In The Drowning City And Other Stories

In the Drowning City and Other Stories is a collection of fiction written and revised during Malyn Segarra\u27s 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