Girl Stalks The Ruins Preview: Ch. 6 The Louvre

Chapter 6

The Louvre

Li Li had wanted to enter the museum through the shopping mall underneath the complex, no doubt hoping she’d be allowed to forego the art altogether, and be left to her own devices among all the boutiques, and teenagers. She’d even taken the trouble to ascertain the existence of a shop that sold discounted gallery passes, along with its collection of snow globes and post cards. But her scheme went awry when Andie announced a desire to see the Jardin des Tuileries, which meant getting off at the Tuileries metro stop and walking above the ground the rest of the way to the glass pyramid entrance.

“Why can’t I go this way?” she pleaded, once they’d finally descended the main escalator. The main atrium underneath the pyramid was brightly lit even on an overcast day, and she tugged on Emily’s arm as the others tried to decide which of the three smaller escalators to choose, each one leading to a different wing of the museum. “Perry can come with me, if you’re worried. I bet he doesn’t want to look at a bunch of stupid paintings all day either.”

“It’s not going to be all day,” Andie said. “Besides, we do things together in this family.”

Emily had been studying the floor plan of the museum this whole time, with one ear cocked to Li Li’s complaint. She glanced at Perry and smiled, and he returned one of those sad puppy expressions that meant, “Please don’t make me go shopping with a teenager,” or something to that effect.

“I doubt Perry really wants to go clothes shopping, sweetheart.”

“Fine. Then I can go on my own. I can find my way around.”

Emily glanced at the floor plan one more time. “How about you and Perry and I go to the Richelieu wing? That’s where they keep all the cool sculpture. I think Stone will prefer to explore the Denon wing, where all the really famous paintings are. Okay?”

Li Li grudgingly assented to this proposition, and Emily had guessed right. It wasn’t the museum she really objected to, but the prospect of having to go wherever Stone wanted, to see and do what he wanted. Emily turned to Stone, and ran her fingers through his shaggy hair, and pulled it away from his face. “Is that okay with you?” He nodded, his eyes a little watery.

Finally, she turned to Andie and Yuki. “We’ll meet here,” she said, pointing to a room marked in red on the plan. “It’s the main hall on the first level. Two hours?”

“Shall we keep Ethan and Jerry with us?” Andie asked, and Emily nodded.

“We’ll be okay on our own.” Emily knew this thought would thrill Li Li, and maybe she deserved some special treatment.

Girl Stalks The Ruins Preview: Ch 5 Paris By Night

CHAPTER 5

PARIS BY NIGHT

“I know a good place for Moroccan food,” Lieutenant Zaki Talib said. “But we’ll have to take a train.”

“Is this the place out by Saint Denis your cousin was telling us about?” Lt. CJ Tanahill asked. “Because I’ve heard some things about that area.”

“Like what?”

“Well, it’s in La Courneuve, right? Isn’t that the place people are calling a ‘no-go’ zone for the police?”

“My cousin says it’s all a lot of nationalist propaganda. The police do regular patrols there, no one’s instituting shariah. It’s a French neighborhood, ethnically diverse, and maybe a bit gritty, but everyone you meet on the street speaks French. Plus, the food is really great.”

“I say we go,” Emily said.

“… and it’s only one train from the Jardin de Luxembourg stop, which is right around the corner.”

“It’s okay,” CJ said. “You already sold me.”

“It’ll be safe.”

CJ looked up into Zaki’s face – and that’s saying something, since she was quite tall herself, her straight, blond hair making a sharp contrast with his close-cropped black hair – touched her nose to his, and snaked a hand around his elbow. “There is no place on this earth I wouldn’t feel safe on this arm.”

Emily hooked him from the other side. “Have you stepped up the workouts? Because these guns seem to have grown since last spring.”

Perry followed after the trio, happy to bear a distant witness to Zaki’s discomfiture at the subtle sarcasm of the women. “Better him than me,” he thought.

