The Book Plank

Author interview Steve Bein Author bio: Steve Bein (pronounced "Bine") is a philosopher, photographer, traveler, translator, climber, diver, and award-winning author of science fiction and fantasy. His short fiction has appeared in Asimov’s , Interzone , Writers of the Future , and in international translation. Daughter of the Sword , his first novel, was met with critical acclaim. ----------------------------------------------- Hi Steve, welcome over to The Book Plank and thanks for taking your time to answer these few questions. BP: First off, could you give us a short introduction as to who Steve Bein is, what are your hobbies, likes and dislikes? SB: I’m a writer first and foremost, but I wear two hats: I write fiction and I also write as a philosopher.   I’m on the Philosophy faculty at Texas State University, and in my downtime (what little there is, after papers are graded and I’ve made some progress on the most recent research ...

Daughter of the Sword by Steve Bein, Fated Blades #1 Mariko Oshiro is not your average Tokyo cop. As the only female detective in the city’s most elite police unit, she has to fight for every ounce of respect, especially from her new boss. While she wants to track down a rumored cocaine shipment, he gives her the least promising case possible. But the case—the attempted theft of an old samurai sword—proves more dangerous than anyone on the force could have imagined. The owner of the sword, Professor Yasuo Yamada, says it was crafted by the legendary Master Inazuma, a sword smith whose blades are rumored to have magical qualities. The man trying to steal it already owns another Inazuma—one whose deadly power eventually comes to control all who wield it. Or so says Yamada, and though he has studied swords and swordsmanship all his life, Mariko isn’t convinced. But Mariko’s skepticism hardly matters. Her investigation has put her on a collision course with a curse centuri...