The Art of Arrow Cutting

by Stephen Dedman

Overview

“An agreeable blend of oriental fantasy and noir-ish sleuthing: a polished, well-organized debut, complemented by Dedman’s nice light touch on the tiller” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).

It started simple enough. A tempting woman with a trifle of a problem needed a bus ticket. Luckily, sometime photographer Michelangelo "Mage" Magistrale is there to help her out. In exchange for his kindness, she gives him the key to her apartment. However this key is about to unlock an adventure of a different kind. It is no ordinary key; it unlocks any door and leads those who seek it out of greed directly to Mage. The thought of power like that can drive mortals to extremes but the mortal world quickly becomes the least of Mage's problems. On the run and under constant attack by ninja assassins, Yakuza thugs, and the most fearsome and loathsome otherworldly creations Japanese mythology can muster, Mage's only hope is to conquer the key and its power. He must master the art of arrow cutting in order to unleash his own magical power before the forces of darkness force him into oblivion. In a place where all the doors lead to fantasy, mythology and a terrifying reality, where do you run?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781497612280
Publisher:	Open Road Media
Publication date:	04/01/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Stephen Dedman grew up (though many would dispute this) on the outer limits of Perth’s metropolitan area, far enough from a good library that he had to make up his own science fiction and horror stories. He continued to do this when he should have been studying, and after false starts at two other universities, received a bachelor’s in creative writing and film in 1984. Since then, he’s held too many boring jobs and a few interesting ones, including actor, tutor, experimental subject, editorial assistant for Australian Physicist magazine, education officer and used dinosaur salesman for the WA Museum, and the manager of a science fiction bookshop. He has been writing for fun for more than thirty years, and for money for twenty; he sold his first short story in 1977, and his first novel in 1995. He quit yet another boring job in 1996 to write full time, and is currently working on two novels and writing one new story a month. Dedman is the author of the novels The Art of Arrow Cutting (Tor, 1997) and Foreign Bodies (Tor, 1999), and the nonfiction book Bone Hunters: On the Trail of the Dinosaurs (Omnibus, 1998). His short stories have appeared in an eclectic range of magazines and anthologies, including The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror, Little Deaths, Asimov’s Science Fiction, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Science Fiction Age, Interzone, Weird Tales, and Realms of Fantasy. His work has won the Aurealis Award and Australian Science Fiction Achievement Award, and been shortlisted for the Bram Stoker Award, the British Science Fiction Association Award, and the Sidewise Award for Alternate History.
 Dedman lives in western Australia, and enjoys reading, travel, movies, complicated relationships, talking to cats, and startling people.
Stephen Dedman grew up (though many would dispute this) on the outer limits of Perth’s metropolitan area, far enough from a good library that he had to make up his own science fiction and horror stories. He continued to do this when he should have been studying, and after false starts at two other universities, received a bachelor’s in creative writing and film in 1984. Since then, he’s held too many boring jobs and a few interesting ones, including actor, tutor, experimental subject, editorial assistant for Australian Physicist magazine, education officer and used dinosaur salesman for the WA Museum, and the manager of a science fiction bookshop. He has been writing for fun for more than thirty years, and for money for twenty; he sold his first short story in 1977, and his first novel in 1995. He quit yet another boring job in 1996 to write full time, and is currently working on two novels and writing one new story a month. Dedman is the author of the novels The Art of Arrow Cutting (Tor, 1997) and Foreign Bodies (Tor, 1999), and the nonfiction book Bone Hunters: On the Trail of the Dinosaurs (Omnibus, 1998). His short stories have appeared in an eclectic range of magazines and anthologies, including The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror, Little Deaths, Asimov’s Science Fiction, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Science Fiction Age, Interzone, Weird Tales, and Realms of Fantasy. His work has won the Aurealis Award and Australian Science Fiction Achievement Award, and been shortlisted for the Bram Stoker Award, the British Science Fiction Association Award, and the Sidewise Award for Alternate History.


Dedman lives in western Australia, and enjoys reading, travel, movies, complicated relationships, talking to cats, and startling people.

Read an Excerpt

1

Tamenaga

Tamenaga Tatsuo had not worn a kimono since his daughter's wedding, three years before, and few of his employees had seen him in anything other than a thousand-dollar business suit. None, as far as Nakatani knew, had ever been invited to discuss business with him in the bath, and anything unprecedented made Nakatani nervous; he liked an ordered, predictable, comfortable world, and intended eventually to retire to one ... if Tamenaga permitted it.

