professional science fiction and dark fantasy writer
Old, historical footage of Nakayama, Kanazawa, Enoeda and others practicing Shotokan in the old Japanese dojo and training outside. This is not the original Shotokan Dojo. The original was destroyed during the war in a bombing raid. But it gives you a definite flavor of what the training was like along with the intensity. This …
Continue reading "Shotokan Karate in the Old Takudai Dojo – 1946 Part I"
This is an excellent video which showcases many historical elements of Shotokan along with some very old footage. As an old karate guy myself I can watch this kind of thing all day long. A lot of little snippets here which should give you a flavor of what karate is about, and martial arts in …
I started a brand new Haxan short story yesterday called "Talitha Koum" and so far I am making decent progress. It's taking time, but the story is shaping up and I am beginning to see what it is really about. It's funny. I was looking through some old files and saw the notes and stuff …
Continue reading "Looking for Stories in all the Right Places"
Today I put on my gi and worked out. After some careful stretching I did all the basic Shotokan stances, strikes, kicks, and blocks. I ended up doing the first kata. I joked on Twitter I was about to die, but I have to say I got through it pretty well. It was a good …
Continue reading "My Search for a Martial Art Might have Narrowed to…Shaolin Kung Fu?"
I am not a big fan of romance. I don't think much of most fantasy, either, because a lot of it draws too much on what has been done before and comes off as lazy. It feeds upon itself too much, especially when it comes to plot and motivation and the world the characters are …
I finished the synopsis for Quaternity and have sent the manuscript and everything else off. I did it, guys, I finished it! What a long journey this has been. I feel I wrote the novel I wanted to write and told the story I wanted to tell. It wasn't like anything else I have tried …
Came across old footage of Masters Nakayama, Nishiyama, and Kanazawa practicing Shotokan self-defense. I love this kind of thing, and love the historicity of it all. We are watching men who helped shaped Shotokan into the martial art it is today. I've always been a big fan of Kanazawa. He's the man defending himself at …
From what I have been able to glean, Polina Agureyeva is the singer. The song is "My Little One" from the Russian film "A Long Goodbye" by Sergei Ursuliak. This song is beautiful and so moving. It's not classical guitar, but that doesn't take away one iota from the moment. I've been humming this song …
Continue reading "Моя маленькая “My Little One” by Polina Agureyeva"
I finished reading my new novel Quaternity aloud. This exercise was very helpful. Not only because I found some little mistakes, but I found places where it didn't "sound" right. So I made the appropriate changes. Truman Capote once said he wrote for the ear. There's some truth in that, I think. Hearing the words …
Today my writing buddy, Melissa Lenhardt, was editing her novel on hard copy. That's right, she was using real sheets of paper. I had almost forgotten what that stuff looked like. We got to talking and she said it was very helpful to see her story on hard copy rather than a computer screen. It …
When I was thirteen I used to listen to a black and white transistor radio tucked under my pillow. One night I found a Chicago station and heard The CBS Radio Mystery Theater hosted by E.G. Marshall. Just like that I was hooked. I fell in love with radio dramas and wanted to hear more. …
Continue reading "Well, Guys, Theater 13 Radio is Off the Air"
A writer friend of mine, Paula C. Brown, asked how I go about writing notes for a novel. She wanted to know the method I use because she was having a little trouble getting focused. This is a problem I run into myself when it comes to finding focus and generating ideas. I don't have …
Continue reading "Setting Aside Ego for the Benefit of Story"
Once you drive through Presidio and make it through the Chinati Mountain Pass on Farm Road 170 the next stop along the Mexico/Texas Border is Ruidosa. I wanted to stop because my latest novel Quaternity takes place outside the town for a chapter or three. It's always beneficial for a writer to see a place …
Continue reading "Pictures of My Border Trip to Ruidosa, TX"
John LeCarré said in a 1997 interview for The Paris Review, "I always argue that you should not accept the value of good reviews, because if you do you have to accept the bad ones." I must say I agree wholeheartedly with LeCarré's assessment of critique and its debilitating influence upon creativity. For myself, I …
I had what I consider an unusual amount of trouble writing this short story. It wasn't the plot but how the voice was developing that I had so much trouble with. I had never written a Haxan story that featured Jake Strop before so maybe that was part of the problem. I didn't want him …
Hoover's Corner 