Legacy: An Anthology to benefit PAWS for Reading

As I mentioned yesterday, I have two spots on the tour for the anthology, Legacy, a book published by Velvet Morning Press after being inspired by the 30 Authors project hosted by The Book Wheel. Yesterday, was my review. Today, I’m honored to host an interview with Legacy contributor, David Whitehouse.

David Whitehouse wrote a piece titled “Nagasaki” for Legacy: An Anthology.

How did you come to be involved in the Legacy project?

I had written a short story for the That’s Paris anthology published by Adria Cimino and Vicki Lesage at Velvet Morning Press earlier in 2015. They have done a great job in publishing a variety of fiction in the fairly short time that their publishing house has been running. I was delighted to be asked to contribute again.

David Whitehouse

You live in France but write in English about Japan (at least for the piece in Legacy). How did you develop such a wide view on the world?

Like a lot of English speaking graduates in the 1980s and 1990s, I was lucky enough to go to Japan as an assistant teacher of English on the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program. I was based on Kyushu, the southernmost main island. I got married while there so have kept going back. This has been less conducive to travelling than you might think, as the distances involved mean it’s very hard to ever go anywhere else – I’ve probably travelled a lot less than most people of my age that I know.

As a journalist and nonfiction book author (In Search of Rwanda’s Genocidaires and We Didn’t Start the Fire), what was it like to write a fictional piece for Legacy?

It makes a refreshing change to write (short) fiction as opposed to (long) non-fiction. There are more readers! Most of them are women for some reason. I don’t have to worry about gaps in research, write an index or constantly worry about libel – not that fiction writers should forget about libel, of course. I can see that longer fiction means you’re much more on your own and relying on your own creativity, whereas non-fiction tends to have its own patterns and structures which are there whoever happens to be writing.

Thanks for stopping by, David!