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Pages
- Title
- Assisted Living: Stories.
- Creator
-
Swift, Donovan, Poissant, David, Peynado, Brenda, Milanes, Cecilia, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Assisted Living is a collection of stories that explores themes of parenthood, brotherhood, old and new love, adultery, financial strife, and the many faces of loss. The collection offers different points of view, which allow the reader to experience these themes within varying lives and situations. For example, the eponymous (")Assisted Living(") is from the perspective of a pet-sitter at the brink of losing both her job and husband, while (")Holy Mother(") explores the point of view of a...
Show moreAssisted Living is a collection of stories that explores themes of parenthood, brotherhood, old and new love, adultery, financial strife, and the many faces of loss. The collection offers different points of view, which allow the reader to experience these themes within varying lives and situations. For example, the eponymous (")Assisted Living(") is from the perspective of a pet-sitter at the brink of losing both her job and husband, while (")Holy Mother(") explores the point of view of a wife coming to terms with her affair and the physical injury that has changed her husband. (")The World of Reptiles(") follows a father walking his son through a zoo before they receive his son's cancer test results, while (")Host(") follows two sons who discover their recently deceased mother believed in reincarnation before she died. Other stories explore characters stuck in relationships(-)both familial and romantic(-)that started bright, but curled toward the dark, leaving the characters feeling trapped by the ones they love. The collection as a whole seeks to explore people stuck between selves, people striving to be new and better, while failing and succeeding in ways big and small.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2019
- Identifier
- CFE0007537, ucf:52625
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007537
- Title
- Young Thinkers.
- Creator
-
Elgeness, Jaclyn, Neal, Mary, Bartkevicius, Jocelyn, Rushin, Patrick, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Young Thinkers is a collection of short fiction dealing with what it means to earn wisdom in the twenty-first century. When our phones can remember everything for us, and we're plagued by a sense that everything has already been said and digitally cataloged, insight becomes even more important, particularly to the thoughtful characters explored throughout the collection. The prolonged American adolescence facilitated by the economic crisis, as well as the societal acceptance of marrying and...
Show moreYoung Thinkers is a collection of short fiction dealing with what it means to earn wisdom in the twenty-first century. When our phones can remember everything for us, and we're plagued by a sense that everything has already been said and digitally cataloged, insight becomes even more important, particularly to the thoughtful characters explored throughout the collection. The prolonged American adolescence facilitated by the economic crisis, as well as the societal acceptance of marrying and having children much later in life, creates an atmosphere of intense self-doubt. A young man working at a gas station after college witnesses a high school boy die in a hit and run, and he longs to comfort others at the vigil. Another young man decides he would rather rob houses than return to community college while wondering at ways to extend his lifespan. Young women struggle to feel important and independent, but find themselves assuaging their fears with cigarettes and alcohol. These characters yearn for the insight and experience that would make them decidedly and authoritatively adult.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2011
- Identifier
- CFE0004106, ucf:49097
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004106
- Title
- I Thought You Were Someone Else.
- Creator
-
Milazzo, Maria, Roney, Lisa, Neal, Mary, Hubbard, Susan, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
I Thought You Were Someone Else deals with violence, family, love, art, and gender. The author examines these issues as well as what makes a creative work fiction or nonfiction by creating a multi-genre collection of seven short fiction stories and five short nonfiction pieces. Fictional stories feature protagonists similar to the author and protagonists who could be considered completely different from the author. Nevertheless, the protagonists in these pieces, whether they are real or...
Show moreI Thought You Were Someone Else deals with violence, family, love, art, and gender. The author examines these issues as well as what makes a creative work fiction or nonfiction by creating a multi-genre collection of seven short fiction stories and five short nonfiction pieces. Fictional stories feature protagonists similar to the author and protagonists who could be considered completely different from the author. Nevertheless, the protagonists in these pieces, whether they are real or fictitious, all experience grand realizations concerning their identity and surroundings. Essentially, they realize they are not who they thought they were. A young boy realizes he likes destruction; another comes to terms with love and romance. A father deals with his homophobia, while another older man examines his life of violence. Young women cope with getting older and struggling to create families. Others realize that their needs will never be met. All stories deal with growth, change, and discovery, thereby allowing the author to unearth details about identity and how it is shaped and evolves.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2011
- Identifier
- CFE0004139, ucf:49078
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004139
- Title
- WE WILL MAKE YOUR HEAD EXPLODE.
