Keywords

speculative, flash fiction, short story, Hell, motherhood, surreal

Abstract

Cigarettes, Flesh, & Other Cravings is a collection of short stories that explores themes of motherhood, death, and desire. Each character struggles with the friction between society's expectations and their desires for happiness, all through the lens of the surreal and the absurd. A destructive raccoon’s nightly visits unravel a woman’s sense of control. A teenager begins an internship with a conspiracy-obsessed clown. A minuscule old woman tumbles out of a chicken egg. A fissure in a kitchen floor births an imp. A Choose Your Own Adventure examines the illusion of choice. In Hell, torture is personalized. Cigarettes, Flesh, & Other Cravings aims to question the meaning of how desire can alter a person’s life, and whether there is any choice at all.

Completion Date

2025

Semester

Spring

Committee Chair

Chrissy Kolaya

Degree

Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.)

College

College of Arts and Humanities

Department

English

Identifier

DP0029286

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

Campus Location

Orlando (Main) Campus

Subjects

Fiction--Collections; Desire in literature; Short stories--Women authors; Self-destructive behavior in literature; Short stories, American

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