Between a Rock and a Better Place

Between a Rock and a Better Place pairs a critical preface on the role of worldbuilding in my fiction and fiction by authors I have learned from, including Ling Ma, Samuel Beckett, and J.R.R. Tolkien, with original stories. The characters in these stories grapple with Biblical plagues, health insurance conspiracies, and the undead, as well as addiction, forgiveness, and redemption. As a collection, Between a Rock and a Better Place explores absurd and satirical solutions to glaring issues of inequity in society, emphasizing the corruption in institutions like organized religion and the American health care system. The critical preface to Between a Rock and a Better Place considers the role of worldbuilding in how this critical commentary is performed through my creative work. This essay analyzes scholarship on worldbuilding to understand not only how it functions within fiction, but also to explore how fiction may be used as a means of reflecting upon reality, ideally with the outcome of gaining a new understanding of the world. Additionally, the introduction to this collection considers the advantages of worldbuilding through expository passages in comparison to worldbuilding through inferences.