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Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0009-0006-7632-8215

Date Available

5-10-2025

Year of Publication

2023

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

College

Arts and Sciences

Department/School/Program

English

Faculty

Andrew Milward

Faculty

Dr. DaMaris Hill

Abstract

vapr is a collection of short stories loosely interconnected via an anthropoid of smoke self-titled the Antimmanuel. vapr is an acronym for VOID & AUGURY & PRESENCE & RESIDUE; there is nothing else, and it is all ephemeral. The Antimmanuel is the guide; it is there with us even when god is not – within capitalism, within religion, within mental health crises, etc. Although very much not a work of Realism, this collection of eight stories grasps for, at the very least, its own author’s understanding of the real – what it feels like to live in middle America in the early 21st century. Ride-share drivers, drone operators, astronauts, sex cults, bimbos, active shooters, drug addicts, moms, dads, and impressionable young men – these are the people of vapr.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2023.170

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