Eyes of the Emperor (20 page)

GRAHAM SALISBURY'S
family has lived in the Hawaiian Islands since the early 1800s. He grew up on Oahu and Hawaii and graduated from California State University. He received an MFA from Vermont College of Norwich University, where he was a member of the founding faculty of the MFA program in writing for children. He lives with his family in Portland, Oregon.

Graham Salisbury's books have garnered many prizes.
Blue Skin of the Sea
won the Bank Street Child Study Association Award and the Oregon Book Award;
Under the Blood-Red Sun
won the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction, the Oregon Book Award, Hawaii's Nene Award, and the California Young Reader Medal;
Shark Bait
won the Oregon Book Award and a
Parents' Choice
Silver Honor;
Lord of the Deep
won the
Boston Globe
–
Horn Book
Award for fiction.
Jungle Dogs
was an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, and Graham Salisbury's most recent book,
Island Boyz: Stories,
was a
Booklist
Editors' Choice.

Graham Salisbury has been a recipient of the John Unterecker Award for Fiction and the PEN/Norma Klein Award.

1. Pop is a very strong character in the book. What do you think of the way he treats Eddy? Can you understand why he ignores Eddy when Eddy tells him he has enlisted in the army?
   

2. Do you think Eddy is right to lie about his age so that he canserve his country?
   

3. Are there points in the story at which you can understandthe prejudices and fear that Lieutenant Sweet and other characters feel? What do you think of the way they act toward the Japanese Americans, especially Eddy and his friends?
   

4. Eddy is angry when he is called a Jap, and he speaks outagainst the use of this word, yet he sometimes calls whites
   haole,
   which simply means “white” in Hawaiian. Characters in the book also refer to “locals,” who are any nonwhites raised in Hawaii. These words reflect a history of race and class conflict in Hawaii, and
   haole
   can be used as a highly charged and demeaning epithet. How do you feel about Eddy's use of this word?
   

5. Before Eddy is sent to Mississippi, his troop travels to Camp McCoy, where he once again runs into Sakamaki. Sakamaki makes only two appearances in the book. Why do you think he's important to the story, and what do you think of his actions?
   

6. When the boys are told that their job as they are training the dogs is to be the bait, they are terrified. Why do you think no one speaks out against this decision?
   

7. In the end, Smith tells Eddy that he never believed that the Japanese had a different scent. What does this say about Smith? What do you think of him as a character? Do you think he changes over the course of the story, or has he always believed this and just didn't want to disobey orders?
   

8. Leroy is a good friend to the soldiers on Cat Island. When the
   Sugar Babe
   stalls and the coast guard opens fire on them, he stands by the men on his boat. Why do you think he is important to the story?
   

9. Reread the first and last lines of the novel. What does Eddy feel at the start and at the end? Why did the author use these lines to begin and end his story?
   

To read Graham Salisbury's answers
to these questions, visit his Web site:
www.grahamsalisbury.com

Q. What inspired you to write this story? Why did Eddy appeal to you as a protagonist?

A.
I was inspired not so much by Eddy, but by the story itself.
Eyes of the Emperor
is based on real history—on something I had never heard of before, and something that whacked me upside the head when I discovered it while doing some general World War II research. That “Oh, wow!” moment of discovery was my inspiration. When Eddy jumped up and wanted to play the main role, I asked him a few questions. I liked his answers and hired him on the spot.

Q. In two of your other books,
Under the Blood-Red Sun
and
House of the Red Fish,
you've also written about Japanese Americans living in Hawaii and the prejudice they face during World War II. Why do this era and setting hold such appeal for you as a writer?

A.
The story of the American of Japanese ancestry, in Hawaii and on the mainland, is a powerful one. The story of how one group, especially one so loyal to the American way of life, could be so wrongfully treated tells of some basic fear that lives in the American psyche. We are a good people. We are generous and forgiving. Yet we own some kind of deeprooted fear that has, at times, ripped the goodness and generosity right out of our hearts. Having grown up in the islands, I know somewhat of the Japanese living there. I know that as a whole they are as good and generous and accepting as any other decent American. When I look at what our government did to them in World War II, and how they, the JAs, fought to prove their loyalty to that very same government, I am impressed. Actually, I am impressed and fascinated. Would I have had such courage? Would you?

