Please note: this work is permanently embargoed in OpenBU. No public access is forecasted for this item. To request private access, please click on the locked Download file link and fill out the appropriate web form. / Though some of these five short stories seem related in theme, they were not written with any connection in mind. They were, instead, an exploration of different settings, different lives, either beginning or ending, but always aiming at a rebirth, forced or hoped for. The difference between these two movements—arrivals and departures—is often minute and almost impossible to discern. The fourth story, “Sandhill Cranes,” was broadcasted in podcast form by PenDust Radio in September 2020, and published in Carve Magazine the following month. It won the Editor’s Choice Award in the 2020 Raymond Carver Short Story Contest. “Sandhill Cranes” represents a turning point in my writing, and a moment in time just before I redefined myself as a writer, and allowed myself to be a writer, at last—it also represents the beginning of a new phase in my craft, and showed me the way to portraying immigration, the defining principle of my life, in my fiction; the other four stories in this collection were written after “Sandhill Cranes,” that is, after November 2019. / 2999-01-01T00:00:00Z

After the end of the Vietnam War, the Hus family struggles with the mysterious disappearance of their eldest son, Charlie. This collection of interrelated stories chronicles the life of Margie, the mother, Harold, the father, and Charlie as they each try to cope with different forms of separation and isolation. The collection is preceded by an introduction discussing realism as a means and an end in the crafting of believable characters in short fiction.

Novel excerpt, personal essays and short stories.

This thesis is a collection of short stories written over the years 2002 to 2006. The short story is a genre that requires brevity. The short story writer, instead of treating the totality of human life, is forever, as Frank O'Connor suggests, selecting the point at which he can approach it. For this reason, unlike the novel, there is very little dallying in the short story. The short story writer, as the form requires, must make his world believable and coherent with only a minimum of words. Based on the experience of the actual author, the short story, like all fiction, entertains and distracts us from our troubles, and broadens our knowledge of people and places. The short story seeks to create an image of the life process by which we feel ourselves moving toward meaning. In brief, the short story, if it is any good, does many things: it convinces us through what can be seen, heard, smelled, tasted, and touched in such a way as to render the highest possible justice to the physical world; it creates a vision that allows the reader to see different levels of meaning in one image or situation; it gets at the mystery of existence embodied in the prosaic of life as well as in the extraordinary; and it has a sense of immediacy. This work explores a variety of themes: the body's ability to remember and internalize both positive and negative actions; the perceived importance of money, status, and respect in marital relationships; how the inability to forgive can make the victim just as culpable as the offender; the middle ground between love and hate; and how sorrow and joy are necessary components for a well-adjusted life. The combined experience of reading this work should be, first, to entertain the reader, and, second, to allow him or her contact with the mystery of existence.

In the Drowning City and Other Stories is a collection of fiction written and revised during Malyn Segarra's graduate studies at the University of Central Florida. Most of the collection examines the transient nature and fragility of identity and shifting roles within the family unit. All focus on a particular span of time, the transition into young adulthood. Each character is faced with an obstacle or event that tests his or her beliefs, integrity and sense of self. As each one struggles to make a unique and permanent impression in the world, he or she must come to terms with the past, in some cases, breaking away from it. Although the characters come from varying backgrounds, the themes that thread the collection are universal. The three stories that serve as the backbone of the collection, "Slashing, Tripping and Other Offensive Plays," "In the Drowning City," and "This Is Just a Modern Love Song" find the protagonists striving to adapt to their newly transformed environments. As the situations they face become more complicated and the resolutions exceedingly compromised, the innocence and certainty associated with childhood is jeopardized.

Standing in the Shadows is a collection of short-stories that showcases the inner workings of the modern American family. Each of these six stories examines families, in one capacity or another, dealing with ups and downs, love and hatred, sadness and happiness, and everything in between. At the heart of these stories are the relationships between people, some affected by sadness and tragedy, others torn apart by secrets, all trying to cope and exist in a world full of conflict and difficulties. The characters in this selection deal with shortcomings--shortcomings of others and of themselves--while forced to overcome obstacles in order to find truth, meaning, and understanding within their lives. "River Jumping" and "All the Wrong Ways to Say I Love You" involve protagonists trying to come to terms with their current situations in life while attempting to rectify the mistakes of their pasts. "Standing in the Shadows" discusses the secrets that father's keep, and the adverse affect it can have on their children. "Stolen Summer" examines how tragedy can affect the inner workings of family and also the relationship between two friends. The story is an example of how sadness is an all consuming organism that, if not faced head on, can forever alter the futures of those involved. "Pastime" deals with the relationship between fathers and sons and how the love and desire a father has for his son impacts their relationship in negative ways. Finally, "Glass Onion" completes the collection detailing the story of a woman who is so frustrated with her current disposition that she can no longer take it. As the years have passed and routines are formed, Tabby struggles to maintain her identity, her desire for life, and ultimately, her sanity. In each of these stories, families are forced to deal with issues that ultimately define the characters as individuals. Whether it's a lack of communication or they are haunted by the sins of the past, these characters struggle to overcome obstacles that in the end will provide insight into who they are and where they are going.

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' 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.

This short story collection follows diverse characters as they long to find their place in the chaos of modern world. As the trend of postmodern literature traces our failure to understand our lives and discover a larger context, we find that our reality is ever-changing and there is not a single constant to follow. We are disappointed by modern political systems, our lovers, and our own individual capabilities. The issue of belonging means finding a place that, both physically and mentally, provides context and meaning for our existence. The five short stories presented here examine social issues, such as immigration, political revolution, and social role of the media. At the same time, the subtleties of personal belonging--love, rejection, fear of the future, crisis of identity--are dissected under a looking glass, brought forward to emphasize the individual human element while the larger themes fade into the background. The main character of "Winter Velvet" speaks from the midst of the Velvet Revolution taking place in Prague, anxiously awaiting the outcome and attempting to understand the impact this revolution will have on his life. The narrator of "Metathesiophobia in Three Parts" possesses the kind of existential fears and anxieties we see in the eyes of American youth as they all face grim futures in a country without direction. "The Stage" explores the moments of terror an immigrant experiences when facing his first deportation scare. "El Pollo Negro" is the story of a Mexican man haunted by a black chicken as he attempts to build a life in America. Finally, "Jeremy Stock Live!" examines the role of morality in American reality TV shows ala Jerry Springer.; What is it that fascinates us about pitting tragically flawed people against an audience of judges and a host/executor? In all of these stories the characters experience a longing to hold onto a single place, to find firm ground in the world and allow home, whatever and wherever it is, to pour over them and never let them go.

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