I ran a commercial translation and production company called Intercom Ltd. for several decades, at one time with offices in Fukuoka, Nagoya and Tokyo and employing about a dozen people plus innumerable freelancers. After doing that for so many years I began to grow bored translating essentially the same thing again and again, and decided to do what I'd always wanted to do: publish Japanese literature in translation.

As the years passed the company published dozens of titles translated from Japanese, along with books written in or translated to Japanese, under the Kurodahan Press imprint. Through various friendships I expanded into other fields, launching the Cadmus Press imprint for European literature in English, the Celaeno Press imprint for original horror in English, and the Trident Press imprint for a Japanese-language horror magazine with both original and translated content.

Only a few of these titles ever showed a profit, and the publishing business as a whole never made enough profit to pay my salary. It did, however, keep me sane in spite of commercial translation.

Bored with the intellectual black holes of commercial translation, I decided to apply the knowledge and capabilities of Intercom to publishing Japanese literature in English. I talked to two close friends, Chris Ryall and Stephen Carter, and they were both very interested. We decided to go ahead with it.

Kurodahan Press was established as an internal department of Intercom Ltd. in mid-2002. Legally everything was Intercom and all expenses were paid by Intercom, but except for a few places where legal issues mattered we always used the name Kurodahan Press, named after the Kuroda-han that used to control the Fukuoka region where I was located at the time. Chris Ryall, a Canadian with extensive experience at a real publisher, also lived in Fukuoka, while Stephen Carter was in Nagoya.

We had a lot of grandiose ideas at the start but a little research into offset printing costs, wholesale discount rates, warehouse space and a few other things led us to the Print On Demand (POD) route. I tried a few POD places—it was still a new technology at the time—and we ended up with Booksurge LLC in the US. It did not go well for a number of reasons, primarily because we needed distribution and lower prices, neither of which they could help us with.

Lightning Source (LSI) of the US worked out much better. As a subsidiary of Ingram, the largest book distributor in the US, they had an established distribution network and already knew the business. They weren't much help lowering our costs, but to be honest that wasn't their problem. At about that time, as it happened, BookSurge was acquired by Amazon, and promptly renamed CreateSpace (and later renamed Kindle Direct Publishing, or KDP).

I'm compressing time here, but eventually we ended up with two distribution networks: KDP to Amazon stores worldwide, and LSI to everyone else. Since the same POD data was used for both books (except for a mark on the copyright page to indicate which one had printed it), they both used the same Japanese ISBN, and it made no difference where a customer purchased the book.

When ebooks finally became popular enough to be worth marketing, I learned how to generate ebooks from the same InDesign data I used to design the printed books. Both LSI and KDP handled ebooks, but LSI was geared toward major publishers, and while they a range of really good services they were simply too expensive. KDP, on the other hand, was basically designed to handle ebooks, and was excellent but rigid (and so highly automated it could take weeks to get an answer to a pressing question). As per ISBN guidelines we assigned each ebook a unique number, although Amazon did not require them.

The Lairs of the Hidden Gods series of horror anthologies was one of the very first projects Kurodahan worked on, along with Rampo's The Black Lizard. Each of the four volumes had about twelve stories, which meant I had to interact with almost fifty Japanese horror authors and an equal number of translators.

Without question, Asamatsu-san was the most important, at least from my POV. He was the overall editor of the Japanese originals and was primarily a horror author. He knew almost everybody in the field, including authors, editors, publishers, and artists, and was happy to let me in on all the gossip. I don't think it would have been possible to complete those four books without his assistance.

In the process, though, he mentioned that Japan did not have a weird/horror magazine anymore, although years earlier there had been several, notably 幻想文学 (Gensō bungaku), which could be translated as fantastic or weird literature. It primarily ran stories translated from other languages.

We joined up with editor Makihara-san and discussed the possibilities, eventually launching a Japanese language magazine with a combination of translated and home-grown stories and articles. We settled on the name Night Land.

The magazine was professionally printed with runs of 2,000 copies per issue. It was well received by horror fans, and started off well. In spite of our best efforts, though, we were unable to build up much of a subscriber base, and the 60% discount rate for national distribution was too steep. I pulled the plug after losing quite a bit to publish seven issues.

The covers for issues five through eight were done as a single work, although issue eight was never published. All the artwork was by Daniele Serra, of course.

