# ninja fiction



## Aiki Lee (Mar 4, 2009)

Does anyone out there know of any good ninja fiction books?

I'm not looking for things where ninja use magic or have super powers, I'm hoping to find something a little more grounded in realism. I remember reading Tulku by Stephen Hayes and that was not too bad, but when it comes to accurate depictions of ninja in fiction (or anything for that matter) I find the material to be a bit lacking.


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## Cryozombie (Mar 4, 2009)

Hey man, you should see Hayes AWESOME ninja movie "Ninja Vengeance"

LOLZ.


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## JBrainard (Mar 4, 2009)

One word... Naruto 

I'm sorry, but good luck trying to find any fiction depicting "real life" type ninja.


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## Nolerama (Mar 4, 2009)

Gymkata!

Could Tom Clancy-type books that involve secret agents/assassins qualify?


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## JadecloudAlchemist (Mar 4, 2009)

Here you go

http://www.amazon.com/Ninja-Eric-Va...bs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236209983&sr=8-1

I read this book it was ok. I don't think there was any magic it read sort of like the Octagon.


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## Aiki Lee (Mar 4, 2009)

Cryozombie said:


> Hey man, you should see Hayes AWESOME ninja movie "Ninja Vengeance"
> 
> LOLZ.


 
I didn't even know he made a movie. Is it really that bad?


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## SensibleManiac (Mar 4, 2009)

There's one that was OK, can't remember the title, let me do some digging and I'll get back to you.


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## Cryozombie (Mar 4, 2009)

Yeah.  Hayes only makes a brief appearance in it as himself... its about one of his students.

Main Ninja dude explains the "Elemental aspects of the ninja" by doing stuff like rubbing some dirt on his tshirt to get in touch with the earth and crap. *rolls eyes*


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## Aiki Lee (Mar 4, 2009)

Cryozombie said:


> Yeah. Hayes only makes a brief appearance in it as himself... its about one of his students.
> 
> Main Ninja dude explains the "Elemental aspects of the ninja" by doing stuff like rubbing some dirt on his tshirt to get in touch with the earth and crap. *rolls eyes*


 
ROTFL! NO freakin' way! Why'd he make a movie like that, he of all people should know that kind of nonsense is something that should be avoided in film.

Does he put his ear in the sink to hear the whispers of the water?


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## Bruno@MT (Mar 5, 2009)

Himura Kenshin said:


> ROTFL! NO freakin' way! Why'd he make a movie like that, he of all people should know that kind of nonsense is something that should be avoided in film.


 
Because the sheople don't want realism. They want explosions, high kicks and mystical powers. Only very rarely  does realism in a movie have success. And those are not the movies that would appeal to the ninjer crowd that the movie would have to be sold to.

So if I were a producer, I'd demand whizz bang in my movie before I'd finance it. I might allow you to hold back on the ki fire balls, but you'd better have some shurikens, mysticism and high kicks in the story or it won't get made.


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## Kreth (Mar 5, 2009)

Himura Kenshin said:


> Why'd he make a movie like that...


Because they paid him.


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## Cryozombie (Mar 5, 2009)

Some clips.  

Warning, Language


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## Aiki Lee (Mar 7, 2009)

Oh...my brain


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## Cryozombie (Mar 7, 2009)

Indeed.


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## Omar B (Mar 8, 2009)

So no mention of Eric Van Lustbadder's book "The Ninja."  I really can't recommend it, it's ok, the fight scenes are cool but there's way too much spirital stuff (as an atheist reading that stuff always hits the snooze button on my brain) and there's a couple really really descriptive sex scenes (including man rape!).  Now I'm no prude but I'm a fan of the old school Flemming type of writing a love scene where it begins and the scene ends.  But anyways, reading "The Ninja" is worth it because the series actually gets better as it goes along.


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## Albertus (Apr 8, 2009)

Dear readers, actually there are many titles which are dealing with this subject. I will start with the historical Ninja stories, if you want also titles from other categories just let me know.
1. Katsumi Toda - Shadow of the Ninja (1982)
2. Katsumi Toda - Revenge of the Shoguns Ninja (1984)
3. katsumi Toda - Ninja death vow (1985)
4. Kano Shinichi - Ninja men of Iga (1989)
5. Michael Reaves - Sword of the samurai (1984)
6. Futaro Yamada - The Kouga Ninja scrolls (2006)
7. Dorothy & Thomas Hoobler - In darkness death (2004)
8. Cheryl Aylward Whitesel - Blue fingers, A Ninja's tale (2004)
9. John Thompson - Shadow warriors (2002)
10. Curtis Smith - Test of the Ninja (1985)
Just a few titles to get you started, they are not all of super quality, but it is better than nothing. Hope this will helps.

