(-)a world laid bare, exposed by its desires, its emotions, its beauties, and all its machinations. All of the stories involve, either directly or indirectly, the fictional Ohio city of Milton. Some of the stories take place within this seemingly typical American city, while others only involve characters coming from or in some...
Show moreA Clutch, A Pride, A Murder is a linked collection of seven short fiction pieces and one novella that examine a world much like our own, but with the cover revealed(-)a world laid bare, exposed by its desires, its emotions, its beauties, and all its machinations. All of the stories involve, either directly or indirectly, the fictional Ohio city of Milton. Some of the stories take place within this seemingly typical American city, while others only involve characters coming from or in some cases returning to this unassuming location. Regardless, the events of these stories either in cause or effect all have their roots in Milton.The world at large also plays a part within these pages. While the stories themselves are completely fictitious, many of the peripheral events that happen beyond the principle storylines are pulled from today's real-world headlines: a series of increasingly devastating tornadoes in the American heartland; a mysterious suicide of a wealthy industrialist; the amazing technological feats of a nation's space program; the heinous crimes of a serial kidnapper. These events, each a worthy story in their own right, filter into the events of this collection, much as they do in our world(-)through the media. Television, radio, newspapers, social media all are outlets of information and current events making the stories of others part of our lives as we all live out our own personal adventures. I utilize these true-life events to add scope and breadth to the world of my fictions so that these events might at times inform and offer new perspective on the principle narratives. And while these true-life stories unfold in the backgrounds of their fictitious hosts, the hope is that the reader will be able to have a better sense of the timeline as the events unfold over the days, months, and years that these stories inhabit.Humanity in all its wonder and woe is on full display within this collection. From the journey of idyllic love to tragic romance, and the thin line that turns passion to obsession, we will see all the places theses complex emotions lead: a young botanist travels half-way around the world for a chance to reconnect with a lost love; a young girl's love for her family pushes her to extremes to protect her brother; a man's love for his city challenges his morality; the bond between brothers is put to the test; and a young man's reverence for history, and his love of family leads him down a dark path. How far will someone go to protect themselves? Their loved ones? Or even their way of life? The lengths these characters will go, or in some cases will not go, are central to the stories in this collection. I intend to show those lengths and tell my characters' all too human stories.?
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Date Issued: 2013
Identifier: CFE0005034, ucf:49988
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005034

Title: Issho Ni.
Creator: Broom, Jeneca, Hubbard, Susan, Poissant, David, Rushin, Pat, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Issho Ni is a novel that focuses on four multifarious teenagers growing up in the Deep South.
Date Issued: 2014
Identifier: CFE0005467, ucf:50374
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005467

Title: A Look to Burst the Brightest Neon Hearts: Attempts.
Creator: Fershtman, Eric, Poissant, David, Thaxton, Terry, Bartkevicius, Jocelyn, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: A Look to Burst the Brightest Neon Hearts is an inquiry, via constellation of stories diffuse in structure and subject matter, into the various (and really weird) phenomena comprising contemporary American existence. Cumulatively, the stories seek to: (1) kick up, like bottom feeders searching biogenous sediment, an underlying value system, and (2) explore how language both breastfeeds and like, weans this value system(-)e.g., what dark matter is it that tethers bromances to reality TV?...
Show moreA Look to Burst the Brightest Neon Hearts is an inquiry, via constellation of stories diffuse in structure and subject matter, into the various (and really weird) phenomena comprising contemporary American existence. Cumulatively, the stories seek to: (1) kick up, like bottom feeders searching biogenous sediment, an underlying value system, and (2) explore how language both breastfeeds and like, weans this value system(-)e.g., what dark matter is it that tethers bromances to reality TV? Quantum mechanics to pop music? How can a country be responsible for both the world's highest incarceration rates, and OKCupid? These stories also explore various American conceptions and embodiments of love, plotting out a strange attractor of cultural reflection and refraction.
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Date Issued: 2014
Identifier: CFE0005492, ucf:50331
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005492

Title: The Never-Knowns.
Creator: Haskins, Ryan, Marinara, Martha, Poissant, David, Rushin, Patrick, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: The Never-Knowns is a novel about a high-intensity behavioral group home for adults with severe to profound developmental disabilities, its residents, and the staff who are employed there. Focusing on plural protagonists, no single narrative is ever fully realized or resolved, leaving only a cryptic aggregate of experiences, revelations, and trauma.In a typical suburban neighborhood, much like any of us grew up in or now live, there is a house down the block that no one discusses openly. This...
Show moreThe Never-Knowns is a novel about a high-intensity behavioral group home for adults with severe to profound developmental disabilities, its residents, and the staff who are employed there. Focusing on plural protagonists, no single narrative is ever fully realized or resolved, leaving only a cryptic aggregate of experiences, revelations, and trauma.In a typical suburban neighborhood, much like any of us grew up in or now live, there is a house down the block that no one discusses openly. This house seems like all the rest, well landscaped and tidy. Although three times a day much coming and going of college-aged kids and ne'er-do-wells whispers of something covert, obscure. This house is many things to many people; a workplace, or home, or burden, or profit, or prison.An unfortunate, absurd one-act play echoes infinitely for those kept here. Constance is a thirty-something disabled woman who wakes every morning by sprinting nude in a wondrous fury toward the first person or thing she can destroy. Malcolm is a new staff member who snorts meth and masturbates in his car during shift breaks. Terry is a twenty-five year old deaf mute who believes his clothes dresser is God and always knows exactly how many feet are between him and every other place he'd rather be. Jake is a veteran staff member who has finalized his plans to take all the residents of the house deep into a forest and abandon them.Using disjointed, prolix, and often dissonant approaches to storytelling, The Never-Knowns seeks to convey the perspectives of developmentally disabled individuals who possess few or no language skills, and who are so far detached from their own existence that their understanding and interaction with the world is simultaneously grotesque, beautiful, and confounding.
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Date Issued: 2013
Identifier: CFE0004861, ucf:49684
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004861

