The Lotus Monster Book

ed bibs. It took another five years before I could return to
Japan, but the next time I stayed for nine months, living with
a Japanese family and learning how wonderful it was to have
a Japanese sister (shimai), mother (okasan), father (otosan)
and grandma (obachama). Back in the States, I wrote Japanese
characters into every TV show I could pitch, from “Wonder
Woman” to “Six Million Dollar Man” and shows you’ve
probably never seen or heard of.
The most satisfying story, however, didn’t come around
for years and years. My daughter, Shannon, grew up and
married, and when her husband had the opportunity, they
moved to a military base in Japan. It was in Iwakune that
her daughter, the hero of this story, was born. And it was in
Iwakune that Shannon first looked out over the lotus fields
(or ponds) and imagined Quinlan spying a Japanese monster
peering out from the lotus leaves.
That moment of inspiration was given to me and now it
moves from me to you. So Japan has come full circle for me
and my family. I have stood at the Kintai Bridge and looked
at the statue of Sasaki Kojiro, one of the most famous Samurai
swordsmen who ever lived in history and on film, and
I’ve seen my granddaughter eat ice cream in Kintai park and
wave at the very jet that sits near the gate to Iwakune military
base.
Much of what follows is imaginary, but much is not.
Sometimes the lines blur for me, but then I am only the writer,
and this story might not have blossomed from an idea to
an illustrated book if not for that same little sister who used
to go to the Toho LaBrea with me and now imagines with
her art what I could only say in words. Thank you, Margien,
Shannon and Quinlan.