- Creator
-
Sullivan, Jaclyn, Jensen, Toni, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
We Will Make Your Head Explode is a collection of short fiction stories that explore themes of friendship, family, love, lust, jealousy, loyalty, and disappointment. The characters in these stories are utterly human; they are pushed, pulled, and often fall victim to circumstance. A woman grapples between her love of roadside attractions and her boyfriendÂÂ's grief. A son is forced to decide whether or not to honor his motherÂÂ's final wishes. A...
Show moreWe Will Make Your Head Explode is a collection of short fiction stories that explore themes of friendship, family, love, lust, jealousy, loyalty, and disappointment. The characters in these stories are utterly human; they are pushed, pulled, and often fall victim to circumstance. A woman grapples between her love of roadside attractions and her boyfriendÂÂ's grief. A son is forced to decide whether or not to honor his motherÂÂ's final wishes. A college student is blind to her brotherÂÂ's evolution beyond their family. A woman discovers new possibilities while stalking graveyards to escape the memory of a man who left her behind. A teenager on the run findsÂÂ--and losesÂÂ--her first love. As desperately as they struggle to control their situations, their love lives, their families, and their emotions, they are often faced with simply having to come to terms with their realities. These eleven stories are intended to examine the ways people are capable of treating each other, both good and bad, and how people deal with the inevitably of being forced to move beyond what seems permanent, to create new identities, to laugh, and to learn from their mistakes.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010
- Identifier
- CFE0003035, ucf:48356
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0003035
- Title
- MIDDLE GROUND: A NOVELLA AND COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES.
- Creator
-
Uttich, Laurie, Rushin, Patrick, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
This collection of fiction--a novella and a collection of short stories--focuses on the commonality of the human condition. While we create separations for ourselves by focusing on distinctions such as, religion, class, gender, and race, we are, I believe, spiritual beings sharing a human experience. My work tends to explore these distinctions and our motivations for embracing them. In the novella, Middle Ground, two sisters in alternating narrative voices share the story of their parents'...
Show moreThis collection of fiction--a novella and a collection of short stories--focuses on the commonality of the human condition. While we create separations for ourselves by focusing on distinctions such as, religion, class, gender, and race, we are, I believe, spiritual beings sharing a human experience. My work tends to explore these distinctions and our motivations for embracing them. In the novella, Middle Ground, two sisters in alternating narrative voices share the story of their parents' struggles with separation, sobriety and cancer. Their voices, as distinct as their perspectives, explore the landscape of a family, the borders between forgiveness and acceptance, the self-preserving act of looking beyond imperfections and weaknesses, and the realization that truth is an illusion and flawed love the only certainty. The short story collection consists of eight pieces. Many of these stories explore characters in a state of recovery--a brain tumor operation, a death of a spouse, a shot to the head where a bullet rests and reminds--and plot occurs as these characters attempt to move on. They meet sandhill cranes who cry out in pain for the death of another, lovers who speak in italics, vets who swear that the blasted silence is louder than King Kong screaming in your ear. They sit with shrinks who lie, sleep with poets who stray, compete with incarcerated ex-husbands who were "man enough" to put a gun to a woman's head and pull the trigger. They are nothing--and everything--like all of us, and readers are invited to join the characters beside the mirror of our collective Middle Ground.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2009
- Identifier
- CFE0002600, ucf:48261
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002600
- Title
- OF SPANISH COWS, WILD BOARS, UNPREDICTABLE WEATHER, AND OTHER ODDITIES.
- Creator
-
Sanchez, Lydia, Jensen, Toni, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
In this collection of connected stories, the inhabitants of the imaginary Mediterranean village of Marcenac struggle with daily situations that often take allures of a farce, simply because they occur in Marcenac. The stories explore the influence southern France's Roussillon region has on people, the way the proximity of the Spanish border and the Mediterranean shapes the inhabitants of Marcenac's daily lives, and the influence of the climate. Often, the Tramontane, the region's...
