Izzy and Aster’s Guide to Cryptid Creatures is a novel length work about two girls who have just graduated high school going on a road trip to investigate legendary cryptids such as the mothman and bigfoot. It is a LGBTQIA+ Young Adult contemporary rom-com that explores themes of found family, mental health recovery, friendship, and self-actualization. The narrative is told through dual-perspectives of the main characters, Izzy and Aster. While Izzy deals with the fallout between her and her childhood best friend, Jenna, as well as a major shift in her plans for the future, Aster works to overcome her anxiety of losing people and things that matter to her. The novel begins with Izzy and Aster working together, despite their never ending (perhaps, one sided) feud, to solve the mystery of why Jenna has seemingly disappeared off the face of the planet. Their Jenna-related findings and an English assignment that inspires them to learn more about cryptids leads them to go on the road trip. Through this work, questions such as ‘what does it mean to be known,’ ‘how does it take to reach happiness,’ and ‘what parts of ourselves do we hide in the dark’ are answered.
","abstract_html":"<p>Izzy and Aster’s Guide to Cryptid Creatures is a novel length work about two girls who have just graduated high school going on a road trip to investigate legendary cryptids such as the mothman and bigfoot. It is a LGBTQIA+ Young Adult contemporary rom-com that explores themes of found family, mental health recovery, friendship, and self-actualization. The narrative is told through dual-perspectives of the main characters, Izzy and Aster. While Izzy deals with the fallout between her and her childhood best friend, Jenna, as well as a major shift in her plans for the future, Aster works to overcome her anxiety of losing people and things that matter to her. The novel begins with Izzy and Aster working together, despite their never ending (perhaps, one sided) feud, to solve the mystery of why Jenna has seemingly disappeared off the face of the planet. Their Jenna-related findings and an English assignment that inspires them to learn more about cryptids leads them to go on the road trip. Through this work, questions such as ‘what does it mean to be known,’ ‘how does it take to reach happiness,’ and ‘what parts of ourselves do we hide in the dark’ are answered.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Williams, Miranda"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Fine Arts","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"English","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Jon Billman"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2025,"date_issued":"2025-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2025-05-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:24:36Z","subjects":["young adult","romance","fiction","novel","Creative Writing"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://commons.nmu.edu/theses/875","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Jon Billman"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Williams, Miranda"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2030-03-31T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["English"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Fine Arts"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["young adult","romance","fiction","novel","Creative Writing"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://commons.nmu.edu/theses/875"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Izzy and Aster’s Guide to Cryptid Creatures is a novel length work about two girls who have just graduated high school going on a road trip to investigate legendary cryptids such as the mothman and bigfoot. It is a LGBTQIA+ Young Adult contemporary rom-com that explores themes of found family, mental health recovery, friendship, and self-actualization. The narrative is told through dual-perspectives of the main characters, Izzy and Aster. While Izzy deals with the fallout between her and her childhood best friend, Jenna, as well as a major shift in her plans for the future, Aster works to overcome her anxiety of losing people and things that matter to her. The novel begins with Izzy and Aster working together, despite their never ending (perhaps, one sided) feud, to solve the mystery of why Jenna has seemingly disappeared off the face of the planet. Their Jenna-related findings and an English assignment that inspires them to learn more about cryptids leads them to go on the road trip. Through this work, questions such as ‘what does it mean to be known,’ ‘how does it take to reach happiness,’ and ‘what parts of ourselves do we hide in the dark’ are answered.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Izzy and Aster's Guide to Cryptid Creatures"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Jon Billman"],"dc:creator":["Williams, Miranda"],"dc:date.available":["2030-03-31T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Izzy and Aster’s Guide to Cryptid Creatures is a novel length work about two girls who have just graduated high school going on a road trip to investigate legendary cryptids such as the mothman and bigfoot. It is a LGBTQIA+ Young Adult contemporary rom-com that explores themes of found family, mental health recovery, friendship, and self-actualization. The narrative is told through dual-perspectives of the main characters, Izzy and Aster. While Izzy deals with the fallout between her and her childhood best friend, Jenna, as well as a major shift in her plans for the future, Aster works to overcome her anxiety of losing people and things that matter to her. The novel begins with Izzy and Aster working together, despite their never ending (perhaps, one sided) feud, to solve the mystery of why Jenna has seemingly disappeared off the face of the planet. Their Jenna-related findings and an English assignment that inspires them to learn more about cryptids leads them to go on the road trip. Through this work, questions such as ‘what does it mean to be known,’ ‘how does it take to reach happiness,’ and ‘what parts of ourselves do we hide in the dark’ are answered.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://commons.nmu.edu/theses/875"],"dc:subject":["young adult","romance","fiction","novel","Creative Writing"],"dc:title":["Izzy and Aster's Guide to Cryptid Creatures"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["English"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Fine Arts"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:24:36Z"}