Hannah’s blog is about blindness and its representation. It asks how the blind and the partially blind relate to the sighted and the partially sighted. It mostly focuses on representations of blindness from the nineteenth century to the present day, in English and French culture and society. It also maps the place of a partially-blind academic in a resolutely sighted world.

Hannah Thompson is a senior lecturer in French at Royal Holloway’s School of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures – her next book Taboo: Corporeal Secrets in Nineteenth-Century France will be published by Legenda in June 2013. Follow her on Twitter @BlindSpotHannah.

Hannah has been blogging since February 2012, but her blog is already listed in the Top 100 Special Education Resources on the Web and listed in the Top 10 UK Disability Blogs.

Hannah’s review of Reprobate is reproduced below:

Blindness in Fiction 4: Reprobate: A Katla Novel

It is notoriously difficult for non-blind writers to depict blind characters in fiction. Although anyone can close their eyes and imagine blindness for a few minutes, living in a world where sight has lost its meaning is incredibly hard to imagine. For this reason, blind characters in fiction are relatively rare. Where they do exist, they are either secondary and therefore always described from someone else’s point of view (as in Adrian Mole) or evil and not described sympathetically at all (as in Ratburger). Like Star Gazing which I blogged about last April, Reprobate is a novel of shared viewpoints, in which a blind character, Bram, plays a crucial role.

When the reader first encounters Bram, it is easy to mistakenly think that he is nothing but a fascinating plot device. We initially encounter him just after assassin Katla has finished a job. When he interrupts her as she is cleaning up the crime scene, her first instinct is to kill him, as she normally would an ‘additional’ who might later be able to place her at the scene. But when Katla realises Bram is blind she decides to spare him. Her reasoning is that he poses no threat to her because he will never be able to make a positive identification of her.

Katla, like most sighted people, imagines at first that a world without sight is a world of darkness and confusion. But Bram is not the kind of passive, low-functioning blind person who is frequently found in fictional representations. Unlike the blind man in Amelie, for example, he is always well aware of his environment. He picks up clues from the sounds, smells and atmospheric conditions he senses and is never described as having a lesser experience of life because of his blindness. This is wonderfully demonstrated in the scenes, such as the episode in the diner at the beginning of the ‘Luncheonette’ chapter, which are told through his perspective. In these scenes, the author focuses only on what Bram can hear, touch and sense. But the reader nonetheless gains a complete understanding of the scene. In fact until you look closely at the language of the scene, you probably won’t even notice the absence of visual clues. Bram’s presence in the novel, and the part he takes in its narration, brilliantly shows that sight is not essential to a full and happy existence. Bram is clever, funny, sexy and sporty. In fact very soon the story becomes so gripping that the fact of his blindness would easily be forgotten if it weren’t for the detail with which the narrator describes the practicalities of his life.

If you want to know what it is like to be a blind person living in a sighted world, then you should read this book, especially if you enjoy complex and multi-layered thrillers with unexpected twists and a truly triumphant ending.

Reprobate has been favourably reviewed before, on Amazon and several websites/blogs, but never by a blind reviewer and critic of media representations of blind characters in fiction, so I’m grateful to Hannah for taking the time to read Reprobate and write such a thoughtful review.

Please visit her blog, if you are interested in blindness and its representations.

A group of talented writers (and flat-out good human beings!) gathered to support the dream of filling one Kindle that will be part of a silent auction at the March 30th, 2013 12th annual Guns ‘n’ Hoses Charity Hockey Game played at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois.

“In the final year of the Guns ‘n’ Hoses game, to hear that the charity of benefit is the Wounded Warrior Project is absolutely prolific, having the benefit of knowing where it all began back in 2002.  We are proud to do our small part in helping to raise money for such a worthwhile and important organization.” -Ashley

About the Guns ‘n’ Hoses Charity Game

The first Guns n Hoses game was played in 2002 in order to benefit a firehouse who lost its members in the 9-11 attacks.  The Wounded Warrior Project exists to honor and empower Wounded Warriors who incurred service-connected injuries on or after September 11, 2001.

