#WIPJOY #27/28

Today's challenge is to post a line about darkness or hope.

In the final section of The Shrine War entitled Incident at a Japanese Inn, the principals from the first two stories gather together to deal with a common problem. 

In the first section, I introduce Christopher Andrews, an American studying in Japan, and Liana, his kitsune housekeeper that eventually becomes his wife.

Before the events in Incident at a Japanese Inn become deadly, I introduce the couple who have come to the inn and put them into an idyllic scene to hint of hope after the terrible incidents that follow:

As Hoso emptied the luggage, Liana walked to the far wall and slid aside another paper door. 

The scene took Christopher’s breath away. A wooden platform served as a small porch that stood over a small steaming pond. Boulders partially covered in flowering vines lined the shore. 

In the middle of the pond, a large rock rose above the water. A small bonsai tree, its branches artistically trimmed and shaped, grew from its rocky support. 

“Isn’t the hot spring lovely?” Liana exclaimed. 

Christopher stared at the scene. Liana, standing with her three tails spread out behind her, added to the exquisite beauty of the view. 

This is the Japan that I have sought, Christopher thought, his heart suddenly aching from the vision before him. This is why I left my home to travel halfway across the world. This is what Lewis called the numinous. This is what I have always longed for. 

Liana turned and held out her hand. “Come, husband,” she said. “Come and share this with me.” 

Christopher smiled and taking Liana’s hand, drank in the conjoined enchantment of the spring and his exotic bride.

#WIPJOY #17

Today, a line from my work in progress about grief or longing.

The selection I've chosen for today is a grief about a longing achieved. In my story, it is the goal of some kitsune to marry a human being and I use that for comedic relief in the first segment of The Shrine War. In the third and final section, Incident at a Japanese Inn, I reveal that Christopher Andrews actually did marry his kitsune housekeeper and at a Japanese inn, he muses on his good fortune:

Graphic credit below

 As Hoso emptied the luggage, Liana walked to the far wall and slid aside another paper door. 

The scene took Christopher’s breath away. A wooden platform served as a small porch that stood over a small steaming pond. Boulders partially covered in flowering vines lined the shore. 

In the middle of the pond, a large rock rose above the water. A small bonsai tree, its branches artistically trimmed and shaped, grew from its rocky support. 

“Isn’t the hot spring lovely?” Liana exclaimed. 

Christopher stared at the scene. Liana, standing with her three tails spread out behind her, added to the exquisite beauty of the view. 

This is the Japan that I have sought, Christopher thought, his heart suddenly aching from the vision before him. This is why I left my home to travel halfway across the world. This is what Lewis called the numinous. This is what I have always longed for. 

Liana turned and held out her hand. “Come, husband,” she said. “Come and share this with me.”

Christopher smiled and taking Liana’s hand, drank in the conjoined enchantment of the spring and his exotic bride.

Graphic copyright to Kacey.

#WIPJOY #15

What genre of art, music, or poetry (or all three) describes the main character?

I really don't have main characters per se, but I do have dominant characters that carry most of the story. In The Shrine War, Sen, the kitsune Shrine maiden appears in most of the story. In The Inugami, Kelly Robbins, the young American student starting her studies at the Tokyo University plays the biggest role, and in the third section, Incident at a Japanese Inn, the main character's responsibilities are divided among a number of characters as all the players in the first two segments all come together for a final denouement.

However, as this question too closely mirrors #WIPJOY #5, allow me to take a moment and share with you a museum that all of my characters would enjoy.

The Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. has combined the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery into one main building. It contains the largest collection of Asian art ever collected under one roof in the United States and the first time I was able to tour the building at leisure, I became lost in the maze of its corridors as well as wonder at the treasures collected inside.

Having undergone a recent remodeling, the museum has expanded its offerings into other arenas and as well as art from Japan, China, and Korea, one can now find examples of art from the ancient Near East and Ancient Egypt as well as art from historical works from the Islamic World.

Among some of the treasures is a knife made from a meteor that fell into Emperor Jahangir’s kingdom in the early 17th century, and Gallery 5 is dedicated to Shinto, Japan's native religion where Sen would most likely be found.

If ever, Gentle Reader, you find yourself in Washington, D.C., please take advantage of touring this wonderful repository of Asian wonder. I speak as a satisfied wanderer, it is well worth the time.

