About Alison McBain
I have no idea. I just work here, ha ha.
BUT, in case you're curious, here's the official spiel:
Diversity is one of my passions. With dual Canadian-U.S. citizenship, a Japanese-American mother, and a B.A. in African history and classical literature, I have quite the eclectic background. I grew up in California and moved to the East Coast of the USA in my mid-twenties, recently settling in Alberta, Canada to raise my three daughters.
I started my writing career at age four with a "self-published" horror story about the monster in the closet. The story was highly lauded by my closest family members. Since then, I've received a number of writing awards and accolades from people not even vaguely related to me, but I still have a soft spot for that first short story.
BUT, in case you're curious, here's the official spiel:
Diversity is one of my passions. With dual Canadian-U.S. citizenship, a Japanese-American mother, and a B.A. in African history and classical literature, I have quite the eclectic background. I grew up in California and moved to the East Coast of the USA in my mid-twenties, recently settling in Alberta, Canada to raise my three daughters.
I started my writing career at age four with a "self-published" horror story about the monster in the closet. The story was highly lauded by my closest family members. Since then, I've received a number of writing awards and accolades from people not even vaguely related to me, but I still have a soft spot for that first short story.
My interest in diversity also extends to fiction. With over two hundred short publications to my name, my stories and poems range in tone from serious to silly. My work covers nearly every genre, including literary, romance, horror, science fiction, fantasy, history, and adventure. My debut fantasy novel The Rose Queen, a YA gender-swapped retelling of beauty and the beast, was published in 2018, followed shortly after by a collection of fantasy short stories in Enchantress of Books. My latest novel, The New Empire, asks "What if...?" about if the Chinese Empire could have established contact with North America several centuries before Europeans and how history might have changed because of it.
When not writing fiction, I follow my own personal mantra of, "Do something creative every day." I serve as the Associate Editor at the magazine Scribes*MICRO*Fiction. I also blog about local events, draw a parenting cartoon, and serve as the Executive Director of Book Deals for the North American writing Pitch Week contest run by the writing retreat When Words Count. And when life gets a little too hectic, I do origami meditation or draw all over the walls of my house with the enthusiastic help of my kids.
When not writing fiction, I follow my own personal mantra of, "Do something creative every day." I serve as the Associate Editor at the magazine Scribes*MICRO*Fiction. I also blog about local events, draw a parenting cartoon, and serve as the Executive Director of Book Deals for the North American writing Pitch Week contest run by the writing retreat When Words Count. And when life gets a little too hectic, I do origami meditation or draw all over the walls of my house with the enthusiastic help of my kids.