Cover Reveal for Book 8, GIRL STALKS THE RUINS

My cover artist, Torrie Cooney, has done it again. Here's the cover for Book 8, which should be available in August. This one is set in France, and follows Emily and Perry in a terrorism thriller.

I'm also preparing Book 9, due out in December. That one is set in Japan, and follows the intersecting stories of Ryonosuke Shinjo, and Okamoto Haru, characters you may remember from earlier books in the series.

I think this is going to be a very good year for Emily Kane, and her fans. Thanks for following along with me, and I hope you enjoy these installments as much as I'm enjoying writing them!

As always, I'd love to hear from you, and you can send me emails care of Emily.

Best wishes!

Emily Kane Adventures #8

I've had a slight change of plans. Instead of writing Shinjo's story, as announced earlier, in Girl Pays A Debt, I've decided to focus on a different story. My wife and I spent last summer in France and England, and we sketched out a couple of possible stories at that time, and she has been urging me to write one of those first. So, here goes!

A team of terrorists invades the Louvre, expecting little resistance from a flock of tourists. Little do they realize they've roused a sleeping dragon. She wasn't lying in wait for them, but when they seize someone she cares about to cover their escape, she'll pursue them across France to get her own back again. No one is what they appear to be in Girl Stalks The Ruins.

If all goes well,  I'll have Book 8 finished by the end of the summer, and then will turn to Girl Pays A Debt, which I hope to complete before Christmas. Wish me luck, everyone!

Book 8 Underway!

Work has begun on Book 8 of the Emily Kane Adventures. This one takes up Shinjo's story from Book 3 -- the Yakuza who agrees to help Emily in Seoul -- as well as the story of Haru Okamoto, who may be the last living member of the once powerful Heiji daimyo. The working title for this book is Girl Pays A Debt.

For the Connie Savaransky fans among you, I've also begun sketching a book to follow her adventures, and it looks like the first one will also include Ip Mao Bao, the girl Connie and Danko met in Myanmar in Book 7, Girl Goes To Wudang. If all goes well, both books should be complete by the end of the summer -- take that promise for what it's worth.

I'll keep you updated on the progress, and if you're on my mailing list, I'll probably send out a few sample chapters in a few weeks. And look for a sample cover here soon!

GIRL GOES TO WUDANG is out now!

It took a lot longer than I expected -- I almost want to say it nearly killed me -- but the ebook is available at the following stores:

Amazon
iTunes
B&N
Kobo
Smashwords

I know I always say this, but I think it's best book yet in the series. With each new book, the challenges are greater, and I try to write something deeper, more complex, and more compelling than the previous book.

Now, my mind has already turned to the next project... actually two projects. The first is to write the story of Shinjo Ryonosuke, the yakuza Emily met in Seoul, in Book 3. This is a tale of revenge and violent confrontations, of a man on the run who needs the help of the strange girl who charmed him several years earlier. Emily will come to his assistance, finding him wounded in an alley in Osaka. To keep him safe will require spiriting him out of town. But the remaining members of his gang are in hot pursuit, and they'll track him to Nagoya, and the Atsuta shrine -- the very shrine that is now home to Emily's acquaintance, Tsukino, and his new charge, Okamoto Haru, the niece of his lost love, Gyoshin Heiji. Does it sound complicated enough? I can hardly wait to dig into the writing of it.

The second project is the first book focusing on our wandering assassin, and naive moralist, Connie Savaransky, and her new protegé, Ip Mao Bao, a young woman from the Wa homeland in Myanmar. Connie meets her (and so can you) in Book 7, and she has a role to play in the final crisis in that story. I've wanted to devote a book to Connie, maybe more than one, and now I think I've got some suitable story material for her.

Be patient, but know that I am working as hard as I can. In the meantime, enjoy Book 7, and I'll post as soon as there are more developments.

New Paperback Editions Available, and Kindle Unlimited Ebooks

Just a heads-up about Books 5 & 6 -- paperback editions of Girl Takes The Oath and Girl Rides The Wind are now available in time for Christmas. These would make great presents for the Adventure-Espionage-Thriller lover in your life. There's still plenty of time for orders to arrive and fit under the tree.

I'm almost done with Book 7, Girl Goes To Wudang, and though it's taken longer than I expected, it may well turn out to be the best book in the entire series. Emily is posted to the Defense Attaché's office at the US Embassy in Beijing. She is thrust into the middle of several intrigues, and must determine if it's safe to return Li Li to China and her uncle, Jiang Xi, who has requested a reunion, now that he's getting married.

