A Perfect Book for an Imperfect Father’s Day

Having last blogged for Mother’s Day (on my author blog), it seems only fair to blog here for Father’s Day. Not too much direct experience with the mother thing, granted, but I do have experience with being a father. In 2014, I launched my novel AIKO, about a man who discovers he is a father. However, before he can celebrate Father’s Day, he must overcome a lot of obstacles to claim his child. Perhaps it is a simple story. The details make it special. And yet, it is strangely similar to one of the grand opera stories of my youth: Madama Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini. (Here is the Metropolitan Opera’s synopsis.)

As a music student in college, I was not averse to attending an opera or two. Some were more interesting than others. My mother, who always promoted my musical interests, took me to my first opera when I was a boy: Richard Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman, about a ghost ship doomed to sail the seas forever. (Why is there no movie version today? It would make a great paranormal film.) But it was Madama Butterfly that became my favorite, and the only opera I can enjoy just listening to without having to see the stage production.

In the opera, an American naval officer visits Japan and because he is staying there a while on business, he arranges to have a “temporary” wife. The inevitable happens: his business is concluded and he leaves, promising to return, and later she discovers a child will be born. He does eventually return, but with his American wife in tow. He is surprised to find his Japanese lover has a child but he is determined to bring the child home to America. The Japanese woman is so distraught over that verdict that she commits suicide in one of opera’s most tragic scenes.

While I was living in Japan in the late 1980s and early 90s, teaching English to the students of a small city, I wrote the story of an American man who meets a Japanese woman. They have a relationship then must inevitably part. A child is born. Eventually the man learns of the child’s existence and wants to do the right thing. Despite his American wife’s objection, he goes to Japan to check things out. I’m skipping over a lot of details, of course, but you see how the plot is similar to the Madama Butterfly story. That was purely unintentional.

Seeing that similarity, I decided to exploit it and revised my story to use some elements of Madama Butterfly more overtly. First, I wanted to tell the story from the man’s point of view. The opera is all from her side. Before I knew much about Japanese history and customs, I had always wondered why Cho-Cho-san (literally “Madame Butterfly”) decided to kill herself to solve the problem. She should have killed him for trying to take away her child! Not to say killing is acceptable, of course. In my Western mindset, I could not understand her motivations. Now I do. So in telling the story from his side, I would need to show him as a rational, responsible, do-the-right thing kind of guy who has all the best intentions while dealing with the situation.
The next thing I wanted to change was the time period. The opera is set at the turn-of-the-century when American naval forces first begin to rule the Pacific. In changing the setting to the late 1980s and early 1990s (the same time period I wrote it), I could exploit the new “internationalization” focus of Japan. Because of a booming economy and criticism of Japan’s unfair trade practices, the government initiated (among other acts) the importing of foreign English teachers from the USA, UK, Canada, and Australia. I was part of that influx of teachers who went to Japan. I was there at the exact time of the story, and I described the clash of generations: the older World War II seniors and the pop culture youth who knew little about the war. It was an interesting yet awkward time. And it fit perfectly for my version of the story.

So there you have it: Art imitating a life which imitates art.

Being a guy, of course I wanted my male protagonist to not be a jerk, to do the right thing. But he is human and thus has flaws. He also faces the clash of customs, lost among people who think differently, where the acts that make no sense to him seem perfectly logical to the local folk. Japan in the 1990s is a modern place, but in inaka (the rural, “backwoods” regions), the old, traditional ways still hold sway. So our hero, Benjamin Pinkerton (yes, I borrowed the name from the character in the opera, just to make the connection more obvious), tries to do the right thing: save a child he never knew he had while risking everything in his life back home. It is another stranger in a strange land scenario I like to write.

Ten Thousand Lines by Kate Bitters

TEN THOUSAND LINES by Kate Bitters

TTL Cover Front w BorderSet in the harsh backdrop of a dystopian future, an unlikely friendship flowers among the weeds of oppression. Ten Thousand Lines takes place during a time when human beings are sharply divided by class and discontentment brews under the placid surface of the city called Superbia. When a Hive 14 Worker snaps out of his drug-induced haze, the brew becomes a boil and a series of events sets into motion a witch hunt, a forbidden romance, and a revolution. But the Hive 14 Worker doesn’t care about politics and social justice. He only wants to sit quietly and watch the dusty sunset.

Available on Amazon.

