Icky Boy is a work of fiction, particularly a collection of short stories. Every story is set in a semi-fictional region of Southern Maine, most of them in the fictional town of Mousam. The collection begins with “Icky Boy,” the story of a shy, insecure young man who falls in love with a woman, Peg, he meets at the grocery store. Their relationship is complicated by the arrival of an unorthodox motivational speaker and by a freak accident that critically affects Peg. The second story, “Cardiac Fridays”, is about a retired professional wrestler, “Big” John Childs who tries to find excitement and purpose in his life (by helping out at a clinic that induces heart attacks in people looking for thrills) after retiring from his job and becoming estranged from his wife and son. “Bone Breaker” tells the story of a debt collector who is experiencing a mid-life crisis. In the process of pursuing a debtor he begins to have a change of heart and reevaluate his life. “Gravy Work” follows a young couple, Cheryl and Thurman, who experience relationship difficulties as a result of their different ambitions. They attempt to reconcile their personalities while also trying to move to a different city and coping with Thurman’s addiction to a new TV program. “Donor” is about half brothers, Arthur and Kevin, who don’t get along (due to Kevin’s rage disorder) and who haven’t found their niche in high school. The two boys begin contacting their respective sperm donors for insights into their past and their future potential. “Win-Win” is about a man’s return to his hometown to help bury an ex lover’s dead ex boyfriend. In his attempt to reconcile with his ex, the narrator reveals himself to be more conflicted and insecure than he previously thought. “Particular Human” is about two men who get a flat tire while driving and so stop at a late night fast food shop managed by a unique and uniquely sad individual. “Chassis” follows the tribulations of a small family as they cope with the matriarch’s failing health.

Please note: creative writing theses are permanently embargoed in OpenBU. No public access is forecasted for these. To request private access, please click on the locked Download file link and fill out the appropriate web form. / A collection of short stories / 2031-01-01T00:00:00Z

"Sometimes I Think I’m Going Crazy" is a short story collection containing three stories of more or less equal length. Each of three main characters face conflict that tests their resolve and ultimately forces them to reevaluate who they are as human beings. Stress helps people to grow and evolve and the protagonists in these stories are forced to face their greatest fears head on and (with varying degrees of success) come out the other end better for it. But not before going a little crazy in the process.

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Trade Secrets is a collection of fourteen short stories that explores characters falling in and out of relationships and coping in unusual and even comedic ways. These characters are often obsessive and do not trust one another. They think life is funny, and discover that love is funny, and yeah, sex can be funny too. They don’t feel the right things when they’re supposed to. They find love, and lose love. They find hope, and lose hope. They escape sometimes, but more often are unable to go anywhere. These stories consider relationships through the disconnection between reality and fantasy, exploring how the lines between illusion and actuality can become blurred. A young boy fantasizes about running on the wind; teenagers pretend to be werewolves; twenty-somethings obsess about potential love affairs, dreams, and the possibility of escape. There is a driving curiosity behind these characters, a desire to figure one another out—a desire to learn the other’s secret. Trade secrets are insider information after all, and must be earned. These characters are all earning the right to hold their own trade secrets and, when the time is right, sharing that information with whomever is willing to listen.

In Ernest Hemingway's novel The Old Man and the Sea, the narrator speaks of the healing power of the Gulf in a literal manner: the waters of the Gulf of Mexico heal the wounded hands of the fisherman. The seventeen stories in the following collection examine Hemingway's concept on other levels, focusing on the human ability--or lack thereof--to bridge psychological gulfs, and to find emotional healing. Three major currents run through the lives of the characters in Gulf: difficulties in relationships, struggles with identity, and a sense of being haunted by the unexplained. As the stories progress, the healing waters of the Gulf move the characters away from chaos and toward contentment. In early stories, characters are often appalled by the discovery of their true identities; the later stories feature heroes who've found happiness and peace. Scattered throughout the book are the haunted stories, those that question the boundaries between what is real and what is imagined, what is known and what can never be understood. Gulf is informed by the landscape of the south, yet some stories venture around the world, from the Gulf of Mexico to the heather-dotted hills of Scotland, exploring themes as dark and mysterious as the Gulf itself.

Living Without: Stories of Vandler County As Told By James Madison Redd studies the transition of the rural, and behind-the-times South, which was once firmly situated in place and time, into the present where Southern identity has become confused. The stories follow a Faulknerian trend by sharing a setting in a fictional county located in North Mississippi. All of the stories are interrelated and contain common characters. The genre is the Southern Gothic, and the time range is from the sixties to the present. Preceding the collection of stories is a critical introduction that explores the possibility of expanding the definition of movement, thereby increasing its significance within the craft of fiction.

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