They’d just spent a couple hours relaxing in the famous gardens, discussing world events of great import, and watching Stone sail a toy boat in the fountain alongside a few of the local kids. For much of the time, Li Li tried to look bored to conceal her envy. Eventually, Emily dangled a sketchpad on the edge of Stone’s peripheral vision, and Li Li got her turn. The park was two short blocks from the hotel Michael had arranged, and once the sun had set, the kids were sent packing, to dine in with Andie and Yuki, and give the grown ups ‘some space.’ The remainder of their night promised to be free and clear, and CJ spoke French well enough to navigate the City of Lights.

The early evening traffic had already thinned out by the time they entered the metro station, and Perry spotted a half-empty car toward the front of the first train.

“On a watchlist?” CJ turned wide-eyed to Emily, once they’d found seats. “What on earth for?”

Girl Stalks The Ruins Preview: Ch 4 Riding The Rails

CHAPTER FOUR

RIDING THE RAILS

Of course, the next morning Emily had insisted on walking to the Hauptbahnhof, pulling luggage the whole way. By the time they crossed Bismarckstraße, Perry had plenty of motivation to regret bringing a duffle without wheels. But it was sweet of Stone to make a point of walking in front with him, carrying his bag even though it had wheels. Had Emily put him up to it? Perhaps she’d also wanted one last chance to pop into a shop or two.

A darker thought presented itself: perhaps she just wanted to pass through the scene of the previous day’s ‘unpleasantness.’ If it was catharsis she was after, Li Li appeared not even to notice, though she had developed an air of inscrutability that could rival Emily’s, on occasion. By contrast, Stone was preoccupied with the pleasures of walking in a group.

When they passed by the fountain in the central market square, too early yet for the tourists to have finished their hotel breakfasts, and still time for the merchants to busy themselves about opening their shops, Perry thought a few of them paused to take notice of their little procession. In fact, one old man, who had just moved several displays onto the pavement in front of his shop, took particular notice of Emily, and stepped back inside. In the windows on either side, other faces had paused from their labors to take notice of her. Perry glanced around the square, and thought this curiosity had become more widespread than he was comfortable with, though she seemed not to notice, or at least, was not letting on if she did.

“Bitte,” the old man cried out. “Warten Sie mal, gnädige Fräulein.” He turned to say something to the old woman who’d remained in the back of the shop, and repeated his call, since Emily had not responded. “Bitte, warten Sie mal…”

Finally, Emily stopped to consider the old man. In the meantime, the food stalls at the far end of the square had begun to show signs of life, and some part of their activity seemed to have reference to them. Perry pulled Stone to one side, to better take stock of the situation.

“Bitte, Fräulein.” The  old shopkeeper had caught up to Emily by this time. “Verzeihen sie uns, gnädige Fräulein… was sie gestern getan haben… Danke vielmals.” He tried to push a small package into her hands. “Bitte, Fräulein.”

Girl Stalks The Ruins Preview: Ch 3 Morituri Te Salutant

CHAPTER THREE

MORITURI TE SALUTANT

“What are you doing?”

Emily called out to Li Li and Stone in a hushed tone. She’d just caught up with them, in a sub-basement of the Roman amphitheater in Trier. They’d been scratching graffiti into the stone wall of a cell probably used in a previous millennium to hold gladiators before they found a death in the arena. A nearby sign in German seemed to announce some sort of prohibition.

“Don’t do that.”

Stone shrugged, but Li Li merely pointed to the many symbols and initials that had already been cut into the rock. “What about those? It’s not like lots of other people haven’t done it, too.”

Perry leaned forward to examine some of the etchings. “This one looks like Latin… morituri… something, I can’t quite make out this last bit.”

“Do you know what it means?”

“What am I, a Latin scholar?”

Emily punched his shoulder. “Don’t tell me you didn’t study it at whatever pompous private school you went to.”

Perry rubbed his chin and tilted his head. “It might mean something like we… or maybe they who are about to die…”

“You mean like the gladiator salute – we, the already dead, salute you?” Emily grinned at him, pleased with her epiphany.

