Ryane Nicole Granados is a Los Angeles native who earned her MFA in creative writing from Antioch University, Los Angeles. Her work has been featured in various publications including The Manifest-Station, Forth Magazine, The Nervous Breakdown, Scary Mommy, The Atticus Review, and LA Parent Magazine. She is an alum of Voices of Our Nation Arts Foundation, Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference in Sicily, and the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley. Her storytelling has been showcased in the national stage production Expressing Motherhood and KPCC’s live series Unheard LA.
Excerpt from “Star Cruiser”
As I walked out of the room I thought I heard her laugh again. My sadness was a huge hand scooping me up and tossing me down the hallway. I was no more than an insignificant pebble skipping across the lake-blue lockers and landing on the school steps. From there I ran. I ran through the alley and around Pete’s liquor store. I ran by “To Go’s” pizza and on 4th Ave I ran into Jeanine and Janet. To let me know they were no longer mad they began to run too. We took all the shortcuts our parents told us not to take. We cut through Mrs. Jackson’s backyard and hopped the fence behind the abandoned warehouse. We sprinted across the parking lot of First Zion Baptist church and darted across Market Street with its broken traffic signal, dodging oncoming traffic, leaving the crossing guard chasing behind us. We raced all the way to my block and then we stopped. We knew this would be my last stretch of freedom before punishment set in. By this time the warm air had dried my tears only to make way for fresh ones. Jeanine and Janet reached under their tops and handed me the tissue boobs they had been wearing for the last two weeks.
Excerpt from Statement
“Star Cruiser” is from a larger fiction manuscript entitled “The Aves.” “The Aves” invites readers to follow young protagonist Zora Hunter as she tackles the trials, treasures, and triumphs of girlhood, sisterhood, absentee fatherhood, and the u-shaped borough that is her neighborhood. Through Zora’s revelatory accounts, readers meet the colorful characters dwelling in the Aves. The death of an avenue child also serves as a sobering reminder that surviving childhood can be as complex as the intertwined streets of the city of Los Angeles. Growing up, I didn’t see literary heroes who looked like me. As a result, I am inspired to create a twist on the hero’s journey by crafting characters that breathe life into forgotten civilizations. I am also motivated to unearth the splendor of second chances. Any beauty seen in my characters is my ongoing attempt to resurrect deadened dreams and start again.
Ms. Aligned 