Best Conversation So Far
Book signing last night at the truly awesome Hooray for Books in Alexandria.
Ten-year-old-fan: When did you write your first book?
Me: Oh, ten…no, it was fifteen years ago.
Her: Wow. Because you can’t be, like forty…or thirty…
Me: Aw, thanks. I like you.
Her: People do.
Read MoreOn Book Tour (Really?)
The Eureka Key
As I type, I’m on a plane heading off for my very first book tour, to promote The Eureka Key. I’m quite startled by this occurrence. I mean, I knew it was going to happen; I’ve seen the itinerary and everything. But I can’t help but suspect that the book police will pick me up sometime soon for impersonating the kind of author who’s successful enough to have book tours.
Now that I’ve landed in Alexandria, Virginia, and taken a little stroll around the Old Town neighborhood, I can report that I’ve seen: handmade rugs that make my brain spin with the idea that somebody crafted something so glorious TO BE WALKED ON, a life-sized plastic horse in the back of an old-fashioned pickup truck, and a white-haired gentleman playing clarinet inside his (closed, locked) jewelry repair store.
I like this neighborhood.
Read MoreNue
Note the thick black fog surrounding the nue.
A nue is…what is a nue? It’s very hard to be sure.
A deadly creature from Japanese folklore, the nue is said to be a combination of monkey, tiger, and snake. It’s hard to know how anybody can be sure about that, however, since the nue is always surrounded by a dense black fog that sickens anyone it touches. Even hearing the nue’s eerie, wailing call can bring on confusion and illness. Entire cities have been stricken by the approach of one of these monsters. They are very difficult to fight, and your best bet is to avoid one at all costs.
Read MoreThings Ninjas Didn’t Do (That You Think They Did)
#2) Be male.
Deadly Flowers
Were there really female ninja? People ask me this when I mention Deadly Flowers.
The thing is, we don’t actually know that much about what ninjas really did. They were secretive. That was the whole point. A ninja who got written into the history books probably wasn’t a very good ninja. So we go on myth and legend a lot. And legend has it that there were at least some women who worked as ninjas.
It’s said that a woman in feudal Japan, named Chiyome (or Chiyojo), lost her husband in battle. There weren’t that many options for a widow in that time period. She could marry again, or she could become a nun. Chiyome went in another direction. She opened up a school for ninjas. For girl ninjas.
Chiyome is said to have take in girls and trained them to travel around Japan as spies, gathering information for her husband’s overload, Takeda Shingen. They were called “walking maidens,” her students, for their itinerant ways. Another name for female ninjas was “deadly flowers.”
Can we prove it? No. But then we can’t prove anything much about ninjas.
Could it have happened? Why not? It was a time of civil war in Japan. Things were unsettled and desperate. A warlord like Takeda would have been glad for any advantage he could get over his rivals. For women to act as ninjas would have gone against tradition, it wouldn’t have been something to be discussed in polite society, and the women who did it would have been taking on great risk and hardship. But, yes, it could have happened.
Read MoreSarah L. Thomson
A children’s book author publishing award-winning nonfiction, poetry, picture books and novels including…
“Thomson focuses on newfound connection, magic, and suspense to conjure a fast-paced, heartwarming mystery. Thomson’s world is populated by resourceful protagonists, fanciful creatures, and quirky supporting characters.”
—Publishers Weekly