He was ushered into a change room by one of Tamenaga's attendants, an attractive woman whose age was unguessable and whose expression didn't alter by a millimeter as Nakatani undressed. She wore a white robe that might easily have concealed a small armory, and she made him feel very naked. It required all his willpower to walk ahead of her without turning around, particularly as she made no perceptible sound.

Tamenaga's bath was a Jacuzzi the size of a backyard pool, bubbling like a witches' cauldron. Behind Tamenaga stood another white-robed attendant, a muscular Japanese in his thirties. Tamenaga himself sat at the far end of the pool with only his head, neck, shoulders, and arms showing above the foaming water; both arms and shoulders were elaborately tattooed. Nakatani bowed, trying not to stare at a detailed rendition of a spectacled cobra coiled around Tamenaga's left arm, the hood spread across the biceps.

"Good morning, Nakatani-san," Tamenaga said in Japanese with a trace of a California accent. "Won't you join me?"

Nakatani nodded, then slipped into the foaming water quickly, trying hard not to remember the stories he'd heard about ninja who could swimunderwater for minutes at a time.

"What have you discovered?"

"Sir, I..." He kept his head bowed and stared at the markings on the cobra's hood--according to legend, the fingerprints of Buddha, for whom the snake had once provided shade. "I have checked everywhere. There is no question but that the girl stole it from Higuchi-san."

"And where is the girl?"

"I ... haven't been able to find her. Yet."

Tamenaga nodded. "And where is my son-in-law?"

"Higuchi-san should be in his office, sir ... he was there when I left him." Nakatani's eyes bugged slightly as the cobra's hood swelled and seemed to become scaly. "Inagaki and Tsuchiya are watching him. You didn't say you wanted him brought to you--"

"I don't," Tamenaga grunted, and was silent for a moment. "Does the girl know what she has taken from us, Nakatani-san?"

Nakatani's gaze followed the tattoo as it wound its way to just below Tamenaga's wrist. "It seems barely possible, sir..."

"There are some people for whom anything is possible, Nakatani-san," said Tamenaga smoothly. The cobra lifted its head and stared straight at Nakatani.

"Was anything else stolen?" asked Tamenaga.

Nakatani stared back at the cobra. It flicked its tongue at him and its hood widened.

"Was anything else stolen?" repeated Tamenaga sharply.

Nakatani pulled himself together as best he could. "No, sir."

"You're certain?"

"Nothing else is missing," said Nakatani, not taking his eyes from the snake's. "Maybe some cash of Higuchi's, but he says no--"

"Then she knew what she was looking for, neh?" Tamenaga brooded. His son-in-law was probably telling the truth this time: Tamenaga doubted that he had the imagination to lie competently. Certainly he'd never been able to hide his infidelities from Haruko (who was Westernized enough to be irritated by them), let alone from Tamenaga.

"She may not be able to use it," Nakatani ventured.

"She is extremely intelligent, even gifted, and would not have stolen it if she didn't think she could learn," countered Tamenaga, though he relaxed slightly. "But if we find her quickly enough, Nakatani-san..." The cobra turned away from Nakatani and flicked its tongue in the direction of Tamenaga's ear, as though whispering a secret.

* * * *

When Nakatani had been ushered out, Tamenaga climbed out of the pool. The cobra coiled itself around his arm again and became a tattoo. "Call Hegarty, tell him to be in my office in four minutes. I want a good picture of the girl, and a hundred copies. Send some men to the airport, the bus and railway stations ... and send them to LAX as well. She's had hours, she could be anywhere by now. It doesn't matter who you send, as long as they have eyes and aren't too obvious. Sakura, go and stay with my daughter. Buy her a black dress, something respectable, and put it on my account."

What People are Saying About This

"A very impressive achievement." --Locus

"An agreeable blend of oriental fantasy and noir-ish sleuthing: a polished, well-organized debut, complemented by Dedman's nice light touch on the tiller." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"The Art of Arrow Cutting is equal parts urban fantasy, noir thriller, and Japanese myth. A clever and engaging book." --Sci-Fi Universe

Editorial Reviews

Yadomejutsu, the art of arrow cutting, is a technique used to literally evade arrows (or anything else that might be thrown at you with deadly intent.) It is a physical art, but as any true practitioner of the martial arts will tell you, yadomejutsu is derived from the strength of the mind and the spirit as much as the body. In The Art of Arrow Cutting Australian writer Stephen Dedman has combined the reasoning of a sleuth, the heart of well-drawn characters, and the physical grit of suspense with an additional element -- magic -- to produce an enticing and exotic debut novel that enchants the reader.

