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Words of the Pitcher
Words Of The Pitcher is the second edition of Genesis Press' Red Slipper Line, a romance line with Asian or Asian-American heroes and heroines. Kentaro Ikuta is the first Japanese national signed to play baseball in the major league. This new pitching phenomenon has every sportswriter clamoring for an interview but there is just one problem. Kentaro doesn't speak English! To clear this hurdle, the Cleveland Indians' turn to Case Western Reserve University and doctoral candidate, Claire Ferris, who reluctantly becomes his translator and English teacher, to in effect, become Kentaro's 'words' to the world. Little did anyone know the two would fall in love, challenging Kentaro's heriatge. According to custom, he left an arranged engagement of marriage behind in Japan. Thus, he must make a decision which will either betray his culture or his heart.
288 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2000
77 people want to read
About the author
Kei Swanson
8 books16 followersIt is my hope to share my love for Japan and its warrior class, the Samurai, with you.
I have written many stories with a Japanese hero since I began creating fanfiction for the original STAR TREK series, starring the character Lt. Sulu. This was in high school and as I aged I discovered other avenues to pursue in the world of writing, all involving an Asian hero. Getting them published was another thing.
Struggling to find a publisher, I began a work inspired by Hideo Nomo, the first Japanese National to pitch in the major leagues in 30 years. At the same time, I attended a ROMANTIC TIMES convention in San Antonio and spoke with Will Colom, who had just started his publishing house Genesis Press. He spoke of his desire to publish ethnic romances with an eye to the African-American, Hispanic, and Asian market. Within 18 months I had the work completed and ready for submission.
THE WORDS OF THE PITCHER sold and was on the shelf in 2000. (It’s still available, hint, hint!) The incredible ride of a published author was wonderful. In 2004, I sold my second work, SEABIRD OF SANEMATSU to Zumaya Publications which was released in September 2005. SEABIRD is the first volume of a three volume series set in 15th century Feudal Japan, the second book in the saga, SEASON OF SANEMATSU was released in Spring, 2009.
My goal in writing books with Japanese heroes is to show the erotic side of the samurai. Some say I’ve succeeded with Kentaro Ikuta and Sanematsu Yoshihide. See for yourself!
I also write contemporary romance with the standard non-ethnic hero. Hopefully, they’ll live up to the standards I have set for my Samurai.
Let me know what you think…about anything.
Sayonara,
Kei
I have written many stories with a Japanese hero since I began creating fanfiction for the original STAR TREK series, starring the character Lt. Sulu. This was in high school and as I aged I discovered other avenues to pursue in the world of writing, all involving an Asian hero. Getting them published was another thing.
Struggling to find a publisher, I began a work inspired by Hideo Nomo, the first Japanese National to pitch in the major leagues in 30 years. At the same time, I attended a ROMANTIC TIMES convention in San Antonio and spoke with Will Colom, who had just started his publishing house Genesis Press. He spoke of his desire to publish ethnic romances with an eye to the African-American, Hispanic, and Asian market. Within 18 months I had the work completed and ready for submission.
THE WORDS OF THE PITCHER sold and was on the shelf in 2000. (It’s still available, hint, hint!) The incredible ride of a published author was wonderful. In 2004, I sold my second work, SEABIRD OF SANEMATSU to Zumaya Publications which was released in September 2005. SEABIRD is the first volume of a three volume series set in 15th century Feudal Japan, the second book in the saga, SEASON OF SANEMATSU was released in Spring, 2009.
My goal in writing books with Japanese heroes is to show the erotic side of the samurai. Some say I’ve succeeded with Kentaro Ikuta and Sanematsu Yoshihide. See for yourself!
I also write contemporary romance with the standard non-ethnic hero. Hopefully, they’ll live up to the standards I have set for my Samurai.
Let me know what you think…about anything.
