This novel is based on the real life stories of three women who survived massacres, rape, and starvation during The Korean War, and their intimate relationship with a low ranking American Airman who is battling his own demons, from his failing marriage to his unfaithful stateside wife to his contentious relationship with his bigoted military boss. The author's year of duty in Korea's combat zone during the early 1950's is reflected in the detailed picture he paints of civilians struggling to survive the total loss of infrastructure and the special hazards three starving women face. The book title can be translated as "The Girl (Josan) and the Rat (Jee)," which refers to a giant rat that haunts the women's home in a war torn suburb of Seoul, and which is a metaphor for all the dangers that beset them. This is a gritty tale, far too realistic to be called a romance novel, but one in which love is a key to survival. It is not surprising that Thomas' books tend to walk on the wild side, inasmuch as he was Lenny Bruce's only collaborator, co authoring the comedy material on Bruce's first three comedy albums and three screenplays, plus photographing his album covers, filming the pilot for the first feature, and booking him into critical career changing venues. Critics have described Thomas' memoir, "Lenny Bruce: The Making of a Prophet," in terms such as, "He superbly evokes the atmosphere of the cheap Hollywood nightclubs and coffeehouses," and "His work sometimes reads like a Bogart script." Thomas' multi faceted career as a screenwriter, book author, photographer, cinematographer, filmmaker, and public relations executive spanned the latter half of the twentieth century, working for and with 'A' list celebrities such as Frank Sinatra, Shecky Greene, Lenny Bruce, and others. Some of his later fiction parallels those careers such as his novel "Cleo" and an anthology of twelve short stories titled "Hollywood Tales From The Outer Fringe." He grew up in the New Orleans and Gulf Coast areas, eventually marrying and divorcing his highschool teacher, as told in his memoir "The Genteel Poor." He worked as a cocktail pianist in New Orleans' French Quarter, which provided the background for his novel "Piano Man" His latest work, "A Place For Us," is a biography of Wendy Wolf, a childhood polio survivor who became a charismatic advocate for people with disabilities. All of Thomas' work is available on Amazon in both print and e book editions. "Lenny Bruce: The Making of a Prophet" is also available in a Japanese edition from DHC of Tokyo. Thomas will soon be releasing a science fiction trilogy and an anthology of short stories laid in New Orleans. He resides in Tucson, Arizona, where he occasionally teaches writing and film production in between working on a variety of literary and film projects. More information about the author and his work can be found at www.mediamaestro.net/books.htm
Author Biography:
William Karl Thomas was born 1/25/33 in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, a small Gulf Coast town in which Tennessee Williams lived and wrote about in his works. In 1951 Thomas married his former high school teacher and was divorced after a four year childless marriage. His checkered background includes being a cocktail pianist in New Orleans French Quarter, serving a year of combat in the Air Force during the Korean War, being a photographer, a journalist, a feature/documentary cinematographer, a screen writer, an industrial film producer, a public relations executive, and a book author. He has worked for and with such notables as Frank Sinatra, the Rat Pack, Lenny Bruce, Shecky Green, Sally Marr, Frank Ray Perelli, Dale Ireland, Basil Bradbury, and others with whom he signed confidentiality agreements. In the course of various assignments, Thomas has lived or worked in Oxford England, Paris France, Japan, Korea, Jamaica, Mexico, Canada, and most of the United States. Thomas' books include a memoir of his ten year collaboration with the most controversial comedian of the twentieth century titled "Lenny Bruce: The Making of a Prophet." His memoir of his childhood in a Gulf Coast town where Hurricane Katrine made landfall in 2005, is titled "The Genteel Poor." His novel based on his wartime experiences in Korea is titled "The Josan And The Jee." His novel, "Cleo," is based on his media experiences in Los Angeles during the turbulent civil rights era of the 1950's and 1960's. His anthology of twelve short stories titled "Hollywood Tales From The Outer Fringe" reveals the relationship that arise between 'A' list celebrities and the armies of little people who work for them. His latest, "A Place For Us," is the biography of a charismatic woman and her inspiring life as a polio survivor. His latest novel, "The Piano Man," is about a colorful collection of hedonists in New Orleans French Quarter during the 1950. His upcoming science fiction trilogy, Immortal, involves three alien archeologists a millennium in the future who try how and why humans self destructed themselves and their planet, in the process reviewing the evolution of humanity and the turn points of human civilization. William Karl Thomas currently lives in Tucson, Arizona, where he occasionally teaches writing and film production at a local community college, and continues work on a variety of book, film, and media projects.
