Meet Unreliable Isa: Flash Fiction Preview

A flash fiction teaser of An Eye For Yours! I've missed this crazy narrator and can't wait for you to meet her.

As many of you know, The Sophomore Letters (which will be my next publication) took the front seat of my writing life for quite sometime. The work I completed after Better Off Guilty’s release was entitled An Eye For Yours. AEFY took all of my stamina out of me and a lot of the playfulness in my thriller-writing-life. I knew I needed to rewrite it before I could submit it to be edited and represented. So I took a break, which led to not really taking a break and creating TSL (which is now sitting with an editor before going back out on subs - yay!) Now that TSL is on the right path, I’ve decided to take some time to revisit AEFY finally and rework it in totality. I’m falling in love with the art-history thriller/murder-mystery all over again and wanted to share a flash piece I recently reworked with you.

Meet our convoluted, impulsive, fame-obsessed, art-critic narrator: Isa. (Version 2.0):

‘Curator - the keeper or custodian of a museum. In my eyes, there’s more to it than that. The elements of her personal life must be displayed in a way thats digestible. Cohesive. And unique from the vomiting waterfall of ever-devolving pictures, film, and media that sits humbly on the doorstep of America every morning next to the Wall Street Journal. A master contortionist confined by 180x180px. And that’s just her day job. 

I, myself, would go under a label that deemed me the creative-type. A patron of the arts, if you will. There’s a bit of pretentiousness in that, which I don’t deny. I’ve found community in this: Sargy Mann, David Wojnarowizc, and Derek Jarman to name a few familiar faces. Time passes me as I wander their halls of symbolic visions and enigmatic depictions of the Great-American-Killing-Machine. Sometimes, even with a cigarette. There’s also my mom who thoroughly understands the texture, technique, feelings, and politics that go inside of each piece. A real artist. She’s a skilled painter, but more than that a critic, who chains herself and her work inside a studio with a greedy-possessiveness that will never advance her art toward even local acclaim. A foolish woman. My best friend. 

But, back to the curator: Alina is her name. Many are like her in today’s time replacing the names of Mann, Wojnarowizc, and Jarman by pioneering the digital world in a miniskirt. There’s something interesting about her display: a performer without a stage. She makes “art” in front of the camera, adorned by monochrome nails and perfectly slicked hair. And it doesn’t really matter how the paint goes on the canvas because you find yourself fixated on her instead. The pieces she creates are visually distasteful - lacking geometric structure or any relevant color theory. She never references an influence from Hockney or Gogh or any other low-hanging fruit that most self-proclaimed artists could pull out of a hat for credibility. And yet, every day I answer the door to view her latest piece framed tidily on the walls of the internet museum. The curator.

And while I hate her in some fashion, I’ve decided I will do anything to be her.’

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Get ready for artists, influencers, and reporters galore in this upcoming revamped murder mystery with my favorite unreliable narrator yet. I can’t wait for you to meet Isa and the gang inside a new story. But first, The Sophomore Letters - with more info to come soon. Keep hanging on with me (please). Sending lots of love and excitement your way.

-linds