12th century japan

Ever stare at the shelves at a bookstore or your own home library and think, “I wish there was a novel where the main character was [fill in the blank] and did [fill in the blank] but there’s no book like that. Hmmm. Why, in fact, if such a book existed, I would read it!” The next thing is the character takes shape in the person’s mind and the “adventures” of the character start to take form and soon you start writing the book you wished someone would write....

Truly a treasure.

Toshiro Mifune carries a nodachi in Seven Samurai. In Kurosawa’s film Seven Samurai, Toshiro Mifune plays the character Kikuchiyo, the seventh (and odd-ball member) of the seven samurai. For those not familiar with the film, the concept is that seven unemployed samurai (sometimes called ronin, literally “man of the wave”) are hired by a group of hapless farmers to protect the farmers’ village against a relentless band of marauders. Mifune’s character is shown hefting a sword so long that it has to be carried over the shoulder like a lance....

An excerpt.

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....