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I finally had a block of time to finish another one of Jacqueline’s books. I’ve noticed that Jacqueline is a master at building believable environments and communities because both The Prince and the Nun and Light O’Love feature memorable characters who can hardly be called merely “supporting” cast members.

Let’s discuss the “Prince” in the story. Mefist IS Prince Charming in every sense of the word but he and his soldiers are caught in a war and assigned to take full control of sleepy convent hidden away in Krasna Dolina Valley which is a time capsule for an old way of life and religious beliefs.

Mefist must deal with Mother Therese, an attractive and intelligent leader of the nuns who must also protect the inhabitants of the valley around the castle.

Well to be exact, he doesn’t really “deal” with Therese, he orders in the most charming way as possible to convert part of the convent into a bordello and decides to train the young women as well. The temporary arrangement will affect all the women’s lives permanently as they meet people from beyond the valley, face the realities of war and realize that physical love is simply divine.

Jacqueline’s work is a delicate narrative involving many pairings, characters from many backgrounds and a highly anticipated ending between the hero and unlikely heroine.

After I completed the work, I couldn’t help but feel that the convent’s occupants are now truly prepared to go forth and find new paths in their lives.

The Prince and the Nun is a satisfying read for anyone who would like to meet a very strong heroine who realizes her spiritual convictions do not conflict with the temptation her Prince has to offer….

I’ve considered HEBI: The Snake but it’s not very catchy. 

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1) So did the Matsumoto really exist?

No.  The twins are 100% fiction however there were many, many samurai who did come to the United States for an education and some even settled permanently.

2) Is there such a place as Ise-han (Ise feud)?

No, however, there were domains in northern Japan which were decimated by the Imperial Army in 1868 which is often incorrectly portrayed as a bloodless revolution to restore the Emperor to political power.

3) How above the Lennartssons–were they for real?

No, however there were numerous families in Wisconsin and Michigan which had that lastname.

4) Is there such a place as the College/ University of Wisconsin?

Ofcourse!  In fact the early bacteria in connection to dairy research in that very era was part of the inspiration for Katana Duet.  I promise you that Katana Duet is not about milk and cheese though (^_^).  The University of Wisconsin to this day is an impressive institution and rightfully called a “public” ivy league due to its incredible devotion to education since its early days in the 19th century to the present.

Rather than a Q & A format I will list all the true elements of the novel below.

~ Farmers with two homes.  Konrad Lennartsson inherited a farm in the rural area and also a family home in Madison along late Mendota.  This arrangement was not uncommon during the 19th century actually especially when so many families took great pride and sending their sons to the university even if it was for a year or two.

~ zwei-goat the two-headed goat really did exist and lived for a few years often as the conversational piece of parties.

~ Polly and Daisy also did exist and were at the center of the controversy regarding milk cows infected with tuberculosis.

~ The law where former slaves travelling past the area had to live by train tracks.  Due to the law that former slaves were not allowed to live under the same roof as white people, travelers of color did have to stay in shacks along the train tracks until a wealthy African American couple opened their own inn in the city.  The inn owners became well-known community leaders and Madison itself really was a center for remarkably progressive ideas during the 19th century.

~ The sideshows and early circus are a part of Wisconsin’s history [link].  The famous Ringling Bros began their business in Wisconsin [link].

~ Gingerbread?  How does gingerbread figure into the story?  You’ll have to read the story but I just put in that detail for fun because many German immigrants handed down heirloom gingerbread recipes.

~ What’s with the rabbit colonies?  I’m most proud of the general details regarding the research undertaken by Konrad and Aki.  Their methods were actually slightly ahead of their time, on the right track but slightly flawed that’s all.  Rabbits were the favorite lab animal of that era and to this day.  Although no footnotes were left in the text, in fact everything Konrad and Aki did were techniques used by foremost physicians who researched the white plague.  There were more fascinating details to include but I left it out to keep the story a certain length.

