Showing results by author "Michael DeMarco" in All Categories

The themes in this book—drawn from Chinese history, culture, and martial arts experience—are entwined in a fictional narrative to animate events envisaged to have occurred during the mid-eighteenth century. From the outset, a thin veil separates fact from fiction. Our story starts with a discovery. While conducting research at the Vatican Library on the Jesuit missions in China, two scholars find a folder of papers written in Chinese among documents belonging to Giuseppe Castiglione (1688–1766), a painter at the royal court in Beijing. The papers turn out to be written by a fellow ...

This fictional work presents some of the daily occurrences of a career policeman, from rookie cop to the position of chief. His personal story illuminates aspects of law enforcement that will resonate in readers who value peace at home and on the streets. Warning: many of the stories are humorous. We begin in late summer, 1968. Braden Vicentin, a long-haired seventeen-year old from the east coast, heads to Arizona to start college and quickly realizes he has touched down in a foreign land. The history, food, language, and customs all play a part in causing the culture shock he experiences. ...

A needle may draw a thread through printed pages to bind a book. In this little memoir, I feel like a needle that drew a common thread though a segment of martial art history. This book details three interrelated activities: (1) martial art studies, (2) involvement as founder of Via Media Publishing, producing a quarterly journal and books, and (3) teaching martial arts. Publishers, writers, researchers and serious martial art practitioners will benefit with the detailed overview of Via Media and its publications. Via Media produced the Journal of Asian Martial Arts, known for its high ...

For what cause would a person decide to sacrifice their time, money, and perhaps their own life blood? Surely any vital decision would be made for good reasons. In the new book Wuxia America the story of a Chinese American doctor illustrates what it truly means to be a hero. Dr. Jason Lou represents a medical tradition transmitted over centuries through his family lineage. In 1857, his ancestor brought their medical arts to California from China to serve the growing Chinese population who arrived during the gold rush and railroad building period. In today’s social atmosphere of hate-...