WWP is the hand extended to encourage warriors as they adjust to their new normal and achieve new triumphs.  Offering a variety of programs and services, WWP is equipped to serve warriors with every type of injury-from the physical to the invisible wounds of war.

Guns ‘N’ Hoses 2013 is inviting you to be a part of this unique and historic event to honor our warriors.

More information about the Skatin’ Bacon Hockey and the Charity Game at:

www.skatinbacon.com

About The Wounded Warrior Project

MISSON:
To honor and empower Wounded Warriors.
VISION:
To foster the most successful, well-adjusted generation of wounded service members in our nation’s history.
PURPOSE:
To raise awareness and enlist the public’s aid for the needs of injured service members.
To help injured service members aid and assist each other.
To provide unique, direct programs and services to meet the needs of injured service members.

More information on The Wounded Warrior Project and how you can help can be found at:

www.woundedwarriorproject.org

Donation Information

“When I originally put out the idea I thought maybe I’d receive a handful of donations … but the kindness of others never fails to amaze me.  The absolute generosity of authors and companies has blown me away … and continues to do so.  I’m always interested in amassing more donations — my goal is to super-load that Kindle and keep the lucky winner busy for a very, very long time.” – Ashley

Please check out the About page of Authors for Wounded Warriors here. One of the donated books is Reprobate.

The people who can be bothered to read my work are glad they did, and encourage me to write more books. Not that I need their encouragement, as I would write my stories even if I wouldn’t be able to publish them, just to have them in material form, instead of telling them to myself in my head. Still, I enjoy receiving accolades from reviewers and beta readers.

My sales are not impressive, but I’m not that interested in bestsellers and being a flavour of the week. I’m in the storytelling game for the long haul. By all accounts, my characters remain present in the minds of my readers after they close the books, which is exactly what I wanted. Before I published the Amsterdam Assassin Series, people would see me writing and ask me what I wrote about. Now, I can just send them a link to my blog, from where they can sample or buy my books. So, I guess I will keep publishing my books, and writing more books.

I know there are 350,000 books published annually, and getting noticed is hard, so it might take until the third or fourth book is published before my sales go into the triple digits, but I honestly don’t care too much about that aspect of being a writer. I’d be doing this anyway. My only expense is hiring a graphic artist to make the covers, since I suck at that. And I found a student who can make my covers look reasonably professional without breaking the bank.

Do I ever have moments that I’d quit? I’ve had slumps and I found I became harder to live with when I stopped writing, for whatever reason. So quitting isn’t an option if I want to stay reasonably sane. Or, at least, not get any weirder than I’m now. And writing also gives me excuses to indulge in research, which is great fun. At least, if you enjoy looking at corpses getting eviscerated, destroying a leather punching bag with a Bic Crystal ballpoint pen, following a tameshigiri seminar to learn how to decapitate a body in one cut of a Japanese sword, or slaughtering a pig with a tactical folding knife to check if it can really handle the abuse of a brutal killing.

So, I guess I’d be writing and publishing far into the foreseeable future. And I hope you join me.

This is an interesting angle I didn’t realize when I wrote Reprobate: Some people are more interested in other characters than the protagonist, assassin Katla. If you read the reviews, you must’ve read this passage in the ‘Great New Series’ review by DevoGirl:

“But for me, the best part was the romance between Bram and Katla. Bram is a terrific character, one of the more realistic portrayals of a blind person that I have read in a while. He’s well-adjusted and capable, but not superhuman. He plays the saxophone, practices shiatsu on the local yakuza, and studies aikido. He’s just the right combination of strong and vulnerable, and it’s oh so sexy. With so many books appearing lately with blind characters that are totally unrealistic, I really appreciate that the author went to the trouble to do the research and get it right.”

The fact that the blind character Bram is considered ‘hot and sexy’ by this reader, led me to my WordPress Stats, where I can see if people visit me from certain websites or forums. And I found this thread on paradevo, a website for devotees of disabled persons, where books are discussed and reviewed when they have disabled characters. And the website has its own review section, on books and movies, where an extended review is given, with more attention to what makes Reprobate attractive to devotees of disabled persons.

