Searching for romance in Longs? Really? Longs may be the first place you think to look for many things, but romance? I decided to give it a shot anyway. My investigation led me to my neighborhood Longs store in the Kaimuki Shopping Center. It also led me to one of my favorite writers.

If I hadn’t asked Lee Cataluna about romance in her book Folks You Meet in Longs (Bamboo Ridge, 2005), I wouldn’t have known that she doesn’t see romance in those monologues of Longs shoppers and employees. Lee told me, “I don’t really think of romance when I think about that collection. I think about needs/wants and people going through Longs trying to fulfill their literal needs and thus their deeper needs.”

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Join us in celebrating the release of the latest regular issue of Bamboo Ridge, Journal of Hawai‘i Literature and Arts (no. 94), the book launch and reading: Monday, November 23, 2009 7:00 p.m. – reception and book signing; 7:30 p.m. – reading* University of Hawai‘i Campus Center Ballroom FR [...]
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Because my new novel Chasing Cowboys is written in first person (narrated by a 40-something Reno cowboy and a 19-year-old Reno rodeo queen wannabe), I started thinking about why I love first person narration.

I’m trying to remember the first time I wrote in first person point of view. There’s a flickering memory of an assignment in fourth grade, writing about an imaginary trip across Texas.

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From the author of Sista Tongue come stories written with humor and compassion that give voice to characters who find themselves at crossroad moments where past informs present, young teach old, and love can mean holding on or letting go. In “The Steersman,” a novice paddler shares her tempestu [...]
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Murder Casts a Shadow by Victoria Kneubuhl by Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl Murder Casts a Shadow is the debut novel by acclaimed local [...]
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Be taken on an unforgettable journey of suspense, adventure, mystery and romance in a coming-of-age story about the small town of Kailua, O'ahu in November/December 1941.  Sands of Lanikai takes us back to the days just before December 7 and imagines a spy entering the waters of Kailua Bay.  Will [...]
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Death on Diamond Head is a riveting murder mystery written by long-time Hawai‘i law enforcement officer John Madinger. The fast-paced novel introduces the character of Honolulu police detective Kimo Rigg, a veteran cop whose career has been sidetracked by a whistleblower lawsuit.

In Death on Diamond Head, Madinger’s first novel, Kimo Rigg has been relegated to the Unsolved Crimes department in the bowels of the precinct headquarters. He is trying to stay out of trouble when he finds himself in hot water once again: A murder victim’s body is dumped almost on the doorstep of his new house at Diamond Head.

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Honolulu Cop is real, but plenty of novelists have decided there’s no better place for a crime than Hawai’i. Here’s a list of mysteries, both old and new, set in our islands. List courtesy of www.LeftCoastCrime.org and Kane’ohe librarian Cindy Chow.

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Could you give an example of where fiction crosses over to nonfiction?

The environmental issues affecting Hawai’i and government corruption is an example of where the story specifically crosses over to nonfiction. Lei is an environmentalist, and I wanted to go much further with cruise ship pollution, the beach cleanup, government protection of industry but instead I just touch on it. I even had the Superferry in the story at one point and the current governor’s real-life decision to waive environmental protection laws on their behalf, but it was starting to distract from the plot.

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Recently I asked some members of the Aloha Chapter, Romance Writers of America, how much romance they could handle. How would you answer that question? Here’s what the writers said.  (Watch out for romantic vampires lurking below ... we'll take a [...]
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