Aftet the announcement that Night Land was ending, we were contacted by a Japanese publisher, Atelier Third. They wanted to launch their own magazine—Night Land Quarterly—as the successor. We were delighted to pass the torch, and made arrangements to put them in contact with our logo designer, have them ship copies of their magazine to our subscribers (at our cost, of course), etc. NLQ, with almost 40 issues released, is still being published.

Administrator MAYUMURA Taku Translated by Edward Lipsett

Administrator, or Shiseikan in Japanese, took the Japanese SF community by storm when first published in 1974. Unlike traditional space opera, it pushed technology into the background to present a compelling portrait of colonial governors, the Administrators, trapped between the conflicting demands of Federation government, native inhabitants, and Terran colonists.This collection of four novelettes, the first volume of an extensive series of works set in the same universe, touches on key stages in the development of the Administrator system and the robots designed to support and protect it.

The Administrator Series

This series consists of two collections and two novels. The titles shown here are the romanized Japanese. Official English titles have not yet been decided for works other than Administrator, so the other English titles given below are merely literal translations of the Japanese.

Shiseikan (Administrator), published 1974, including:

• Haruka naru Mahiru (A Distant Noon)
• Honō to Hanabira (The Flame and the Blossom)
• Iseki no Kaze (The Wind in the Ruins)
• Genkai no Janus (Bound Janus)

Nagai Akatsuki [Long Dawn], published 1980, including:

• Nagai Akatsuki [Long Dawn]
• Terikaeshi no Oka [Reflecting Hill]
• Tobira no Hiraku Toki [When the Door Opens]

Shōmetsu no Kōrin [Vanishing Halo], published 1979 in 3 volumes

Hikishio no Toki [Time of the Ebb Tide], published 1989 to 1995 in 5 volumes

Based on internal evidence, these can be put in rough chronological order as follows:

• Nagai Akatsuki [Long Dawn]
• Terikaeshi no Oka [Reflecting Hill]
• Honō to Hanabira (The Flame and the Blossom)
• Tobira no Hiraku Toki [When the Door Opens]
• Haruka naru Mahiru (A Distant Noon)
• Iseki no Kaze (The Wind in the Ruins)
• Genkai no Janus (Bound Janus)
• Shōmetsu no Kōrin [Vanishing Halo]
• Hikishio no Toki [Time of the Ebb Tide]

Aphrodite YAMADA Masaki Translated by Edward Lipsett

This important work of Japanese science fiction presents the story of Yūichi, a youth who escapes the regimented world of Japanese society for the beauty and freedom of Aphrodite, a floating island city built by the visionary Mr. Caan. Excited by the seemingly limitless potential of Aphrodite and confident of his own future, Yūichi encounters a new world: friendship, responsibility, love, and growing up.

Seen through the pattern of Yūichi’s life, however, is the evolution and development of the true heroine of the work: the island city Aphrodite--ever beautiful, ever filled with the limitless energy of creation. And as the global economy spirals downward, leaving Aphrodite a deserted slum slated for destruction, perhaps Yūichi is the only person who can save her…

Ideal for young adult readers, but with a philosophical depth to make it a thought-provoking and rewarding book for adult readers as well.

Kuunmong: The Cloud Dream of the Nine KIM Manjung Translated by James S. Gale

Kuunmong - literally “Nine Cloud Dream” or “The Cloud Dream of the Nine” - has been an immensely popular work in Korea for centuries. Originally written in about 1689, it is hailed as one of the earliest works of literary prose fiction to emerge from the Korean cultural background. Although this classic novel remains in print in many editions in Korea, China, and Japan, it has long been out of print in the English language. We are proud to make this monumental work available again.

In addition to the complete text translation by James S. Gale, Susanna Fessler of the State University of New York at Albany provides an introduction to the novel, and Francisca Cho of Georgetown University contributes a detailed literary analysis of the work. We also reproduce the original introduction and notes, and numerous illustrations, from the first English edition of the Gale translation.

Herbert A. Giles and China: Two Early Classics of Modern Sinology Herbert A. Giles

Modern sinology--the study of things Chinese--may trace its roots back centuries to Marco Polo, Byzantium and even Imperial Rome, but to a great extent it was built on foundations laid and extended by Herbert Giles, a consul for the United Kingdom in China and later a professor at Cambridge University. Even after his 26-year tour in China was completed and he returned to his native England, he continued to author a large number of scholarly works and translations on China and the Chinese.

