American and Japanese Cultures Meet in New Novel, A Town Where Lights Are Blue by William Saffell. Critics call novel, "A compelling study of living outside the mainstream of one's own culture."
William Saffell set out to write books about things he understood; being a Vietnam vet, living in Japan and jazz. His second novel, A Town Where Lights Are Blue, could be called a study of the life he used to live.
MARTINSBURG, West Virginia, 2003-If you ask author William Saffell what inspired him to write his new novel, A Town Where Lights are Blue, hell tell you that he wanted to write books about Americans in Japan, a place he spent much of his life. The smells, the places and even the main character resemble pieces of Saffells stay in Japan. Saffell is a Vietnam veteran, much like John Sky, the main character of his novel, both men play jazz and both men fell in love with Japanese culture. It is no secret that William Saffell kept his eyes open and took mental notes during his time in Vietnam and Japan. He now teaches English to Japanese students and helps these students understand our culture in relationship with theirs.
John Sky is a war veteran and a broken man by many accounts. He finds work in Yokohama playing piano in small jazz clubs and he immerses himself in the seductive lifestyle of the water business, a modern version of the floating world-a traditional metaphor for lifes transient nature. This is an after-hours world inhabited by the people who work in Japans bars and nightspots. While wondering the streets of this intriguing and sometimes dangerous landscape, Sky meets two women who will change his life forever.
Robert W. Norris author of Toraware and Looking For Summer writes, The Japanese characters come alive wonderfully. If you like suspenseful stories that explore the vicissitudes of relationships and living in a foreign culture Read this novel." To arrange for an interview with William Saffell, or to receive press kit and copy of the book, contact Quiet Storm Publishing
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