![\"DillowayMomotaro\"](\"https:\/\/missiontimescourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/DillowayMomotaro.jpg\")
<\/a>Xander must go rescue his father and save California with the help of his friend Peyton, his dog Inu, and a girl named Jinx. Along the way he discovers\u00a0his new powers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe book is very much about the power of imagination, as well as the value of friendship and honoring one’s cultural heritage,\u201d said Dilloway. \u201cI made Xander half-Japanese because I never had any half -Japanese characters to read when I was growing up. In fact, I never read very many books with an Asian protagonist.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Japanese legend, Momotaro goes to fight the oni, monsters responsible for all the bad things that happen to humans (wars, disasters, famine). When the oni become strong, Momotaro is called into action.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a lot of fun writing this one,\u201d she said. \u201cI enjoy writing for young people.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cXander and the lost island of Monsters\u201d is the first in a series of books about Momatoro, said Dilloway. The second book, \u201cMomotaro: Xander and the Dream Thief,\u201d will be published next year.<\/p>\n
On Jan. 22, Dilloway was a featured guest of the San Carlos Library where she discussed her new book for young adults, as well as her previous novels for more mature adults.<\/p>\n
Dolloway\u2019s first novel, \u201cHow to Be an American Housewife,\u201d was a culmination of events, she said. When she was about 25, she wrote a play which got a staged reading at a festival. She realized that the work could be expanded but wasn\u2019t quite sure how. In the meantime, she was commissioned to write \u201cBluetooth for Dummies,\u201d but was never published because the book was cancelled, even though she had finished the writing.<\/p>\n
The good thing after that was that she knew she could write book-length work. So she set to work on her first novel, which never sold.<\/p>\n
Finally, she wrote \u201cHow to Be an American Housewife,\u201d about Shoko, a young Japanese bride of an American GI. In America, Shoko learns the culture and ways of America \u2014 how to be a housewife and mother. She sends her daughter Sue to Japan to reconcile with a family member. The experience of being in her mother\u2019s native land changes Sue forever.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wrote it because I\u2019d finally gotten enough life and writing experience to attempt it,\u201d Dilloway said.<\/p>\n
Her second novel, \u201cThe Care and Handling of Roses with Thorns\u201d is the story of Gal Garner, a thirty-something teacher suffering from kidney disease and hoping for a transplant. She finds solace and satisfaction in tending to and breeding roses, as well as a family member who comes to stay with her.<\/p>\n
Dilloway said that she had been inspired to write the book after watching her sister-in-law Deborah do battle with kidney disease. \u201cIf you don\u2019t think a dialysis patient can do as much as Gal does in this book, then you should have met Deborah,\u201d Dilloway writes in the acknowledgements.<\/p>\n
As daughter of a Japanese mother and an American father, Dilloway finds herself often including bicultural themes in her books. \u201cMaybe it’s a way to stay in touch with my heritage,\u201d said Dilloway, who grew up in San Diego.<\/p>\n
She also researches and reads up on her own ancestry and Japanese culture.<\/p>\n
In fact, the idea for her third novel, \u201cSisters of Heart and Snow,\u201d published last April, came about when she discovered that her mother was from a samurai family. Dilloway researched clan names and saw that her mother\u2019s family name, Makino, had originated from the Minamoto clan. Using \u201cThe Tale of the Heiki\u201d to help her piece together the picture of the drama of Japan\u2019s civil war of the 12th century, Dilloway learned about the beautiful samurai Tomoe Gozen, a superb warrior of the Minamoto clan who defeated the Taira clan.<\/p>\n
Dilloway was so impressed with the lore of Gozen that she intended to weave the warrior\u2019s story into the contemporary tale of two daughters of a mail-order bride and a domineering father. Blending distinctly different eras into one tale is Dilloway\u2019s hallmark. She masterfully does so in \u201cSisters of Heart and Snow.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about the bonds of sisterhood by blood and friendship,\u201d she said<\/p>\n
One of Dilloway\u2019s biggest challenges in marketing her books is that in the United States, literature with Asian characters is often not highly regarded. As an example of how Asian characters are disregarded, she cited \u201cAloha,\u201d a 2015 film drama about the romance between a military contractor and a female pilot.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe female pilot was supposed to be Asian, but they cast Emma Stone as the character,\u201d Dilloway said. \u201cI am going to work hard to change the perception of Asian characters.\u201d<\/p>\n