Sayonara,
Kei
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 19, 2009
I was so jazzed when I saw this book. A romance with an Asian hero, and Kentaro is some kind of yum. He's a baseball player from Japan who needs a crash course in English. His tutor is bookish, scholarly Claire. Their attraction is immediate, and Kentaro does some chasing although he knows he probably can't marry her. Poor Claire doesn't know what hit her. Never fear, all turns out well. I don't typically care for playboys, but it was so neat to see the aspect of a ballplayer who is famous in Japan that he has all kinds of groupies, and various glimpses into the cultural phenomenom of baseball in Japan. Do read this if you like Asian heroes.
October 1, 2010
Words of the Pitcher was a really good contemporary romance featuring a Japanese baseball player hero and a translator heroine from Cleveland. I really enjoyed the story and the way the Japanese cultural aspects were included in the story. I love reading romances like this with different cultures and unique storylines.
August 12, 2022
Maybe if I had read this book ten or more years ago, I might have enjoyed it much more. As it is I think it’s a really nice story and it’s incredible that someone wrote a sexy romance novel featuring an Asian man (Japanese) and a white woman back in the year 2000. Like, that’s seriously amazing for the time. The book certainly succeeds at portraying their physical intimacy and mutual sexual attraction, but I personally felt that it failed to genuinely convince me that they were in love with each other.
For a book that is supposed to be a sexy romance, it overwhelmingly focused more on the sex and barely had any genuine emotional intimacy between the characters despite the fact that they both spoke a common language … and I don’t know, I guess I just like my romances to not only focus on the physical stuff. 🤷🏻♀️ I love smut just as much as the next person, but I also love reading about characters who are actually attracted to each other on a deeper/emotional level. It also didn’t help that the writing style for the smut was not very good imo … too old fashioned and flowery for my taste, especially compared to the way authors write smut today. Like I said, maybe I would have enjoyed this book more if I had read it 15 years ago, but I’ve read much better smut (for free) and much better romance than this, so yeah … I was a bit disappointed.
I also didn’t feel like it made any sense for the heroine to be completely sexually inexperienced (especially with how bold and assertive she is in regards to sex) prior to meeting the hero. She was almost always the one who made the first moves and yet when they finally did have sex, she reveals that she’s “never done this before” and I was like whaaaaat??? I just found this very hard to believe, especially because she’s previously dated other men and there was no mention of her wanting to “wait until marriage” due to religious reasons.
I also didn’t appreciate how the author wrote a completely unnecessary scene where the heroine is sexually assaulted by an ex-boyfriend and is rescued by her love interest (she’s later taken to the hospital due to her injuries). The scene was clearly written with the intention to give the male lead a heroic moment, but it’s done at the expense of the heroine and then later the author acts like it never happened. As someone who has been sexually assaulted herself, this was very upsetting for me to read. In many cases someone who has experienced sexual assault can struggle with PTSD and has trouble with sexual intimacy afterwards, so it was upsetting to see that the author just brushed this whole experience under the rug.
Other than that, though, it’s a nice enough book with a happy ending. I didn’t love it, but I also didn’t hate it either. As I said earlier, the writing style is a bit dated of course because it was published over 20 years ago, so it’s definitely a product of it time. Some books age well and some don’t. Still, I don’t regret buying + reading this one. It just wasn’t for me or up to my standards at this point. Maybe older generations would enjoy it more, though.
For a book that is supposed to be a sexy romance, it overwhelmingly focused more on the sex and barely had any genuine emotional intimacy between the characters despite the fact that they both spoke a common language … and I don’t know, I guess I just like my romances to not only focus on the physical stuff. 🤷🏻♀️ I love smut just as much as the next person, but I also love reading about characters who are actually attracted to each other on a deeper/emotional level. It also didn’t help that the writing style for the smut was not very good imo … too old fashioned and flowery for my taste, especially compared to the way authors write smut today. Like I said, maybe I would have enjoyed this book more if I had read it 15 years ago, but I’ve read much better smut (for free) and much better romance than this, so yeah … I was a bit disappointed.
