Tiny Ruins: Short Prose Works

Abstract

Tiny Ruins is a collection of short prose works consisting of flash fiction, prose poetry, and vignettes. The collection examines the everyday experiences of being an urban millennial, including current electronic methods of communication, such as Twitter and text messaging. Short prose forms proved conducive to the millennial experience because they are able to accurately mimic the ways in which we connect in the era of instantaneous communication. The short prose works explore themes of communication, alienation, social anxiety, relationships, and gender. Secondary themes include technology, surveillance, privacy, and dysfunctional social spaces. Many of the pieces depict the everyday experiences of two sisters, Janie and Alana. These experiences don’t always have a beginning, middle, and end, but rather illustrate encounters with people and the world that are often fragmentary, fleeting, and inconclusive.