Two of these, Chinese Sketches (1876) and The Civilization of China (1911), are now available in a single volume, revealing once again his piercing observations and a glimpse of a very different China.

Crystal Silence FUJISAKI Shingo Translated by Kathleen Taji

It is 2071, and Mars is being slowly terraformed by many nations often cooperating in an uneasy truce that reflects tensions back on Earth. The water of the polar ice cap, the most important resource for all the Mars colonies, is jointly controlled by the US, China, Japan and Russia, and doled out to the second-tier colonizing groups (Europe, Canada, Australia, India) only grudgingly. A military build-up is under way as different groups jockey for control of this all-important resource, and then the bodies of what appear to be intelligent aliens are found under the Martian ice.

Saya Askai is dispatched from Earth in realtime, separating herself from the virtual reality network that encompasses civilization, to investigate... and finds herself in a battleground of cyborgs, virtual reality plagues, and Schwarzchild traps that she may only be able to navigate through safely with the help of people who probably don't exist...

We are delighted to be able to add a short story to the expanded world of Crystal Silence, with the release of the eBook edition of Left Alone, which explores the life—and death—of the cyborg named Jirō. He wasn't always a cyborg; he began life as a pretty normal kid who just loved playing games at the arcade... until he met someone who pointed him at Mars!

Originally published in 1999, Crystal Silence (クリスタルサイレンス) was promptly voted the best Japanese SF novel of the year in the annual poll run by Hayakawa SF Magazine. The book remains popular, both for its own qualities and more recent science fiction masterpieces by the author, and a revised edition was recently released as a two-volume paperback. Nominated for the 2012 Science Fiction and Fantasy Translation Awards.

The author has published multiple novels and short stories and is rapidly being recognized as a leading writer of hard SF in Japan.

Kaiki—Uncanny Tales from Japan Volume 1: Tales of Old Edo

Selected and with commentary by HIGASHI Masao and preface by Robert WEINBERG

The first volume in our Kaiki series introducing the world of Japanese weird and supernatural literature, Tales of Old Edo presents a selection of outstanding works drawn from centuries of creativity in the field, with an in-depth introduction to the genre by recognized authority Higashi Masao.

Robert Weinberg
Preface: "An Ordinary World, Interrupted"

Higashi Masao 東雅夫
Introduction: "The Origins of Japanese Weird Fiction"
translated by Miri Nakamura

Lafcadio Hearn
"The Value of the Supernatural in Fiction" (1898)
"In a Cup of Tea" (1902)

Ueda Akinari 上田秋成
"The Chrysanthemum Pledge" (菊花の約; 1776)
translated by Pamela Ikegami

Kyōgoku Natsuhiko 京極夏彦
"Three Old Tales of Terror" (『旧耳袋』; 2005;「誰が作った」「何がしたい」「どこに居た」)
translated by Rossa O'Muireartaigh

Miyabe Miyuki 宮部みゆき
"The Futon Room" (布団部屋; 2000)
translated by Stephen A. Carter

Okamoto Kidō 岡本綺堂
"Here Lies a Flute" (笛塚; 1925)
translated by Nancy H. Ross
This translation won the 2008 Kurodahan Press Translation Prize.

Tanaka Kōtarō 田中貢太郎　
"The Face in the Hearth" (竈の中の顔; 1928)
translated by Edward Lipsett

Kōda Rohan 幸田露伴
"Visions of Beyond" (幻談; 1938)
translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori

Inagaki Taruho 稲垣足穂
"The Inō Residence, Or, The Competition with a Ghost" (稲生家＝化物コンクール; 1972)
translated by Jeffrey Angles

Yamamoto Shūgorō 山本周五郎
"Through the Wooden Gate" (その木戸を通って; 1959)
translated by Mark Gibeau

Sugiura Hinako 杉浦日向子
"Three Eerie Tales of Dark Nights" (『百物語』より「闇夜の怪三話」; 1993)
translated by Dan Luffey; graphics by Dorothy Gambrell

Kaiki—Uncanny Tales from Japan Volume 2: Country Delights

Selected and with commentary by HIGASHI Masao and preface by Robert WEINBERG

The second volume in our Kaiki series moves from Edo, the center of Japan during the Shogunate, into the country, where old traditions and older fears are preserved. Enjoy a deeper and very different glimpse into the world of Japanese weird and supernatural literature, with superlative works drawn from centuries of literary creation. Includes an in-depth introduction to the genre by recognized authority Higashi Masao.