Show moreIn this collection of connected stories, the inhabitants of the imaginary Mediterranean village of Marcenac struggle with daily situations that often take allures of a farce, simply because they occur in Marcenac. The stories explore the influence southern France's Roussillon region has on people, the way the proximity of the Spanish border and the Mediterranean shapes the inhabitants of Marcenac's daily lives, and the influence of the climate. Often, the Tramontane, the region's predominant wind, becomes a character. While some of the stories are told from a collective point of view, others reveal the inner thoughts of children and adults, male and female. Because the stories are connected, characters visit different stories and help tell the collective tale of Marcenac. Even though the stories stand on their own, they form cohesion, united by the progression of the seasons and the underlying theme of death. Each story reveals a particularity of the region's weather and culture. Some stories are entertaining and lighthearted. Others are serious. Each invites the reader to share the most intimate thoughts of the characters as they seek solace from various degrees of grief and frustration. Some characters are gauche, naïve, some tender, others bitter, but all are resilient and amicable. The characters' speech and the narrative are often peppered with French, which makes for humorous situations and takes the reader deep within a foreign culture without giving the feeling of an anthropology lesson. As a result, the characters become cultural guides as they ruminate over the past or go about their daily lives. They give the reader a unique insight into the habits and values of the region.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2009
- Identifier
- CFE0002626, ucf:48211
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002626
- Title
- THE WHOLE HEADLIGHT-COLORED NIGHT.
- Creator
-
Bryan, Matthew, Jensen, Toni, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
This collection of short fiction probes the lives of characters trying to make their home in the flat, unchanging landscape of the small towns that make up central Florida. The largely static environment reflects the rigid patterns of behavior and domesticity the characters find themselves so easily falling into. Seemingly ordinary items--a shotgun, a t-shirt, a paper bag--and the small moments that make up everyday life are imbued with significance as men and women painfully aware of their...
Show moreThis collection of short fiction probes the lives of characters trying to make their home in the flat, unchanging landscape of the small towns that make up central Florida. The largely static environment reflects the rigid patterns of behavior and domesticity the characters find themselves so easily falling into. Seemingly ordinary items--a shotgun, a t-shirt, a paper bag--and the small moments that make up everyday life are imbued with significance as men and women painfully aware of their own ordinariness struggle to hold onto those fragile instances of connection, happiness, or even their own self-constructed sense of identity. The struggle becomes one of opposing forces: as characters yearn to connect to the people, places, and objects around them, they find themselves more and more attracted to the idea of escaping their own lives, even if for just a moment. Stories range from two pages to over twenty and introduce the reader to a diverse population of characters, from an out of work construction worker cum wannabe philosopher to an amateur historian writing a history nobody cares about to the one man who actually did escape--a cockfight organizer who made it big in Georgia before blowing himself up at a gas station. Characters fight over toothbrushes, puzzle out whether a father is just drunk or beautiful, and look for space stations they may or may not be able to see at all. As in life, in these stories, it's the small, quiet moments that come to define who these people are and demonstrate their pursuit of something bigger and more important, even if they don't have any idea what that may be.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2009
- Identifier
- CFE0002630, ucf:48219
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002630
- Title
- Everyday Monsters: Stories.
- Creator
-
Druckenmiller, Brian, Poissant, David, Thaxton, Terry, Roney, Lisa, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
These seven short stories explore characters either at war with themselves or living in a delusion, unaware that their skewed sense of self projects a subjective version of the universe. When one operates in a world that doesn't quite exist, their real world is destined to crumble, and, for many of these characters, the challenge is understanding the mirage's existence before it's too late. By slightly bending the parameters of reality as well as inviting these characters and conflicts into...
Show moreThese seven short stories explore characters either at war with themselves or living in a delusion, unaware that their skewed sense of self projects a subjective version of the universe. When one operates in a world that doesn't quite exist, their real world is destined to crumble, and, for many of these characters, the challenge is understanding the mirage's existence before it's too late. By slightly bending the parameters of reality as well as inviting these characters and conflicts into absurdity, Everyday Monsters offers wholly unique commentary on familiar struggles, including marriage, occupation, grief, destiny, and societal expectations.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- Identifier
- CFE0006588, ucf:51305
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006588
- Title
- Moving Water.