Happy reading...


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## Aiki Lee (Apr 9, 2009)

Do you know where I can find these books, or a review of them?


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## Albertus (Apr 10, 2009)

Most of these books are pretty old allready and probably not available in the normal bookshops. But if you try Abebooks, Ebay or Amazon on the internet, you are likely to find some of them.
Good luck.


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## ElfTengu (Apr 24, 2009)

You won't find better than this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ginger-Ninj...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240583502&sr=8-1

Ginger has always been such a happy kitten, and popular too! He loves school, his friends, and playing pawball - life is good for Ginger. But then Tiddles arrives at St Felix School. Tiddles has a serious attitude problem, and he's a bully, too.The whole school is living in fear of him and his gang - and there's only one kitten who can stop his little game. Ginger Ninja to the rescue!


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## Omar B (Apr 24, 2009)

There's a new movie comming out named "the Ninja" starring Scott Adkins.  No, it's not based on Lustbadder's novel of the same name so I don't' know how that's gonna sit with the people in production of eriv Van Lustbadder's "The Ninja."







http://www.scottadkins.com/filmography/ninja/

Notice the grammatical error on the poster.  "A silent warrior, a deadly past, _a eternal_ mission."  Why will people learn, if the next word starts with a vowel or vowel sound you use "an."  It's "An eternal mission," just like it's "an apple."


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## ElfTengu (Apr 27, 2009)

Omar B said:


> There's a new movie comming out named "the Ninja" starring Scott Adkins. No, it's not based on Lustbadder's novel of the same name so I don't' know how that's gonna sit with the people in production of eriv Van Lustbadder's "The Ninja."
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
I'm sure it will be a fun movie, but I fear any hopes of authenticity have already been shattered by the image in that poster.

Be honest folks, if the poster didn't say 'ninja' would you think this was a new Star Wars movie or something else of the SciFi genre?


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## Cryozombie (Apr 27, 2009)

ElfTengu said:


> Be honest folks, if the poster didn't say 'ninja' would you think this was a new Star Wars movie or something else of the SciFi genre?



Yes.  Or a Ninja Turtles/Power rangers flick.


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## punisher73 (Apr 27, 2009)

I good book, but not "ninjas" per se or even historical fiction is a book series called "Tales of the Otori".  The first book is called "Across the Nightangale Floor".  It is in the sci-fi section and is set in what you could call feudal Japan, even though it is a made up place.

The "ninjas" are part of something called the Tribe.  And it is written like the legends of what the ninjas could do.


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## Omar B (Apr 27, 2009)

That guy who directed the new movie Ninja, if you check his resume he has a couple good action/MA movies, but he also directed about 200 episodes of Power Rangers too.  I don't' see that as a bad thing though, being a film geek like myself I say the more time a director has behind the camera be it commercials, music vids or crap TV is the better he will be in the end.  The mighty Spielberg did The Night Gallery for years before Jaws!

Punisher - That books sounds cool, I'll check it out.  I'll also recommend a new author, Brent Weeks.  He's got a trilogy of books about a leaugue of assasins modeled after ninjas, but it's set in a fantacy kingdom not Japan.  But it's pretty good and pretty brutal.


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## nitflegal (Apr 28, 2009)

I'm a little surprised nobody has mentioned Tulku.

Matt


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## Cryozombie (Apr 28, 2009)

punisher73 said:


> I good book, but not "ninjas" per se or even historical fiction is a book series called "Tales of the Otori".  The first book is called "Across the Nightangale Floor".  It is in the sci-fi section and is set in what you could call feudal Japan, even though it is a made up place.
> 
> The "ninjas" are part of something called the Tribe.  And it is written like the legends of what the ninjas could do.



The first book was really good.  Then it slowed way the hell down and got progressively more BOOOOOOOORING.


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## Cryozombie (Apr 28, 2009)

Omar B said:


>



Those all look like someone took pictures of Altair and colored his outfit black and added a Sai and Ninjato. From the poses, Right down to the Dagger coming out of the Gauntlet... I call Plagiarism.












