An Excuse and a Repost: When a Series Ends

I looked at the date on my last blog post and its a very significant one - a week before my total thyroidectomy operation. I had an excellent surgeon but unfortunately there were complications and I hemorrhaged so had to have a second turn in theatre. Recovery took longer than I expected and it wasn't over then. My operation was to remedy swallowing difficulties because of right lobe nodules and the strong possibility the left lobe would cause the same  problems within a few years. After the pathology was done, cancer was found in the supposedly currently innocent left lobe. So I had radioactive iodine therapy and a week in isolation while I was "hot property".

I admit I enjoyed that week because I had time for lots of writing - no-one was allowed near me! I would have preferred a different reason of course but it was all good in the end as I am now cancer free, subject to a lifetime of annual testing for recurrence.

So that is my blogging excuse for the empty months and while I am not big on making excuses I think I had a good one this time.

To kick off a new year of better heath and blogging I am reposting a favourite piece I wrote for the now defunct Walker Book Walk-A-Book blog. I want this piece to have permanent home on the Internet because it lives in my heart every day. I never realised how it would feel when the Samurai Kids series ended. I knew the time had come but it still hurt to let go.

Even now, six months after the last book in the series was published, the Kids still talk to me.

When a Series Ends

I’m currently working on the last book in the Samurai Kids series. I feel a bit sad. Not because the series is ending. I know the timing for that is right. Samurai Kids opened doors for me as a writer, it won awards and brought me a flood of feedback from enthusiastic fans. The story – its journey and its telling -  feels complete.

So why am I sad? Because I know I’ll miss the Kids and I hate to think I’ll never hear their voices in my head again. They argue and fight all the time, but they are the best of friends and they like to gang up on me. They do as they please and have no respect for my role as the author.

Some adult readers have wondered at my choice of a modern tone for the 17^th century Samurai Kids’ voices. I think that makes history more accessible to young readers. But to be honest it wasn’t my idea, that’s how the kids speak to me.

The stories grew out of my passion for ancient history, Japan and swordsmanship. I knew that to be a samurai, you had to born into a samurai family. And the children of a samurai family had no choices – it was their destiny to bear a sword. But everyone wanted to be an elite samurai so that part didn’t matter. Or did it? What if you wanted to be a samurai but weren’t very good at it? What if no amount of training would help because it wasn’t something you could change? What if you were born with one leg?

That’s when Niya, the one-legged narrator of the Samurai Kids series, first spoke to me. See for yourself, he said. So I went into my backyard and tucked up one leg. To my surprise I had assumed  the White Crane stance, a form common to a number of martial arts. That’s right, said Niya. I am the White Crane, really good at standing on one leg. Now give it a try and see what it’s like to be me.

I accepted Niya’s challenge. I did a flying one-legged karate kick and landed flat on my face. I had found the first lines to Niya’s story.

‘Aye-eee-yah!’

I scissor kick high as I can and land on my left foot. I haven’t got another one. My name is Niya Moto and I’m the only one-legged samurai kid in Japan. Usually I miss my foot and land on my backside. Or flat on my face in the dirt.

I’m not good at exercises, but I’m great at standing on one leg. Raising my arms over my head, I pretend I am the great White Crane. ‘Look at me,’ the crane screeches across the training ground. ‘Look at him,’ the valley echoes.

Niya laughed at me sprawled on the ground. Then he began to tell me about his friends -  Mikko, Yoshi, Nezume, Kyoko and Taji – and how they all struggled to become samurai despite their disabilities. He told me about their teacher - wise, eccentric Sensei Ki-Yaga, once a legendary warrior. A man who saw their strengths and ignored their weaknesses and taught them the power of working together. Or gently rapped them over the ears with his travelling staff if they didn’t pay enough attention.

Niya confided to me that he thought Kyoko was really pretty. And that sometimes he could hear Sensei talking inside his head. Sensei would talk inside my head too. He would whisper oddly-slanted words of wisdom to make me laugh. Put it in the book, he would say. I’m really very funny. I often didn’t get to write what I wanted to. The kids had their own ideas. I wouldn’t say that. I’m much too brave, Mikko would insist. He’s right you know, Yoshi would agree. Kyoko would get cranky with me if I didn’t let her win all the wrestling matches. I’m a better samurai than those boys. Taji would patiently make suggestions, a blind kid who showed me a different way to look at things.