#WIPJOY #12

Today's challenge is to discuss how my antagonist is like me.

Um... none of them are. They are all dedicated to violence and evil, truly bad people motivated either for a love of power or a thirst for vengeance. As my antagonists have drives understandable to humans, I guess I could say they and I share the same vices except I refuse to act on them.

In The Shrine War, the main antagonist is Akumu, an Inugami who leads a force of invaders against the five defenders of a remote Shinto shrine. Created by evil Daoist magic, Akumu is completely motivated by hatred and a thirst for revenge.

Akumu sheathed her katana with a sharp click, walked up to Sen and squatted on the ground before her. Smoldering Inugami eyes looked into the serene eyes of Inari’s head shrine maiden. 

“Do you know how we came about, fox? You were born in the wilds of Nippon. Your destiny if you survive the first century of life is to grow an extra tail and receive the gifts of sentience and servitude to your rice goddess. Tell me, shrine maiden and guardian, do you know how an Inugami is birthed?” 

“I have learned that Inugami are the creations of men who practice dark sorcery,” Sen replied. 

Akumu snarled. “Yes, so you know of our creation, fox. All of us were once dogs, dogs born to serve humanity. Then humans that we trusted and that we only wished to serve did terrible, pain-filled rituals, dark and evil tortures that twisted us into dark and evil servants.”

In The Inugami, the antagonist remains in the background and only actually appears in the closing scene. Abe no Tadayuki is a Daoist sorcer dedicated to evil.

A Japanese man sat at the dinner table wearing a travel-worn kimono. He motioned and Kelly entered the kitchen, her muscles responding to another will.  

The man sat erect, but relaxed, his hands on the pages of the book of Daoist sorcery as if he had been interrupted while reading. Thin, almost to the point of emaciation, he appeared to be quite old. Only his eyes, bright with life and intelligence, seemed completely alive. 

In the final section of the novel, Incident at a Japanese Inn, the antagonist is Kamo no Masahiro, the original master and teacher of Abe no Tadayuki. As he exists in a incorporeal form, he has no physical description except to possess the unwary.

I sincerely hope that except for the common vices I would share with all my literary creations, whether they be Inugami or sorcerer, the comparison would stop there.

#WIPJOY #11

Today's challenge is to discuss something that your main character sees as a weakness but is actually a strength. 

The difficulty in pinning that down is because I really don't have what could be called the main character. In The Shrine War, the two main characters are Sen, the kitsune leader of an Inari Shrine, and Christopher, my human protagonist who acts as a type of narrator to ground the story from being completely alien. 

In the second segment, The Inugami, my two main characters are Kelly Robbins who again acts as a human lens so my reader doesn't get lost in a story that deals with magic and mythical creatures, and Shadō, the Inugami that lives in the crawlspace under Kelly's apartment.

For today's challenge, I would have to say that Shadō sees Kelly's refusal to use her as an instrument of malice and destruction as a weakness, but even at the end of the story, still struggles with Kelly's adherence to virtues such as mercy and kindness (though she comes around in the final segment, Incident at a Japanese Inn.

#WIPJOY: Day #3

Today, the challenge is to print a line from my current work in progress (WIP) about a theme or topic that you care strongly about.

Let me make something very clear. I write solely to entertain. I do not use my works as bully pulpits in an attempt to change somebody's mind or push an agenda. Nonetheless, there are topics I care about, but they will be secondary, if not tertiary, to the simple act of telling an entertaining story.

However, if there are two subtle themes that permeate The Shrine War trilogy they are the importance of family and community and the innate sacredness of nature. However, if a reader is not aware of that, she or he could easily read the entire work and not be conscious of an overarching motif.

Case in point is the opening of the entire work where I introduce Sen and Hoso. The themes are understated, surrendered to the simple act of telling a story without the need to beat a message into the head of the reader with all the subtlety of a crowbar:

An alternate cover for The Shrine War

“Sen-sama? The sisters have gathered in the oratory as you have ordered.” In the dim light before dawn, an observer would have seen the forms of two young women. Each wore the traditional garb of a Shinto shrine maiden: long, red skirts bound with an obi, a white kimono jacket, and white hair ribbons and ivory combs tying back long, waxed hair.

