I am thrilled to be speaking with debut author and Arch Editorial client Natalie Anna Jacobsen! Her historical fantasy novel Ghost Train comes out October 15th.
Set in 1877 Kyoto during the early years of the Meiji "Restoration" Era, Ghost Train tells the story of Maru Hosokawa, a samurai daughter who is thrust into a life opposite how she grew up. Her father has surrendered his sword with other samurai, assimilating into a role as a civilian merchant. As his work takes him further and further from home, she is left to find work of her own to help rebuild the family wealth — and protect herself, "just in case," her father says. But during the summer festivals, ghosts begin appearing before Maru. Unsure of where to turn or who to trust, Maru fends for herself, facing an abusive employer, unreliable friends, and insecurity at home. In the search for answers, a kitsune offers to help in exchange for Maru's aid in confronting a demon rampaging Kyoto at night. As summer passes on, more ghosts appear, plagues sweep through the city, and a stench of blood in the streets, and rumors of a samurai rebellion obscure reality, driving Maru to make a choice against all instincts, to save herself, her father — and Kyoto.
Inspired by true historical events and based on myths of yokai, this story began taking shape first in 2010. With guidance by historians both in Japan and the US, subject matter experts in geisha, kimono, and samurai life, and countless beta readers and supporters, Natalie Jacobsen has carefully crafted this historical fantasy to reflect 19th century life during the tumultuous, society-altering leadership of Emperor Meiji... just with a few more ghosts.
Hello Natalie, and thank you for agreeing to talk with me! Let's start off with a fun little get-to-know-you question. What's the book that made you want to become an author?
I have always loved books. There's even a photo of me at maybe two years old, just folding paper into what looks like a book and telling different family members to read it. But I’d have to say the Little House on the Prairie series. I read those when I was seven, and I was so excited to be reading bigger books, something other than “See Spot Run.” And I just remember being captivated, because I felt like I was on the trail or the prairie, learning what life was like a hundred, two hundred years ago.
So you’ve always been a historical fiction fan! But why Japanese folklore and history?
I've definitely always been into historical fiction. I love studying the past because there's so many rich, untold stories that were once living and breathing. I like finding ones that are somewhat untold or time periods that aren’t as touched on, and just really diving into that and learning what humanity is all about.
I studied Japanese literature and media in college, and I was really fascinated by their perception of their folklore as not necessarily fictional accounts. These tales were truly treated as historical or factual, and that's a little bit different from a lot of American culture. If you hear about anything that has a dragon or shapeshifting, you're like “that's fiction,” but a lot of that folklore actually plays into their history and their culture, even today. I had grown up studying Greek mythology, so learning about Japanese, Chinese, and other Asian folklore was so eye-opening. Like, why isn't this stuff written more about in America? After moving to Japan and experiencing so much more of the culture and the people, I just became very fixated on their history and how it weaves in folklore very naturally.
So what inspired you to write Ghost Train in particular?
Ghost Train is set at a pivotal time in Japanese history, during what is called the Meiji Restoration Era. Emperor Meiji ascended the throne at the end of the Shogun Era, so if you have been watching the Shogun TV show, that's actually at the start of the Shogun Era, about 270 years before Ghost Train takes place. During that time, Japan had its borders closed to the foreign world. They had no emperor; they were ruled by these shoguns or landlords who controlled everything. After 270 years of that, American soldiers landed on their shores and kind of said, “hey, you guys are missing out.” They showed Japanese leaders trains and electricity and all this advanced weaponry, and so Japan saw a big revolution. Emperor Meiji ascended, they opened their borders, and within 10 years, Japan was rapidly catching up to the world. So it's a huge transformation from basically medieval era to modern era in just a decade, which really fascinated me. I just kept thinking about what a normal citizen's mental state would be. One day you suddenly have electricity or hear a train, and you've never had any of this before. It's mind-boggling. There are also a lot of ghost stories that came out of that time, because there was so much technology and so many unknown or misunderstood things. People just had to fill in the gaps themselves, and they invented a lot of folklore and ghost stories to explain what they did not understand.
Speaking of folklore, I absolutely loved the novel’s contrast between the often harsh reality of an industrializing society and older traditions and spirits of Japan. It actually reminded me a lot of a Studio Ghibli film! I’d love to hear a bit more about why you chose to weave fantasy elements into the historical setting. How did you preserve a balance between both genres?
I'm so happy, because I've been pitching Ghost Train as a kind of “Cinderella meets Princess Mononoke!” As far as the fantasy goes, I'm going to be honest: originally, I did write a true historical fiction with much less folklore elements and more of an academic journalism mindset. In reality, the ghost train stories probably started because foxes and tanuki were hit by the trains. The tracks were in these dark forests without any lights, and the animals had no idea what trains were, and trains couldn't stop. So they think the trains hit a lot of animals, and that would explain the screaming and blood, that would be the cause of a lot of the train accidents. That was going to be the real result of my book. But then one of my friends was reading through it and really wanted it to be off the rails. And through more studying and reading and research, I also came to the conclusion that more folklore should be incorporated. Japanese people do see a lot of folklore as historical and kind of creeping into non-fiction, and so I decided Maru, the main character, should see or believe she sees some of those folklore figures. It was just a fact of life, basically, so it did feel natural to include once I started weaving those elements in.
