sword of the taka samurai

In historic fiction, places and time spans might not be strictly correct, but most people who write in that genre attempt to have some sense of geography. The home of the Taka clan is a mythical province called Great Bay. As seen today, the area in and around the mythical Taka compound. As a novel of fiction, but based on a historic person and historic setting, this device allows enough artistic license for the Sword of the Taka Samurai to hopefully not become too didactic....

While writing the Yamabuki series I have been inspired by various folk songs and dances, some of which I have shred with my alpha and beta readers. At their suggestion, I share one now . . . just for fun . . . which is part of Cold Heart. As I research the 12th century in Japan, I see that scholars have only a narrow window on the society and not a lot of things are known about the common people....

Re-enactors in traditional Japanese costume preparing the for Hollyhock Festival.

I found a photograph of the kind of boots that might have been worn by Yamabuki.

House of the Seven Gables. Library of Congress image. Cold Saké The novella that became Cold Saké is rooted in a dark November evening in New England as the sun was setting—a scene out of Washington Irving. I had taken on the project of writing a short story for a contest and Yamabuki, who turned out to be the story’s protagonist, was still forming in my consciousness. It was especially dark, a night of the new moon, as I headed out of the office and, on what turned out to be a particularly lonely evening, drove down the two lane tree lined road toward Boston....