Indie Spotlight: A New Year, A New Page Forward

Happy Chinese New Year! I’m indie WWII historical fiction author Alexa Kang, and it is my honor to begin the Year of the Ox as the Asian Books Blog's new Indie Spotlight Editor. You might have read my previous guest posts here and here. Going forward, I hope to bring you your next great reads.

 

Indie publishing has come a long way since Amazon opened the door in 2010 for authors to bring their stories directly to readers. The market of indie-publishing has matured since then. While writers can now release their books through online retailers, that alone is not enough for the books to reach and gain an audience. Successful indie writers today not only must offer quality books that can match and compete with traditionally published books, they must also be savvy in branding, marketing, and e-commerce.

 

My foray into indie writing was serendipitous. It began in 2016. I never aspired to be a fiction author. I was writing fan fiction for fun within the global fandom of the Japanese manga series, Candy Candy. My fanfic was very well-received, and was fan-translated into multiple languages. After my fanfic, I started writing a spin-off story from Candy Candy, with characters entirely of my own creation who I imagined to be children of the cast of Candy Candy. That spin-off story would ultimately become my debut WWII series Rose of Anzio.

 

I wrote Rose of Anzio over the course of a year. Each week, I would post a new chapter on a Candy Candy fan forum. I still remember fondly the days when Candy Candy fans who followed my story would eagerly devour each new chapter I uploaded. I realized then that Rose of Anzio had the potential to be read by a much wider audience. I started looking into publication options. Immediately, I learned two things. First, by posting the chapters on a public forum online, Rose of Anzio was considered already published, and no traditional publisher would accept a manuscript that had lost its “first publishing right”. Secondly, I can publish the story myself on Amazon.

 

Choosing to publish the story myself was thus a no-brainer. I had another career and wasn't aspiring to be a writer; endorsement from traditional publishers and literary prizes were far from my thoughts. My only wish was to get my story to readers, because it was fun!

 

I set about to learn all the ins and outs of publishing books on Amazon. By then, the indie writing market was already changing into a sophisticated industry. It was overwhelming to learn about cover design, formatting, promotion, sales and marketing strategies, and gaining readers. Luckily, the indie-writing community is very supportive. Experienced authors are forthcoming in sharing information with those who are just starting out. One consistent piece of advice they gave was that our books must be professionally produced. If not, the books will languish and never attract readers.

 

Following their advice, I found an editor, proofreaders, and a cover artist. I also retained a fellow British author to review my British-born female main character's dialogues to make sure she spoke accurate Queen’s English (I’m an American writer myself). My story had numerous battle scenes. I went online in search of expert advice. A military historian generously offered to be my consultant and helped me create and reviewed my battle scenes. Before my books went to print, I retained a second editor, a U.S. infantry veteran, to review my military and battle scenes to make sure the characters' actions, behaviors, dialogues, and the way the battles were written, were authentic and believable. 

 

Next, I devised a marketing plan. I implemented strategies I learned from the indie-pub community to build momentum for my book release, and to build and retain a fan base. I also had a bit of luck. My Candy Candy fanfic readers, who had been reading Rose of Anzio chapters online when I was writing the story, were eagerly waiting to have the print version in their hands. When the first book in the series came out, they not only bought copies, thus giving my book an initial boost, but also left glowing reviews of why they liked the book.

 

In retrospect, releasing my books on my own was the best thing I could have done. It turns out, many of my readers had lived through the war era. I had no idea this was the case when I first published. I assumed most of my readers would be in my own age group. The first time I received an email from a reader, it was from Marci, a lady who wanted to know when the second book in the Rose of Anzio series would be released. Marci said she and her best friend worked in Chicago in 1940. Rose of Anzio-Book One was set in 1940 Chicago. She told me she bought the eBook for herself, and a print copy for her best friend. 

 

My jaws dropped when I read Marci's email. I had to read it several times to confirm I was reading it right. Did she say she worked in Chicago in 1940? My book was released in 2016. I was shocked to learn that my novel resonated with readers who knew life in 1940s Chicago first-hand. I learned then that all my hard work and research had paid off.

 

Over time, I discovered that my books were bringing back memories to a generation of readers nostalgic for a world they once knew. In a Facebook group for WWII fiction readers and writers, a reader, Bonnie, once posted and recommended Rose of Anzio. I never interacted with Bonnie except to thank her for a post recommending my books to the group. When Bonnie finished reading my novel Eternal Flame, a Rose of Anzio spin-off, she left a one-sentence, positive review on Amazon. Three days later, a fellow group member told us Bonnie had passed away. I did not know until then that Bonnie had been terminally ill. The news filled me with emotions as I realized she had spent her last hours reading my book. She even left me a gift of a review. I could not tell her how grateful I was. I could only hope that my story gave her a little bit of comfort before she left.

