The fragmented lives of three generations of women. The increasingly bizarre meeting notes of a homeowners association. The horror of trees, aliens, cities, and babysitting. Fighting over delicious sausages in a warehouse club. Blunt conversations with astute hair.

Five of the writing instructors from The Writers Studio Tucson read unreal, dark, and surreal passages from their novel-in-progress, short stories, flash fiction, and poetry last Friday, October 18, 2019 to a large crowd of students, family, friends, readers, and writers. I was impressed by the turn-out. A big thank you to Antigone Books for hosting and for being a great book store and community destination here in Tucson. I had a blast performing my poems and I was captivated by the performances of my fellow readers. Based on the reactions, we had a captive audience laughing or gasping or leaning forward with our every word.

Lela Scot MacNeil read an excerpt titled “Long Night’s Journey Into Day” from her novel-in-progress that is divided into 1001 fragments.

Phil Ivory read his flash fiction story “Probably Last Meeting of Bluebell Ridge II Homeowners Association,” published in the online literary journal The Airgonaut. You can read his post about the UNREAL reading event here. 

I read my poems “[Aliens are here],” “Phantom Taste of Apricot on My Tongue,” “Cities Through Telescopes,” “City as Fairy Tale,” and “Burning Baby.” The first was published today in the Fall 2019 issue of Star*Line, the quarterly print and PDF journal from the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association. The rest I’m actively submitting to potential markets.

Donna Aversa read her flash fiction story “A Little Bit of Sausage,” published in the online literary journal Jokes Review.

Writers Studio Tucson Director Reneé Bibby read excerpts from her short story “That Boy,” soon to be published in a forthcoming anthology.

Thank you everyone who joined us for this event! Tucson is a wonderful literary town and I feel very fortunate to read and write here.