<p>  </p> <p>This thesis is a book length collection of short stories. It features eight short stories, most of which generally fall into speculative and related genres, including quasi-historical fiction, ghost story, fiction of the weird, and others. The stories feature original characters as well as versions and send ups of figures from history, culture, and religion, such as Yiddish film actress Molly Picon, urban legend The Jersey Devil, the professional athletes of the National Hockey League, and religious characters Vashti and Esther from the Book of Esther. It deals with themes such as Judaism, diaspora, queerness, ecological and political collapse, isolation, coming of age, and the ability to understand oneself within the gaze of another.</p>

The Drought is a collection of six stories set mostly in South Florida. Each story focuses on a young man or young men as they enter the world. Overall, there are many themes at play across the collection, with the most notable being overcoming anxiety, coming of age, and life as a middle-class millennial. The young men in these stories are being ushered into the real world, and they must learn quickly in order to adapt, and in some cases, survive. The collection also showcases the range of the middle class, and how different a person's story can be when comparing the lower middle to the upper middle. In the title story, "The Drought," a boy with a dying mother must decide if he's going to become a drug kingpin to make the money he needs to care for his little brother. In "What's the Jwett?" three friends decide if they want to get into the local weed trade. In "Turbulence," an up-and-coming DJ learns about the importance of patience and developing one's craft. The Drought is a snapshot of life as a youth in South Florida.