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Whatever You Do, Don’t Forget (O)

Presenter: Katherine Anne Thierfelder

Faculty Project Advisor: Christine Bailey

Inspired by a letter that she received from her own elementary school Gifted Program, Katherine Anne’s short story “Whatever You Do, Don’t Forget” follows Lucas Druthers, a psychology Ph.D. student, as he conducts an interview for his dissertation with convicted death row inmate Archie Saxton. Lucas must battle the clock and the inmate’s unwillingness to open up in order to get the information he needs for his dissertation director and answer questions that have been plaguing Lucas ever since he was a kid. The key to Lucas’s case seems to lie in the contents of a letter of rejection that Saxton received from his elementary school Gifted Program. “Whatever You Do, Don’t Forget” combines the feeling created by Richard Connell in “The Most Dangerous Game” that something isn’t quite right with a Sci-Fi twist to explore the lengths to which a person will go in order to find answers and reveal truth.

Secrets of the Paper Prince: Chapter 1 (O)

Presenter: Caleb Starkey

Faculty Project Advisor: Christine Bailey

Secrets are rough when you’re fourteen—especially magical ones. Secrets of the Paper Prince by Caleb Starkey follows Ezra Hale as he struggles to navigate the worlds of foster care, adoption, and eventually a new home in a magical town called New Seelie, all the while hiding powerful magic that has proven its potential to be as dangerous as it is useful. Chapter 1 begins as Ezra’s eighth-grade year wraps up and as he prepares to begin the adoption process for the third time since his uncle disappeared. The chapter brings mystery and complication as Ezra tries striking a desperate and unsteady balance between relationships, secrets, and a growing sense that there might be other secrets bigger and darker than his own.