A Place Called Home (Short Story Collection)
Description
This collection of short stories explores what it means to be part of the African Diaspora in America. Each character, despite different life experiences, suffers from a profound sense of alienation. Each is searching for that elusive place called "home." We see a middle-class couple at a crossroads in their careers, their marriage, and their lives. A child whose mother is on crack tries to win a spelling bee with no parental support. We revisit the memories of a homeless man who had once been a talented singer. A father returns home to his adolescent daughters after a seven-year absence. An adoptee wonders about reuniting with her birth mother. A dark-skinned woman questions the role she has played in the family in the shadow of her light-skinned sister. This sacred place is what this offering is about-this quest for "home"-be it spiritual or physical. Home is the center, which all human beings seek to reach. These characters are all displaced through their race, place in time, or moment in history. They reside in a spiritual "wasteland" and it is their job to define-and obtain-"home."
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Person
About the Author
Maxine E. Thompson was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, but has resided in Los Angeles, California since 1981. After graduating from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, she worked as a Child Protective Services social worker for twenty-three years, first in Detroit, then later in Los Angeles.
Ms. Thompson attempted her first novel, The Hidden Sword, at the age of 16, when she was the first black student to integrate St. Francis High, an all-white school, in Traverse City, Michigan in 1967. In 1989, Ms. Thompson became a recipient of an honorable mention in Ebony's first writing contest for her short story, "Valley of the Shadow." In 1994, she won an award for her short story, "The Rainbow," through the International Black Writers' Association (IBWA). She won a PEN Award for her first novel, The Ebony Tree. She has had poems, short stories and articles published in e-zines, national magazines, such as The Writer and Final Call, and anthologies such as Proverbs for the People. She has written three self-publishing columns on the Internet found at
http://www.careermag.com, http://www.bwip.org, and
http://www.blackmarket.com. She is the author of five novels,
The Ebony Tree, No Pockets in a Shroud, (Hostage of Lies), LA Blues, LA Blues 2, and LA Blues 3, a contributor to 5 anthologies, an author of novella, Capri's Second Chance, How-to-Write, Publish, and Market Ebooks (2000). She has written
She began hosting internet radio on March 5, 2002 at VoiceAmerica.com, and continues to this day on Artistfirst.com, where she started on March 4, 2004 and still interviews authors, and keeps abreast of the news in the publishing industry.
Ms. Thompson is also the founder of Black Butterfly Press, which created an e-zine for new and self-published writers called On The Same Page,(www.maxinethompson.com), and later created a blog, at Maxinethompsonbooks.com. Dr. Maxine Thompson is the owner of Maxine Thompson's Literary Agency and Maxine Thompson's Literary Services where she acts as a literary agent, a ghostwriter, a book doctor, and a developmental editor. Email maxtho@aol.com.
