Cat Country – June 2023 Reading
I am honored to have received a grant from 4Culture to work on the next iteration of Cat Country. Currently
GEOMANCER - A genius Chinese rocket scientist is accused of being a communist during McCarthyism, interned and deported to China where he develops the Silkworm missile and helps shepherd in the atom bomb. His brilliant biographer exposes the truth about the Rape of Nanking war atrocities and is caught up in the geopolitical intrigue. Can they break the never-ending cycle of destruction with their own souls?
Author: Leslie
Geomancer Circa 2021
A genius Chinese rocket scientist is accused of being a communist during McCarthyism, interned and deported to China where he
Tsien
钱学森 Qian Xuesen also known as Hsue-shen Tsien (1911-2009) You might wonder about my use of Tsien for 钱学森 Qian
Iris
Iris Chang (1968-2004) Iris Chang is the Asian American author of three books including Thread of a Silkworm, a biography of
Von Karman
Theodore Von Karman (1881-1963) Born in Budapest of Jewish ancestry and part of a cadre of Hungarian Jews coined the
War on Terror – 2001 to present
Ten days after the attacks of 9/11, George W. Bush announces the War on Terror which evolved to a multidimensional
In-Between
Both Iris and Tsien were avowed atheists. I would hesitate to say that Iris and Tsien are in the Bardo
Psychiatrist – 2021 Reading
When Iris Chang suffered her mental illness, her family could not find appropriate help. According to her mother’s memoir, Iris
Lester – 2021 Reading
The day after Pearl Harbor, the Japanese invaded the Philippines. The US army For the next three months, the combined
Chinese Women Survivors – 2021 Reading
Rape has always been used as a weapon of war. The actions of the Japanese troops during the Rape of
The journey to the west
The Chinese monk Xuanzang had a dream that convinced him to begin a seventeen-year journey to India to study in
Geomancer circa 2017
I started this journey being addicted to three fascinating figures from recent history: Iris Chang (a human rights activist who
Geomancer circa 1999
Geomancer had a previous reincarnation as a play about a scientist named Kuo with a mentor named Von Neumann. The
Tiananmen 1989
Tiananmen were student-led pro-democracy demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing starting in April 1989. Overnight on June 3, 1989,
Tibetan Buddhism
My college had a visiting scholar from the Tibetan exile community in Dharmsala, Nawang Dorjee. We became friends over the
Cultural Revolution 1966-72
Cultural Revolution launched by Mao Zedong when he shut down schools and called for a massive youth mobilization to take
Great Leap Forward 1959
Great Leap Forward was a mass mobilization of rural workers in water works projects, backyard steel production, and other projects
Chinese Nuclear Missile 1966
1964 to 1966: China became the fifth nation to explode an atom bomb, a miraculous feat given its poor economic
Red Scare – Early 1950’s
McCarthyism of the Red Scare was a period of five years when Senator Joseph McCarthy tried in vain to expose
People’s Republic of China – 1949
On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong declared the creation of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) with the takeover by