I connected the element of the mysterious illness to Wisconsin due the sanitorium in that era which housed both the mentally ill and TB patients.  Poorhouses in the state, often filled with immigrants, also cared for the ill.  I was deeply impressed by the young nurses and handsome doctors who devoted their lives to their patients and upon becoming infected, married one another.  In one case a young couple in the medical field died in their late thirties.

The story is set in Madison Wisconsin along Lake Mendota and the Isthmus.  I purposefully used the location because I wanted to tie in a historical event which actually occurred later in the 19th century.  To learn more about Madison during Aki and Akeno’s time there please visit the Wisconsin State Historical Society Website.

In the book House of Open Doors by Harold Holand, there is a fascinating case of the sacrifice of cows sick with consumption and the heroic work of doctors and nurses in studying and caring for TB patients.  I combined that detail with the extraordinary account of Healing Tuberculosis in the woods : medicine and science at the end of the nineteenth century by David L. Ellison.  The concept of a stage show “Katana Duet” grew from the intense popularity of circuses in that era.  Wisconsin is also accepted to be the home of the major travelling road shows we have all seen or heard of.

Basically I combined many, many historical details, some years apart and shifted everything over to suit the needs of my characters.

Should I make a bit of money from Katana Duet I would like to acquire Loomis: The Man, The Sanitorium and the Search for the Cure as it complements Healing Tuberculosis… by Ellison.

All research for Katana Duet was conducted at the Wisconsin State Historical Society, Memorial Library and Ebling Medical Library at the UW-Madison campus.

The following is a general discussion of whether or not Katana Duet is a work of “gothic” literature.

Katana Duet was written due to a notice on a small publisher’s website requesting something “dark” and “twincest”. All the research for the story was completed at The Wisconsin State Historical Society, Memorial Library and Ebling Medical Library located on the UW-Madison campus. I did not intentionally complete the research for the purpose of writing a novel however when I saw the publisher’s request list I synthesized all that I knew from the era with my own interests and sketched out a plot.

Some general characteristics of Gothic literature and themes in Katana Duet.

Like other genres, the gothic went through a gradual evolution over 2 centuries and most recently people have transformed it into a modern lifestyle. A concise definition of gothic literature is as elusive as an early morning mist on the grave…

1. Victim/Captive vs Torturer (fascination with torturer)

This is really tricky because the “torturer” is usually a metaphor of symbol of a human shortcoming such as greed or lust. For instance a traditional gothic story setup is a Lord/Duke/wealthy Uncle holding a young virgin maiden captive. The captor in that situation would symbolize lust.

In the case of Katana Duet you do have an undercurrent of the Lennartssons desiring to keep the Matsumoto twins for a certain purpose. On the surface level, the character of Klara is the stereotypical gothic maiden in distress. She is physically weak and a virgin but she refuses to be a captive of a hospital or sanitorium, where she belongs, nor does she allow herself to be a victim. There is an attempt by the captives to turn the tables on their captors near the end of the story however the victims remained in the “prison” up to that point because there is an undeniable fascination between the Matsumoto samurai and the Lennartsson siblings. Klara was always entranced by sideshow “freaks” and she even compares herself to them. Upon meeting the Japanese twins she put away her collection of newspaper cut-outs and bid good bye to the Siamese Twins.

An expansion of the notion of captive and captor is the atmosphere of isolation. The setting of Wisconsin in the story as well as the racial isolation serves to “contain” the characters within the house and close to one another in a tight, isolated plot.

1. Supernatural

The supernatural in Katana Duet is not obvious however I did insert many natural elements in key points. The twins were born between the elements of fire and water. O-Hana, Akeno’s lover and employer, who also had a fascinating relationship with her own brother feared nature’s wrath. While the twins and Lennartsson’s lived together they all experienced a severe storm, complete with several tornados which is an expression of nature’s displeasure (this is not necessarily directed at the Matsumoto twins). Even at the end of the story another destructive element comes into play.

1. Mystery

Katana Duet was constructed with 3 layers of mystery:

1. What happened to Akeno during the Boshin War in 1868 and what did Aki see?

2. What is Klara’s true relationship with Konrad?

3. What is wrong with Klara and how is it connected to the Matsumoto brothers?

Minor themes from Katana Duet which are also common in gothic literature is blood and disease, namely tuberculosis.

