In college, while I was a determined, aspiring writer, I took a Japanese history class and became very interested in the myths, legends, culture. It seemed a very fertile ground for fantasy tales. I read a lot of the short fiction of Lafcadio Hearn, whose Japanese-inspired fairy tales and ghost stories were rich, clever, and inspirational. I came home one day from my classes, sat down at my electric typewriter (yes, that’s how long ago it was), and wrote this story in one sitting.
I sold it to a nice, well-respected small press magazine, Grue, and was very surprised some months later when I received a notice that “The Old Man and the Cherry Tree” had been selected for The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories anthology published by DAW Books.