THE TWO TERRORS OF TULELAKE

by WM Gunn

Historical Fiction / Science Fiction / Thriller

Pages: 320

Publication Date: October 15, 2024

SYNOPSIS

The horrors of World War II shocked the world. Americans believed it could never happen here in our own borders…until it did. Ichiro Hisakawa and his family were part of the American culture – living the American Dream – until February 19, 1942, when President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 that branded them “the others.” Taken from their homes and stripped of their citizenship due

to their ancestry, they endured deplorable conditions in the “relocation camps.” Typhus ran rampant through the camp, and riots were a daily occurrence. And for the first time, America was scornful. Life was difficult and the Hisakawa family did their best to endure it all.

However, 16-year-old Ichiro wasn’t prepared for the betrayal, murder, and escape that was waiting for him. And how did Bobby King, a sixteen-year-old from 2017, find himself in 1942 and friend to Ichiro?

Read The Two Terrors of Tulelake, a story based upon historical facts that many Americans today are unaware of.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

WM Gunn is a native Texan who spent many years in the pharmaceutical industry in sales, sales management, and training and development. He is active in writing groups and volunteering with non-profit groups. He lives in his hometown in Texas with his high school sweetheart and bride of many years. To date, he has written dozens of

short stories, novellas, and novels. Holmes, Moriarty, and the Monkeys and Chasing the Sun are two novellas released earlier in 2024. Visit his website wm-gunn.com.

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ENTER TO WIN!

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“You must learn how to cope with choices made during traumatic situations, using your best judgment, now and in the future. Someday your life may depend upon it again.”

The Two Terrors of Tulelake by WM Gunn is an action-packed historical fiction about the internment of Japanese Americans following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The main events are historical, but this story is still quite relevant today, unfortunately.

In Tulelake, California, in 2017, Bobby King is more than a schoolyard bully; he is dangerous and destructive and full of hate for everyone. Bobby’s terrible home life and upbringing notwithstanding, no one has the right to terrorize anyone. But what if Bobby is given the unique ability to tumble back in time into the mind of a young Japanese American boy, Ichiro Hisakawa, who is rounded up with his family and sent to an internment camp and subjected to ongoing hatred and racism because of their heritage? What if Bobby is given a second chance to be a better person before it is too late?

This story is a work of fiction, but the plight of so many Americans with Japanese ancestry after Pearl Harbor is not. Racism and fear of the Other are not new. Not then and certainly not now. And sometimes the enemy is closer than you think.

WM Gunn does an excellent job of bringing to life the horrors of that abhorrent time on US soil in the early 1940s. At first, the switching points of view (head hopping between characters within scenes) can be a distraction; however, when Bobby wakes up in Ichiro head, both boys see the same things and often communicate their thoughts to each other. The reader is quickly pushed into the science fiction realm of a time travel scenario, where anything goes, even alternating points of view at any given time.

The pacing of The Two Terrors of Tulelake is quick but not rushed. The author allows the reader to see Bobby’s dark and troubled side in 2017 before moving into the past. The experience of Ichiro/Bobby during WWII at the California internment camp captures the imagination as both boys mature quickly amidst hardship and hostility. Witnessing good and evil people in positions of power provides each boy with a choice: succumb and submit to the evil ones or recognize and embrace the good ones. 

Staying true to self (Ichiro) and discerning past hateful/hurtful behavior (Bobby) are at the heart of this story, but this fiction offers so much more. Acceptance, friendship, family, tradition, kindness, perseverance, and love make this story inspiring and a quick read. Juxtaposing all this with racism, enmity, and revenge make choosing good over evil much clearer and all that more important in a world plunged into chaos, fear, and ethnocentrism.

The final chapters had me on the edge of my seat and reeling from a well-delivered, must-read ending. Sometimes an act of bravery and courage will your final act, and sometimes a second chance will rip you apart and then piece you back together into the person you were meant to be.

The Two Terrors of Tulelake is an important reminder that love always win, even though evil will appear to have the upper hand for a bit of time. Stay true and never forget! 

Enter the giveaway on or before February 20, 2025, for a chance to win a signed copy of The Two Terrors of Tulelake by WM Gunn.

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