It's a work of short fiction (not sure length - my guess is 2000-3000 words?) by Tricia Dower
The story really struck my husband, who tore (oh the horrors!) it out of the magazine to bring home to me. This is notable. He brings me an occasional article from a newspaper or news-related magazine (typically on a technology topic or one related to my non-for-profit work) but a whole STORY. My husband read a work of short fiction? But anyway, that's the lead-in, it really resonated with someone who would not normally read short fiction.
Here are the first 13:
Ashwin's Rules
On a breeze September afternoon, Ashwin Kapoor burst into an odorous, noisy, brightly lit world. He bore Leena's milky-tea complexion and sleepy eyes. From Prem, he took his melon-shaped head and wiry frame. He felt arms, legs, fingers and toes growing, as a tree senses its roots burrowing into the earth. He heard the whoosh of more than a thousand enzymes racing through his cells. Power seemed to radiate from his pores, reaching out to all else that lived.
Leena and Prem appeared to him, even then, as disconnections of motion, noise, touch, and smell: the scratch of starched cotton, the whispery blur of silk, the pinch of incense. They sailed him around their small rooms in Toronto's Little India, pointing at shapes. "Ganesha," they said, pulling his fingers...
===
Interestingly, as I re-read the story beginning, I realized that the story gave me a misconception from the start. My interpretation of the story is that it's about the world according to an autistic or otherwise handicapped boy. It's a really interesting study in what his impressions must be. However, from the first 13, I got the distinct impression that this was a work of speculative fiction - that the boy had superpowers of some sort, to be able to feel the rush of enzymes and feeling his limbs growing.
This is not something that the author maintains throughout the story, but rather just helps set the stage for the unusual point of view, which is limited to the child's POV but omniscient in many ways since there are things explained that I suspect a child with the kinds of disabilities depicted wouldn't be able to understand or interpret.
At any rate, I suspect this isn't all that interesting if you haven't read the rest of this story...and I was going to end it there, but through the wonders that the Internet provides - here's a link to the story!
http://www.hemispheresmagazine.com/may07/ashwin.html
Aww...I forgot the story made me cry. Sniff sniff. This parenting thing just makes me a basket case for mother-love stories.
Was engagingly written though, not sure if the voice of the piece would hold me for long though.
How did you sell your story to an inflight magazine?
I am thrilled for two reasons.
The main reason I'm thrilled is that I had completely forgotten about this thread. I was recently disappointed when I couldn't remember enough about this story's title or date to be able to find it online in a search (I think I tried airline magazine archives, but they weren't sorted in a way that I could usefully search.)
The second reason, though, is that I'm so glad that you posted (and relieved that I didn't sound too ridiculous in my 2 year old post!) Your story is still with me, and I still think of it often, even though parenting a child with autism/mental handicaps is not something I have experience with.
As writers, so often we send our work out into the wind and just hope that we can have an impact on someone, somehow (even if it's just the slush pile editor to pass it up the food chain!) My 8 year old son told me tonight that sometimes he gets worried when he's writing something, that he doesn't want to share it. When I asked more about why, he said because he was worried that people would laugh. Oh my little old soul! He hit right to the heart of what keeps some of us from submitting our work out into the big, bad world.
I would love any suggestions you have on submitting, particularly to a market like Hemispheres Magazine.
I'm sure once I get over my excitement at your post, I will have more questions. I also hope you'll consider poking around here at Hatrack. While there's a heavy leaning toward speculative fiction, there's a wide range of tastes and styles, as well as skill levels from new to the craft to those who've had many works published, and much range in between.
And I hope you can take as a deep compliment the fact that my husband defaced a magazine to share your story with me, quite a statement!
Anyway, I'll try to remember your questions, since I can see only the reply box. How did I submit to Hemispheres? I sent them the story in 2004 or 2005 and the editor was very interested but, in the end rejected it. I sold the story subsequently to Room of One's Own, a literary magazine, and it ran in 2005. In late 2006 or early 2007 Hemispheres contacted me asking if I owned the rights to the story, which I did. They had a space to fill and needed something quickly that had been more-or-less pre-approved. So, that's how it happened.
Thank you for your kind comments. I can see where you might have gotten the impression from the opening that the story was speculative but I was trying to convey how an infant, predisposed to being especially sensitive to his environment might experience birth.
I have been busy of late with book publishing. In May 2008, the Canadian feminist press, Inanna, published my Silent Girl, a collection of short stories inspired by Shakespeare's female characters. I recently completed a novel based on one of those stories and have signed with a literary agent who will begin marketing it in the US and Canada. The book is set in New Jersey so I think US readers will find it interesting.
http://www.roommagazine.com/backissues/28_4/index.html
[This message has been edited by TDower (edited October 04, 2010).]
I must say though that I go a different idea from those 13 lines. Now I can see how it would be a birth but when he burst into our world I thought he came from another dimension. I have read stories like that; an alien being of some type with powers beyond that of mortal kin, appearing in our world.
I wondered why they were showing him stuff and how they got there first.
Or, at least I do.
And I was fascinated by your story. Thanks for writing it.
[This message has been edited by PB&Jenny (edited October 04, 2010).]
quote:
since I can see only the reply box
When you are on the reply box page, and you want to see the entire topic (so you can remember what was said in order to respond to it), all you have to do is scroll down.
The complete topic is in a box (with its own scroll bar) below the reply box but not visible on most screens.
And, call me stupid, but I just found the scroll bar you referred to Corky. I don't have a defective screen after all!
[This message has been edited by TDower (edited October 04, 2010).]
Congratulations on your recent publications and agent-signings! Feel free to post a link to amazon.com or wherever we might go to see your short story collection (and come back when your novel hits the shelves!) We also have a writing brags kind of forum for the authors who come here to post of their publication successes. Take advantage of it, you never know where the next passionate fan will come from. It could just be that her husband will tear a story out of an in-flight magazine...
I am glad for the reminder of the story, as through the years some of my friends' children have received autism diagnoses and I'd like to share this with them. I'm glad the story is still available online.
I'll check out the "brags forum."