We've talked a lot about your research in this interview. Even without knowing about all of the years that you spent studying Japanese history and folklore, I could tell on my very first read through that you had so much knowledge of the subject matter. Could you share some of the challenges of researching and condensing all that information while also immersing the reader in a potentially unfamiliar time period and culture?
I probably read about 3,000 original historical documents, accounts, or other sources from other historians or subject matter experts. I already had experience in Japan and a broad understanding of what was happening, but to truly understand different perspectives from different cities or different classes of people, I needed to fully absorb everything. I really wanted to get these characters to be well rounded and show different dimensions of what was going on. Some people loved the emperor, some people hated him. Some people had different opinions altogether. So that was a challenge.
The other tough part was a lot of the documents that I was reading were written in historical Japanese. Kind of like reading Shakespeare. And it was really hard to find a lot of translated materials, whether in modern Japanese or in English. Then it's just like anything else in history: you read things from the victors, you read stories from different people. But what's really happening, what's the real perspective? Japan before Meiji was not as peaceful as the history books sometimes say, and it was a lot to parse through. I think there's going to be some readers who have different knowledge of Japan or more in-depth knowledge, and I hope the novel can show them one side of it. That’s part of the beauty of history. There's a million people, there's a million different ways that history was experienced.
Are there any resources you can recommend for readers who want to learn more about the Meiji "Restoration" Era or Japanese folklore? I know those interested in the folklore side of things can check out your socials for your “Friday Folklore” series, which I’ve been thoroughly enjoying.
Thank you! Something that really helped me was this podcast series called The Meiji at 150. Emperor Meiji’s Restoration Era turned 150 years old about five years ago, so there is a whole year-long series by all these historians who break down that era and how influential it was to Japanese history and society. There are a ton of really good in-depth episodes, and also it's a very good starting point for those who have no idea what that era was like for Japan.
I’ll have to check that out! I’m also dying to know: are you working on anything new?
If book sales go well, the publisher has said that they are interested in the two sequels I have written. And I really hope so, because frankly, the third is my favorite!
That’s so exciting to hear! Can you tell me a bit more about your publication journey? What was the most surprising thing you learned in creating, editing, and publishing your book?
I had no idea that there was this huge online network of agents, publishers, editors, authors, arc readers, beta readers, alpha readers. I had been an independent writer since I was a teenager, just sometimes showing friends. I had no idea that there were people who professionally help writers, read things, or cheer you on. It was almost like culture shock.
But the journey itself was very difficult. I was not prepared for how mentally taxing querying would be. I think I queried 100 agents over the course of a year, and I went to a couple of conferences in person to pitch agents. It took me a long time to figure out how to pitch my genre and how many words I needed to have for both the query letter and the book itself. It's a totally different ballgame. So that was just a really, really daunting and surprising process. But one of the best parts was working with you. At the time I was so lost, just scraping the bottom of the barrel for energy to keep submitting all these queries. I had never experienced so much rejection for writing before, and I was like, “what is going on?” I just needed so much help, and it was such an uplifting experience working with you and getting real answers and clarity. I think you and I finished up content edits in the fall of 2023, and I submitted everything to my publisher in December. And then in February they gave me my first phone call. So it was like a Hail Mary kind of thing.
I’m so glad my feedback and edits were helpful to you, thank you so much for saying that! Before we wrap up, do you have any other tips or advice you've learned during this process that you'd like to share with aspiring authors and writers?
I know it’s difficult online, but don’t compare yourself to others because that’s just going to hurt you. No one's journey is the same. Everyone has a completely different perspective and way of doing things, and everyone's writing is different. So yes, it's good to connect with other people, but also make sure that you are taking the time and space to just focus on your stories and your way of writing.
Last, but definitely not least, where can readers get their hands on Ghost Train on October 15th?
You can get it anywhere books are sold, whether it's Amazon, Bookshop.org, Barnes and Noble, Powell’s, Waterstones if you're in the UK. It's even at Abbey's in Australia and Saxo in Denmark. It'll be widely available, so wherever you like to shop for books, go there and see if you can get a deal!
Natalie Jacobsen is an award-winning writer, journalist, and marketer in nonprofit/government. She published her first article at age 13, and has been writing ever since. After growing up in Oregon and spending years in Japan and Virginia as a reporter, she now lives in Washington, DC, and shares her Japan knowledge on weekly Folklore Friday episodes. Her debut novel, a Japanese Folk-Horror called GHOST TRAIN, is out October 15. Find her across social media as @natalieannaj
author website: www.najacobsen.com
socials handle: @natalieannaj
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