 

This would not be the last time I had to bid farewell to a reader. Another reader who reached out to me was Betty Martin. Ms. Martin lived through the war era, and her husband was part of the Flying Tigers, the U.S. air force unit that fought in West China. Ms. Martin and kept in touch for two years, until her friend alerted me to her passing and told me Betty had been waiting for my next release. I was very saddened to hear the news, and I dedicated my next book to her.

 

When I think of my readers from the Greatest Generation, I’m glad that I had inadvertently fallen into self-publishing. If I had taken the traditional publishing route, I might have missed the chance to bring my stories with these readers. Even if an agent and a publisher had picked up my books, it would take on average two years for each book to be published. If I am able to give a few hours of comfort and escape to readers like Marci, Bonnie, and Betty, that would be reason enough for me to continue this course.

 

Being an indie author also gives me the freedom to write books without a proven sales record in the market. Currently, the WWII fiction genre is sorely lacking in novels with Asian main characters, and novels set in the Pacific. Traditional publishers are often averse to taking on books without data assuring sales. Unconstrained by such concerns, I wrote my series, Shanghai Story, to chronicle China's descent into WWII. The story features a Chinese male character. Novels with an Asian male lead is still a rarity today. I took the risk that traditional publishers are less willing to take, and am happy to discover that there is indeed a market demand.

 

For my current series, I am continuing to walk the path less traveled. In the WWII fiction genre, there are woefully few novels about Nisei (second-generation Japanese-Americans). Of the ones currently sold, the focus is on internment camps. I want to explore the Nisei experience beyond the confine of the camps. My new release, Last Night with Tokyo Rose, follows the journey of Tom Sakai, a Nisei growing up in an America increasingly hostile to those of Japanese ancestry. When he is stranded in Manila after Pearl Harbor, he would have to navigate the treacherous terrain of a world in which Japan and America are at war, and decide where his allegiance lies.

 

In the coming year, I plan to introduce to you books by some of the best indie authors in today’s publishing world. We will learn the interesting stories of how they came onto the path of indie-publishing, and their works which you would not want to miss.

I invite you all to visit my website at https://alexakang.com. You can also sign up for my newsletter at https://alexakang.com/newsletter

 

The Silent Dead by Tetsuya Honda - A Modern Japanese Crime Novel

The Silent Dead is a Japanese crime novel by Tetsuya Honda and the first installment of the Reiko Himekawa series. It offers a glimpse into Japanese law enforcement, which is a huge blind spot to many Westerners. It also shines a light on corruption, sexism, and perversion that festers underneath the surface of Japanese culture, which is a blind spot to many Japanese themselves.

Human Bullets by Tadayoshi Sakurai - A Memoir of the Russo-Japanese War

The Russo-Japanese War is a fascinating conflict that, arguably, was one of the most important events in the 20th century. It contributed to the decline of the Russian Empire, paving the way for the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, and gave rise to the Japanese Empire, paving the way to Pearl Harbor. And yet, this war is often overlooked in the West, leading to a dearth of first-hand English language accounts. Thankfully, Human Bullets (1906) by Tadayoshi Sakurai survives to fill that void.

3 Japanese Mystery Novel Recommendations

November is the perfect time for noir aka Noirvember, and that means it’s the perfect time for mystery novels. In Japan, the mystery genre is called suiri shōsetsu (推理小説) literally ‘deductive reasoning fiction,’ and has a long history in the Land of the Rising Sun. Here are just a few recommendations by Japanese authors to read during Noirvember.

 

10 Junji Ito Horror Manga Recommendations

Since it's spooky season, I wanted to highlight one of Japan's most famous horror manga artists/writers - Junji Ito. For those not in the know, manga are Japanese comics, and Ito's realistic and hyper-detailed artwork, combined with his macabre and haunting plots, are a perfect nightmare cocktail. Here are ten recommendations to start you off, from his longer-form works to short stories. Also, to existing Junji Ito fans, yes, there are plenty of well-known recommendations here, but if I didn't list your personal favorite, well, there's always next Halloween...