Also, in a change of policy, Amazon has made it possible for me to offer all six Emily Kane Adventures through the Kindle Unlimited program. What this means is that for a small monthly fee, you can borrow all six ebooks effectively for free. The downside of the KU program is that I have to make the ebooks exclusive to Amazon. If this turns out to inconvenience too many of Emily's fans, I will reconsider participation in the program in 6 months.

As always, I welcome any feedback you may care to offer on this program, or any aspect of the series.

The cover for Book #7 is here

I'm working hard on finishing Book #7, and part of that is putting together a cool cover. And my cover artist, Torrie Cooney, has come up with a beauty.

In this one, Li Li Tang plays a bigger role than in the previous books. So Torrie thought we should have her on the cover, too, alongside Emily.

I know I said this about each previous book in the series, but I really feel that this is the best one yet. I've been doing lots of research into Daoism and the Daoist martial arts, especially Bagua Zhang. I've also put a ton of energy into thinking about character names, and have been studying up on Mandarin to get a better sense of the culture and scenery of Beijing, where much of the story is set.

It'll be finished soon, so look out for it on all the major online ebook retailers.

New Cover???

My cover artist and I have been working overtime on a cover for Book #7 of the Emily Kane Adventures. The working title is :

Girl Goes To Wudang

and the cover will sport a tagline roughly to this effect:

With Li Li in tow, Emily seeks something new at the home of Taoist martial arts,

... but surviving the trip may require more of her old skills.

But don't worry. I'm hard at work actually writing the book. This author stuff turns out to be a complex mechanism with a lot of moving parts. Also, sometimes, taking a moment to imagine the cover can help crystallize certain scenes for me.

I'll try to keep you posted on any developments along the way... and once my cover artist and I are satisfied, we may even give you a sneak peek at the finished product!

New Cover for Book #1, Girl Fights Back

Some of you may have already noticed, but for the rest of the world, it's official, Girl Fights Back has a new cover.

In case you're wondering, I was fond of the old cover, since it seemed to express at least one dimension of the passions I think Emily Kane experiences in Book #1. But other elements of the cover didn't seem to me to fit as well. She wears too much make-up, and seems too socially self-assured, and mainly displays anger and resentment.

By contrast, the new cover seems to me to express those passions and others better. In particular, beyond merely exhibiting anger, this image shows her insecurities and her resolve. That's how I tend to think of Emily, a girl who wishes for friends, and worries about her identity, traits she shares with just about every teenager who's ever lived. But she's different, too, full of confidence in one aspect of her life, but also worried about the implications of her vast abilities in the martial arts.

One last thing it shows is the depth of the darkness of her eyes, which the old cover lacked.

Let's Get The Emily Kane Movie Made!!

I was thinking, the other day, about who I would cast as Emily Kane if anyone ever decided to make the movie. My current choice would be Haruka Ayase -- you can see her in Ichi -- a mediocre remake of the blind-swordsman movie, Zatoichi [follow the linked titles to find out more about them]. By the way, even if it's not much of a remake, she's great in it.

Another candidate would have been Jun Ji-hyun, from around the time she made Blood: The Last Vampire. This is a really bad movie -- maybe wonderfully bad, if that makes any sense -- but it showcases why she might fit the part pretty well. She's probably too old for the part now, but check it out and see if you get the general idea.

Then it occurred to me that in order to catch the attention of any big-time Hollywood producers, the books in the series will need to have a lot more reviews. So, I'm making a blanket request -- if you've enjoyed the books in the series so far, and haven't had time to leave a review yet -- it would really help us get attention in the quarters where it matters if you reviewed them now.

Here's my new motto: Let's get Emily on the big-screen; leave a review now!

Here's a few links to Book One, but please feel free to leave one on any book in the series, as you see fit: Amazon, Apple, B&N, Kobo .

Oh, and if you have your own idea of who you'd like to see play Emily in the movie (or Connie, or Ethan, or Perry...), post your suggestions.

Best wishes to all of you!
... and let's get that movie made!!!

Reflections on Emily Kane

A few people have mentioned to me that the Emily Kane series has become much darker, and even depressing in Book 6 – especially Timothy Richley, who has sent me some insightful emails on this subject. He suggests that the darkness seems to have entered Emily’s heart right around the time she went to Nepal, and ever since she has been overwhelmed by remorse for all the dead bodies she leaves in her wake, and is even preoccupied by fantasies of her own death.

