Hello everyone!
We’re well into the second week of the pre-order campaign for Tora the Spirit Walker and we are off to a steady start! I would first like to thank everyone who has taken the time to follow or pre-order my project. Your support warms my soul :)
I would also like to take this opportunity to tell you a little bit about myself and invite anyone to ask me questions about me, my inspiration for this book, or anything else along those lines. This is the very first fiction project I have ever shared publicly so I am as yet an unknown element - but hopefully not for long.
I began taking my writing seriously as a journalism student, and I took an interest in all things Japan as I began to learn the language in school. I spent my senior year studying in Tokyo and was blown away by the way serene, gorgeous shrines and temples were nestled comfortably in between roaring sprawls of metropolis. My two biggest loves in Tokyo were the shrines and visual-kei (j-rock) concerts as well as the V-K subculture in general, and so the first inspirations for this book took root.
I went on to major in Japanese literature and visual culture as a graduate student, where I delved into Japan’s rich culture of folklore - and especially the world of yokai, or spirits/monsters. I’ve always been something of a mythology nut, but something about Japan’s folktales sparked my imagination more vividly than any other stories. It is my sincere hope to bring the world of yokai - as I see it - to life for my readers.
I’m currently working on an excerpt from chapter four, so stay tuned!