I’m proud and delighted to announce that my publisher, Seventh Street Books, is releasing paperback editions of the first three novels in the Hiro Hattori series: Claws of the Cat, Blade of the Samurai, and Flask of the Drunken Master.
Claws re-releases next month, on April 23, but the paperback is already available for pre-order at your local independent bookstore (like Northern California’s FACE IN A BOOK) or at online retailers like Indiebound, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.com.
Hiro and Father Mateo’s first adventure sends them deep into the floating world of the entertainers who would, in the century that followed, become formally known as geisha, as they attempt to save a beautiful young musician accused of murdering a samurai general.
This edition has a spectacular new cover, designed by Nicole Sommer-Lecht (who also designed the covers for the most recent books in the series). I think it truly captures the spirit and mystery of Hiro’s first case.
What are youre sources for Ninja and Samurai skills described in your books?
Hi Jorgen! Unfortunately, I have far too many sources to list in one place – each book involves at least four months of research, on-site (here in Japan), using books (both modern histories and translations of period works and original source materials) and conversations and interviews with historians and other experts. For the fight scenes, I often view videos of experts in traditional Japanese swordsmanship to ensure that the movements are both possible and accurate. And I’ve made several trips to the Iga Ninja museum in Iga to look at traditional weaponry and talk with experts there. I’ve also been studying this period of Japanese history for over thirty years, so there’s a lot that I’ve learned from reliable sources that I couldn’t point to precisely at this point. That said, I don’t use a detail unless I can document it with at least two sources (not including Wikipedia or non-expert websites, which I don’t use as source materials), because I care a lot about accuracy in the novels. I hope that helps, and I’m sorry I can’t give a more specific list.
Hallo, Hallo Ms Spann,
I love how the new cover for CLAWS is a beautiful fit to the last three covers – I knew at some point these could be re-designed and re-released and this one is just as beautiful as the other covers!! I love how their using real photographs to elude to the context of the novel and the layout is as crisp and clean as the previous ones. The original covers will hold a special place in my heart as those were the original versions where I tucked inside this series initially… however, the new design is smashing.