Bill Fernandez has already penned a pair of successful memoirs that share his stories of growing up on Kauai. The Kapaa man, born and raised, has ventured into new territory with his latest book, “Cult of Ku.” The Hawaiian murder
Bill Fernandez has already penned a pair of successful memoirs that share his stories of growing up on Kauai.
The Kapaa man, born and raised, has ventured into new territory with his latest book, “Cult of Ku.” The Hawaiian murder mystery, though, isn’t really new ground for Fernandez, a Stanford graduate who was an attorney, judge and mayor. Some of the stories in this fictional work are based on his experiences during his legal career.
While retired, he maintains a busy schedule with writing, community service, offering presentations on Hawaiian history and spending time with his wife, Judith, and family. He took a few minutes to chat with The Garden Island at his Kapaa home — the same home his mother brought with her pineapple earnings — about his latest book, how it came to be and what’s ahead.
How hard is it to write a murder mystery versus a memoir?
Both require lots of research. There’s no doubt about that. When you’re writing a murder mystery, you really have to have things that move toward a climax, almost every other chapter so that you have a real movement toward some event that’s going to happen that’s terrible. Whereas in a memoir, you’re really almost writing a straight line history of what you’re growing with. Of course, you always try to sprinkle something that’s tension producing. That’s really the key in any murder mystery. You have to have tension. It’s hard to do that in a memoir.
So when did you start “Cult of Ku”?
About five years ago. The first book I started was a book about the Roxy Theater, it was the background for “Rainbows over Kapaa.” I’ve been writing off and on ever since I got off the judiciary, which was 14 years ago. When you’re writing on the law, these are the facts, these are the laws and this is the result. And that’s pretty boring, I think, for most people. Writing a story like fiction, murder mystery, requires development of tension. I think that life is filled with conflicts that need to be resolved.
Do you do a lot of research for your books?
There’s a lot. You really have to read about the times that you’re writing about. You go back to the history book and you also try to reach newspaper articles at the time and from that, you kind of glean a sense of where you want to move your story to. Most writers really have to outline where they’re going. I have to do all my research and know where I’m going and how I’m going to end it. It’s true that you will change things as you go along because people say one thing or another that affects what you wrote.
Do you enjoy murder mysteries more than memoirs? Are we going to see more murder mysteries?
I do. I think it’s kind of fun.
Why is the title “Cult of Ku”?
I wanted to create a character that appeared to be Hawaiian and I thought about what was the big thing during Kamehameha’s time. He sacrificed a lot of people. He sacrificed, it could be thousands, but certainly hundreds of men, to his war god, Kuka’ilimoku.
Did you visit places you wrote about?
All of the heiaus I mention in the book I went and visited. I would find where they were. Now, some of those heiaus are little piles of rock. There’s one that’s by the sea that’s very well preserved.
What’s your writing process?
I outline by hand, but then I’ll go on the computer and start putting it together. What it means is every chapter, you have handwritten notes about what’s going on historically or what would be likely to be occurring at the time your hero is doing one thing or another.
Do your have your ending figured out when you start writing?
The answer is, there is a lot of revision. The ending of this book I had placed a different heiau, then I realized the one I visited, this is the one that was good. When you read the story, you’re see that what occurs is pretty dramatic as you come to the final scene in the book. And of course, I have to throw love interest into it and I wanted to use ethnicity.
Early in “Cult of Ku,” you wrote about a holding cell for men called the big tank, where they’re all put together by law enforcement. Does such a place actually exist?
It existed in San Jose, California, where I first started practicing law. I copied what I learned about the big tank. I can’t say I know what it was like back in Honolulu in the 1930s, but I definitely know what it was like in San Jose, California, right after the war. In the big tank in San Jose, they always had one big guy who was in charge and his underling. It was easy to come up with that part of the story.
I’ll tell you this story. I got called by a client, his sister’s husband was in jail for murder. “Can you go down there and see what you can do?”
So I went down to the police department right away and demanded to see my client and they said “No, you can’t have him.” The next day, the chief walks out and says, “Well, we got what we wanted out of him.” The guy was found guilty based on his confession.
You have been an attorney, a judge, a mayor and an author. Where does author rank?
I think in your later life, author is fun. Now you can take a lot of experiences you’ve had and write about those. For instance, the big tank, where did that come from? It came from being a lawyer in Southern California. The beatings that he had in “Cult of Ku,” that’s because I was a lawyer in California and knew how they got confessions out of people.
How much time do you spend writing?
When I first started writing, I would spend five or six hours a day writing. And then I found trying to do some civic duties were maybe a little bit more important. I got involved in the historical society and other community-minded occupations. So it reduced the amount of time I was writing. So now, I’m a little bit relieved of community activities, I’m going to get back to the swing of writing four or five hours each day.
Have you been making the rounds to promote your book?
We haven’t really got out on the road yet to do it. We just got the book published and it just came out, so we’re going to go ahead and start making some talks.
Where can people get your book?
The Bookstore in Hanapepe has it. Amazon has got it. And a couple of stores in Kapaa Town. And we’re going to bring some copies to the museum. We’re just in the process of getting books out to the market.
This book is dedicated to your wife, Judith.
She is my primary marketeer. She’s sort of, like, fell in love with the story and really spent hours reviewing and editing it. And of course, she’s always promoting what I write, whether it’s memoirs or this particular story.
What’s next for you?
I’ve got the prequel, that’s all written. What I’m thinking of doing is having it come out in chapter form on Amazon. You can buy books not complete. I think that’s what I’m going to do. The prequel is actually four books. It really about a Hawaii kid in Maui who is forced off his land by a ruthless plantation owner. It’s kind of a, not so much a murder mystery, but an adventure story.
What would you say to encourage someone to read “Cult of Ku”?
If you like mysteries, if you like to try to solve puzzles, the book starts with a killing by the kahuna nui, so is this a Hawaiian who is getting revenge on missionaries, or is it somebody else? If you like to unravel mysteries, this is the kind of book for you.
