Back in May 2025, I sat down with my editor David Moore here in Perth to talk through a new project we’ve been working on. It’s called The Lost Scrolls of Ryukyu, and while the title hints at something ancient and mysterious, the real story is about Karate—how it evolved, how it was shaped in resistance to the Japanese Empire, and how we might retell that journey through historical fiction.
The snippet we filmed is twelve minutes long, but it captures both of us bouncing ideas, challenging each other, and trying to talk about a narrative that respects martial tradition while exploring new creative ground.
That week, apart from other things, we talked about:
- What Breaking Through revealed about Bassai Dai kata and practical bunkai
- The strengths and contrasts between hard style and soft style martial arts
- How concepts like chi energy, structure, and manipulation play into training
- Why historical fiction might be the right vehicle to explore Karate’s origins in Ryukyu
- The challenge of building character arcs from real martial arts personalities
- And how tactical decisions—like stripping soft-style elements from a new hard style methodology—affects both story and philosophy
There’s also a bit of behind-the-scenes talk: photography, editing, manuscript prep. Just two people trying to make something meaningful.
If you’ve read Breaking Through, you’ll probably see the through-line. This new project builds on the same foundation—kata as a living document, tradition as a conversation, and martial arts as a lens for understanding human conflict and growth.
I’d love to hear what you think. Better yet, if you’re on Goodreads, drop a question there. What would you want to see in a historical fiction story about martial arts? What kind of character would speak to you?
—Colin Wee