About
the Author:
Alyson lives in West Yorkshire
with her husband, teen son and 4 rescue animals. She has been a
teacher, a carer, a road safety instructor and a lifetime film buff.
Currently she teaches creative writing workshops and writes dark
fiction, both short (flash) and long.
Her short stories have appeared
in print in the anthologies, Women in Horror Annual 2, Stories from
Stone, DeadCades:The Infernal Decimation, Coffin Bell Journal 1 and
Crackers. Her debut flash fiction collection, Badlands, was published
in January 2018 by indie publisher, Chapel Town Books and her own
Trio of Terror - Supernatural Tales (all set in Yorkshire) came out
in December 2018. Her flash fiction has appeared in several charity
anthologies and can be heard on several podcasts. Her fiction has
won, or been shortlisted in several competitions.
When not writing Alyson enjoys singing,
swimming, crafting, time with her Labador, Roxy and eating chocolate,
the darker the better.
Her blog can be found here.
Her amazon author page is here and she's on
twitter as @AlysonFaye2.
About
the book: The books contains tiny tales with long shadows. This is my debut collection of
short shorts - a collection of thirty plus pieces drawing on my
interests in old movies, churches, the Victorians, homelessness, the
supernatural and the dark side of life. My WEA class tutor introduced
me to the concept of writing taut and short ie under 500 words or
even 100 worders and I took to this format - finding it both fun and
a challenge. I realised I had built up enough over 3 years for a
collection and I sent it off to an indie publisher who happily
decided to run with it. The title, Badlands, also the title of a
Martin Sheen film from 1973, (not seen it? I would recommend you seek
it out) came to mind, as so many of the pieces explore the darker
side when events tip into the weirdly strange.
Many of the tales are set in real
locations or are drawn from my life or family :- Doll Man is
set in a local park's playground in Saltaire, the English Heritage
Trust village built by mill owner Titus Salt in the nineteenth
century, where I used to regularly take my young son. The Adelphi is
a homage to Liverpool's once glittering hotel of that name; Cathedral
Crow was inspired by walking in the cloisters of Norwich cathedral in
Tombland and watching the birds roost in the stoneworks; Bouquet from
Valletta came from a real life glimpse of a glorious garden and a
conversation with its creator in that town; Bookworm is the most
autobiographical- I am the child/girl in the story; Visiting Mum is
based on my own family experiences of dementia. However a seed of
fact may start the tale but fiction rapidly takes over. No crimes
were committed by this author - unlike by the inhabitants of these
pages. It is all imagination. 
Blurb: ‘Badlands' is a collection of flash fiction pieces, from drabbles of 100 words to
longer pieces up to 1000 words. Many have been published on line and
in anthologies, and short-listed or been placed in competitions. They
have all been written during the last three years, the oldest pair
being ‘Chestnuts for my Sweet’ and ‘A Guy for the Children’,
both written in the autumn.These short shorts reflect an interest in ghost stories, history especially the Victorians, old movies, derelict buildings, real life issues such as homelessness, and just the ‘what if’ factor of when a seemingly normal situation starts to tilt off centre, dangerously so.
You can buy the book as a paperback orebook here. To try to win a signed copy, posted to any UK address, simply leave a comment below by midnight on Wednesday .
The winner will be announced next Friday.
Free ebook Are We Nearly Famous? by various authors.
If you'd like to offer one of your physical books as a Friday Freebie or to have your free ebook mentioned, do get in touch. Any form or genre considered.
9 comments:
I love horror. I admire anyone who can write flash fiction, I'll have to give it a go. My worry is thinking up original horror, maybe I need to read more and get back into it
It's great to read the description of Badlands. I've seen the book on various posts and always wondered about it. Now I know!! I'd love to read it. If I don't win a free copy, I will certainly purchase it. All the best to you, Alyson!!
I'd love to win this.
The stories sound fascinating, I love the short story format, and to read fiction in a very different genre to my usual reading matter will be eye- opening and a lot of fun!
You've got to be in it to win it and I'm in the market for some good holiday reading !
Sorry the post above is Christine McCabe
The gender sounds fascinating and I love to read mixtures of fiction and ‘based on’ type stories. 💐
I love the short story form and am always interested to see how other people are developing their approach to it. Would love to win this book.
I already have a copy of this collection but it's so good I'd love another one!
@ Jen – Flash is different from other types of writing. It can be fun – you won't know until you try!
@ Jim – It sounds like a good read if horror is your thing.
@ Sharon – Yes, this sounds very different from those stories of yours which I've read!
@ Christine – It's nice to have books ready for holidays, isn't it?
@ Mags – seems as though it would suit you then.
@ Veronica – It's always interesting to see how different writers tackle a story, isn't it?
@ Gail – You do know you can read the same one twice? ;-)
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