Although I’m aware of the fact that there are people who are specifically attracted to disabled persons, Reprobate hadn’t been written with the idea that people would read the series because it also features disabled characters. And the fact that people who are familiar with disabled persons judge my portrayal of the blind characters realistic is immensely gratifying. Being a stickler for verisimilitude seems to be paying off, if readers are searching me out in their quest for believable characters.

DevoGirl contacted me with questions for an author interview with emphasis on how and why I wrote about disabled characters, which can be found here. While the interview touches on several sensitive issues, I think it might be illuminating for those who read my books, whether they read the Amsterdam Assassin Series for the suspense, the kick-ass heroine, or the blind, but capable, characters.

Enjoy the series, and please, let me know what you think!

I’m a huge Philip K. Dick fan, but I do prefer Blade Runner to Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep. I read Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, but the Milos Forman movie adaption cemented Jack Nicholson’s maniacal McMurphy in my mind. I love Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange just as much as the Kubrick movie. The movie The Dead Zone is an improvement on the Stephen King novel, with an excellent Christopher Walken, just as Kubrick’s The Shining is superior to the King novel, but, while the movie is excellent, Shawshank Redemption is slightly less moving than the King novella Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption. Kick-Ass the movie is slightly more fun than the graphic novel. The Pope of Greenwich Village was much better than the novel by Vincent Patrick. Papillon the movie impressed me more than Papillon the novel. Perfume the movie was pretty good at conveying smell in visual images, but the novel’s prose is superior. Shogun the miniseries is flawed but impressive, but the novel is excellent (although Clavell’s King Rat is a superior novel, with an also excellent movie adaption.

Disappointing to me, as a Philip K. Dick fan, are the movie adaptions of We Can Remember It For You Wholesale [Total Recall] and Paycheck. A Scanner Darkly was pretty good, but not as good as Dick’s story. And Minority Report [movie], while visually impressive, seems only to have tentative connections to the excellent short story by Dick.

Personally, I think that a movie adaption of the Amsterdam Assassin Series would skate over the multi-layered storyline and would become an action/adventure vehicle that would be too superficial to appeal to the readers who love the series intricacies. Plus, I think Katla’s chameleon-like abilities to be eminently forgettable and melt into the background would suffer from being associated with the image of any actress, who prefer to be anything but forgettable.

Comments welcome!

Blessed with an almost non-existent conscience, Katla Sieltjes, expert in disguising homicide, views assassination as an intricate and rewarding occupation. Hidden behind her male alter ego Loki, Katla receives anonymous assignments, negotiates the terms with clients through electronic means, all to protect her identity. Her solitary existence satisfies her until she meets a blind musician whose failure to notice a ‘closed’ sign causes him to wander in on Katla’s crime scene. And Katla breaks one of her most important rules – never leave a living witness.

Recovering alcoholic Deborah Stern reluctantly re-enlists with the DEA as a liaison in The Hague, where her language skills are valued to counter suspected sabotage by Dutch law enforcement officials. After a U.S. Army officer dies on a German NATO base from a heroin/cocaine overdose, the trail leads to Amsterdam. The DEA and the Dutch IPOL launch a joint undercover operation, but not everyone is playing by the same rules.

Reprobate is the first novel in the Amsterdam Assassin Series. With authentic details and fast-paced action, featuring an uncompromising heroine and a supporting cast of unusual characters, Reprobate gives a rare glimpse in the local Dutch culture, information on the famous Dutch capital, the narcotics trade, computer hacking, motorcycle gangs, mehndi bridal tattoos, martial arts, and the brutal effectiveness of disciplined violence.

