My capstone is a short story cycle centered around broken people finding faith. The title of the collection, Those Living in the Shadow of Death, references Matthew 4:16: “on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” Each story features a character walking through “the land of the shadow of death,” finding and building on their faith despite the obstacles they face. These characters are all in different stages of their life but all are lost and broken in some way. The short story cycle essentially aims to answer this question: When it seems like every semblance of hope is lost, how do you keep moving forward?
","abstract_html":"<p>My capstone is a short story cycle centered around broken people finding faith. The title of the collection, <em>Those Living in the Shadow of Death</em>, references Matthew 4:16: “on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” Each story features a character walking through “the land of the shadow of death,” finding and building on their faith despite the obstacles they face. These characters are all in different stages of their life but all are lost and broken in some way. The short story cycle essentially aims to answer this question: When it seems like every semblance of hope is lost, how do you keep moving forward?</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Walker, Hope"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts in Professional Writing (MAPW)","degree_level":"Capstone","degree_discipline":"English","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Garrard Conley","William Rice"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2023,"date_issued":"2023-04-26T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2023-04-26T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:43:58Z","subjects":["Literary Fiction","Short Story","Faith","Fiction","Creative Writing","Writing"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/mapw_etd/134","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Garrard Conley","William Rice"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Walker, Hope"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2073-04-13T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["English"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Capstone"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts in Professional Writing (MAPW)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Literary Fiction","Short Story","Faith","Fiction","Creative Writing","Writing"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/mapw_etd/134"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["My capstone is a short story cycle centered around broken people finding faith. The title of the collection, Those Living in the Shadow of Death, references Matthew 4:16: “on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” Each story features a character walking through “the land of the shadow of death,” finding and building on their faith despite the obstacles they face. These characters are all in different stages of their life but all are lost and broken in some way. The short story cycle essentially aims to answer this question: When it seems like every semblance of hope is lost, how do you keep moving forward?
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Those Living in the Shadow of Death: A Short Story Cycle"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Garrard Conley","William Rice"],"dc:creator":["Walker, Hope"],"dc:date.available":["2073-04-13T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["My capstone is a short story cycle centered around broken people finding faith. The title of the collection, Those Living in the Shadow of Death, references Matthew 4:16: “on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” Each story features a character walking through “the land of the shadow of death,” finding and building on their faith despite the obstacles they face. These characters are all in different stages of their life but all are lost and broken in some way. The short story cycle essentially aims to answer this question: When it seems like every semblance of hope is lost, how do you keep moving forward?
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/mapw_etd/134"],"dc:subject":["Literary Fiction","Short Story","Faith","Fiction","Creative Writing","Writing"],"dc:title":["Those Living in the Shadow of Death: A Short Story Cycle"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["English"],"thesis:degree_level":["Capstone"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts in Professional Writing (MAPW)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:43:58Z"}