Loving the Tiger

I almost feel I shouldn't write this, but as no one is likely to read it anyway, I will.
I recently reread "Ride The Tiger" for the first time in many years. I FRAKIN' LOVED IT! Yes, there is a lot of gore and some bits that would make Stephen King cringe, but it is also a really deep, beautiful love story. Lee goes through so much to connect to his soul mate.

The whole mad world of "Tiger" was really about breaking down artificial boundaries, the evil "Shoulds" that hold us in our own isolated worlds and places.  I mixed martial arts with gay love because of the extreme contrast, as well as the many hidden traditions of male love in at least the Samurai world. When I wrote "Tiger", I was doing kung fu and T'ai Chi over 25 hours a week and training with a master, George Azoo in Chicago.  We did it all, Wing Chun, Jeet Kune Do, Iron Arm, Sticky Hands.  I loved it all, and was really hard-core. They called me the "Iron Maiden".  Then, my right knee went out two weeks before a Demo. I lost Kung Fu. But not the passion. Kept my hand in for years teaching Chi Gung after George passed, but the pain never gave me a days rest.  The knee pain, the losses of art and teacher. I had recently moved from San Francisco and could never get that gorgeous bitch-goddess of a City out of my head. Guess I lost her, too.

But out of all that loss, I did end up meeting my true love so I guess things have a way of turning out.

I grew up in the gay community.  Although at the time I wrote "Tiger" I was passing for heterosexual, all I had to do was meet "The One" to switch sides.  Wouldn't have it any other way.  Although I have been criticized for my choices my main character & alter ego, Lee, is simply a reflection of my experience and will, no doubt be criticized as well.  Too gay of a book, not gay enough of a book, a gay book written by a lesbian (ooh, that's really bad!), I've heard all the excuses from the so-called LBGT presses. So, in love with e-books anyway, I went Indie.

I hope people read "Ride The Tiger" because there are many moments of unexpected poetry in that book, my first book, my baby