Robert Weinberg
"Preface—The Subtle Ambiance of Japanese Horror"

Higashi Masao
Introduction: "The Rise of Japanese Weird Fiction"
translated by Miri Nakamura

Yanagita Kunio 柳田國男
"Selections from 'Legends of Tōno'" (『遠野物語』より「序」「第三話」「第七話」「第八話」; 1910）
translated by Pamela Ikegami

Natsume Sōseki 夏目漱石
"The Third Night, from 'Ten Nights' Dream'" (『夢十夜』より第三話; 1908）
translated by Kathleen Taji

Izumi Kyōka 泉鏡花　
"Sea Daemons" (海異記; 1906）
translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori

Hirai Tei’ichi 平井呈一
"Midnight Encounters" (真夜中の檻; 1960）
translated by Brian Watson
This story was a finalist in the 2011 SF&F Translation Awards.

Takahashi Katsuhiko 高橋克彦
"Reunion" (大好きな姉; 1993)
translated by Andrew Cunningham

Uchida Hyakken 内田百閒
"A Short Night" (短夜; 1921）
translated by Andrew Clare

Komatsu Sakyō 小松左京
"The Kudan's Mother" (くだんのはは; 1968）
translated by Mark Gibeau

Hikage Jōkichi 日影丈吉
"The Clock Tower of Yon" (猫の泉; 1961）
translated by Rossa O'Muireartaigh

Nakajima Atsushi 中島敦
"The Mummy" (木乃伊; 1942）
translated by Ruselle Meade

Akiyama Ayuko 秋山亜由子　
"Only Child" (一人娘; 1992）
translated by Stephen Carter; graphics by Dorothy Gambrell

Kaiki—Uncanny Tales from Japan Volume 3: Tales of the Metropolis

Selected and with commentary by HIGASHI Masao and preface by Robert WEINBERG

The third and final volume of our Kaiki series returns us to the Capital City: Tokyo. While Japan has modernized, renaming old Edo as new-born Tokyo, strange secrets remain hidden under the chrome and spotlights, unaffected by our beliefs in Science and Technology. Enjoy a new collection of stories introducing the strange denizens and happenings of the shadowy world of Japanese uncanny literature. Selected and with commentary by Higashi Masao, a recognized researcher and author in the field.

Nominated for the 2012 Science Fiction and Fantasy Translation Awards!

Robert Weinberg
Preface

Higashi Masao
Introduction: "Earthquakes, Lightning, Fire, and Father" translated by Miri Nakamura

Akutagawa Ryūnosuke 芥川龍之介
"A Bizarre Reunion" (奇怪な再会; 1921）
translated by Steven P. Venti

Murayama Kaita 村山槐多
"The Diabolical Tongue" (悪魔の舌; 1915）
translated by Jeffrey Angles

Tanizaki Jun’ichirō 谷崎潤一郎
　
"The Face" (人面疽; 1918）
translated by Kathleen Taji

Toyoshima Yoshio 豊島与志雄　
"Ghosts of the Metropolis" (都会の幽気; 1924)
translated by Rodger Swan and Jeffrey Angles

Edogawa Rampo 江戸川乱歩　
"Doctor Mera's Mysterious Crimes" (目羅博士の不思議な犯罪; 1932)
translated by Seth Jacobowitz

Minagawa Hiroko 皆川博子
"The Midsummer Emissary" (文月の使者; 1996)
translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori

Hisao Jūran 久生十蘭
"In Thy Shadow" (妖翳記; 1939）
translated by Derek Lin

Endō Shūsaku 遠藤周作
"Spider" (蜘蛛; 1959）
translated by Rossa O'Muireartaigh

Yamakawa Masao 山川方夫
"The Talisman" (お守り; 1960）
translated by Karen Sandness

Kawabata Yasunari 川端康成
"The Arm" (片腕; 1964）
translated by Mark Gibeau

Akae Baku 赤江瀑　
"Expunged by Yakumo" (八雲が殺した; 1981）
translated by Nancy H. Ross

Morohoshi Daijirō 諸星大二郎　
"A Sinister Spectre" (不安の立像; 1973）
translated by Mark MacWilliams; graphics by Dorothy Gambrell

Lairs of the Hidden Gods, Volume 1 Night Voices, Night Journeys Edited by ASAMATSU Ken Introduced by Robert M. Price

This massive collection of original stories and articles inspired by the ‘Cthulhu Mythos’ created by H.P. Lovecraft was published in Japan in 2002 as a two-volume set under the name Hishinkai. The list of contributing authors is a who’s-who of Japanese horror fiction, featuring some of the finest writers in Japan today.

