Speculative Japan 1
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Speculative Japan: Outstanding Tales selected and edited by |
The first book in an ongoing series, Speculative Japan presents a selection of outstanding works of Japanese science fiction and fantasy in English translation… and a glimpse into new worlds of the imagination. It was first released at Nippon 2007, the 65th World Science Fiction Convention in Yokohama, Japan, and then made available worldwide.
Japanese fiction has assumed a position of significance in many genres of world literature as it continues to chart its own creative course. Whereas science fiction in the English-speaking world developed gradually over a period of evolutionary change in style and content, SF in Japan took off from a very different starting line. Starting in the 1950s and 1960s, Japanese SF writers worked to combine their own thousand-year-old literary tradition with a flood of Western SF and other fiction. Contemporary Japanese SF thus began in a jumble of ideas and periods, and ultimately propelled Japanese authors into a quantum leap of development, rather than a steady process of evolution.
The result has been phenomenal. As new authors developed in this exotic environment, they invented new ways to view SF, and used the genre to form new images of themselves and their culture. The time is long overdue to present the work of Japanese science fiction and fantasy writers to the world in English. We hope this shared world of speculative fiction produces a creative feedback relationship, which can only encourage new and more stimulating visions of tomorrow.
Grania DAVIS
“Judy-san – Judith Merril, 1923-1997”
David BRIN
“Preface”
Gene VAN TROYER
“Introduction: Phase Shifting”
KOMATSU Sakyō
“The Savage Mouth”
translated by Judith MERRIL
HIRAI Kazumasa
“A Time for Revolution”
translated by David AYLWARD
KŌNO Tensei
“Hikari”
translated by Dana LEWIS
MAYUMURA Taku
“I’ll Get Rid of Your Discontent”
translated by HATTORI M. & Grania DAVIS
ISHIKAWA Takashi
“The Road to the Sea”
translated by Judith MERRIL & YANO Tetsu
YAMANO Kōichi
“Where Do the Birds Fly Now”
translated by Dana LEWIS
TOYOTA Aritsune
“Another ‘Prince of Wales’”
translated by David AYLWARD
FUKUSHIMA Masami
“The Flower’s Life Is Short”
translated by Judith Merril & YANO Tetsu
ŌHARA Mariko
“Girl”
translated by Alfred BIRNBAUM
TSUTSUI Yasutaka
“Standing Woman”
translated by Dana LEWIS
HANMURA Ryō
“Cardboard Box”
translated by Dana LEWIS
YANO Tetsu
“The Legend of the Paper Spaceship”
translated by Gene VAN TROYER
KAJIO Shinji
“Reiko’s Universe Box”
translated by TOYODA T.
KAWAKAMI Hiromi
“Mogera Wogura”
translated by Michael EMMERICH
YOSHIMASU Gōzō
“Adrenalin”
translated by the author & Marilyn CHIN
SHIBANO Takumi
“Collective Reason: A Proposal”
(non-fiction) translated by Xavier BENSKY
ASAKURA Hisashi
Afterword: “From Vertical to Horizontal”
Grania DAVIS
Editor’s afterword: “Translator as Hero”