“Well done, Hoso-san. Arigato.” For a moment, they watched the sun rise above the horizon beyond Mount Tomuraushi. As the growing light illuminated the mountain’s summit, what little mid-summer snow remained glowed with a brilliant radiance. On the lower slopes the small hardy bushes and wildflowers turned the slopes a verdant green.

As the gloom dissipated in the growing warmth of morning, sunlight reflected from the eyes of the two watchers, eyes that were brown and a fitting shade and shape to match the white-furred, fox-like faces of the pair.

“You enjoy watching the sunrise, do you not?” Hoso asked.

Sen remained silent for a moment and Hoso wondered if her superior had heard her, but after a pause Sen slowly nodded her head. “If the weather allows, I have not missed a sunrise in the five centuries I have been here at the shrine.”

Hoso stared with envy at Sen’s nine tails, one for each century of her life and the greatest number a Kitsune could acquire. For a moment, and not for the first time, Hoso regretted her youth. Only two tails emerged from a cleverly designed slit in the back of her skirt and Hoso had seven more centuries to go before she could enjoy Sen’s status and glory.

Ashamed of her jealousy, Hoso bowed to Sen, her furred hands with their dainty claws sliding down the front of her thighs. “We will await you, Sen-sama, but I humbly ask that you not tarry. The Inugami emissary will be here soon.” With that, she turned and left.

Sen watched as the risen sun turned Mount Tomuraushi into a brilliant and shining beacon, and wondered if today would be her last opportunity to revel in the gift of a new day. She turned to see the sun gleaming off the red tiled roof of the hodon. Surrounded by its protective bamboo wall, the hoden served as the most sacred part of the shrine where Inari's mirror stood in glory and splendor, primal and serene. In front of the hodon, stood the haiden, the public oratory where her sisters waited. All around her, the peace of the shrine lay inviolate, but Sen feared it would not be so for long. An invading force of the Inugami were coming. The emissary only served as a pretense of peace. With a shake of her head, she turned to walk up the tiled sandō to join her sisters.

#WIPJOY: Day #2

Today, I have the challenge to provide the backstory and goals for The Shrine War, my currant work in progress (WIP).

In May, 2016, I was asked my anthologist Fred Patten to provide a story for his upcoming collection, Dogs of War. After a lot of discussion, we decided I would write a tale about a band of kitsune defending their shrine from a band of invading inugami.

However, after I was done with the negotiations, I realized I knew nothing about Japan and very little about its mythology. I cannot tell you how many books I have purchased and read and the amount of info I have scoured in my desperate attempt to make The Shrine War as accurate as I could.

The story took me a total of  three months and 24 days (or 116 days total) to complete the first draft. Fred accepted the story, but I had fallen so much in love with my characters that I went back to the story and expanded it with subtle changes. I had a number of people read the rough draft and make excellent comments and by the time I was finished with the expanded vision, it had turned into a 12,000 word novella.

A possible cover design.

At that point I decided to turn the work into a braided novel with three independent novellas that when read in order told a much greater story. 

I started The Inugami in January, 2017. In this story, American Kelly Robbins moves to Tokyo to begin her studies at the Toyko University. Renting a small house, she learns that an inugami resides under the crawl space. I finished the 13,000 word story in April of this year and immediately dove into the third installment, Incident at a Japanese Inn where I bring all the characters together in the first two tales and wrap up all the loose ends.

I confess I'm having a difficult time with the third part of the novel as there are some characters that will meet an untimely end as they join together to battle a great evil and I am struggling to, quoting Stephen King, "kill my darlings."

Nonetheless, I have made a commitment to focus on the work for the month of October and submit it for review to a close group of friends in mid-November.

My goal? Simple. To have it published in 2019, and my hope is to obtain an agent for publishing through a traditional venture and not self-published as all my other work has been. Unfortunately, my first brush with an agent was very satisfactory as she behaved in a very unprofessional manner and once burnt, twice shy. Time will tell.

#WIPJOY: Day #1

There is no other season that is more creatively empowering for me than the season of Autumn. Nor is there any other month more empowering than October. 

