Denise has an incredible skill of turning the truth of WWII into a fiction book that people will both learn the history from while also finding the story engaging and entertaining. An award winning writer, teacher, actress, director and producer, Denise is a wealth of knowledge, and I am so grateful to have her back on the show. She shares why America and the world has such a fascination with spies and then dives into how spies helped lead Japan to their attack on Pearl Harbor, 82 years ago today. Denise discusses why she chose to write fiction vs. nonfiction and how she used her research to create such an engaging story. She then reads an excerpt from her story Storms From a Clear Sky where the Americans realize that they’ve been assisting a Japanese spy all along.
IN THIS EPISODE:
- [3:16] Denise shares why she thinks the world has such a fascination with spies, spy networks, and how they operate.
- [6:20] We hear the story of a Japanese spy prior to WWII.
- [10:02] What was the spy relationship between the Japanese and Germans against the US?
- [17:00] Did American spies drop the ball in 1941 to miss the attacks?
- [19:15] Why did Denise decide to write fiction rather than recreate nonfiction accounts of everything that she has discovered through her research?
- [22:51] Denise shares a short excerpt from her story Storms From a Clear Sky.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Pre World War II, the Japanese were encouraging anyone to step inside their consulate on American ground and offer up any information. There were actual trained spies or there were just somebody who saw ships or any information on the Americans. They started planning the attack on Pearl Harbor in January of 1941. That is when they got serious about it and they did all sorts of different activities to prepare for that war.
- Due to the American spies, America knew the date for the attack from Japan, but didn’t know the time and place that it would occur (attack of Pearl Harbor 1941.)
- The task for Tadashi Morimura, a Japanese spy, to gather valuable information was boundless. It was easy to observe the movements of the ships, the submarines, their moorings, and the times of patrols from where he was staying on American land.
Fiction Credits:
Excerpt written by: Denise Frisino
Excerpt narrated by: Denise Frisino
BIO:
A Seattle native, Denise Frisino, is an award-winning writer, teacher, actress, director, and producer.
Whiskey Cove, her first novel, a fast-paced who done it, centers around Prohibition in the Northwest.
Next came Orchids of War and Storms From A Clear Sky, both finalists in numerous national competitions, including 1st place for the Hemingway Book Award for 20th Century Wartime Fiction.
When researching for these historical fictions, Denise spent over 10 years interviewing 50 men and women from the WWII era. She weaves the experiences of those she interviewed into her story about Japanese espionage along the West Coast prior to WWII, then follows the same characters throughout the war.
She is currently working on the last book in the Orchids Trilogy and the movie script for Whiskey Cove
Her blogs and YouTube channel contain some of the WWII veteran interviews and she has just launched a new web www.wwiiinterviews.com.
Denise has stood atop 5 mountain peaks over 14,000 feet, lived aboard one of the old Mosquito Fleet boats on Lake Union, and drank scotch with Katharine Hepburn. She enjoys being on the water and loves her rowboat. Denise and her husband continue to enjoy the many facets of the Pacific Northwest.
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