John A McCabe, a lifelong writer in all genres, is an active member of the Writers Guild at the Pearl S. Buck Writing Center. As a child, John frequented his boyhood local library at The Ryerss Museum and Library in Philadelphia and became a voracious reader. He knew he wanted to write, and eventually began taking courses at Bucks County Community College (“BCCC”), completing his studies there after 10 years and graduating in 1987. Whilst at BCCC, Professor Robert Fraser encouraged John to write a story in the style of Flannery O’Connor and enter it into a BCCC contest. The short story, “Sidewalk Sanctification” was awarded The Department of Language and Literature Prize for Excellence in 1982. McCabe
continued his visits to BCCC ever since, receiving guidance and encouragement from Professor Christopher Bursk (dec.), a Pew Fellow who taught at BCCC for years and published 17 books of Poetry.
Dr. Bursk listened to John’s story about being exposed to atomic bombs and urged him to tell his story. He read an early version of The Girl In Japan and insisted that it get into print John credits his experiences at “Bucks” for his love of the written word and the stimulus for continuing and perfecting his writings.
His Novel, THE GIRL IN JAPAN: A Young Soldier’s Story, centers on his studies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and was published by Assiduous Way in April 2022. A short story writer, he also authored several Short Story Collections. Tracks Through Our Lives: Stories Told on Philly El
Trains, published in 2019 by The Pearl S. Buck Writing Center Press, tells stories and tales of remarkable friendships in Philadelphia. Tracks is planned to have three sequels. The first, Tracks Through Our Lives: The Transformation of Danny Fisher, was published and released as an eBook by Assiduous Way in June 2022 with print editions in November 2022.
The second, Tracks Under Our Lives: The Adventures of Danny Fisher, is scheduled for release Summer 2023. John was published by the National Society of Collegiate Scholars 2010 as a UPenn Chapter participant with The Wedding Guests. His works appear in PSB Literary Journals. He has also published poetry. John was a presenter at the West Virginia University Gateway Conference honoring the legacy of Pearl S. Buck. His topic was Pearl’s 1959 novel, COMMAND THE MORNING, her historic fiction exposé of the Manhattan Project. Three years before the release of The Girl In Japan, John A McCabe was a Presenter at the 2019 National Association of Atomic Veterans 40th annual convention in Dayton OH where he delivered a
poignant message for today’s realities.
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Humankind continues to furiously work at destroying itself. After dealing with atomic bombs in Nevada, the fact that back then, radioactive contamination was never really considered, only dismissed, baffles us who were ordered to serve there. Are nuclear weapons an indictment of the minds that created the phenomenon?
The atomic bomb ingredients, the yellow cake (Uranium) illegally mined in the Congo by desperate paupers, are the harbinger of a future with dirty bomb proliferation by despots and stupid, powerful people. Recent new and powerful diseases are in dire need of similar revelations. What have we learned? What are we doing to prevent the annihilation of ourselves from new threats, built from the old? We are on a precipice, a cliff edge trapped in denials. Could something ever be conceded to forever mend our flaws? Something must. This novel is an impassioned endeavor to do some good for all of us.