Elmer Left by Kate Bitters

ELMER LEFT

By Kate Bitters

Kindle Cover“At the age of seventy-eight, Elmer Heartland packed up his things, kissed his sleeping wife on the forehead, and left. For good.” So begins the journey of Elmer, a man in his twilight years who has spent most of his life simply doing what he was told. After year upon year of empty conversations, meaningless actions, and endless Lions Club meetings, Elmer decides that he has had enough. He packs up a duffel bag, tip-toes into the night, and hops on the the 4 a.m train to the city of There. As the train gathers speed and leaves his hometown in the dust, Elmer wonders where the road will take him and what adventures his new life has in store. He is ill-prepared for what will come next. Elmer adventures across country, seeking personal meaning as he attempts to make peace with his past and grapple with his identity. Along the way, he encounters a quirky collection of people and places including two dueling soup kitchens, a pack of new-age collectivists, and a rainbow-colored meditation tower. Elmer’s tale shows us it’s never too late to come-of-age.

Available on Amazon.

Aiko by Stephen Swartz

Aiko (2015)
Aiko (2015)

AIKO (Paperback) (Kindle)

When the handwritten letter from Japan arrives, Benjamin cannot help but flash back five years. He was in Hawaii when he met Hanako, a Japanese stewardess. But Addy, Benjamin’s wife of three years, knows what the letter really means: a love child was born.

Now Benjamin must save a child he has never met, learn the truth behind Hanako’s death, and risk his marriage and his career to do the right thing. But venturing into the lonely woods of northern Ishikawa throws him into an ancient world of strict customs and tight-lipped villagers.

AIKO is a romance and a mystery, spun as a modern version of Madame Butterfly.

Charm City Chronicles [Book 4]: On Gabriel’s Wings by Kathleen Barker

On Gabriel's Wings ebook coverON GABRIEL’S WINGS

In the fourth and final installment of “The Charm City Chronicles” saga, Kate finds herself married at 17, and her teen and adult worlds collide. While husband Michael is away at college, her beloved grandmother’s health goes into serious decline and Kate’s graduation is imperiled. These struggles soon become the least of her worries as Michael’s brother, Gabe, just can’t give up the hope of rekindling his romance with her until he sustains life-threatening injuries. “On Gabriel’s Wings” is a roller-coaster ride of young adult love and conflict that will keep you reading until the very last page.

Charm City Chronicles [Book 3]: The Hurting Year by Kathleen Barker

The Hurting Year ebook coverTHE HURTING YEAR

“The Hurting Year”, the third installment of the Charm City Chronicles series, continues the story of sixteen-year-old Kate Fitzgerald in 1960’s Baltimore, Maryland.

Having an older boyfriend does have its perks – until he leaves to go to college. Kate’s troubles quickly multiply when her beloved Nana falls ill, and her best friend, Anita, faces personal disaster. When things seem like they couldn’t possibly get worse, Kate pays an impromptu visit to boyfriend Michael’s dorm, and her life spirals out of control. What happens in the aftermath sets events into motion that will change her life forever.

Last Kiss in Tiananmen Square by Lisa Zhang Wharton

Last Kiss in Tiananmen Square Lisa Zhang WhartonLAST KISS IN TIANANMEN SQUARE

BY Lisa Zhang Wharton

“Last Kiss in Tiananmen Square” is a novel based on the 1989 Tiananmen Square Pro-democracy movement. The novel follows a young woman, Baiyun, a junior in college, trying to reconcile her upbringing while in the midst of the rising political movement in Beijing, China.

Baiyun grew up in a strange and cold household. In order to cope with her dysfunctional family, Baiyun worked as hard as she could, eventually getting herself in the prestigious Beijing University.

Baiyun joined the Pro-democracy movement to vent her frustrations. While protesting, she met the man of her dreams, Dagong, a handsome and charismatic factory technician who was orphaned at birth and lost his only relative during the Cultural Revolution. But even Dagong couldn’t fully take Baiyun away: his face reminded her of one of her mother’s lovers, both attracting her and drawing her back.

“Last Kiss in Tiananmen Square” is a coming-of age story set against the historic and devastating era in Chinese history. With the cultural significance and family bonds of “The Kite Runner”, this book explores the way in which one’s past is never forgotten.

A Beautiful Chill by Stephen Swartz

A BEAUTIFUL CHILL

BY Stephen Swartz

Opposites may attract…but can they stay together?

Íris is a refugee from an abusive youth in Iceland, further abused on the streets of Toronto – until she sees Art as an escape. With a scholarship, she drifts from depression to nightmare to Wiccan rituals to the next exhibit. There’s a lot she must forget to succeed in a life she refuses to take responsibility for.

