Hello Lulu friends, or whoever might be reading this.

I'm a rare breed, like most authors believe themselves to be. I left a high six figure job to start writing, and my first novel, The Sky Burns Red, was published. The neat part is that it was translated into Japanese and published over there.

Why Japan? Because 60% of the story takes place over there, and the publisher liked the way a foreigner (that's me) looked at his country. Besides, I speak the language and used to live there. The book has been doing ok in Japan--not bad for a first time writer.

I wrote two other books, and am working on my third one. The second one is a romantic book (think Nicholas Sparks). The title JPEG Bride comes from the practice 100 years ago when Japanese brides came over to the states on a boat, only with the photographs of their would-be husbands that they've never met. They were called 'Picture Brides' and that name stuck to me. In the 21st century, matchmaking services try to link girls from Japan and men from the US. In the computer world, they exchange JPG files, so I decided to call this book JPEG Bride.

The other book listed is a photo book (in color). I wrote it for my nephew, Neil, when my sister, Jackie was battling a rare form of cancer called chondrosarcoma. She did not survive the five month battle, and passed away in February of this year. I kept a diary (a blog) of her journey for friends and family in www.xanga.com/jackieshinohara, for any of you interested in visiting.

I am working on the follow-up novel to The Sky Burns Red. I am lucky enough to have an agent, Paul Levine, represent me. He is shopping the book with major publishers now, so I hope that my book is released not only in Japan, but also in the US.

The Sky Burns Red is a finished product, and I look forward to hearing back from any reader who takes the risk to purchase and read it.

JPEG Bride is still an advance reader copy, but I really like it (and so did my daughter). I was also told that a college age relative of mine (girl) who never read a novel in her life until now, went through the whole book in one night because she couldn't put it down.

I love to write about people, places, and food in Japan. I grew up in Tokyo and consider it my childhood home.

I also send out a monthly newsletter to friends and clients with my take on current events. I simply tell them--if you read it in your busy schedule, you're updated on world events (with my bias, of course).

Posted on Thursday 10 of May, 2007 [23:28:12 UTC]