In cooperation with Tokyo Sōgensha, the Japanese publishers, and the anthology editor, Asamatsu Ken, we are proud to present these dark visions of the Mythos as interpreted by Japanese authors. You will find some stories that return like old friends, carrying on the Lovecraft tradition, while others will shock you with totally new and unexpected vistas of horror. Each story is accompanied by a thought-provoking introduction by Robert M. PRICE, the recognized master of the Mythos.

The cover is by YAMADA Akihiro, who has handled many of the covers for the Japanese-language editions of Lovecraft and other Mythos works, and has established a name for himself in the States as well.

This volume, the first of the four-volume English translation, features the following stories and articles (in the order in which they appear):

ASAMATSU Ken
Foreword: “Recollections of Tentacles”
translated by Edward LIPSETT

Robert M. PRICE
Introduction: “Rush Hour of the Old Ones”

ASAMATSU Ken
“The Plague of St. James Infirmary”
translated by R. Keith ROELLER

YAMADA Masaki
“The Import of Tremors”
translated by Kathleen TAJI

KAMINO Okina
“27 May 1945”
translated by Steven P. VENTI

INOUE Masahiko
“Night Voices, Night Journeys”
translated by Edward LIPSETT

MURATA Motoi
“Sacrifice”
translated by Nora Stevens HEATH

MAKINO Osamu
“Necrophallus”
translated by CHUN Jin

SHIBATA Yoshiki
“Love for Who Speaks”
translated by Stephen CARTER

YONEZAWA Yoshihiro
“Four Decades of H.P. Lovecraft and Manga”
translated by Ryan MORRIS

HOSHINO Satoshi
“Cthulhu Mythos Manga List”
translated by Ryan MORRIS

HISADOME Kenji
“The Cthulhu Mythos in Japan”
translated by Edward LIPSETT

Lairs of the Hidden Gods, Volume 2 Inverted Kingdom Edited by ASAMATSU Ken Introduced by Robert M. Price

This massive collection of original stories and articles inspired by the ‘Cthulhu Mythos’ created by H.P. Lovecraft was published in Japan in 2002 as a two-volume set under the name Hishinkai. The list of contributing authors is a who’s-who of Japanese horror fiction, featuring some of the finest writers in Japan today.

In cooperation with Tokyo Sōgensha, the Japanese publishers, and the anthology editor, Mr. ASAMATSU Ken, we are proud to present this second volume of the series. Here you will find new vistas of horror - some stories with shock you, others force you to look at your daily life through new eyes. Each story is accompanied by a thought-provoking introduction by Robert M. Price, the recognized master of the Mythos.

The cover is by Yamada Akihiro, who handled the cover of Vol. 1 of the series, “Night Voices, Night Journeys,” and many of the covers for the Japanese-language editions of Lovecraft and other Mythos works. He has built up a loyal following in the States as well for his work.

This volume, the second of the four-volume English translation, features the following stories and articles (in the order in which they appear):

ASAMATSU Ken
Foreword: “Life with Gills”
translated by Edward LIPSETT

Robert M. PRICE
Introduction: “Cults of the Ghouls”

ASHIBE Taku
“The Horror in the Kabuki Theatre”
translated by Sheryl HOGG

MATSUDONO Rio
“Taste of the Snake’s Honey”
translated by Erin S. BRODHEAD

MATSUO Mirai
“Inverted Kingdom”
translated by Usha JAYARAMAN

KONAKA Chiaki
“Terror Rate”
translated by Kathleen TAJI

NANJO Takenori
“A Night at Yuan-Su”
translated by Usha JAYARAMAN

TANAKA Fumio
“Secrets of the Abyss”
translated by Bruce RUTLEDGE and ENOMOTO Yuko

HIRAYAMA Yumeaki
“Summoned by the Shadows”
translated by Sheryl HOGG

YASUDA Hitoshi
“The Cthulhu Mythos in Gaming”
translated by Edward LIPSETT

Lairs of the Hidden Gods, Volume 3 Straight to Darkness Edited by ASAMATSU Ken Introduced by Robert M. Price

This well-received collection of original stories and articles inspired by the ‘Cthulhu Mythos’ created by H.P. Lovecraft was published in Japan in 2002 as a two-volume set under the name Hishinkai. The list of contributing authors is a who’s-who of Japanese horror fiction, featuring some of the finest writers in Japan today, and reviews demonstrate that the Japanese taste for horror can send shivers up English-speaking spines as well!