- Creator
-
Arend, Alexandra, Thaxton, Terry, Poissant, David, Hubbard, Susan, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Moving Water is a novella in which the characters must reckon with grief, time, the divine, and the mysterious bonds forged and broken with each other. Phoebe and her family come to terms with the death of Jason, Phoebe's older brother, and with themselves. Around them, the universe moves in ambivalent splendor, dying and being born anew.
- Date Issued
- 2017
- Identifier
- CFE0006558, ucf:51337
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006558
- 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.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- Identifier
- CFE0006665, ucf:51216
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006665
- 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.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFE0004773, ucf:49798
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004773
- 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.
Show less - 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?
Show less - Date Issued
- 2015
- Identifier
- CFE0005688, ucf:50155
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005688
- Title
- Land of Flowers.
- Creator
-
Morrison, Michael, Hubbard, Susan, Bartkevicius, Jocelyn, Roney, Lisa, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Land of Flowers is a collection of short fiction presenting a Florida that stands in counterpoint to the image the state holds in the national consciousness(-)an image of a backward region rife with rednecks, retirees, racists, and religious kooks. In contrast, these stories feature the natives, the tourists, the immigrants, and also the transplants who are drawn to this (")paradise(") with hopes of finding warmth, escape, and a new life that so often fails to materialize. Many of the...
Show moreLand of Flowers is a collection of short fiction presenting a Florida that stands in counterpoint to the image the state holds in the national consciousness(-)an image of a backward region rife with rednecks, retirees, racists, and religious kooks. In contrast, these stories feature the natives, the tourists, the immigrants, and also the transplants who are drawn to this (")paradise(") with hopes of finding warmth, escape, and a new life that so often fails to materialize. Many of the inhabitants of these stories are mired in a state of introspection. In the title piece, an early Spanish explorer contemplates his existence as well as that of God's. In another story, an actor/bartender considers how eking out a living at a luxurious resort has sapped his passion for the theater. In trying to save a family of doves, a father finds a metaphor for his role as protector and provider for his own family. Another story is about an old man dying in the palmetto brush who discovers comfort in a place far from a society that no longer suits him. Space and place are the threads that holds these stories together: place in regard to the topographical Florida, and space in regard to where the main characters are mentally. The true physical landscape of the territory that once extended as far west as New Orleans is depicted in many of the stories(-)a landscape shorn of condos, strip malls, and theme parks, a landscape that defines Florida as wild, open, raw, and primal in the best sense of the word. These stories of people, place, and space work against the stereotypes and toward a deeper understanding of Florida.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- Identifier
- CFE0005216, ucf:50629
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005216
- Title
- REASON IS KING AND SCIENCE IS HIS CROWN: A STUDY OF FRENCH SCIENCE-FICTION FOR THE DISSEMINATION OF PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT.
- Creator
-
Gandy, Lauren A, Trinquet du Lys, Charlotte, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The thesis seeks to explore the didactic application of French science-fiction during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries for the portrayal and dissemination of their respective philosophical theories. Studying science-fiction novels during these centuries will allow a comparison of seventeenth and eighteenth-century dissemination methods, to determine if the foundational seventeenth-century methods were retained or modified to more accurately represent the change in philosophical...
Show moreThe thesis seeks to explore the didactic application of French science-fiction during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries for the portrayal and dissemination of their respective philosophical theories. Studying science-fiction novels during these centuries will allow a comparison of seventeenth and eighteenth-century dissemination methods, to determine if the foundational seventeenth-century methods were retained or modified to more accurately represent the change in philosophical attitudes. Exploration of this topic will contribute to a greater understanding of French Enlightenment theory, analysis of relatively unstudied novels in the science-fiction genre, and a novel approach to "proto" science-fiction literature by connecting the previously separate genres of science-fiction and philosophy during the Enlightenment. The trends within the seventeenth century show dominant authoritative representations through analogical examples, authoritative ideological figures, and an emphasis on logically sustained arguments. The eighteenth-century trends focus on logical passionate attitudes, burlesque scenarios, and authoritative actions to exemplify the Enlightenment ideologies. Therefore, these five analyzed �uvres show conservation of didactic and authoritative dissemination methods during this philosophically evolutionary time period.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2016
- Identifier
- CFH2000125, ucf:46054
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH2000125
- Title
- IN THE CARDS: A COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES AND POETRY.
