Mirrobius is a Martial Arts Book

I have a few different inspirations for the characters and story in Mirrobius. Among them, I could list the cartoons, movies, and comics that I grew up with in the 80s and 90s. I could also list a lifetime of spiritual experiences, beliefs, and wisdom that I’ve internalized.

Aside from those, I have to explicitly name my years in martial arts as having a clear and undeniable influence on the dialogue, actions, and plot points of my novel. I was involved with a karate system for 6 years, and have just started indulging a long-held curiosity about Wing Chun. I’ve loved and appreciated these experiences, and they were bound to find their way into a story that involves physical combat.

Here are the primary ways in which martial arts plays a role in Mirrobius:

1. The fight scenes. Years of learning about and applying various techniques had an undeniable effect on how I visualized and wrote these parts. It helped me figure out the most logical progression of each sequence, and helped me ground them in a sense of realism. Readers might also note that the fights tend to be short, as I want to portray the reality of what certain moves will do to a person.
2. Injuries. People get injured as a result of fighting. They need time to heal. They don’t just spring back the way superheroes do. So more than once, characters become sidelined by the lingering effects of their wounds.
3. Training sessions. The novel has several chapters where characters help each other train. My time in martial arts helped me visualize the training center, and what the characters would need for an effective session. This included weapons, drills, targets, and the general space, and how they would go about utilizing each. These scenes also include a little of the process involved in learning or improving a particular technique.
4. Terminology. Characters do front snap kicks and shoulder throws, and I name them as such. I didn’t feel the need to call these moves something else or describe them in a different way. I just call them what I learned. But I also describe their movement or effect enough that those unfamiliar know what just happened.
5. Philosophy. I’ve always been interested in the philosophical and spiritual dimensions of martial arts. I’ve appreciated that there’s more to any style or system than the basic moves: there are also underlying ideas of why one would want to practice their skill to begin with, as well as ways to develop instinct and improve reaction time. These elements were among my favorite to write.

In these ways, this book is an ode to my martial arts journey. It’s been an unexpected joy to apply what I’ve learned to this project.

Mirrobius is available for pre-order on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple Books, and Smashwords, among other places.