Japan's Asian Allies - A Look at the Collaborationist Regimes of World War II

Compared to Nazi Germany, the Japanese Empire during World War II receives little to no coverage in Western media. Even more obscure, are the many puppet regimes that aided the Japanese occupation throughout Asia, spanning from the far north in Manchuria to the south in Burma and the Philippines. Luckily, Osprey publishing has come to the rescue with their newest edition to the Men At Arms series titled Japan’s Asian Allies 1941 – 45.

The Bitter Peace by Philip S. Jowett - Conflict in China 1928-1937

Chinese history has long been ignored in the West, but a few spotlights do shine out from time to time on certain events, even if only to provide superficial understanding. These usually point to the Opium Wars, the Boxer Rebellion, and, recently, the Sino-Japanese War. However, there is a small window of time in Chinese history that contained multiple smaller wars, which has almost been completely ignored by Western scholars. This brief era is what The Bitter Peace – Conflict in China 1928-37 by Philip S. Jowett illuminates.

Golden Kamuy Volumes 1-5 - A Shonen Manga of Adventure and History

Golden Kamuy by Satoru Noda is a shonen manga series that covers a wide range of genres – adventure, war, political intrigue, comedy, and thrillers. Set shortly after the Russo-Japanese War (1904 – 1905) it follows Saichi Sugimoto, a veteran of the conflict, and his quest for a legendary stash of gold hidden in Hokkaido, the most northern of Japan’s main islands. While fighting at the vicious Battle of Port Arthur, he earned the nickname “Immortal Sugimoto,” given his almost legendary ability to avoid death, which he keeps throughout the remainder of this series.

Japan's Greatest Victory, Britain's Worst Defeat - A Memoir of the Battle of Singapore

It’s often said “history is written by the victors,” and this only half true. While the narrative of World War II is definitely constructed from the Allied lens, this does not mean that the vanquished were unable to tell their stories. German officers and soldiers pumped out volumes of memoirs during the postwar years, many of which were consumed voraciously by readers in America and Britain. Japanese memoirs were more sparse, at least regarding translations that made it to the West. One notable exception was Masanobu Tsuji’s memoir Japan’s Greatest Victory, Britain’s Worst Defeat.

Osprey's Japanese Armies 1868 - 1877 - The Boshin War and Satsuma Rebellion

Osprey Publishing has become synonymous (in my mind at least) for quality research into military history of all time periods, throughout the world. It should come as no surprise that I immediately picked up Osprey's latest title Japanese Armies 1868 - 1877 by Gabriele Esposito and illustrated by Giuseppe Rave, which covers the Boshin War and Satsuma Rebellion.

Guest post: Kristine Ohkubo

Kristine Ohkubo is a Los Angeles based traveler, blogger, and Japanophile.  Her frequent travels in Japan enabled her to write her first book, A Blogger’s Guide to Japan, published in 2016. In 2017, she released The Sun Will Rise Again, a historical study of the Pacific War written from the perspective of the Japanese people, both those who were living in Japan and in the United States, when the war broke out. In 2019 she followed up with Asia’s Masonic Reformation, which examines the influences of Western culture and Freemasonry on the Westernization and subsequent modernization of China and Japan. Her latest book, Nickname Flower of Evil, tells the story of Abe Sada, one of the most infamous murderers Japan has ever known – a Showa era geisha who was both a victim and an aggressor, a woman struggling amidst a strict patriarchal culture and a rapidly changing social system.

Here, Kristine discusses her books, in reverse order of publication…

Ryuko Volume 2 by Eldo Yoshimizu: Pulp Crime & International Intrigue

Ryuko is back to finish the story that began in Volume 1, which fittingly, ends with a bang. The themes of pulp crime storytelling are ever-present, along with a healthy dose of international intrigue, helping to elevate the book from being mere yakuza “bad girl” fiction. While not an overly complicated plot, Eldo Yoshimizu’s unique and hypnotic art is enough to keep you transfixed from page to page.

Japanese Destroyer Captain - A Memoir of The Pacific War

Japanese Destroyer Captain is the postwar memoir of Tameichi Hara, a Japanese Navy officer who earned the nickname the “Miracle Captain.” He is one of the only Japanese captains to have survived the entire Pacific War from its beginning in 1941 to its end in 1945. Of the 175 destroyers the Imperial Navy possessed during World War II, 129 were sunk.

All She Was Worth - A Noir Mystery set in Japan's Bubble Economy

All She Was Worth is a 1992 noir mystery written by Miyuki Miyabe, one of Japan's most famous genre writers, including crime fiction. Taking place in the early 1990s, the novel captures the zeitgeist of the Bubble Economy of the 80s/early 90s, which would soon pop and led to the infamous "Lost Decade."

