L.M. Weeks

Like his fictional hero, Torn Sagara, L.M. (“Mark”) Weeks was born in Alaska and practices law in Japan. Mark was Managing Partner of the Tokyo office of global law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP for over ten years. He has represented technology companies worldwide in matters of financing, intellectual property, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, and related disputes. Mark speaks, reads, and writes fluent Japanese; has a black belt in aikido; and is an avid motorcyclist and tournament fly-fisherman.

Twitter: @lmarkweeks

Instagram: @l_mark_weeks/

Are there particular films that have influenced your writing?

Absolutely. Mainly action and international thriller films. But I also love some of the more panoramic sci-fi films, some of which are violent or funny or both. 

Examples of the action and international thriller movies that have influenced my writing (in that I try to write in a way that triggers the reader’s imagination to generate that type of imagery) are Black Rain (cool motorcycle scenes in this brilliant noir Japanese-American film), some of the James Bond movies (they are some great motorcycle scenes such as the ones in Never Say Never Again), some of the Mission Impossible movies (again, some brilliant motorcycle scenes such as those in Mission Impossible II, Rogue Nation and Fallout), The Great Escape (epic motorcycle scene! Can you sense a common theme?!) (laughter), Red Sparrow, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. 

Examples of the sci-fi films that have influenced my writing include Terminator and Terminator II (another great motorcycle scene), Brazil (beautiful and brilliant darkly humorous take on Orwell’s 1984), the original Robocop (the juxtaposition of extreme violence and humor is wonderfully done), both Blade Runners, Akira (more motorcycle scenes!), Elysium, Interstellar, Edge of Tomorrow, the modern version of War of the Worlds, and Minority Report.

Basically, I’m attracted to anything that is cinematic with scenes that take your breath away. I try to recreate that cinematic feel through my writing.

What’s the oddest thing a reader has ever asked you?

Several advance readers of Bottled Lightning have asked me if the technology in the novel is real. The answer is no. It’s completely made up. But I’m honored that readers would think it could work. I chose lightning because the exact mechanics of its generation are not known to science (or at least they weren’t at the time I wrote the book). I also spent a lot of time researching the technology for both generating lightning and storing its energy. Saya (the inventor in the novel) not only figured out the exact mechanism by which lightning is formed, she also figured out how to replicate it on demand and store the energy generated. Again, it’s great that people reading my description of Saya’s bleeding edge technology might actually think it will work!

Favorite non-reading activity?

I love to fly fish for tarpon. I will fly fish for any fish (laughter), but tarpon have infected my soul. Tarpon get quite large, live in a wide variety of environments, swim in shallow water, and take to the air when hooked. Fly fishing for tarpon is also quite technical from the first cast to grabbing them boatside. It has often been said that if a fly angler knowing nothing about tarpon were asked to design the ideal flyrod gamefish, they would invent tarpon. They aren’t called the silver king for nothing. I have spent several years pursuing them and fishing in tarpon fly fishing tournaments in the Florida Keys. I have traveled as far as Gabon, a country in West Africa, to catch giant tarpon. There is a very real possibility that tarpon will be the thing I’m thinking about when I take my last breath. (laughter)

Have you ever experienced Imposter Syndrome?

Every day. (laughter) I feel it in my law practice, my fly fishing, and my writing. I constantly feel like people will call me out for: faking my work as an international lawyer even though I’ve been practicing law for more than 30 years, have practiced as a partner at two major international law firms, and ran the Tokyo office of a global law firm for more than 10 years; competing in the tarpon tournaments (“you’re not good enough to compete,” says the voice in my head); and my writing (“you should go to creative writing school before attempting to write a novel,” says another voice in my head).

Do you speak a second language? Do you think differently in that language? Does it influence your writing?

Yes, I have been speaking Japanese since I was a teenager. I have also lived at least half of my adult life in Japan. And yes, to a certain extent I think differently when reading, writing, or speaking Japanese, in part because language is so inextricably linked with culture, and Japanese culture is completely different from US or western culture in general. For one thing, Japan is not a Judeo-Christian nation. The spiritual foundations of Japan are Shintoism, a polytheistic religion at the heart of which is ancestor worship, and Buddhism, which at base is more of a philosophy than a religion, although different sects have turned it into a religion. For another, there was very little nexus between Japan and the western world until the mid-19th century. So much of Japanese history and culture developed independently of the West. For example, the holidays are all very different and arise out of a very different history and way of thinking not influenced by Judeo-Christian or Greek philosophy and thought. 

Speaking of imposter syndrome, to a certain extent we all play an acting role in society. It’s just that when you grow up in only one country or culture, you don’t realize how much the mores of the culture and society shape or even dictate your behavior. So I act a certain way to get along in Japan and a different way to get along in the US. Even within the US, people in New York act differently from people in California, and Texas has a culture and way of interacting that is different from both New York and California. 

But I am a “lousy actor” when trying to fit into Japanese culture compared to my son, who was born in Japan and raised in both New York and Tokyo. He is a true shapeshifter who can easily and seamlessly metamorphosize into either an American or a Japanese person, depending on where he is and who he is with. It’s an amazing thing to behold! (laughter)