“I imagine the gladiators were fatalists, but I don’t think they had anything on you.

Girl Stalks The Ruins Preview" Ch 2 Sake Town In Sasebo

CHAPTER TWO

SAKE TOWN IN SASEBO

“Are you sure about this address, Sir?” Gunnery Sgt Hector Colón turned the paper over, as if the directions might make more sense that way. “It’s in Sake Town.”

“Is there a problem, gunny?”

General Lukasziewicz, the Marine Commandant, had plucked his sergeant out of a hospital ward a few months back, pinned a Purple Heart on him, and processed his promotion to Gunnery Sergeant. The injuries Colón had received in the action on Itbayat provided a convenient excuse to interrupt his progress through the infantry ranks, at least for a little while, and seemed like a good way to keep him from being debriefed about certain events by CIA operatives. Colón hadn’t been assigned to any unit that included Capt Tenno, but he’d flown in her bird a few times, and took part in the final firefight precipitated by her rescue of Princess Akane of Japan. When Admiral James Crichton, Commander of the Pacific Fleet, put a bug in his ear about deflecting any intrusive inquiries into the Jarheads who’d been there, Lukasziewicz obliged without asking too many questions of his own. So, for now, Hector Colón drove him wherever he needed to go in and around Sasebo, Japan.

“No sir… it’s just, most of the places on that end of the ginza don’t… how shall I say?... I don’t know…”

“Spit it out, Marine.”

“We may not be welcome there, sir.”

Lukasziewicz grumbled at this information, and watched as the Albuquerque Bridge, which connected Nimitz Square, at the west end of the base, to the ginza, slipped past the side window. “What exactly is an izakaya?”

Girl Stalks The Ruins Preview: Ch 1 Ramstein AFB

CHAPTER ONE

RAMSTEIN AFB

“Zwei Biere, bitte.”

This statement nearly exhausted Lieutenant Commander Perry Hankinson’s knowledge of the German language, and, in the ordinary course of events, he wouldn’t need much else for the duration of their stay. For this evening, however, he’d sought out the sort of establishment unlikely to be frequented by English speakers, or base personnel, or any foreign tourists. It had meant taking a taxi to Kaiserslautern, the next town over, but the driver seemed to understand more or less intuitively where he wanted to go. Emily had offered “Bierstübe,” or something to that effect – as if she spoke any better German than he did – and here they were, a dimly lit pub with no big-screen TVs, no ‘high-and-tight’ haircuts, and no uniforms in sight.

“This is a relief.” Emily Kane, Captain USMC, glanced around a room full of civilians from their table in a far corner. Of course, she’d be indifferent to the question of whether they were locals, but she might like the feeling of anonymity. No one here would know them. Perry listened to the long, slow breath she let out.  He used to think she was sighing, or exasperated, when she did that, but he’d gotten used to her ways over the years. No, the breathing wasn’t the sign of a mood, bad or good. It was something more… existential.

“After this morning… no kidding. Was it a melée before you got there, or…”

“Or what?” She turned her dark eyes upon him, and he began to regret having let his words run. “Do you really think I go looking for these things?”

“No, of course not. But…”

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!

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.

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.

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!

Indie Book Bargains "Featured Author"

New developments just keep rolling in. I just found out that I've been selected as a Featured Author on Indie Book Bargains. They're based in the UK, so my plans for world domination are moving forward apace. Thanks everyone, for your support, and especially all my new fans in the UK!

Thanks to Spy Guys and Gals

The good folks at Spy Guys And Gals seem to have enjoyed the Emily Kane Adventures so far, and we're very glad to hear it. And with Book 6, Girl Rides The Wind, due out soon, we hope they enjoy that one too! We can only hope to complete Books 7 & 8 quickly enough to please all of Emily Kane's admirers. Wish us luck!

And don't forget to recommend Girl Fights Back to your friends.