Title: Last Kind Word.
Creator: Richardson, Dianne, Poissant, David, Hubbard, Susan, Rushin, Patrick, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Last Kind Word is a novel that explores the ways people seek control and power in the face of the unknowable. Set in the fictional town of Thorpe, South Carolina, the story follows four main characters(-)Donna Neese, Melissa Burnside, Anthony Washington, and Jill McManus(-)struggling in the aftermath of biracial teenager Micah Burnside's disappearance. They search for a replacement for the lost connection to Micah and for a sense of control at a time when their lives seem to lack it, when...
Show moreLast Kind Word is a novel that explores the ways people seek control and power in the face of the unknowable. Set in the fictional town of Thorpe, South Carolina, the story follows four main characters(-)Donna Neese, Melissa Burnside, Anthony Washington, and Jill McManus(-)struggling in the aftermath of biracial teenager Micah Burnside's disappearance. They search for a replacement for the lost connection to Micah and for a sense of control at a time when their lives seem to lack it, when other forces, be they people or circumstances or spirits, hold power over them. In the midst of this, the four of them must decide what life will look like going forward. In Thorpe, theories about what happened to Micah range from the plausible to the fantastical. Those closest to him have their own theories, too, although they are less inclined to share them with the gossip-hungry townspeople. Micah's mother Melissa, reeling from the equally mysterious loss of Micah's father Dan eighteen years earlier and the intense mood swings from her untreated bipolar disorder, is convinced that her son is alive, searching for his father in San Diego. Meanwhile, Micah's grandmother Donna believes that he is dead, murdered by Nick and Nathan Goff, Thorpe's not-so-secret meth dealers who come from a long line of rowdy and dangerous men. Jill, Micah's ex-girlfriend and a recent college drop-out, worries that a prank they played on a hoodoo practitioner is somehow to blame not only for the dissolution of their relationship, but also Micah's disappearance. Jill seeks the aid of a hoodoo conjurer to set things right in the spirit world and, hopefully, her life. Anthony is a black country and blues musician and small-time drug dealer. His work forces him into a tenuous and volatile friendship with the Goffs, one that could explode into anger and violence at any moment. Anthony also thinks the Goffs have something to do with Micah's disappearance, but he believes his friend is alive, just laying low after a lie leads to the Goffs' arrest. These four characters must grapple with long-standing feuds, secrets, and family discord as they try to solve the mystery of Micah's disappearance and come to grips with the possibility that he may never be found.
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Date Issued: 2014
Identifier: CFE0005238, ucf:50582
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005238

fiction (21)	+ -
creative writing (9)	+ -
Fiction (5)	+ -
short stories (5)	+ -
Creative Writing (3)	+ -

collection (3)	+ -
memoir (3)	+ -
stories (3)	+ -
Florida (2)	+ -
Literary (2)	+ -
Short Stories (2)	+ -
bildungsroman (2)	+ -
essays (2)	+ -
literary (2)	+ -
literary fiction (2)	+ -
loss (2)	+ -
mental illness (2)	+ -
nonfiction (2)	+ -
reflection (2)	+ -
sexuality (2)	+ -
9-11 (1)	+ -
9/11 (1)	+ -
Collection (1)	+ -
Compostie Novel (1)	+ -
Creative writing (1)	+ -
East Texas (1)	+ -
Electronic Thesis or Dissertation (1)	+ -
Japan (1)	+ -
LGBT (1)	+ -
MFA (1)	+ -

ETD Collection (35)	+ -
Honors Collection (2)	+ -

Poissant, David (37)	+ -
University of Central Florida (37)	+ -
Bartkevicius, Jocelyn (10)	+ -
Hubbard, Susan (9)	+ -
Neal, Mary (9)	+ -

Milanes, Cecilia (7)	+ -
Thaxton, Terry (7)	+ -
Peynado, Brenda (5)	+ -
Roney, Lisa (5)	+ -
Rushin, Patrick (5)	+ -
Uttich, Laurie (4)	+ -
Rushin, Pat (2)	+ -
Al-harastani, Hana (1)	+ -
Arend, Alexandra (1)	+ -
Barnes, Brendon (1)	+ -
Barth, Brad (1)	+ -
Broom, Jeneca (1)	+ -
Buckingham, Benjamin (1)	+ -
Campbell, Victoria (1)	+ -
Camueiras, Lorri (1)	+ -
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