Crazy Deadly Asians

 I haven’t blogged in months, not because I was lazy but because we were too damn busy. Hell, we work full time and have kids. We finished two novellas this year, both set in Japan, one from the shogunate period and the other from 1918. Dr. Wayne Stein, a professor at the University of Oklahoma and a leading authority on Asian cinema, convinced us to do a samurai story. With his assistance, we did, a long and tedious process that almost cost me my sanity, laying aside any Cullen Redgust stories until next year. Tough work but fulfilling. I love hard work, most people don't. “The Samurai’s Ghost” should be out next month, the Shinto gods willing.

  This stinker, “Death Has Sharp Teeth,” took less time. Maybe because I was really into it. It’s the only detective story I’ve written, shouldn’t be the last. This past June, I turned the channel to PBS one night while on vacation and began watching the BBC production of “Maigret” about the famous fictional Parisian detective. I rarely watch television and if I do, seldom tune to PBS (what are the odds, uh?). I was hooked. The show was great, excellent story. So I thought, what about an Asian version of Jules Maigret? I wanted to set in the 30’s or 40’s, a la Bogart, detective noir, but Asia was at war then. A Chinese detective wouldn’t do anyway since the Chinese were treated not much better than dogs by the British and then by the Japanese. Well, let us go back further. Dr. Stein said Japan was being hit by the 1918 flu epidemic. Why not use that as a background, he suggested? He proposed a plot where some flu deaths are discovered to be murders. Why not, hell?

  My imagination went into full gear. A tough young detective, a crime syndicate, the epidemic, strange murders, hot babes, gunplay. Within three months, our book was finished, close to being a novel but not close enough. I don’t know who wrote the rules about what constitutes a novel as opposed to a novella. Jane Smiley, some author with a doctorate, proclaimed that novels should be no less than 50,000 words. That count has since become the rule. Ours is 14.000 words short. Well, excuse me you ol’ hag. She also says length is very important in a novel. Uh, no, it’s quality. As for me, I go by pages. Any story 100+ pages should qualify as a novel. Dennis' rules. This is, therefore, a goddamn novel. Fuck the pundits. Power to the people!

  I’m pleased with the outcome of “Death Has Sharp Teeth”. This book marks a new level of sophistication in our writing. Reo Shun, the protagonist, is Bogart on steroids, but very likeable. In fact, I like him better than my fantasy character Cullen who is a religious hypocrite. The babe, Lei Wong, is actually modeled after a co-worker. I describe this person to a tee, she was also Chinese and every bit as despicable as Lei. Interesting, right? Art imitates life and, well, vice versa. 

  Now, bear in mind (ah, cliches) that there are actually three levels to the story: a man fighting a ruthless gang, a people grappling with their past as they head into an ambiguous future, and a discussion over whether the Western mind is superior to the Eastern (personally, I don't care). When I say discussion, I don’t mean a lecture. I do it with dialogue, so don't fret that you'll be bored. There's not a boring sentence in the story. And yeah, for the action/adventure freaks (I’m one of you, trust me), Shun goes Rambo on his enemies and they in turn go Rambo on him.

  I’m not a proofreader or an editor, I’m a storyteller. I ran the manuscript through the Grammarly app and made the necessary corrections. Unfortunately, I don’t have the premium version and we noticed alerts that we used wordy sentences and the passive voice too much. Oh, fucking well. I could have sent my story to an editor as I have in the past, but there’s no guarantee they could have done much better. There’s only one I trust, a nice lady from Australia, the others only make a couple of corrections and return it days later. Right now, I don’t have the funds for getting anything edited. Sorry. So, if you see typos, ignore them. We did the best we good. Hey, I'm poor white trash. 

  Then there's the cover. With our money, it was the best we could do. It's not a real attention grabber but it's a cover nonetheless. I wanted to show Reo holding a pistol, a cigarette in his mouth and a babe in one arm. That would cost more shickles than I could cough up. Maybe later we'll have a better one made. 

  Regardless of this, buy the e-book, enjoy reading for once. This is some original stuff, something you can’t lay aside until it’s finished. I hate making promises, but that I do promise and wholeheartedly. The story will have its critics, especially Japanese purists and Asian historians. I took some poetic license. To make the story exciting, I had to. Then there’s the evil Author X (check our last blog on this sorry character) who goes by the handle Gravlox15. He hates all our stuff. Shit, if I couldn’t write, I’d be a bitter fucker too. Can't write is an understatement. He blows himself out of proportion on his blog (and blows himself too I guess). He’s also one of the leading lights of that boring epic fantasy genre. Barf. Just a third-rate asshole who has tried to kick us off Redditt (and probably others) simply for trying to promote our material. Why? Because he's a hateful jerk, hateful and jealous. He wants to own the site apparently and have Indie authors worship his nothing ass. Let him own it, shit, Redditt sucks anyway and is a breeding ground for teenage trolls. Worthless. 

  Anyway, we digress. Lo siento mucho, amigos y amigas. There’s more material coming out as I mentioned. Stay tuned. Reo ain't finished yet. Here’s the link for our detective thriller:

  Also, here’s a sample. Note all three levels of the story in these passages: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HKL7WGM

  “Do you think this was this revenge for the shooting?”

  At first, Reo didn’t know which shooting the rookie was referring to, then he remembered the shootout in the back of the clothing store, the only shootout Izumi could have known about. “Part of it. Probably the first phase in their attempt to take over Akabu.”

  “You’re fast on the draw as those Americans would say.”

  Reo snickered and took a short puff from his cigarette. Maybe Wyatt Earp was a famous Western gunman. “If those bastards were smart, they would have killed me outright, not made a speech.” He puffed again. “When the time comes to kill, kill. As Kierkegaard wrote, ‘People do not know what they ought to say but only that they must say something.’'

  “Kierkegaard, the consummate philosopher of the West. I had to read some of his stuff in college.”

  “Never forget him.”