William Karl Thomas

The Josan and the Jee William Karl Thomas

This novel is based on the real life stories of three women who survived massacres, rape, and starvation during The Korean War, and their intimate relationship with a low ranking American Airman who is battling his own demons, from his failing marriage to his unfaithful stateside wife to his contentious relationship with his bigoted military boss. The author's year of duty in Korea's combat zone during the early 1950's is reflected in the detailed picture he paints of civilians struggling to survive the total loss of infrastructure and the special hazards three starving women face. The book title can be translated as "The Girl (Josan) and the Rat (Jee)," which refers to a giant rat that haunts the women's home in a war torn suburb of Seoul, and which is a metaphor for all the dangers that beset them. This is a gritty tale, far too realistic to be called a romance novel, but one in which love is a key to survival. It is not surprising that Thomas' books tend to walk on the wild side, inasmuch as he was Lenny Bruce's only collaborator, co authoring the comedy material on Bruce's first three comedy albums and three screenplays, plus photographing his album covers, filming the pilot for the first feature, and booking him into critical career changing venues. Critics have described Thomas' memoir, "Lenny Bruce: The Making of a Prophet," in terms such as, "He superbly evokes the atmosphere of the cheap Hollywood nightclubs and coffeehouses," and "His work sometimes reads like a Bogart script." Thomas' multi faceted career as a screenwriter, book author, photographer, cinematographer, filmmaker, and public relations executive spanned the latter half of the twentieth century, working for and with 'A' list celebrities such as Frank Sinatra, Shecky Greene, Lenny Bruce, and others. Some of his later fiction parallels those careers such as his novel "Cleo" and an anthology of twelve short stories titled "Hollywood Tales From The Outer Fringe." He grew up in the New Orleans and Gulf Coast areas, eventually marrying and divorcing his highschool teacher, as told in his memoir "The Genteel Poor." He worked as a cocktail pianist in New Orleans' French Quarter, which provided the background for his novel "Piano Man" His latest work, "A Place For Us," is a biography of Wendy Wolf, a childhood polio survivor who became a charismatic advocate for people with disabilities. All of Thomas' work is available on Amazon in both print and e book editions. "Lenny Bruce: The Making of a Prophet" is also available in a Japanese edition from DHC of Tokyo. Thomas will soon be releasing a science fiction trilogy and an anthology of short stories laid in New Orleans. He resides in Tucson, Arizona, where he occasionally teaches writing and film production in between working on a variety of literary and film projects. More information about the author and his work can be found at www.mediamaestro.net/books.htm