Reprobate received one Publishers Weekly Review back in 2010 when it was a Quarterfinalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest:

Publishers Weekly Review of Reprobate:
Fast-moving and intricately plotted, this manuscript of Dutch intrigue follows assassin Katla, who’s renowned for her ability to cover up a job. When the U.S. DEA’s base in the Netherlands catches wind of a heroin ring within the U.S. military, they set up an undercover operation. When the heads of the drug ring discover the plot, they arrange for Katla to assassinate the undercover agents, but the assassination doesn’t go as planned. As Katla recovers from injuries sustained in the botched job, DEA agent Deborah Stern and her colleagues investigate. Violence, drugs, and sex abound in this intense story, and the plot is less farcical than a lot of the thrillers clogging the shelves.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

So far, the novel generated two five-star review on Amazon.com, but I’d like to add more.

Everything about this novel appealed to me: the plot, the characters, and the violent action and the characters’ interrelationships under highly unusual circumstances. About a third of the way through the novel is the most bloody and rapid twenty six minutes you will ever read: six dead on two hotel floors and a hallway. The police are convinced that two, possibly three professional killers are involved. But the reader watched all 26 minutes and the escape of the wounded lone assasin. Will her lover find her unconscious body in time? A lot more to come, all fascinating. The author wonders if the amorality of his heroine is more than the reader can handle. Katia is smart as a whip, cold as ice on the job. But work is only part of her life. Buy this book,review this book, and help get the author off his butt to write the next Katia novel.

Katla is a professional assassin for hire, specializing in hits that can’t be traced. When the novel begins, she is taking out the owner of a shop selling antique Japanese swords, with his own merchandise, when she is interrupted by a blind man who has come to pick up his order. Katla has a firm policy of not allowing witnesses to her hits to live, but Bram is blind, and totally sexy. She lets him go, but can’t seem to stay away from him. So begins an unlikely but fascinating partnership. How will a cold-blooded killer and a pacifist musician find any common ground?

Meanwhile, American DEA agents are brought to Amsterdam to help IPOL break up a drug ring run by a local gang. Katla is unwittingly drawn in to a law enforcement sting operation by a double-crossing client. There is some gory violence as Katla carries out her hits, but the emphasis is firmly on procedure: descriptions of guns and knives, techniques, and the autopsies and forensics afterward.

But for me, the best part was the romance between Bram and Katla. Bram is a terrific character, one of the more realistic portrayals of a blind person that I have read in a while. He’s well-adjusted and capable, but not superhuman. He plays the saxophone, practices shiatsu on the local yakuza, and studies aikido. He’s just the right combination of strong and vulnerable, and it’s oh so sexy. With so many books appearing lately with blind characters that are totally unrealistic, I really appreciate that the author went to the trouble to do the research and get it right.

I also like that Katla is a tough, strong woman who doesn’t have trauma or abuse in her past. She’s just good at what she does. It’s quite a trick to get the audience to root for the killer and the police equally, but the author pulls it off. I’m looking forward to the next books in the series.

So, if you want to support me and help me get noticed, send an email to katlasieltjes@yahoo.com with ‘Reprobate Review’ in the subject and tell me what e-reader you use and I’ll send you the Reprobate e-book file. Reviews will also be featured on this page! Thanks to everyone for your support.