Shadows Edge is a Mirror Image of that first Pic, and the cover of Beyond the shadows is an exact ripoff of the standard AC promo Image #3


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## Omar B (Apr 28, 2009)

I was not aware of that game, I don't' play video games without the words "Street Fighter" or "Madden" in the title.  But seriously, I can't tell when was the last time I played a non sport or non superhero game.  

Good books though.


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## Cryozombie (Apr 29, 2009)

Kind of a shame... Im offput by the art.  They could be the best books ever written, destined to be the new war and peace, and I am Judging them by their covers... the artist had to rip off someone elses work... so I'd skip the books and assume they are crap...


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## Omar B (Apr 29, 2009)

I know man, when it comes to fantasy and sci-fi novels, the cover art does matter!  I don't' blame you if you are turned off though the art depicts what he looks like in the story.

See the thing is, with sci-fi and fantasy, no matter how great the description is in the book, sometimes you need that picture because the author's description is so other worldly.


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## Aiki Lee (Apr 29, 2009)

nitflegal said:


> I'm a little surprised nobody has mentioned Tulku.
> 
> Matt


 
I read Tulku, it was okay, though I could have done without the sex scenes. It just made me feel weird to know that Stephen Hayes was writing them.


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## Omar B (Apr 29, 2009)

There's nothing I hate more than a written sex scene!  Seriously, it's just gratuitous and does nothing to forward the plot.  I love the way Fleming handles them in the Bond books, you get the first move or the first kiss, next scene they are getting out of bed or showering .... that's all you need.


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## nitflegal (May 2, 2009)

Omar B said:


> There's nothing I hate more than a written sex scene!  Seriously, it's just gratuitous and does nothing to forward the plot.  I love the way Fleming handles them in the Bond books, you get the first move or the first kiss, next scene they are getting out of bed or showering .... that's all you need.



Fortunately, they weren't enormously graphic or lasted more tha a half page or so.  Way better than Lustbader's versions.  After this thread, I pulled out my old copy of Tulku and reread it, it's actually not too bad at all, although it's rather slowly paced.

Matt


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## Omar B (May 2, 2009)

There's no written sex scene I hated more than that one in Lustbader's The Ninja.  You know the one I'm talking about if you've read the book.

Seriously, Lusbader's terrible, whoever told Ludlum's family to give him the Bourne franchise was on crack.


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## nitflegal (May 3, 2009)

Omar B said:


> There's no written sex scene I hated more than that one in Lustbader's The Ninja.  You know the one I'm talking about if you've read the book.
> 
> Seriously, Lusbader's terrible, whoever told Ludlum's family to give him the Bourne franchise was on crack.



Yeah, that was pretty wretched.  Mind you, I hit saturation in there during the 90's, when every book had Spetsnaz commandos who had been genetically crossed with a horse (apparently) having sex with stunning women whose described proportions would have the 50 pounds hovering on their chests likely to put them in traction or at least break their 14 inch waists.

Matt


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## kaizasosei (May 3, 2009)

Do not doubt the reality of ninja magic!  

As for fiction, I once had this book in english where the main character was called daremo.
As far as good ninja fiction goes however, i don't really know that many works.  i probably know tons of movies but not that many books.





j


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## Omar B (May 6, 2009)

Trailor for the new movie "The Ninja" here:


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## fightingpower (May 8, 2009)

The Ninja by Eric Lustbader is a MUST READ!  There is some mild spiritual stuff but it is handled very delicately and doesn't overtly suggest we can all fly after two Ninja lessons.  There also a very descriptive element of Karate and Aikido.  It is really compelling and features alot of adult themes.  Don't be put of by the 'MAN RAPE' it actually works very well in the context its in.  Agreat look at clashing Japanese and Western cultures.


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## Omar B (May 8, 2009)

I hated that book though.  The ones after, especially White Ninja were way better.  Lustbader still sucks for ruining Bourne though.


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## fightingpower (May 9, 2009)

I actually found White Ninja a bit dissapointing as there was alot of spiritual goings on in that.  But hey different strokes and all that!


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## Omar B (May 9, 2009)

You stated it's a must read then said it was disappointing?  Of 2 minds on the issue?


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## fightingpower (May 11, 2009)

No I actually said 'THE NINJA' was a must read!  and 'WHITE NINJA' was a bit of a let down!


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