Front Cover: The worst luck
If you’ve seen the cover, you already know the first metaphorical reference in a A Bad Hand. I’m sure many literary agents or publishers representing book club fiction or YA fiction authors have already noted that the cover doesn’t look like other popular titles today. I knew at the start of this project that story would be different from anything on the market today—an under-served audience, no wizards or magic, no science fiction. I also knew it wouldn’t be an easy sell for any literary agent that wanted to take a risk. Suffice it to say, the cover was as intentional as the content of the book.
The three cards on the cover of the novel are gambling cards from Edo Japan. Those three cards are make up the unluckiest hand one can have a game of chance called Oicho-kabu (おいちょかぶ). The cards are a 8 (ya), 9 (kyu), and 3 (za). In Oichu-kabu this unlucky combination scores zero points—quite literally a bad hand.
The cards above are taken from a traditional kabufuda deck. More common today are the cards that look less abstract like the hanafuda deck (also known as “flower cards”) shown below:
Those who enjoy Mario Cart or Super Smash Bros. might be interested to know that the Nintendo company got its start printing cards like this many years before Donkey Kong or the Nintendo Entertainment System.
UCL Tear: A Common Baseball Injury
When my son was twelve, he developed Little League Elbow—a condition that affects about 25% of all youth baseball players. The condition results from repeated strain on the Ulnar Collateral Ligament (UCL) that stabilizes the elbow during normal throwing motion. Thankfully, he was back on the dirt after a few weeks of rest. I recall seeing other kids his age at tournaments who wore braces on their elbows signaling that they had undergone Tommy John surgery to reconstruct their UCL using tissue donated from their leg. It’s quite common for professional and college pitchers to have this procedure done during their career.
A Yakuza Tradition
Some members of the Yakuza voluntarily dismember their little finger as a gesture of atonement to their brethren in the Japanese underworld in a ritual called Yubitsume. It’s said that this practice is rooted in the tradition of the samurai and weakens one’s grip on the sword. It was interesting to discover a cottage industry of prosthetic fingers has emerged to help reformed Yakuza members rehabilitate back into society.
More Than a Title
A Bad Hand is an over-arching theme throughout the book that touches on more than just the metaphors above. You’ll read about characters who have been dealt a bad hand in life. Some show resilience. Others succumb to the challenges that life throws at them. I hope A Bad Hand is an inspiration to keep grinding forward regardless of the challenging circumstances life might be throwing at you.
Discover more from A Bad Hand
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