And when I tried to take them on a journey to India, they refused to go. They had traveled to China, Korea and Cambodia, and now they wanted to go home. That’s when I knew it was time to write the last book. The Kids want to make sure that I get this book right. Even now they’re banding together to convince me I need an epilogue. So readers will know what happened to us. And they want to make sure I reveal Sensei’s secret the way they think is best. They admire him heaps but even more importantly, they love him a lot.

As I type, I can still hear Niya’s voice. Do you think I would ever go away? What about writing a sequel? What about a series all about me? I’m going to be a teacher, just like Sensei. There’ll be a new generation of Samurai Kids. My kids. He sighs. It won’t be the same you know. The golden age of the samurai has come to an end. But I’ve got some ideas. Really big ideas…

For an author, imagination has a way of blurring into reality. Who are you calling not real? the Kids demand to know. 

RECOMMENDED HISTORICAL FICTION # 1: Pharaoh by Jackie French

I love historical novels - as a reader and as a writer. Recently I read two excellent books - both adult fiction. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant is about early Canaanite life and the narrator is Dinah, the only daughter of the Tribe of Jacob. It has a wonderful historical and Biblical context while presenting a well-known story from a little-told point of view. You can read my review of this title here at The Reading Stack. Another favourite is Bones of the Hills (The Conqueror Series Book 3) by Conn Iggulden. This is the story of Genghis Khan and wow, I wish I wrote it!

But what about junior historical fiction? One of my all-time favorites is Pharaoh: The Boy Who Conquered the Nile by Jackie French. Tonight I'm going to review it, even though I read it a few years ago, for two still very important reasons. First I love ancient Egypt. My first year of work I saved every dollar possible so I could go to Egypt and touch the pyramids. I admire Pharaoh as a new take on Ancient Egypt. It's not easy to find a new angle in a setting done so often and so well - but Jackie French has. And secondly, this novel taught me a lot about structuring action. When I was first writing, I would take novels where I felt the action was well done, like the battle scenes in Pharaoh, and transcribe the beginning paragraph, strip the action and keep the end paragraph. Then I would write my own version of the action in between and compare it to the original to see what else I could or should have done. So you could say Pharaoh was one of my early writing text books.


Pharaoh by Jackie French. Junior Historical Fiction. Harper Collins Paperback rrp $15.99 Australian

This is a marvellous piece of writing and an excellent history resource. There are many reasons to recommend Pharaoh, but perhaps most important of all, it is a wonderful story of adventure and conquest.

Pharaoh is set in 3000BC, in an Egypt most readers will find unfamiliar but fascinating, long before the time of the pyramids, hieroglyphics and mummies. Prince Narmer is destined to rule Thinis, the greatest city on the Nile. Beloved by all, talented and handsome, he is ‘the Golden One’. His life is perfect until his jealous elder brother, Hawk, lures him into the path of a crocodile. Narmer survives the attack, but he now physically disfigured, he is no longer considered fit to rule.

The timely appearance of the Sumerian Trader and his young companion Nitho provides Narmer with expert medical help and a future. He leaves Egypt to travel with them, journeying through Punt and on to Ur, where he finds a new home as the Trader’s adopted son.

When the opportunity to return to Thinis arises, Narmer finds the city in ruin, defeated by flood, Hawk’s ineffectual leadership and raids from the nearby Yebu people. Narmer rallies support for his brother and helps lead an attack on the Yebu city. When Hawk is killed in combat, the final victory sees Narmer acclaimed as Pharaoh. The historical unification of Egypt has begun.

Narmer was a real person, the man behind the famous relic, Narmer’s Plate. However, little is recorded about his early life. Jackie French has taken the known and mixed it with the probable to produce a credible account of what might have been.

Best suited to readers 10 – 14 years, Pharaoh is a valuable teaching resource. The book contains a comprehensive appendix of historical reference and background information, including a timeline and recipes! If you are parent of a Year 7 child who needs a historical novel for ancient history (as I once was), this would be an excellent choice.