Ofcourse Katana Duet also deviates from the gothic because it does not take place in a windy castle surrounded by a dark forest, so I figure it ought to belong in a sub-genre: agri-gothic.

Agri-gothic contains many characteristics of the traditional gothic except it takes place outside of Europe and in a rural setting.

I sketched out some thoughts about two topics for Katana Duet: Samurai’s Forbidden Love.

How much of Katana Duet is TRUE?

Katana Duet and “agri-gothic” literature. Read more here.

Next week I’ll have a review for The Prince and the Nun and down the line I plan to read Venture.

The setting of Rhodes became a character within the story and served as a matchmaker for two very different people: Eve Burnett and the irresistable Italian Julio Falcone.

A Secret Treasure takes place during 1937 when Rhodes was dominated by the Italians. Therefore, a British woman like Eve is bound to believe that Julio, a policeman, must be a
Fascist.

Eve must decide whether or not to protect her parents and her brother David from Italian authorities such as Julio, who suspect that David is involved in the Greek resistent movement.

The courtship between Eve and Julio is traditional but strained due to the heroine’s family obligations and complicated by a valuable treasure the natives must preserve at all costs.

Eve’s character, to me, is represented by the treasure which I cannot reveal here. The young woman’s character and ability to act under pressure is a bit like the treasure’s ability to shine through the darkness.

Lindsay Townsend’s work is the perfect read for someone who wants to experience an elegant romance with a touch of danger.

Another review of A Secret Treasure 5 Angels by Fallen Angel Reviews!

Ecataromance review.

I’ve always supported both student and independent films because creators are not yet boxed in by market demands and production company pressures. The indy film scene is the place for visionary art and refinement of technique. Most indy work was produced with a very small budget but due to advanced technology and the sheer skill of all these new talented folks some films do not look like they experienced production disadvantages in any way.

This week I’d like to introduce the short 13 min film “Ai” by Raffi Asdourian.

Below is my review of the work after purchasing a download of Ai at Heretic for $1.99.

“Ai” is certainly worth more than just a cup of coffee.

The film does contain violence (limited close ups and some blood but overall not as violent as most Hollywood films).

The film’s content was actually closer to 10 min and in that short amount of time there was a good narrative (modern samurai movies are no different from Hollywood flicks in that they usually have little or no story). Ai is every comic/manga fan’s dream and yet it tries to kick up all the cliches we’ve seen a hundred times a bit higher (in a good way).

Rather than opting for the “supergirl” angle, what you get is a gritty and
raw work without going overboard with the “stylized” movements we see
in modern J-popish samurai movies (such as the forgettable blood-fest
AZUMI or Tarantino’s homage film KILL BILL). In fact it’s better to watch a 10 min story which gets to the point and has some elegant action rather than buy a dvd of AZUMI. Although Azumi was in inspiration for Ai, the latter adopts a more mature style.

Cinematography was very well done except one teeny tiny moment whereI noted an unintentional wobble. Color was spectacular. Digital openingand closing is superb for a work with this budget.

Choreography was GREAT! This is due to the fact that the cast has some experienced actors on board and it really paid off. You have to watch some of the movements carefully because there are some good details in the fight scene.

It’s my understanding that the filmmaker greatly condensed the entire
script due to budget limitations and yet he still managed to create something to be proud of. If it was the filmmaker’s
intent to demonstrate he can direct action, then he certainly succeeded.

My complaint is that the teaser doesn’t do the actual film justice and perhaps the storyboard and action rehearsal video here may be a better sample.

Enjoy Ai for what it is, a brief skillfully crafted cinematic escape which is part of the martial arts media “pop culture” but elevates the genre with substance and class.

So today, don’t buy coffee and a pastry…just buy this movie and have your
pastry. You’ll be glad you did (AND) you’ll be supporting an indy filmmaker too.

Silapa Jarun

Katana Duet: Samurai’s Forbidden Love

If you prefer books in print then Amazon is ready to take your order here.

Still on the fence about buying? Then watch the trailer and decide (^_^).