BEHIND THE STORIES

About JKLucas and the creation of Ashen.

I’m JKLucas...husband, dad to two grown sons, and human to a pair of Goldendoodles. They insisted I add that they’re the greatest dogs ever.

The Ashen Program has been echoing in my head for nearly three decades. Its bones took shape long before I finally gave it a home on the page. Now I’m building it out, one quiet, gritty story at a time.

For over fifteen years, I’ve studied American Kenpo. Structure, respect, honor, restraint, and timing shape the Ashen world and the people inside it. Kenpo taught me to respect pressure, to train principles over tricks, and to just keep showing up when things get messy. That applies to writing, too. I don’t always understand a principle, an idea, or where a story is going right away. But if I keep asking questions and returning to the work, things gradually begin to sort themselves into something resembling understanding.

Most of these characters embody a quality I’d like to strengthen in myself, often one I’ve already seen in someone whose example I aspire to follow. Putting those qualities on the page is one thing. Living up to them is the part I’m still practicing.

I’m grateful to my wife, my mother, and my family for their steady support. I’m equally grateful to my Kenpo instructor and the senior martial artists who still make time for my calls and questions, helping me work through a concept or principle I haven’t quite grasped. Their patience and generosity teach me about service, humility, and discipline as much as their instruction does.

This work matters to me. If a piece lands with you, tell me why. If it doesn't, tell me that too. I can take a punch. Kenpo helps.