As in much of his short fiction, Dedman casts a charming drifter as protagonist. Michelangelo Magistrale (Mage for short) is, more or less, a professional photographer. Handsome, 23 years old, "with little ambition and less greed," Mage has "a cool head, a long reach, excellent reflexes, and the knack of anticipating his opponent by watching his eyes." He also has a way with women that provides him more than just a bed almost anywhere he travels. Naturally, it's a beautiful girl named Amanda, who generates the plot. Mage meets this somewhat distressed damsel in the bus terminal of a small Canadian town. She gives him an apartment key on a braided thong in exchange for his kindness before she disappears via Greyhound.

It soon becomes apparent that bad guys are after Amanda, Mage sets out to find and, somehow, help her. Then something really bad shows up -- a rukoro-kubi, a bakemono (Japanese evil goblin) that travels and wrecks havoc as a head and a pair of hands. Luckily, Mage's sidekick, Charlie Takumo, a modern day ninja stunt man knows something about these things. Although the two of them have no idea that the magic monster's master is a powerful financial wizard, named Takemaga, with connections to the yakuza (the Japanese mafia), they know they are up against some pretty bad dudes.

Amanda's gift turns out to be something magical, the financial wizard really is a wizard, and the girl turns up dead. Accused of her murder, Mage (assisted by Charlie) must find the real killer. They begin to learn to use the magic they find they possess, but they've crossed Takemaga who is in full possession of his powers -- both supernatural and criminal -- and the protagonists must parry quivers full of danger.

Dedman's skillful and smoothly cinematic writing builds a world in which the supernatural is more believable than the plots of any chambara, those movies with more grunts, blood, and action than authentic martial arts. With Dedman guiding us, we can believe in a rukoro-kubi or a mujina (a faceless bakemono who can assume human disguise) as easily as we believe that there are people obsessed with greed and to whom human life has little value. Tattoos that come to life become as real to us as the hot, gritty concrete of L.A. And, for all the suspenseful fun and action-packed fantasy adventure we have along the way, there is a underlying intensity to The Art of Arrow Cutting that shows Dedman is capable of depth as well as engaging entertainment.

Domo arigato gozaimasu, Dedman-san, for a great read.
—darkecho.com

A Guran

In Australia writer Dedman's first novel, drifter-photographer Michelangelo "Mage" Magistrale runs into beautiful blond Amanda Sharmon in a small Canadian town. Mage lends Amanda some money; she gives him a key on a loop of what seems to be human hair. Subsequently, in an L.A. youth hostel, Mage meets stuntman and Japanese-demon expert Charles Takumo moments before they're attacked by a disembodied head and a pair of hands. Evidently, Amanda had stolen something from powerful businessman-gangster Tamenaga, and he wants it back. It turns out that Tamenaga now possesses two magical "foci": Amanda stole a third—the key perhaps? Well, it opens doors—any door—but Mage finds it's the hair that has the magic properties. Takumo tries to teach Mage how to use the magic, and not long after, Amanda's body turns up in a dumpster, causing the police arrest Mage on suspicion. His public defender, Kelly Barbet, only gradually becomes convinced that Mage is telling the truth in denying his guilt. Once freed on bail, Mage will master the magic and prepare to confront Tamenaga; later he will learn that the god who supposedly created the foci, Hotei, actually exists, even though he can't remember much.

An agreeable blend of oriental fantasy and noir-ish sleuthing: a polished, well-organized debut, complemented by Dedman's nice light touch on the tiller.

Kirkus Reviews

"An agreeable blend of oriental fantasy and noir-ish sleuthing: a polished, well-organized debut, complemented by Dedman's nice light touch on the tiller."—Kirkus Review (starred review)

"The Art of Arrow Cutting is equal parts urban fantasy, noir thriller, and Japanese myth. A clever and engaging book."—Sci-Fi Universe

"A very impressive achievement."—Locus

From the Publisher