Yes, They're Real: A Collection of Creative Nonfiction

Yes, They’re Real is a series of creative nonfiction shorts that started in 2010 at the University of North Florida. The four short stories penned by Sarah Block, Michael Selvester, Travis Wildes and Andrew Wilkins are linked together by each author’s perspective of what the genre can resemble and their personal vision of the journey that takes place while writing creative nonfiction. Experience the stories and answer the question for yourself, "Are they?"Excerpts from Yes, They’re Real:Sometimes, we drink out of a bottle of mango wine and talk about Bukowski in tones many people reserve for prayer. Or we eat ecstasy and do yoga on the patio, our skin rubbed smooth by the grit on the pavement. Or we sit in her garage smoking weed and speculating on which girls’ boyfriends are gay. But tonight, it’s something else. – Green and White by Sarah BlockWhen somebody feels insecure or doesn’t know what to say, in our circles anyway, they dust off their old “can you believe that!?” drug stories and relate them like passages from the Odyssey. I’ve heard so many that I sometimes wonder if any of us really have anything in common. – Intervention by Michael SelvesterI often wish I was an undercover cop, so when someone flashes me I could wait until they pass by and pull them over for a reckless driving ticket (and any other ticket I could throw their way). These people cause chaos on the road. I think I would be willing to go through the entire police academy and get sprayed in the face with mace, just to stick it to one of these flashers. – Mind the Gap by Travis WildesThere was a static vibration on the collar when they reached the end of the rope, and the men left the sheep to hang for half an hour. When they brought the sheep up, there was no movement in the box. The crate appeared unscathed from the outside. Inside the sheep was dead. – Mel’s Hole by Andrew Wilkins