One last good time

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] This dissertation consists of a book-length work of short fiction preceded by an essay called "In Defense of Starting Early." The ten stories that make up this collection are loosely linked by character and by setting - a fictional town in New Jersey called Gaston. The collection, while telling the story of its characters, also tells the story of the rise and fall of this small beach town from 1978 to 2004. The critical essay explores point-of-entry in the contemporary short story, and calls into question the conventional wisdom of beginning a story as close to the end as possible.