Stories | Nina Illingworth Dot Com

NinaIllingworth April 20, 2016December 30, 2020 Anxiety, Depression, Fiction, Louie Louie, Nina Illingworth, personal, Rebirth, Renewal, Short Fiction, Starting Over, Stories, The Reconstruction of Walter Emanuel

The Reconstruction of Walter Emanuel

Editor’s note: this is one of the first short stories I wrote after more than a decade away from writing fiction and was originally carried on my blog sportsballchic.com in the summer of 2015. My intention, was to portray a man struggling to overcome his own depression and anxiety problems after a long period of disconnection/isolation in the most humane, realistic way possible. All too often, stories about mental health begin and end with tired, melodramatic tropes that fail to recognize that an alienating sense of “otherness” may in fact be a completely rational response to an unfeeling, unloving and at times completely absurd world around us. But for time and pressure, we are all Walter Emanuel and it is my sincerest hope that I’ve told his story with the dignity, compassion and hopefulness it deserves. – NI

Fiction Personal

NinaIllingworth April 15, 2016December 30, 2020 Ambition, Bagley Road, Betrayal, Cops, corruption, Crime, Detroit, DPD, Fiction, Heat Check, Narcotics, Nina Illingworth, personal, Police, Short Fiction, Stories, Trust

Heat Check

Editor’s note: this is another piece I wrote in the late summer of 2015 for my blog at sportsballchic.com. My orginal idea was to tell a story about the peculiar way large, faceless institutions tend to promote the most selfish and dishonest people ahead of their more sociable, and in most cases far more deserving co-workers. This naturally drew me towards police work and my hometown of Detroit Michigan were we spend an afternoon on the job with Cal Newsome – a man who can’t seem to stop falling upward.