Over the past few months I’ve done something that I have not done in many years: I’ve put aside my writing to promote it. From a reader’s perspective, it might sound blasphemous; from the writer’s perspective it’s an imperative – which I ignored for around ten years while writing Samurai Revolution and my next book, Samurai Assassins, completed earlier this year but not yet published.

And so, while planning strategy for the Sakamoto Ryoma Film Project which I recently announced through an Open Letter to “all Ryoma fans,” I’ve presented Samurai Revolution at two venues in Washington state this week: Kinokuniya Bookstore in Seattle and A Book For All Seasons in Leavenworth; and I have another presentation scheduled at Kinokuniya in San Francisco on August 1.

Through these events I’ve rediscovered the pleasure of talking about this history and my books with interested people. Two such people are kendo instructor Aniceto Seto and his student Lynn Miyauchi, whom I had the pleasure of meeting at the Seattle event. Both of them brought copies of my past books for me to sign, including hard cover copies of Ryoma: Life of a Renaissance Samurai, though it’s been out of print for over ten years. It is through people like Mr. Seto and Ms. Miyauchi that I am reminded of another imperative: that I really must get back to my writing as soon as possible.

Signing copies for Aniceto Seto and Lynn Miyauchi

For updates about new content, connect with me on Facebook.