I also didn’t feel like it made any sense for the heroine to be completely sexually inexperienced (especially with how bold and assertive she is in regards to sex) prior to meeting the hero. She was almost always the one who made the first moves and yet when they finally did have sex, she reveals that she’s “never done this before” and I was like whaaaaat??? I just found this very hard to believe, especially because she’s previously dated other men and there was no mention of her wanting to “wait until marriage” due to religious reasons.
I also didn’t appreciate how the author wrote a completely unnecessary scene where the heroine is sexually assaulted by an ex-boyfriend and is rescued by her love interest (she’s later taken to the hospital due to her injuries). The scene was clearly written with the intention to give the male lead a heroic moment, but it’s done at the expense of the heroine and then later the author acts like it never happened. As someone who has been sexually assaulted herself, this was very upsetting for me to read. In many cases someone who has experienced sexual assault can struggle with PTSD and has trouble with sexual intimacy afterwards, so it was upsetting to see that the author just brushed this whole experience under the rug.
Other than that, though, it’s a nice enough book with a happy ending. I didn’t love it, but I also didn’t hate it either. As I said earlier, the writing style is a bit dated of course because it was published over 20 years ago, so it’s definitely a product of it time. Some books age well and some don’t. Still, I don’t regret buying + reading this one. It just wasn’t for me or up to my standards at this point. Maybe older generations would enjoy it more, though.
December 6, 2021
This was an enjoyable romance.
The two MCs had a lovely relationship build from the start, with tensions and misunderstandings of an almost Shakespearean nature.
The cover art does not quite resemble the character descriptions but I suppose that does not matter, just an observation.
There were a few steamy scenes and at times the descriptions of their bodies and sexual acts were a bit too flowery for my taste, but I suppose there's only so many times you can use the phrases rigid member' or 'soft folds' before you have to get a little more creative and varied. But for me the descriptions bordered on either comical or cringeworthy.
Also there were numerous references (too many in my opinion) to the MC Claire's breasts scattered throughout, and how firm and round they were, which I found odd from a female writer who's target audience I imagine is primarily heterosexual female readers.
Despite that the basic premise of the plot which involved a Japanese baseball player signed to an American team being assigned an American interpreter, who not only is an intelligent and attractive woman but also one with a deep passion for Japanese culture made for an interesting dynamic. Reading how their understanding and knowledge of their respective worlds and expections developed and sometimes clashed was more sensual than the lovemaking.
The writing was good and had a nice flow to it. There were a few errors in the book but nothing to spoil the experience. It was a breeze to read as the characters were likeable and the hurdles put before them made me root for their relationship.
Overall a nice bi racial/cultural romance, with a sexy MC and some steamy scenes, what more could you want?
The two MCs had a lovely relationship build from the start, with tensions and misunderstandings of an almost Shakespearean nature.
The cover art does not quite resemble the character descriptions but I suppose that does not matter, just an observation.
There were a few steamy scenes and at times the descriptions of their bodies and sexual acts were a bit too flowery for my taste, but I suppose there's only so many times you can use the phrases rigid member' or 'soft folds' before you have to get a little more creative and varied. But for me the descriptions bordered on either comical or cringeworthy.
Also there were numerous references (too many in my opinion) to the MC Claire's breasts scattered throughout, and how firm and round they were, which I found odd from a female writer who's target audience I imagine is primarily heterosexual female readers.
Despite that the basic premise of the plot which involved a Japanese baseball player signed to an American team being assigned an American interpreter, who not only is an intelligent and attractive woman but also one with a deep passion for Japanese culture made for an interesting dynamic. Reading how their understanding and knowledge of their respective worlds and expections developed and sometimes clashed was more sensual than the lovemaking.
The writing was good and had a nice flow to it. There were a few errors in the book but nothing to spoil the experience. It was a breeze to read as the characters were likeable and the hurdles put before them made me root for their relationship.
Overall a nice bi racial/cultural romance, with a sexy MC and some steamy scenes, what more could you want?
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews