The Legend of Tartuka Island and the Chosen Pearls
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Prologue From the journal of Oda Tadakatsu, legendary warrior and discoverer of Tartuka Island. Year 1877, at the end of the 700-year rule of the Samurai. Ten years before the last battle of the Satsuma Rebellion against the Imperial Army, I was cast out of my home, or at least what was left of it. Emperor Meiji had just removed Daimyo’s power over the land, shifting Japan into a single Empire, and leaving the Samurai with no one to serve. The nation was also under the new vigilance of a conscription army. In truth, there was no reason for the Samurai to exist anymore. After all, if every Japanese man could become a warrior, what made us special? While most Samurai resisted this rise of Western ideals, some of my father’s fellow warriors—friends I grew up with—chose to part with honor and performed the sacred act of Seppuku. I knew from a young age that death was an inevitable end in this battle to defend our legacy. After all, despite everything changing, this was still the land I’d sworn my loyalty to, and I was ready to give my life for it. I spent every day of my young years preparing for that moment, training alongside my father from dusk to dawn, knowing that each new morning could be the day we’d finally be called to fight for our nation once again. Unfortunately for everyone, this day never came. A new threat lurked in the shadows instead, and it grew faster than expected. My father, a Hatamoto warrior in the service of the shogunate's retinue, had heard from a source inside the Imperial Army that the Emperor was plotting to destroy the Samurai. It had not been enough to reduce our legacy to the point of abolition, he wanted no trace nor memory of our existence. My father didn’t wish for me to be part of this violent battle, even though he was very good at pretending otherwise, and so it came as a surprise when one night he grabbed me and took me away from our home. He knew as much as everyone that I wouldn’t survive a confrontation against the Imperial Army. I was still very young, not older than thirteen. I had been trained in the ways of Bushido since my birth, but I still had so much to learn. I should’ve been there when the Satsuma Rebellion fell. I should’ve died that day. Instead, I was forced to live like a coward, shoved into a strange ship in the middle of the night. All I carried with me was my father’s sword and this journal. The only memories I have left of my childhood. Everything else has vanished with time. I can’t even tell what is truly a memory and what is just a dream I made up on those lonely nights sailing into dangerous seas. But the one thing I’ll never forget is the words my father told me that night before he left me, right after I asked him where he was sending me. He told me I was going far away, somewhere off the maps, so the imperial army could never learn of my existence. If they did, they would’ve hunted me down to kill me, the last living relative of our clan…
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About the Book
In 1939, Singapore, thirteen-year-old Margaret Chatsworth, daughter of a British Admiral, discovers an ancient journal that changes her life forever. Within its weathered pages lies the extraordinary tale of Oda Tadakatsu, a samurai cast away from Japan in 1867 as the 700-year rule of the samurai approaches its violent end. Sent to sea against his will by a father desperate to save him from the coming bloodshed, young Oda is forced aboard a Spanish vessel under the command of the enigmatic Captain Márquez. For years, Oda has served diligently while harboring dreams of returning to defend his homeland. When Márquez reveals his true mission—the search for hidden islands called the Chosen Pearls, which may harbor the mythical Fountain of Youth—Oda’s path becomes entangled with ancient legends that transcend time itself. Margaret’s curiosity about Oda’s story ends abruptly when colonial authorities accuse the bookseller who gave her the journal of subversive activities. He is deported from Singapore, and Margaret is sent back to England for her safety. The mysterious journal is taken from her, lost forever—or so she thought. Six years later, now an Oxford history student, Margaret’s world shatters again when her father vanishes from his naval post in Singapore without a trace. Despite an extensive search, the circumstances of his disappearance remain unknown, and the British Navy is not able to find him. It isn’t until the unexpected arrival of Oda’s journal to Maragert’s room that she finds an alarming connection between the ancient samurai’s quest and her father’s fate. With time running out and war looming on the horizon, Margaret undertakes a dangerous journey back to Singapore alongside Lieutenant James Thomas. As she follows Oda’s path through treacherous waters, two quests separated by decades converge: a samurai’s fight to reclaim his honor and a daughter’s desperate search for her father. Between these pages lie tales of pirates and betrayals, hidden islands and mystical forces, immortality and sacred duty. But the greatest mystery remains: Where is Oda? And will his path cross with Margaret’s as she races to uncover the secrets of the Chosen Pearls before those who took her father unleash their power on an already war-torn world?
About the Author
Logan Clarke is an internationally recognized private investigator, author, and producer whose life has unfolded across continents, industries, and extraordinary circumstances. For more than thirty-five years, Clarke has operated at the highest levels of private investigation, specializing in complex and high-risk cases involving human trafficking, child abduction, and missing persons. His work has taken him from Cochise County, Arizona, to Khartoum, Sudan, and across Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and the Americas. Through his leadership and specialized task force, he and his team have successfully located and returned hundreds of women and children to their families worldwide. His investigative agency continues to operate in California today, built on a legacy of precision, discretion, and results. Clarke’s expertise in undercover operations began at the age of nineteen and has defined much of his professional life. Known for navigating environments where there are no second chances, he often reflects, “The only difference between acting and undercover work is that in undercover work, there is no ‘take two’… you make a mistake, you could die.” Yet long before the investigations, there was performance, storytelling, and a life shaped by creativity. Born into the world of show business, Clarke traveled extensively in his youth with his mother, Dorothy Darnell, a renowned jazz and pop singer of the 1950s and 1960s. From an early age, he was immersed in music, culture, and global experiences that would later influence both his writing and worldview. He began writing poetry at twelve and became a newspaper columnist in Hawaii by the age of eighteen. He studied acting at the Van Mar Academy and launched his screen career on the original Hawaii Five-O, earning his SAG card. He went on to appear in more than twenty television productions and over twenty-five films, working alongside notable actors including Brad Pitt, Susan Sarandon, Larry Hagman, and Joe Don Baker. His career expanded into writing and production, including episodic television work, global USO tours as a writer, producer, and emcee, and the creation of stage productions such as the 25th Anniversary celebration of the United States Air Force. As a producer, Clarke co-created and produced Bounty Wars, a reality series that aired on the Discovery Channel, and served as associate producer on The Dillinger Conspiracy. As an author, he has published works including Just Passing Through and Last Night an Angel Stopped By, available through major retailers including Barnes & Noble and Amazon. It was during his time sailing through the thousands of islands of the Philippines that an idea emerged—one that would remain with him for decades. A theory. That during the great age of exploration, some captains, men like Christopher Columbus, Ponce de León, and Captain James Cook, may have discovered islands so rare, so valuable, that they chose to keep them hidden from the world. These “Chosen Pearls” were not charted, not claimed, but protected, reserved as sanctuaries for their families and treasures beyond the reach of empires. Clarke first wrote the concept as a short story in the 1970s. It would remain unfinished for more than two decades until his pursuit of its completion led him to collaborate with writer Miriam Arce. Arce is a screenwriter and fiction writer with multiple degrees in Creative Writing, Mythology and Folklore. She has published through Brigham Young University’s Inscape and is credited as a writer on the audio series Kaboom: An Audio Adventure Podcast (2023). Arce co-authored The Legend of Tartuka Island and the Chosen Pearls with Logan Clarke, bringing a contemporary narrative lens to a sweeping historical adventure. Together, they brought the vision to life, completing The Legend of Tartuka Island and the Chosen Pearls in 2024. This novel marks the first installment in a planned trilogy—an epic narrative rooted in history, imagination, and the enduring question of what may still remain undiscovered. A feature film based on Clarke’s life as a private investigator is currently in development by Oscar-nominated writers Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson (The Fighter, The Outpost, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare), with packaging underway through WME. For Logan Clarke, the line between reality and legend has never been clearly defined. Because in his world; and perhaps in ours….TRUTH IS STRANGER THAN FICTION....