The old sailor pulled out a stub of a pencil from a soiled shirt pocket and began to cross out letters on the drink coaster. The circular piece of paper had the words "The Brass Monkey" in a nice scroll at the top and then a picture of three monkeys in the center, with the additional worlds, "see, hear, speak, no evil" underneath. He first removed, 'no evil', and then began to systematically pencil out all the letters in "The Brass Monkey" which were not contained in 'see, hear, speak'. This left H. E. Rasske on the face of the coaster. An alert waitress soon picked up the empty drink glass...

This is the second book of the Death Master Chronicles series. The author has written this story about the principle character, Henri Madariaga, who is the son of H. E. Rasske, the hero of The Ultimatum, Book One of The Death Master Chronicles. It tells the tale of what he learns about himself and the discovery that he will never be as proficient in the field of martial arts as the man who fathered him. He also realizes he can never attain the level of expertise required to be a Death Master, and accepts the fact his father was one of a kind and a legend in the world of martial arts. That...

Mai Tai and Tiffany's picture, shown above, was taken from an oil painting. The author loves Siamese cats and had this painting commissioned many years ago. They are the two Seal-Point Siamese mentioned in The Ultimatum. They were H. E. Rasske's guardians during residency in Canton, China. During that time, Tiffany contracted kidney disease, which is prevalent to the breed, and had to be put to sleep. Mai Tai died when a bomb from a Japanese aircraft struck Rasske's residence during the sacking of Canton and ended her life. Both animals were loyal guardians and friends. Shortly after this...

Edwin stood on the bank for a long while watching the elder gentleman splash in the water. He waited patiently for some time, hoping the old man would return to the edge of the stream to reclaim the tunic lying on the rocks. Finally, he realized the old monk was waiting to see if this newcomer would enter the cold stream to join him. Edwin gritted his teeth and removed all his clothing except for a loincloth and stepped slowly into the cold water. He sucked in his breath quickly, as the cold was immediate; piercing him to the bone as he moved forward into the stream. He finally reached the...