I think Timothy’s right about this, and I’ve also been feeling a need to turn Emily’s thoughts onto sunnier paths. [A side-note: I’m not entirely in control of this. Emily herself often dictates events as much as I do. If this makes no sense to you, try writing a book; then you’ll see.] In Book 7, I plan on accomplishing exactly this, first by turning the focus back to her little “family” and a reunion of Li Li with her uncle Jiang, but also by giving Hsu Qi’s positive influence a chance to have a greater impact on Emily. In particular, I’d like to have her help Emily find some reassurance from her ghosts.

I think Emily’s development follows an inevitable trajectory, if you consider a couple of recurring motifs in the series. I originally imagined Emily as a remorseful heroine, and wanted to trace the impact of her remorse (and not just her fists) on the people she encounters. Of course, she is saddened by the violence she can’t avoid perpetrating, but she also has an impact on the villains who confront her. In one way or another, she becomes the agent of their redemption. Connie is the most obvious of these, but also Li Li’s father, Tang, from Book 1. The West Virginia bikers are another case, and maybe even Colonel Park, from Book 2. Shinjo is a variant of this from Book 3. Kathy Gunderson plays this role in Book 5, and in Book 6, Lt. Yan and Tsukino, and to a lesser extent Gyoshin Heiji, function in this way.

Book 6 is out. Emily Kane in Girl Rides The Wind

Finally, after all these months, Book Six of The Emily Kane Adventures is available at all major online retailers. It took longer than I expected, but if you ask me, this one is the best book in the series so far. I know, I always say that, but I really think you'll agree with me.

Anyway, you can find it right now, on iTunes, Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Smashwords.

It's also available on several subscription services, like Scribd and Tolino.

Enjoy!

Girl Rides The Wind, Ch. 8, Sneak Preview

Chapter Eight

A Question of Wardrooms

The grind of life on a warship tended to bring its own inertial motivation, a daily round of meetings, exercises and tasks, occasionally interrupted by a “live” mission. Three times, Emily’s chopper had flown the teams out to islands at the southern end of the Philippine archipelago, and each time they’d come up empty, finding only the detritus of abandoned camps. All the while, the Amphibious Squadron steamed eastward, heading for the Marianas where another set of exercises had been scheduled. The Devil Dogs understood what it meant – “Operation Seabreeze” was as much about fostering cooperation as about catching actual terrorists. 

Meanwhile, Emily frequented the “dirty shirt” wardroom, which catered to the aircrews. CJ and Zaki preferred to take their meals in the XO’s wardroom, but Emily didn’t care for the formality, and cafeteria-style service suited her mood better these days. 

“Are you hiding down here?” Perry asked, as he swung a leg over the chair opposite and nudged his tray against hers to make room. 

“Do I have to answer?”

“Aren’t you afraid the senior staff is gonna notice your absence?”

“Yeah, and I hear the ship’s company gets better food,” Emily replied without looking up. 

“The CO has been hinting that he wants another translator at meals.” He looked for any sort of reaction, even annoyance at his suggestion, and when none was forthcoming, he added: “And with you down here, Diao has everything his way with the conversation.”

“Hasn’t it occurred to you that he’s the reason I’m down here?”

“You’re not afraid of him, are you? That would be a first.” When she raised her eyes, he got a pretty good indication that he’d pushed her too far.

“Not of him,” she snarled, “…for everyone else.”

Girl Rides The Wind. Ch. 7, Sneak Preview

Chapter Seven

Chutes and Ladders

Emily lay quietly in her rack – the clock they shared showed 0439, and its red eyes blinked back at her. Lettering on the back of an old photo she’d tucked up against the wall above her head shook in the general agitation of the bulkhead. She reached it down and held it out before her face in the dim illumination of CJ’s nightlight. “It’s not over yet,” it read. “Sorry, kiddo.” A finger slipped along one edge and she mouthed the final words: “You can count on me. C.”

Three pictures mattered to her, two of which she’d salvaged from the charred remains of the home she’d grown up in. Those images of her not-yet-recognized mother sustained her childhood, and she kept those back at Michael’s house in Virginia. But this one, a gift from Connie, had become the shoulder she rested on in the darkest moments since, too precious to lose, and too important not to keep near. A sealed plastic bag kept it dry – her one concession to the hazards of shipboard life – but it had been in enough uniform pockets to round off two of the corners. 

