Free Art

A budding 22 year old poet enters the world in 2012 and navigates life as an artist while writing to her musician pen pal over emails spanning several years. The parasocial relationship turns reciprocal when the rap artist writes back to her in brief notes. Daya, the poet, describes her life over the next year and reveals the interactions, people, and places she encounters to her new pen pal friend as she explores the ups and downs of her own timeline.

The protagonist moves abruptly from her small town to a metropolis, navigating her journey through the world of art & culture, and the characters can reveal themselves over time with the epistolary letters via email. Daya illustrates the dreary yet all-too-familiar diner (Pancake Hut), the fanciful and carnival-esque novelty store called "Twirkworld," & her adventures in the Bay Area and Los Angeles, CA. Behind her experiences, a sinking feeling bubbling underneath the surface that something is brewing, a deep and sorrowful pain. Poetry and prose interspersed throughout the epistolary work produce a hybrid literary format that the audience can follow effortlessly. Included in the chapters are cryptic quotes pulled from song lyrics by a now defunct band of which Shue, the musician, was a former member.

Who is this mysterious rapper & what's so special about his music that Daya decided to reach out and reveal her life to them like in a journal/diary-like format? What compels Shue to respond & continue to write back? Will Daya ever make it in this world as a writer? Does she still have the will or desire after everything she's seen, experienced, & witnessed? The letters in "Free Art" form into a fascinating story about the lives of two artists. These characters will remain in the minds of readers beyond the pages they inhabit in this novel.