Chang lay spent on the bed, enjoying the best feature of his hotel room. From the bed, he could look through a window pane straight into the bathroom, where Jacqueline was lounging in the bath. She’d been energetic, almost aggressive in her lovemaking, but the heroin had dulled his libido and he’d taken ages to climax, which seemed to have pleased her.
She tapped the window and gestured for him to join her in the bath. He shook his head, gestured that he liked looking at her and blew her a kiss. She arched back in the soapy water and started giving him a show of what he was missing, caressing herself with her eyes closed and her mouth half open, showing her cute little overbite as she panted with excitement.
While he’d waited for her to arrive for dinner, he’d borrowed a book from the concierge on the history of the building. He’d been aware that the building had been erected for the Burgerziekenhuis and had been designed by the same architect as the famous Concertgebouw, but the book had been informative.
Last time Chang had been in Amsterdam, the graceful Burgerziekenhuis building had become an office for the City Council, which always struck Chang as a disgrace for a historical building, where Queen Wilhelmina and her daughter Princess Juliana had stayed, when Juliana’s husband Bernhard was recuperating from a serious accident in 1937, and soccer genius Johan Cruyff was born ten years later.
When the Burgerziekenhuis opened in 1891, the hospital had been a technical as well as an esthetic marvel, with a huge main building and a spacious garden with separate pavilions, electric illumination, central heating and water-powered elevators. Economic recession and the Second World War depleted the budget and the Burgerziekenhuis hovered on the brink of closing in the post-war years, but in the 1960s the building was renovated and regained its position as a modern hospital until it became superfluous when the Academic Medical Center and the VU Medical Center were built in the 1980s. One month before its Centennial, the Burgerziekenhuis closed its doors and moved to Almere.
The hospital pavilions, situated behind the main building, were converted into offices and housing, but the beautiful main building needed to be rescued. With minor renovations that left most of the old building intact, the decentralized City Council used the building in 1992 to house Stadsdeel Oost, the local council for the East borough. When the East borough merged with Watergraafsmeer, the need for more office space caused the Stadsdeel to move out again in 2008. For almost four years the former Burgerziekenhuis temporarily housed a police station, until it came into the hands of the Eden hotel chain, who turned it into their latest four star hotel, the Manor. When Chang became aware of the chance to book a room in the famous building, he didn’t hesitate at all. At least he wouldn’t have to worry about tripping over Rolling Stone fans camping out on the steps, like he had the last time he stayed at the Amstel Hotel.
Jacqueline was climaxing in the bath and slipped down under the soapy surface. She reappeared a moment later, her blond hair plastered around her face and her eyes shining. Chang smiled as she pranced wet and naked into the room.
“Would you like to chase the dragon?” he asked and showed her the heroin. Her eyes twinkled and she kneeled by the bed, resting her head on his thigh and blowing kisses at his penis while he warmed the heroin with the butane lighter and handed her the silver pipe.

If you like this fragment of Peccadillo, check my ‘About’ page for a link to the Amsterdam Assassin Series. You can download a sample with the first few chapters for free from Amazon, or the whole novel (105,000 words or 420 pages) for only $4.99. The first book in the Amsterdam Assassin Series, has been temporarily reduced in price, from 4.99 to 2.99 USD, until January 4th, 2013.

If you follow my blog, you will be notified about publication date, more fragments and snippets, and articles on Katla’s Amsterdam. If you’d like to become a beta reader for the Amsterdam Assassin Series, email Martyn V. Halm at katlasieltjes@yahoo.com and put ‘beta reader’ in the subject line. Thanks for your support.

If you can sign in on Amazon.co.uk, follow the links below and go to the book page. At the bottom of the book page, you’ll see this text:

“Would you like to give feedback on images or tell us about a lower price?”

Click on  tell us about a lower price? and click on website, copy/paste the kobo link and fill in that the price on kobo is 0.00.

If Amazon.co.uk gets enough reports, and they already had a few, they have to price-match.

The Amazon.co.uk link to Locked Room:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Locked-Room-KillFile-Amsterdam-ebook/dp/B008VUXNTQ/ref=la_B003EGNT5K_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1356119298&sr=1-1

Kobo link to Locked Room:

http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Locked-Room/book-bw3uXFFHi0eKNo6N1iEnTg/page1.html?s=znf0FttQjEey5h1d0_glKg&r=4

The Amazon.co.uk link to Microchip Murder:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Microchip-Murder-KillFile-Amsterdam-ebook/dp/B00A4LKSYI/ref=la_B003EGNT5K_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1356120582&sr=1-2

Kobo link to Microchip Murder:

http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Microchip-Murder/book-llfPGHU1E0Gb1eea57aDBQ/page1.html?s=FZYbhB6TJ0SjYl-petd9Fw&r=1

Thank you very much for your support!

