Dojo Illusion/Dojo Insight

The COVID-19 crisis has revealed many things: how people engage in wishful thinking and denial, how reality intrudes on our self-constructed illusions, how selfishness spreads harm to others, and most significantly how little control we can exert over life. As martial artists we’re as guilty as anyone else. You’d think we’d know better. For we’re…

Wave Man Sequel

I’ve had some good reader response to Wave Man, the anti-Burke (darkburke?) thriller I published as an e-book some time ago. I have to confess that I worked hard on the book and was puzzled at how little traction I got from potential publishers. But it’s nice to hear from readers who enjoyed it and…

Keppan: Coming Along

Readers occasionally ask how the next Burkebook, Keppan: The Blood Oath, is coming along. The answer is sloooooowly. Partly due to extraneous issues like my pesky day job, but mostly because I think the next chapter in Burke’s journey has some significant terrain to cover: issues of loss, disability, and identity. This has made me…

Martial Arts Research

In addition to my fiction, I have also worked on more academic pieces on the Asian martial tradition from my perspective as an anthropologist. As a matter of fact, the inspiration for becoming a novelist was my conviction that it could be a type of “applied anthropology” where I used some of the knowledge I…

A Tool is Never Just a Tool

I remember having a discussion years ago with a friend as we talked about Asian philosophy in general and Shankara’s Crest Jewel of Discrimination in particular. We were wrestling with the question of whether a thing was simply and fully itself. For example, a was a tool like a saw simply itself or was it…

More on Satsujinken: What’s Wrong with It?

On a certain level, nothing. Skill acquisition is something we as humans do automatically and value highly. Skill is useful and martial skill is no exception. In a world of conflict and bad actors, being able to fight back is a positive urge. This is what I call the “pacifism is fine, but what about…

Shoshin: Picking Up the Sword

Continuing my meditation on walking the martial path and whether (or when) our journey allows us to set the sword down (in a metaphorical and actual sense). The utilitarian aspect of martial training is encompassed by the label Satsujinken–the Sword that Takes Life. It’s an acknowledgment that this particular skill set is, at its heart,…

Sword and No-Sword

Thinking about Katsujinken and the implications of following a Martial Way. Does it embody a progression from a search for skill and combat efficacy, to a valuation of discipline as a way to cultivate the spirit. I hope so. And at what point, like Sekishusai, do we lay down the sword and, free perhaps from…

Means and Ends

A new blog post on the various ways of pursuing the Way of the Sword, done for my friends at Koryu Crafts.  

Keppan: The Blood Oath

A little sampler from my new work in progress–the latest in the Connor Burke series. Daytime brings its own challenges. Saturday morning and they were all there: three ranks of expectant, eager students in the deep blue uniform of traditional Japanese sword arts. They kneeled, motionless, the white oak training swords resting by their left…

Picking Up The Sword

Just completed a short piece for my friends at Koryu Crafts–a new source for fine sword-related items. Check it out here.

The Burke Series

It’s an exploration of the world of the martial arts. Decades of experience has given me insight into real martial arts training and how that can shape a person. There are no shortage of popular books and  movies hyping the martial arts–everything from the Karate Kid to the Ninja to the Matrix. My books are shaped by real experience….