She flipped it over and let her eyes roam across the fading colors on the other side. The jungle-camo green of the men’s fatigues had gone mostly grey, but Connie’s hair was still blond, tied back in a severe pony-tail. There she stood, on a wooden dock in Okinawa or maybe Manila, next to a single-engine seaplane, with three men. Two of them looked directly at the camera, perhaps surprised, but with faces too stony to show it, and a third man stood further back, shaded by the wing, glowering at something behind Connie. And how had someone even be able to take such a picture – this thought had always perplexed her. Was it a friend? But these people weren’t the sort to make friends, not even with each other. Or just an accident? However it had happened, she was sure Connie had demanded the camera, no doubt hissing a not-so-veiled threat on the photographer’s life.

Girl Rides The Wind, CH. 6 Sneak Preview

Chapter Six

Boarding the Bonhomme Richard

The ride over to Haneda Airport in two buses took just over an hour—luck of the draw, since the other company would leave too late to avoid rush hour traffic—and the charter flights to Nagasaki would occupy another two hours. From there, a short helo-ride would deposit them at the naval base at Sasebo. Seating on the plane sorted itself out in predictable ways, by rank and nation, though nothing required it.

“At least on the bus, we didn’t have to endure the gaijin,” Tsukino muttered, glowering across the aisle to where Emily sat with Durant and Oleschenko. The flight attendant offered him a water bottle and a bag of the orb-like, slightly sweetened cookies called hashimitsu.

“Are you still stewing over the drubbing she gave you?” Ishikawa snorted.

Tsukino growled and turned to Kano for moral support, but none was forthcoming. “You know it’s not right, Captain, not after what she did to us.”

Kano waved him off with an angry glance, and stalked down the aisle to look for an empty seat in the back.

“I could have told you he wouldn’t bite on that one,” Ishikawa said. “But you have definitely got to let it go. So you got your ass kicked… so what? It’s not like you didn’t totally deserve it.”

“Will you ever shut up, Dice?”

“I only wish someone had made a video of it.”

“I’m sure someone did,” Tsukino huffed.

Sneak Peek at the Cover for Book 6, Girl Rides The Wind

This is only a preliminary version, but my cover artist is ready to polish it up at any moment. I hope you like it!

Research on the Latest Book, Girl Rides The Wind

Ever in quest of authenticity, I traveled recently to Sasebo, Japan in order to see up close one of the important locations for Book 6, Girl Rides The Wind. And thanks to the assistance of Terri Kaltenbacher, the Public Affairs Officer for CFA Sasebo, and David Freeman, in setting up a tour of the base and the LHD6, the Bonhomme Richard (BHR), we got to see how the Navy lives there.

And special thanks to the XO, CAPT McMullen for granting us permission to visit the ship, and to LT H.K. Mansell, AZC L.M. Carter, and LCPL Hector Colon for their patience and generosity in taking us all over the BHR, and answering all of my questions about life on an Wasp-class carrier.

My first takeaway from this visit: however big you think a carrier is, once you get on board, you soon realize it's much bigger. There are external elevators on either side of the ship to transport aircraft to and from the flight deck and the hangar deck. There are also interior ramps for transporting other really heavy things between decks, and for this purpose there are trucks that operate entirely within the ship.

And to all my anxious fans, I'm working hard to finish the book. My cover artist has produced a mock-up of the cover, and when we get a little closer to the release day, I'll reveal it, too. Until then, thank you all for your patience.

Girl Fights Back listed on Book Hippo

For UK readers: Girl Fights Back is now listed on Book Hippo. Keep up the great work, PR team!

Sneak preview of Ch. 5 of GIRL RIDES THE WIND, Bk 6 of The Emily Kane Adventures

Chapter Five

Shinai

“I challenge,” the voice said, and Emily stopped at the edge of the ring, turning to look over her shoulder. “My choice of weapon is shinai.”

“There is no need,” she said, rushing to the center of the ring to kneel at Kano’s feet.

“Do not insult me,” he growled. “You will accept my challenge… unless you think it is beneath you.”

“I would rather be your student, Sensei, than your opponent.”

A moment later, she stood on the side of the ring, as Ishikawa and Lt Otani helped her strap on protective equipment. Shinai are practice swords, made of bamboo strips bound together in a single shaft, lighter than a bokken, and with no edge. But in the heat of competition, an errant blow can still do some damage… and Kano did not look like he meant to tap her lightly.

“You should never have entered the ring,” Lt Otani said. “This could have been avoided if you had just let Sgt Tsukino have his victory.”