Nicky Wang missed riding the hills around Kowloon, but the Galaxy enduro motorcycle he’d left behind in China was no comparison to his current ride. He raced down the Herengracht to the Brouwersgracht, and noticed at a glance that the pedestrian bridge across the canal was empty, so he pulled the KTM 690 in a controlled skid and rode up the steps. The bridge itself was wide enough, but the posts on the steps were little wider than his handlebars. Nicky popped a wheelie and braked slowly at the end of the Melkmeisjesbrug, keeping his front wheel aloft as he rode between the posts down the steps back to the road. As soon as the front wheel hit the road he went full on the front brake, lifting the rear and tilting it sideways. Compared to the Galaxy, the KTM was a heavy brute, but it handled exquisitely. His rear wheel landed on the bricks again and he balanced for a moment, then rode off down the Brouwersgracht in the direction of the Haarlemmerdijk.
He slowed down as he spotted a couple of motorcycle cops on enduro motorcycle. Not that he was afraid that he couldn’t outrun them, but he couldn’t outrun their radios, so he limited his urban enduro escapades to avoid attracting too much attention.
His dashboard clock told him he had ten minutes before he had to meet Lau at the restaurant. He rode the KTM in the direction of Centraal Station, unable to suppress his inner hooligan as he took the bicycle path across the Singel, turned left and sidled past the waiting cars, hooked a right onto the Prins Hendrikkade and raced between cars to get to the front of the queues at the traffic lights. A few minutes later he parked his KTM in front of Prins Heerlijk Snacks, next to the Ducati Monster from the blonde behind the counter. He waved at her as he strode onto the Zeedijk, knowing she’d keep an eye on his prized possession until he returned.
Pulling a ball cap down low over his eyes to make sure the police cameras didn’t get a straight shot of his face, Nicky moved like a shadow down the Zeedijk and entered the restaurant. He walked all the way to the back where a table was reserved for the Red Poles. As he passed one of the waitresses she asked him if he wanted tea, but he told her to bring tea when Lau joined him. Sitting with his back against the wall next to the stairwell that led up to Zhang’s office, he could survey the whole restaurant in a single glance.
Nicky disliked having to report in, running the risk of being filmed by the police cameras, when most of the times the orders he received could just as well be relayed through burner phones. Lau didn’t like to use cell phones, though, and being the senior Red Pole, he could pretty much do as he wanted.
Lau appeared in the stairwell, and Nicky rose from his seat to give his senior the corner seat. Before he sat back down the waitress came running and placed a pot of tea on the table. Nicky served Lau first before he poured himself a cup.
Lau was the first to break the silence. “You checked out the crane, Sai-Lo?”
In Triad hierarchy, even among equals in rank, there is always the Dai-Lo, Elder Brother, and Sai-Lo, Younger Brother, relationship.
“Yes, Elder Brother. The controls are in a different order, but that’s not a problem.”
“You will be responsible for the perimeter, Nicky. I’ll take Chen and Wu into the office with the accountant.”
“Can Chen help me arrange the funnel?”
Lau lit a cigarette, drawing some irritated glances from customers nearby, but they didn’t dare meet his gaze. “Chen has to be on quay when Sieltjes arrives. I want him to escort her inside. Until then you can do as you see fit.”
Nicky rose from the table. “See you later, Elder Brother.”
He pulled his ball cap down low over his eyes and left the restaurant.

If you like this fragment of Peccadillo, check my ‘About’ page for a link to the Amsterdam Assassin Series. You can download a sample with the first few chapters for free from Amazon, or the whole novel (105,000 words or 420 pages) for only $4.99. The first book in the Amsterdam Assassin Series, has been temporarily reduced in price, from 4.99 to 2.99 USD, until January 4th, 2013.

If you follow my blog, you will be notified about publication date, more fragments and snippets, and articles on Katla’s Amsterdam. If you’d like to become a beta reader for the Amsterdam Assassin Series, email Martyn V. Halm at katlasieltjes@yahoo.com and put ‘beta reader’ in the subject line. Thanks for your support.

And Reprobate is reduced in price from 4.99 USD to 3.99 USD:

For epub versions, see the About page for Kobo and iTunes.