Roberts, Geri L.2017-04-242017-04-242010-04-13etd-04262010-164325http://hdl.handle.net/10919/77486Set against a lush landscape of swaying palms and rolling waves in what should be a tropical paradise is Miami a.k.a. The Magic City—a hedonistic metropolis saturated with sex whose residents are consumed with the pleasure principle. Combine the sheer numbers and too-busy, modern lives—and the consequential ability to live anonymously—plus inhabitants who embrace the “me"? principle, whip these ingredients together, and traditional guidelines are abandoned. The linked fictional collection consists of longer, more richly-textured stories, as well as experimental and flash fiction pieces that mirror the characters’ unreflective lives and risk-taking nature. While aware of conservative literary models, writing stories about my home of thirty years demanded the more avant-garde tradition of the erotic exemplified by Vladimir Nabokov, Anaїs Nin, and Sidonie Gabrielle Colette. And because my stories are grounded in such a vehemently bold locale—not to mention a bolder present—I aimed for language as bold. To alert the reader that this is a different sort of read, a Sexual Relationship Tree—as opposed to the more customary Family Tree—has been placed at the collection’s start. Clearly, mischief abounds. Note it was my conscious decision not to insert a filter between the story and the reader. Keeping my narrator’s tongue tightly in check, I have embodied the commonly heard storytelling directive of “show, don’t tell"? by opting for a more reportorial approach. I trust my sagacious reader to supply a filter of his/her own when considering the thematic weights of the collection.en-USIn CopyrightShort StoriesMiamiMagic CitySexCreative WritingFictionThesishttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-04262010-164325/