4 Edogawa Ranpo Horror Stories

Edogawa Ranpo is synonymous with Japanese horror and mystery fiction. Using a pen name based off of Edgar Allen Poe, (try saying it three times fast), Taro Hirai wrote many short stories and novels as Ranpo (sometimes Romanized as Rampo).

Breaking News: Chapter 5 of Teika’s Tale of Genji found!

Tale of Genji, known in Japanese as Genji montagari is commonly acknowledged to be the world’s earliest novel. This 54-chapter masterpiece was written in Heian Japan around the year 1010. Its author is a woman, Murasaki Shikibu.

No one knows what happened to the original manuscript of The Tale of Genji. This loss has led many scholars across time to try and reconstruct the original version. One such scholar was Fujiwara no Teika, who lived from approximately 1160 to 1240. (The Fujiwara clan was a powerful family group with strong political and artistic influence in the Heian period.) Teika published a work that was comprised of the first 5 chapters of Tale of Genji, written by comparing multiple surviving copies in order to attain the highest possible level of accuracy. This work, called the Aobyoshibon, which translates as blue cover book, is the earliest known partial copy of The Tale of Genji.

Until a few days ago, we only had the first four chapters of Teika’s version, and the Aobyoshibon was incomplete. However, newspapers in Japan have reported that the 5th chapter has been found and authenticated! It was found in a storeroom chest in the home of 72-year-old Tokyo resident Motofuyu Okochi. Chapter 5 of the work, the Wakamurasaki chapter, contains a crucial moment in the novel when the protagonist, Genji, first encounters his future wife Murasaki. (You may have noticed that the author and the heroine have the same name. We actually do not know the real name of lady Murasaki Shikibu, and it is thought that she chose this sobriquet based on the character of her creation. Murasaki in Japanese means violet.)

Scholars who have examined the newly-found chapter say that it does not differ substantially from later copies, however there are some grammatical inconsistencies. Nevertheless, the discovery of this document marks the addition of a globally significant literary artefact to the existing corpus of Heian period texts. At the time of writing, it is unclear what will happen to the manuscript, whether it will remain under private guardianship or be transferred to a public space.

If you are interested in The Tale of Genji scholarship, this post looks at gender representation in chapters 9 and 24 of the novel.

Guest post: Michael Wert

Michael Wert is Associate Professor of East Asian History at Marquette University in Wisconsin. Specializing in early modern and modern Japan, he is the author of Meiji Restoration Losers: Memory and Tokugawa Supporters in Modern Japan.

Michael has just brought out Samurai, a lively and approachable introduction to the warrior class and its influence on Japan which traces the history of the samurai until their disappearance, and explores their roles in watershed events such as Japan’s invasions of Korea at the close of the sixteenth century. Samurai gives readers access to the real samurai as they lived, fought, and served. It also critiques the role of the samurai in media and pop culture, dispelling many myths along the way.

So, over to Michael...

Ryuko by Eldo Yoshimizu: Femme Fatales, International Intrigue, Organized Crime, and Lots of Guns

As this is my first blog post as a regular contributor, I thought I’d change it up from my other articles – Researching Historical Japan & Researching Old Shanghai. I will continue to write about Asian history, but for now, I’d like to talk about a piece of contemporary Japanese fiction.

Backlist books: Rashomon and Other Stories by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

Backlist books is a column by Lucy Day Werts that focuses on enduring, important works from or about Asia.

This post is about Rashomon and Other Stories, a collection of English translations of six of the “finest and most representative” short stories by Japanese author Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, who wrote over 100 short stories before he committed suicide in 1927 at the age of thirty-five.

Two of the stories in the collection, “Rashomon” and “In a Grove”, were combined in the award-winning 1950 Akira Kurosawa film Rashomon. The term ‘Rashomon effect’, named after the film, is used when eyewitnesses do not agree on the specifics of an event. It suggests that the truth is subjective or unknowable because people are unwilling or unable to describe it accurately.

See below to find out what you need to know to decide whether you should read Rashomon and Other Stories, or what you should know about it even if you never do!

Researching historical Japan, by Matthew Legare

Matthew Legare is the author of the Reiko / Inspector Aizawa historical thrillers set in pre-World War II Japan, and published by Black Mist Books. Read his previous post about Shadows Of Tokyo, the first title in the series, here.

In this post Matthew writes about books he'd recommend to other authors researching historical Japan.