For this month, I have decided to participate in a challenge entitled #WIPJOY that is displayed to your left. Every day there is a recommendation on what you are to post about your work in progress (aka WIP). Today's challenge is to describe your WIP as a blurb, a genre, and provide a visual.

The Shrine War is a blended novel that consists of three novellas: The Shrine War, The Inugami, and Incident at a Japanese Inn. Taking place in present day Japan it starts on the island of Hokkaido and ends in a supernaturally concealed inn located near the the city of Aso in southern Japan.

A fantasy, most of the characters are not human, but are derived from Japanese mythology such as kitsune, inugami, and a host of others.

To the right is an artistic interpretation of Hoso, one of the characters who appears in the first third of The Shrine War and then later reappears in Incident at a Japanese Inn.

Tomorrow, I will talk about the backstory of my current WIP and my goals for the novel. Until then, have a pleasant day.

Current Works in Progress

I'm working on two projects at the same time. Probably not a good idea, but at least I'm writing in the midst of the busyness of my life.

The main project is Incident at a Japanese Inn with a current word count of 1,500 words. You can read an excerpt here and here. Incident at a Japanese Inn is my third and final part of my braided novel, The Shrine War.

The secondary project is an untitled fantasy and you can read the intro here. Currently at 3,500 words, it answers the question as to what you should do if you discover the guide/bodyguard you hired is a mythical, homicidal creature. This one is a few steps away from the usual fare that I write as it contains a lot more violence (though not graphic). The point of view is in first person, a view I find a challenge to write in as it creates an unreliable narrator who cannot read minds and must explain everything from their own biased and sometimes inaccurate point of view. With other plot lines and tropes unique to my writing style, the entire story is a test of my capabilities as an author.

A Small Change of Plans

Though I have already started working on Incident at a Japanese Inn, I was approached by anthologist and editor Fred Patten to consider submitting to his upcoming anthology.

The official release for submissions follows:

FurPlanet Productions is announcing its next original short story anthology: 

Exploring New Places; an anthology of furry stories about going someplace new. That journey can be anything, from a comedy about someone going on a packaged vacation to an exotic resort where everything goes wrong, or a romance where they find Mr. or Ms. Right, to a horror story about an expedition to explore a new planet, or a historic drama about a sailing ship blown off course in a hurricane to an unknown continent. 

Length: 4,000 to 20,000 words. Lesser will be accepted. Longer … let’s discuss it. 

Opening: March 1 st , 2018. Deadline: May 31 st , 2018. To be published at Anthrocon 2018. 

Rating: G to PG. Keep it for all ages, for a family audience. 

No explicit erotica, but tasteful romance of any orientation is okay. Authors who want to contribute are urged to check with me (Fred Patten) first to make sure that their story ideas are not too close to others which are being submitted. Multiple submissions by an author will be considered, but simultaneous submission of a story to different anthologies will not be. 

Payment:  ½¢ per word upon publication and a contributor’s copy of Exploring New Places, a $19.95 anthology.  Contributors may buy additional copies at a 30% discount. 

Send submissions to fredpatten AT earthlink.net.

Now let me make it very clear. If Fred Patten asks me for a story, I'm going to do my best to make sure he's going to get a story.

I'm working on a short story I've entitled, In Search of the Creators and will reveal more about it in a future blog post.

Graphic courtesy of Max Pixel

Note: My completing the story does NOT imply automatic acceptance into the anthology. The divine right of editors outweighs the divine right of kings. If not accepted, the story will be released on my Wattpad site (and you should visit that link for some free stories from yours truly anyway).

Tuckerization in Incident at a Japanese Inn

Tuckerization is the practice of incorporating one's friends into an existing work as either a favor or as a friendly jest. Sometimes, only their names are used and sometimes their characteristics are used to flesh out a character.

Source: Dungeons and Dragons Monster
Manual, Gary Gygax, 1977.

In my work in progress, Incident At a Japanese Inn, the third part of The Shrine War, the Tsuta Ryokan that serves as my Japanese Guest House, is operated by a rakshasha, a mythological creature from India that in my story comes in the shape of an anthropomorphic hookah-smoking tiger.

He is based on my friend, Dave Hill, whose Internet persona from the first day I met him years ago was a scuba-diving tiger. And after a little bit of research, I discovered Dave's name in Japanese is Oka Debiddo. I hope he enjoys his little inclusion into my fanciful tale as, in my humble opinion, I think Dave would make a wonderful proprietor. 

