Kevin's Watch

It may come as a surprise to some but Albuquerque's Stephen R. Donaldson has written more than fantasy novels.
Donaldson is also the writer of science fiction, short stories and an author of detective fiction.
His fourth---that's right, his fourth--detective novel, "The Man Who Fought Alone," was just published.
"Detective writting exercises different creative muscles. It fills and interesting place in my writting life and I am not sure I can explain it," Donaldson said.
"There's something about the mystery novel that enables me to write about science fiction and fantasy."
A World Fantasy Award winner, he has written two trilogies, all under the combined title of "The Cronicles of Thomas Covenant." The first, "Lord Foul's Bane," came out in 1977.
In 1980 Donaldson's initial mystery, "The Man Who Killed His Brother" was published, the first of three under the nom de plume of Reed Stephens.
The pen name, he said, had been imposed on him by a publisher who didn't want to confuse readers; same name, different genre. The new book is under Donaldson's name.
"It's a big deal Forge is willing to bring me out of the closet (as a detective author) and they are in fact reissuing my previous three detective novels under my name. They all will have my name on them as I had originally intended," he said.
Mick Axbrewder is the private-investigator protagonist of all four mysteries. In the latest one, Brew, the PI's nickname, lands a job handling security for a martial arts tournament at a hotel.
A martial arts school has a valuable antique collection it wants to display at the tourney, but the hotel isn't ready for it. so the hotel hires Brew to help protect the antiques.
"That's his first exposure to martial arts," Donaldson said. "Through that he meets martial artists and gets caught up in a crime story. So he spends most of the book discovering other dimensions to his initial experience."
The 54 year old author knows first hand about the martial arts. He has been a student of Shotokan karate since the late 1980s.
"It's something that carries a lot of weight with me. It's good for me, physically. ...it maintains joints. So as you get older you can stay at it," the 54 year old Donaldson said.
"A lot of the benefits are emotional, or spiritual. I know it sounds strange to say things like this, but I feel I'm a better and stronger human being because I study the martial arts."

danlo wrote:11-12-01 Albuquerque Journal article by David Steinberg:

Mick Axbrewder is the private-investigator protagonist of all four mysteries. In the latest one, Brew, the PI's nickname, lands a job handling security for a martial arts tournament at a hotel.