- Creator
-
Vick, Alise, Milanes, Cecilia, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
"In the Cards" is a collection of five interrelated short stories with six related poems in between each piece. Each of the selections features a female protagonist with a focus on two main characters, Shelley and Caroline, half-sisters trying to regain their sisterhood after their father's death. Themes explored in the fiction and poetry include faith and relationships, and how they can be connected. Caroline and Shelley drive the primary storyline with the former, a self-described goody...
Show more"In the Cards" is a collection of five interrelated short stories with six related poems in between each piece. Each of the selections features a female protagonist with a focus on two main characters, Shelley and Caroline, half-sisters trying to regain their sisterhood after their father's death. Themes explored in the fiction and poetry include faith and relationships, and how they can be connected. Caroline and Shelley drive the primary storyline with the former, a self-described goody goody who has surrounded herself with superficial friends. Between the expectations of the community that surrounds her and the standards she has set for herself, she struggles to create a unique identity that is not influenced by some form of expectation. She is also haunted by guilt over her relationship with her younger sister Shelley, with whom she has had minimal contact ever since Caroline refused to attend their father's funeral, though she keeps these feeling largely to herself. Shelley's mother, Caroline's step-mother, has brought Shelley up in a household dominated by strict adherence to Catholicism, and conservative ideals. When the half-sisters' father dies, Shelley becomes increasingly disillusioned by religious faith, and faith in the people she thought cared for her most, such as Caroline. Both sisters must look beyond their own perspectives of what has happened in their pasts in order to mature, understand, and maybe grow to forgive each other and themselves.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFH0004434, ucf:45141
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004434
- Title
- A CRIMSON TRAIL.
- Creator
-
McGill, Caitlin, Neal, Mary Darlin', University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Willing to overstep literary conventions in order to ensure that meaning and purpose reign over structure, cross-genre writing works to push boundaries of genre and tear down the walls of limitation. This cross-genre thesis aims to test literary restrictions of structure and style and, as literary endeavors often do, to rattle our existence. In this thesis, nonfiction and fiction work together to drive meaning to the surface of the page, meaning that is universal in the individual stories as...
Show moreWilling to overstep literary conventions in order to ensure that meaning and purpose reign over structure, cross-genre writing works to push boundaries of genre and tear down the walls of limitation. This cross-genre thesis aims to test literary restrictions of structure and style and, as literary endeavors often do, to rattle our existence. In this thesis, nonfiction and fiction work together to drive meaning to the surface of the page, meaning that is universal in the individual stories as well as in the human experience. Although some characters are fictional and some real, they often intersect, their journeys and discoveries merging into one. The many voices of this thesis, while diverse, speak to similar themes and meaning. The main character of "Silhouettes," a homosexual male who yearns to find his identity away from the place he once called home, experiences feelings of abandonment and loss. The narrator of "A Crimson Trail" longs to uncovers truths about her uncle's suicide and endures similar feelings of loss. "Abandoned Laurels" explores a complex mother-daughter relationship and wades through themes of mourning, regret, and shame. The remaining stories explore similar themes, including those of longing, death, and familial relationships. Shorter pieces are scattered amongst longer works and supplement themes developed in the thesis. Each section contributes to the characters' longing for identity, recovery, and understanding of the past. These related characters and their stories - both real and fictional - merge in a collective endeavor to sift through loss, explore the past, and, most importantly, find identity and hope in the future amidst the rubble of the present.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- Identifier
- CFH0004165, ucf:44814
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004165
- Title
- A FLOATING WORLD: STORIES.