Eric is settling in at Fairmont College, starting a new life after betrayal and heartbreak. Divorced and hitting forty, he has a lot to prove – to his father, his colleagues, and mostly to himself. The last thing he needs is a distraction – and there’s nothing more distracting than Iris.

A Beautiful Chill is a contemporary novel set in the duplicitous world of academic rules and artistic license.

[These two characters appear again in Stephen Swartz’s contemporary novel A Girl Called Wolf.]

Chinese Lolita | Chinese generational survival

Three generations of women in Baiyun’s family (grandma, who worked as a prostitute in Shanghai, mother, who grew up in her grandmother’s brothel and later lived through the communist China, and Baiyun, who grew up in the communist China and a dysfunctional family, and later came here as a graduate student) who strives to live normally despite  harsh reality.

Charm City Chronicles [Book 2]: The Body War | Young love and humor

He’s 18. She’s 16. As her alpha-male, athletic boyfriend’s departure for college looms, shy, underclassman Kate worries that Michael won’t be able to resist the siren call of his promiscuous ex-girlfriend, who is prepared to do anything he desires in order to reclaim his affection. As the pressure mounts to engage in a thrilling physical relationship that she may not be ready for, haunting flashbacks resurface from the frightening assaults she endured in childhood. As her gradual seduction intensifies, Kate is torn between waiting until she is older or giving in to her own impatient desires.
When Michael’s brother tries to rekindle his own previous relationship with Kate, and a new boy from a different school falls hard for her as well, she realizes she’s in for a difficult year.
A uniquely humorous, sensual romance, The Body War will keep you reading this story of timeless, maturing young love.

After Ilium | A young man fresh from college meets a mysterious older woman

After-Ilium-Stephen-SwartzFour years of college has not taught Alex as much as he will learn in a month on the Turkish coast!

Fresh from college, Alex Parris, naïve History major and innocent computer geek, claims his reward from his proud parents: a tour of the Classical world. Most of all, Alex longs to visit the site of ancient Troy (Ilium) and walk the same pathways as the Greek and Trojan warriors did nearly 3000 years ago.

While sailing from Greece to Istanbul on a cruise ship, Alex meets an older woman, Eléna, who he indulgently fantasizes as the mythic Helen to his Paris. She, with her own mysterious background, toys with him and draws him into an affair. Eléna leads Alex through their sacrilegious journey through Istanbul and he is happy to try on the confident, adult role he has long desired. Alex sees Eléna as the perfect woman for him and he can see a future together.

The culmination of Alex’s tour is the visit to the site of ancient Troy, a place that is finally more important to him than sex. There, bored with Alex’s history lesson, Eléna sparks a confrontation with some Turkish men. Seeing his lover accosted, Alex must save her, even as he knows he is no match for them. Fortunately for Alex, there are three off-duty Navy men who join him in the fight. When they escape from the local jail, a new Odyssey begins for Alex, making their way across the Turkish countryside. Alex must return for Eléna. But what is he willing to do, how much will he have to endure to be reunited with his lover?

After Ilium is available on Amazon for Kindle, here. 

Charm City Chronicles [Book 1]: Ednor Scardens | Romance and coming of age…

Growing up in an Irish Catholic neighborhood in Baltimore in the 1960’s was hard enough when everything went right. Kate Fitzgerald wasn’t that lucky.

Struggling to cope with unwanted attention from older boys and men, Kate’s childhood friendship with shy classmate Gabe Kelsey begins to blossom, but quickly becomes tangled when she falls hard for his darkly handsome older brother, Michael.

As the brothers vie for Kate’s affections, she doesn’t know how to choose between them without tearing their family apart. She looks to her girlfriends for advice, but the tragic death of a classmate brings them face-to-face with mortality, shattering their facade of invincibility.

Her dilemma deepens when a predatory priest with a hidden past arrives at Holy Sacrament School. And when she silently witnesses a frightening scene between Gabe and Fr. O’Conner, Kate unknowingly becomes O’Conner’s intended next victim.

Sons of Roland | 1960’s rock memoir

Sons of Roland is a group memoir about the birth, life, death and resurrection of The Visitors, a 1960’s rock & roll band hailing from Brooklyn. It follows bass player turned music mogul Edward Houlihan as he recounts The Visitors’ meteoric rise to greatness, their wild escapades and their tragic demise.

Forty years of sex, drugs and rock & roll explode to reveal the secrets and mysteries surrounding the most bizarre chapter in the history of rock & roll music proving that Elvis is dead, Paul is alive and so are the Sons of Roland.