Hello Everyone!
First, thank you to all my new subscribers. There’s been a number of you recently, and I’m so happy to have you with me on my writing journey.
September is upon us. As much as I don’t want summer to end, it’s back to school time. For me, it’s also back to work. In a previous newsletter, I told you I was taking things easy this summer. And although I did slow down a bit on my writing, my muse is playing a trick on me. While I’m trying to focus on Book 3 of the Nisei War Series, I’m feeling a huge urge to write Book 4 too.
This is the thing about creative writing. You can’t always plan things out. At least I can’t. The characters in my fictional stories have minds of their own. For those of you who have been with me since I published my debut series Rose of Anzio, you may recall I had told you I had planned on Jesse Garland as a minor character like a younger brother for Anthony. But as I started writing Jesse’s character, I was struck by a vision of who he really was. The eighteen-year-old kid I meant to write transformed into an irresistibly attractive, complicated man with a hidden past. Something similar happened in The Girl With A Star-Spangled Heart, I had a different last name for the character Rex Harrington. The original last name was what I used in my outlines and character sketch. Then, the minute I started writing the sentence to introduce him in the story, I heard him say, “Harrington”, to me in my head. His voice was firm and certain, I was stunned. “Whaaaaat?—” I started to say. But he repeated, “Harrington. My last name is Harrington.” Okay! Who was I to dispute that?
So here I am. I am concurrently working on two stories. It does throw a loop into my publishing plans, but I also know it’s best not to stifle characters and stories that come alive in my mind. I’ve never worked on two stories at the same time, so we’ll see how it goes.
That said, I have a surprise planned for you next month. Stay tuned, and I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Until next time,
Alexa Kang
WWII Photos and WWII Women on Facebook
I recently became the moderator for two amazing new WWII Facebook groups:
WWII Photographs, and
Both were started by Simon Farmillo from New Zealand, whose grandfather had served in Japan serving as part of 'J Force' (the NZ contingent of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force). The WWII Photographs group was created on January 22, 2021 (Anniversary of D-Day Anzio!). Over the summer, it went viral and has grown to 92,800 members. The group is very active, with fascinating WWII photos being posted daily, and a lot of engagement and discussions (which sometimes can get heated). It’s a great group to visually remember the days of WWII, and I highly encourage you to join if you use Facebook.
The WWII Women group is smaller, but I really like that it brings to focus women’s contributions and experiences during the war, so I strongly recommend it as well. I’ve been trying to think of ideas on how to give members of this group a more interactive experience. If you have any suggestions, contact me!
Here’s a photo of Simon’s grandpa (Poppa for New Zealanders), Pte Stuart Johnstone.He lived in Japan for two years and as an Army Driver.
God Bless the Queen
I was sad yesterday to hear the news of Queen Elizabeth’s passing. It also felt like another mark of the end of the WWII era. Queen Elizabeth turned eighteen in 1944, and enlisted with the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) in March, 1945, and trained as an auto mechanic. She started as a second subaltern in the ATS and was later promoted to Junior Commander, the equivalent of Captain. The Greatest Generations Foundation has a great write-up about her during the war on their Facebook page.
If the Queen’s passing makes you want to feel a little dose of her time during WWII, there’s a very fun and lighthearted movie, A Royal Night Out, about Princess Elizatheh and Princess Margaret joining the wild celebrations away from Buckingham Palace on the night of VE Day. I really enjoyed it myself. Since the weekend is about to start, this may be a good one to chill with. The movies can be watched on Amazon Prime Video and Netflix.
Or, if you’re more in the mood for reading, there’s the novel, Before the Crown, by Flora Harding. The book is a fictional account of the love story of Princess Elizabeth and Lt. Philip in 1943. I like that it gives a different and unique spin to WWII fiction.
New Post on Backstage
Backstage is my supplemental newsletter for a behind-the-scene look at historical details in my novels. My latest post is about how I incorporated a specific bombing incident in London in a scene in Rose of Anzio Book 1 - Moonlight. You can read about it on my Substack page here.
You can subscribe to this supplement by logging into Substack and elect to subscribe on your Substack account.
Shanghai Story Trilogy New Covers
My Shanghai Story Trilogy got a facelift. Check out these new covers. If you haven’t read it yet, the trilogy is available on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited.
I thoroughly enjoyed your Shanghai Story Trilogy. This trilogy is the first of your work that I have read. My interest is Asian history and Asian historical fiction which led me to your writing. I learned much from this trilogy and felt you must have Asian relatives to offer such detail! Your writing style really made this story come alive for me. I have watched many Asian related films over the years (Chinese, Korean, Japanese etc) and I realized while reading your books, the scenes passed in my mind like scenes in these films. I could actually “see” your characters, watch them move around, and hear their voices. I was not expecting such a good read. So now, I am following more of your work. I totally appreciate you attention to historically accurate details. Thank you for such a good experience! Bring on more Asian inspired work!
Patsy Eccles in Tallahassee, Florida
Keep up the good work Alexa, looking forward to the next (2) book(S) !!
John