ALISON MCBAIN
  • Blog
  • Publications + News
    • Short Stories
    • Flash Fiction
    • Poems
    • Books
    • Readings & Events
    • Interviews, Awards & Other News
    • More Stuff >
      • About Me
      • Book Reviews
      • Random Art
      • Links
      • Privacy Policy
  • Toddler Times
    • Toddler Times 2020
    • Toddler Times 2019
    • Toddler Times 2018

New Story "Taiki-chu no chinmoku" at Litro

7/8/2017

0 Comments

 
The first thing I want to say is that this story isn't true.  This story isn't nonfiction.  It is 100% fiction.

The second thing I want to say is that this story is completely true.

The story I'm talking about is "Taiki-chū No Chinmoku (The Silence of Waiting)," which was published at Litro on July 6th.  It is not a story about my Japanese grandmother at the end of her life, and it does not revolve around her long and complicated journey from being in love to being in hate, from being interned during WWII and overcoming discrimination, from raising a family and the difficulties in doing so, and to the final end of her independence and the facing of death with the same strength as she lived her life.  It is none of those things.

Of course, it is all of those things.  But it is fiction, for that gives me license to make it a complete story, change the things that needed to be changed, and fill in the untold gaps.  To put myself into someone else's shoes and imagine what it would have been like to go through the things that she went through, even though I hadn't been born yet.

This is for my grandmother.  It is for all the stories she told me.

​Now, I am the one who will tell her story - or, at least, a small, small portion of it.

I love you, grandma.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Who the heck is Alison McBain?

    I am a freelance writer and poet with nearly a hundred short pieces published in magazines and anthologies. If the Walking Dead isn't on, I draw pictures and do origami meditation in Connecticut, where I live with my family. If the Walking Dead is on... shhhh! The Walking Dead is on! For more info, please check out my "About Me" page.

    Enter your email address to receive new blog posts via email:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    ​© Alison McBain. All rights reserved

    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Blog
  • Publications + News
    • Short Stories
    • Flash Fiction
    • Poems
    • Books
    • Readings & Events
    • Interviews, Awards & Other News
    • More Stuff >
      • About Me
      • Book Reviews
      • Random Art
      • Links
      • Privacy Policy
  • Toddler Times
    • Toddler Times 2020
    • Toddler Times 2019
    • Toddler Times 2018