Needless to say, all rights are reserved on the segment that follows and it is to be considered a rough draft. The final entry may be dramatically changed:

Christopher stared at Oka Debiddo with growing trepidation.  

The tiger smiled behind the counter, sprawled on his stool. The creature then put the stem of the hookah to his lips and set it bubbling as he inhaled a deep breath. Smiling, the smoke trickled out from between his jaws and ascended to join the existing haze at the ceiling. 

“You are not yōkai, sir,” Christopher asked, his voice faintly quavering. “May I ask your origin?” 

The tiger lazily leaned forward, his face uncomfortably close to Christopher. “No, I am not yōkai. I am rakshasha, from India.”  

“I regret I am not familiar with your kind,” Christopher said, hoping his courtesy would pacify any ire caused by his curiosity. “India is a far cry from Japan.” 

Oka sat back on his stool and took another languorous puff from his hookah. “I was found many years ago when a cub by a Buddhist monk named Vasubandhu. As I was living proof of the reality of his worldview, he took me in and raised me almost as if I was his natural son. And we toured through India, Tibet, China, and Korea spreading the wisdom of Gautama Buddha. We eventually ended up in Nippon." 

“And when was that?” 

The tiger puffed thoughtfully on his pipe allowing more smoke to wreath his striped face. “I have not thought of that for awhile. When you are immortal, one loses oneself in the current of time.” He drummed his claws on the counter. “I think it would have been at least one thousand, six hundred years ago. And when my adopted father passed I became the proprietor of the Tsuta Ryokan.” 

Christopher felt relief at the creature’s expressed amiable feelings toward its human master and allowed himself to relax. “So,” Christopher asked, “as an immortal, do you ever miss your father?”  

The rakshasha shook his head and patted his stomach while grinning voraciously. “I assure you, I carry Vasubandhu with me wherever I go.”

Incident at a Japanese Inn: An Introduction

Now that the rough draft of The Inugami is complete, as I edit it, I am already doing research for the next section of my braided novel.

Incident at a Japanese Inn takes place inside the walls of the Tsuta Ryokan, a Japanese guest house made by yōkai for yōkai. In the first two sections of the novel, The Shrine War and The Inugami, I introduce the reader to only two types of Japan's hundreds of yōkai: Kitsune (illusion-casting anthropomorphic foxes) and Inugami (anthropomorphic canine slaves created by a dark and evil Daoist sorcery). I also very briefly introduced two onis, generic Japanese dæmons.

In An Incident at a Japanese Inn I am opening my literary universe to a number of yōkai races:

• Tengu, a sort of bird-like creature
• Nekomata, a fork-tailed cat
• Tanuki, raccoon dogs and I will play down their...let's say, prominent assets.
• Yanari aka House Creakers: little tiny goblins that make the floors of your house creak.
• Mujina, a shapeshifting badger 

Unfortunately, Japanese folklore only contains a very few of actual races. the vast majority of yōkai are singular entities restricted to a very specific locale such as a city gate or a specific river, so I may take my liberty as a writer and make up a yōkai of my very own.

As always, stay tuned. The adventure will be a lot of fun.

Part Three of The Shrine War to Begin Soon!

On Saturday, January 6th, I wrote the words, THE END, on the completed rough draft of The Inugami.

At 12,970 words, The Inugami is only 970 words longer than The Shrine War, but together the two novellas make up one complete novel in word length.

And I'm not done yet. The third part has yet to be written.

Incident at a Japanese Inn will begin shortly, but not until I have completed reading Oliver Statler's 1961 work, Japanese Inn, his love song to the history of the Minaguchi-ya, an ancient inn once located in the city of Okitsu.

In the former stories, I focused solely on kitsune and inugami, two types of yōkai from the folklore and mythology of Japan. The third story takes place in a mythical inn that I have named Tsuta Ryokan, a Japanese guest house that is operated by yōkai for other yōkai. And as there are thousands of different types of yōkai, I am letting my imagination run wild.

Stick with me. It's going to be an incredible ride.

The book cover is adapted from a woodblock print by Japanese artist Toyohara Chikanobu  (1838–1912) and is in the public domain.