Q. What was the most difficult part of writing this book?

A.
Getting beyond the guilt of writing someone else's story, someone else's history. In fact, I would not have undertaken this project at all had the men involved wished me to stay out of it. The first thing I did upon interviewing the men I was fortunate enough to have met was to ask them if I could tell their story, because it wasn't mine. I had not lived it. Not one of them objected. Still, I tiptoed my way into this story, even though I was screaming to tell it. That was the toughest part of the entire writing process.

Q. What will happen to Eddy next?

A.
He will be sent to Europe and will fight the Germans alongside Chik and Cobra. He will see and do things that will challenge his humanity and test him to the extreme.

Q. What do you like best about being a writer?

A.
I love the magic that happens when I am working (the surprises that come out of nowhere), and the thrill of discovering a story that would be stunning to tell.
Eyes of the Emperor
was one of those stories. When I first discovered it (in a three-page essay written by one of the Cat Island men, Raymond Nosaka), it grabbed me and shook me and said
You have to tell this story!
Now, that's exciting stuff.

Q. Tell us about your writing habits.

A.
I am a morning person. I do my best work before 10:00 a.m. I get up at 4:45 every weekday. I work best when I am away from my e-mail (which is
so
much easier than
working!
). So before I go to my studio (a 900-square-foot cabana built on a pier out over a lake), I go to any one of several favorite coffee shops and work there. I write first drafts in longhand and revise on my Mac. I like the white noise of other people bustling about. I try my best to write every day except weekends, which I reserve for my family. Discipline is a key element. I am not a genius. I have to make it happen. There is no other way.

Q. Do you eat snacks while you write?

A.
No. I get too deep down into my imagination to think about snacks (but I do drink one cup of coffee a day—a twelveounce Americano with a tad of nonfat milk stirred in). When I surface, I'm usually famished and ready to hit the gym. I eat lunch after the gym, and sometimes in the hot months get a Jamba Juice as I head back to work (Orange Dream Machine).

Q. Do you listen to music while writing?

A.
Never. I may listen to very soft, very calm instrumental music while revising, but never when involved in a first draft. The one exception to this took place when I was writing the first draft of a short story called “Angel-Baby,” when I listened to Houston Person's luxurious rendering of “But Beautiful” (on his CD called
My Romance
). You will see why if you read that story (it's in my short story collection
Island Boyz
).

Q. How much research do you have to do before writing a book? Where do you do it?

A.
It all depends on the project. For the war books, research is key. I want my facts to be as accurate as possible. I do my best research in the same place I do my best writing—in coffee shops, except when I need to ply the Net (I don't do coffee shop hot spots, because I want to keep the Net out of that workspace). If I need to search the Internet, I go to my cabana and work there. I also have access to a research professional when the research demands an expertise I don't have. She lives in Idaho and is wonderful. But the best kind of research I can do (if possible) is primary research, where I interview people who were actually present during whatever piece of history I am writing about.
That
is a thrill!

Q. Do you ever get writer's block?

A.
I get lazy, I get stuck, I dink around—but I never get writer's block. Writer's block to me is one thing and one thing only: procrastination. I try to keep moving ahead, even if I hate what I'm producing. You see, I have learned something valuable over my years of writing: whatever drivel I produce, I can fix. I work hard. Most of the time.

Q. As a writer, what is your greatest fear? Your greatest obstacle?

A.
As a writer I have few fears. However, I do have a good deal of self-doubt. Am I really good enough to continue writing stories of value for young readers? So far, I believe I am (any writer has to have that self-belief to succeed). I guess if I have a fear at all, it would be the fear of losing that confidence. Yeah, that would be it.

Q. How much rewriting and revising do you do?

A.
A lot! Over and over and over until I think it sings. Then I send it to my editor and she sends it back saying, “You can do better.” And she's always right. I can, and do. God bless good editors, and I have one of the best ever. Revise, revise, revise. It will shower you with sparkling diamonds every time.

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