- Creator
-
Best, Karen, Jensen, Toni, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
A Floating World is a collection of short stories inspired by fairy tales. Often set in worlds where the mundane and the fantastic come together, these stories explore moments of strangeness that slip beyond the bounds of realist fiction. Fantastical events intrude into mundane reality as characters attempt to reconcile the known with the unknowable.
- Date Issued
- 2010
- Identifier
- CFE0003076, ucf:48309
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0003076
- Title
- TWO BLADES COME TOGETHER: STORIES.
- Creator
-
Pursell, Mark, Leiby, Jeanne, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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This collection of seven short stories details the emotional triumphs and complications of characters whose lives are altered by issues of sexuality and disconnection. An adolescent girl feels her father slipping away from her and, in turn, willfully destroys the imaginary world of the boy she babysits; a speech therapist struggles to make headway with a young patient while finding himself unable to communicate with his ex-lover; a gay poet cheats on his boyfriend in a desperate attempt to...
Show moreThis collection of seven short stories details the emotional triumphs and complications of characters whose lives are altered by issues of sexuality and disconnection. An adolescent girl feels her father slipping away from her and, in turn, willfully destroys the imaginary world of the boy she babysits; a speech therapist struggles to make headway with a young patient while finding himself unable to communicate with his ex-lover; a gay poet cheats on his boyfriend in a desperate attempt to fuel his failing art. The dramatis personae of Two Blades Come Together is comprised of individuals who struggle towards grace and happiness but are thwarted by their inability to fit neatly into the lives of those they love. Several of the stories approach these issues through the framework of contemporary myth, exploring how fairy tales and the supernatural act upon the characters' relationships and the way they perceive their situations. The heroines of "Proof of Snow" and "The Pill Woman" are both affected by the unseen; one suffers under the strange influence of her brother even after his death, while the other must make a decision to uphold her fairy-tale world or dismantle it. In these stories, the tangibility of the supernatural is elusive and unproven, but the altered perceptions of the protagonists and their actions because of it are extremely real, with extremely real consequences. The collection also explores and tests the boundaries between poetry and fiction, pushing always towards language that is aesthetic and musical while not sacrificing the momentum and architecture of prose. Two Blades Come Together incorporates linguistic ideas from poets as varied as contemporary surrealists Laura Kasischke and Mary Ruefle to the grounded wryness of Tony Hoagland and Lynda Hull, weaving poetic language with narrative, hybridizing the qualities of fiction and poetry in an attempt to create a unique, musical vision of short fiction that is both functional and artful.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2007
- Identifier
- CFE0001976, ucf:47438
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0001976
- Title
- The Clockman Movement.
- Creator
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Martin, Allison, Jones, Anna, Thaxton, Terry, Smith, Anne, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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As a genre of Neo-Victorian fiction, Steampunk is largely identified by Victorian aesthetics and technology centering on clockwork and steam power. The novel The Clockman Movement seeks to emphasize the (")punk(") in (")steampunk(") by exploring the social concerns of colonialism, including sexism, racism, and classism, while embracing the more fantastic and entertaining aspects of steampunk.Before all other labels(-)Nordlunder, daughter, woman(-)Eve Traugott is a machinist. Or she would be,...
Show moreAs a genre of Neo-Victorian fiction, Steampunk is largely identified by Victorian aesthetics and technology centering on clockwork and steam power. The novel The Clockman Movement seeks to emphasize the (")punk(") in (")steampunk(") by exploring the social concerns of colonialism, including sexism, racism, and classism, while embracing the more fantastic and entertaining aspects of steampunk.Before all other labels(-)Nordlunder, daughter, woman(-)Eve Traugott is a machinist. Or she would be, if one of the machinists in the capital would hire her as an apprentice. She thought it would be simple to find a machinist willing to take a chance on her in Aufziehburg, the mechanical center of the State of Nordlund, but so far the Aufziehburger machinists have been as narrow-minded as the one she left behind in her hometown.Her inheritance dwindling, Eve sets her sights on the clockmen, the State's automaton workers, hoping that studying them might help her learn enough to gain an apprenticeship. When her curiosity draws the unwanted attention of Statesman Bristed and the winders, procuring an apprenticeship becomes the least of Eve's concerns.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2016
- Identifier
- CFE0006476, ucf:51439
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006476
