Cold Heart

The armor was light, which allowed the warrior to move, and heavy enough to withstand arrows.

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....

The paperback edition of <em>Cold Blood</em> has been released this morning on Amazon, which is currently filling pre-orders and taking new orders. I am delighted that the Toot Sweet team was able to get the book out for the holidays. We at Toot Sweet Ink will be celebrating in the coming days like most other people, except I will be working on Cold Heart and Laura will be getting out our first hardback, Cold Sake, with its new cover, sans the excerpt from Haru....

I expect to beat the March 16th date, but have set it at that so that I don’t disappoint. The Yamabuki story takes a turn as she enters a bandit town, Minesaki, in Nagato Prefecture, where she meets none other than the Rising Sun General, which brings unexpected consequences. http://www.amazon.com/dp/0991266773