Imagistic Flash Fiction Day 2016
Yesterday was a dark day for the U.K. and there's no getting around that. So we at Tyler's publicity team aren't even going to try. Instead, we're just going to announce, somewhat mournfully, that tomorrow night Tyler will be appearing at this year's Imagistic: Cardiff Flash Fiction night at Chapter Arts Centre. It's a cool event organized by Carole Burns (author of the story collection The Missing Woman) that involves pairing artists with writers, who in turn respond to a particular piece of visual artwork in prose form. Tyler's chosen artist is Magda Kozarzewska, and her evocative painting that he's using as a springboard is below, along with a sample of the story he'll be reading. Other artists this year include Robert Harding, Keith Bayliss and Maja Spasova, while Tyler will be joined by fellow writers Rhian Edwards, Ivy Alvarez, and Susie Wild. It's shaping up to be a great event, and things kick off at 5.00 p.m. If you're not a football fan, we'll see you there!
"Amid all that, just you and your pa and that clapboard shanty, surrounded by split-rail fencing. You had a Duroc pig and six hens, naked necks, all as scrawny as you. You didn’t know what those dogs were after: you had nothing worth taking. But you could hear them out there, baying. At night your pa would tug on his boots, fit his hat, drape his overcoat over his raw-boned frame: a scarecrow man. When you asked about the coat, he said it protected him. Said those damned ghost-dogs couldn’t bite him through it, see? Cradling his .22, he would roam the perimeter fence, muttering to himself, taking potshots, keeping them and everything else at bay."