“Nonsense,” Ishikawa roared. “Moon behaved like a donkey. He deserved what he got, and she fought brilliantly.”

“What are they saying?” Durant asked from behind Lt Otani.

“Dice thinks I’m a fool, and so does Kiku-san.”

“No, Durantu-san,” Ishikawa said, in the best English he could muster. “I think Tenno-san is awe-inspiring. But she is probably in for a beating.”

“I’m sorry for getting you in to this pickle, LT,” Durant said, after Emily glowered at him.

“Pic-kel-u?” Ishikawa said, with one raised eyebrow as he tried to fit his mouth around the word.

“Just like tsukemono,” Lt Otani proposed.

Emily offered an alternative translation: “He means this is a difficult situation.” When Ishikawa still didn’t understand, she said, “I’m screwed.”

“Yes, yes,” Ishikawa said with a big grin. “Screwed.”

Sneak Preview of Ch. 4 of GIRL RIDES THE WIND, Bk 6 of The Emily Kane Adventures

Chapter Four

A Distinguished Personage

In the hot and humid season, merely standing in formation while a party of dignitaries made speeches could be torture. Emily managed to peek over at Oleschenko and Durant, both of whom had begun to sweat through their fatigues. A bit further along the line, she caught a glimpse of Ishikawa in similar straits, but Tsukino and Kano managed to put a brave face on the whole situation, even as the beads formed on their faces. She felt one hanging from her own nose.

“Man, this is interminable,” she muttered. “Why can’t a breeze find us on this infernal base? Is that too much to ask?”

Durant couldn’t suppress a snort at her words, and Oleschenko glowered at the two of them. “Shut it, you two,” he hissed.

Eventually, the proceedings on the shaded podium drew to a close, and several well-dressed people made their way across the front of the formation, accompanied by Colonel Kamakura, commander of the first Airborne Brigade, and Admiral Crichton, Commander of Fleet Activities at the naval base in Sasebo, and the officer in charge of the US contingent of the operation. The command to stand “at ease” made its way around and Emily’s platoon assumed a slightly more comfortable posture, feet apart and hands behind their backs.

“The tall one is Mr. Saito,” Oleschenko whispered. “He’s the Deputy Minister of Defense.”

“Who are the other two?” Durant asked.

“I imagine we’ll find out in a moment,” Emily said. She could just make out what they said to Kano’s unit. Praise for their service in the recent evacuations after the typhoon up north, and encouragement for the tournament to be held later that day.

Sneak Preview Ch. 3 of GIRL RIDES THE WIND, Book 6 of The Emily Kane Adventures

Chapter Three

Camp Narashino

“Gaijin kusai,” said Sergeant Hiroki Tsukino, who the rest of the platoon knew as Moon. With a sneer and a snort, he looked across the table for moral support.

Takeishi Kano, who occasionally let his sergeants call him Tak, glanced at Emily sitting a few seats away, hoping she hadn’t heard, since he knew she’d understand. The third time club-hopping with their American guests in the Roppongi neighborhood of Tokyo had taken a toll on him, too. But he had other concerns.

“Shut it, Sergeant,” he growled in Japanese.

“C’mon, Captain. How many more hakujin bars do we have to take these guys to?”

“At least it’s not a karaoke bar this time,” Sgt Daisuke Ishikawa offered.

“Tenno, what are they going on about?” Captain Oleschenko asked.

“And do they have to call her that?” Moon said, loud enough to be heard the length of the table. “I mean, what the hell is she playing at with a name like that anyway?”

“Sergeant Tsukino thinks we smell bad, sir,” Emily said.

“We smell bad?” Sgt Durant chuckled. “What the hell does he think he smells like?”

“It’s an old prejudice, from the second world war,” she said. “Japanese didn’t eat much meat in those days, and they thought the GI’s smelled strange, you know, like old butter.”

Kano glowered at his men as she spoke. As irritating as he found her presence, having to guard against offending her made it so much worse. She wasn’t responsible for his father’s death, but she damn well reminded him of the infernal code of honor that propelled him to his end. His father had sacrificed himself to protect her, and he’d done it at the behest of the Crown Princess, even though it required accepting a pretended disgrace in order to go undercover… and even now, three years later, the Imperial Household still refused to acknowledge his sacrifice, or to restore his good name.

“Moon, you eat enough meat to smell like a slaughterhouse,” Sgt Ishikawa roared.

“What do you know about it, Dice?” Sgt Tsukino replied.

“Only what my nose tells me.”