In cooperation with Tokyo Sōgensha, the Japanese publishers, and the anthology editor, Mr. ASAMATSU Ken, we are proud to present this third volume of the series, with a new selection of eerie masterpieces to delight and chill you. Each story is accompanied by a fascinating introduction by Robert M. Price, the recognized master of the Mythos.

The cover is by Yamada Akihiro, who is already winning fans with his “four seasons” approach to the four books in this series. In addition to handling many of the covers for the Japanese-language editions of Lovecraft and other Mythos works, he has built up a loyal following in the States as well for his work.

This volume, the third of the four-volume English translation, features the following stories and articles (in the order in which they appear):

ASAMATSU Ken
Foreword: “Quivering Brainstems”
translated by Edward LIPSETT

Robert M. PRICE
Introduction: “Cthulhu versus Godzilla:
Was Toho Filming the Lovecraft Mythos?”

TANAKA Hirofumi
“The Secret Memoir of the Missionary (Prologue)”
translated by Daniel DAY

KIDA Jun’ichirō
“A Keepsake of the Grandfather”
translated by K. Bird LINCOLN

SANO Shirō
“Horror Special”
translated by Daniel DAY

ARAMATA Hiroshi
“The Road”
translated by Kathleen TAJI

TAKEUCHI Yoshikazu
“She Flows”
translated by Nora Stevens HEATH

KOBAYASHI Yasumi
“C-City”
translated by Kathleen TAJI

TOMONO Shō
“Straight to Darkness”
translated by Toshiya A. KAMEI

SHIMOTSUKI Aoi
“Sounds Out of Space, or, Cthulhu Metal”
translated by Jerome WOODS

Lairs of the Hidden Gods, Volume 4 The Dreaming God Edited by ASAMATSU Ken Introduced by Robert M. Price

This well-received collection of original stories and articles inspired by the ‘Cthulhu Mythos’ created by H.P. Lovecraft was published in Japan in 2002 as a two-volume set under the name Hishinkai. The list of contributing authors is a who’s-who of Japanese horror fiction, featuring some of the finest writers in Japan today, and reviews demonstrate that the Japanese taste for horror can send shivers up English-speaking spines as well!

In cooperation with Tokyo Sōgensha, the Japanese publishers, and the anthology editor, Mr. ASAMATSU Ken, we are proud to present this fourth and last volume of the series, with a new selection of eerie masterpieces to delight and chill you. Each story is accompanied by a fascinating introduction by Robert M. Price, the recognized master of the Mythos.

The cover is by Yamada Akihiro, who is already winning fans with his “four seasons” approach to the four books in this series. In addition to handling many of the covers for the Japanese-language editions of Lovecraft and other Mythos works, he has built up a loyal following in the States as well for his work.

This volume, the fourth of the four-volume English translation, features the following stories and articles (in the order in which they appear):

ASAMATSU Ken
Foreword: “The Core of Japanese Mythology”
translated by Edward LIPSETT

Robert M. PRICE
Introduction: “Lost Worlds of Weird Tales”

TACHIHARA Tōya
“Quest of the Nameless City”
translated by Kathleen TAJI

KURASAKA Kiichirō
“A Night at Exham Lodge”
translated by Daniel K. DAY

AZUCHI Moe
“…Which Art in Heaven”
translated by R. Keith ROELLER

TOMONARI Jun’ichi
“Inside Out”
translated by Edward LIPSETT

IINO Fumihiko
“Quagmire”
translated by R. Keith ROELLER

FUSHIMI Kenji
“Rshanabi Street”
translated by C.F. RYAL and Yaemi SHIGYO

SENO Yufuko
“City of the Dreaming God”
translated by Kathleen TAJI

HARADA Minoru
“H.P. Lovecraft and Modern Occultism”
translated by Naomi OTANI

WASHIZU Yoshiaki
“The Cthulhu Mythos on Screen”
translated by Michiyo MAYUMI

AOKI Jun
“Filmography of the Cthulhu Mythos Films”
translated by Edward LIPSETT

Kara Monogatari: Tales of China Ward Geddes

This work includes a study and a complete, annotated translation of the late twelfth- or early thirteenth-century Japanese tale collection, the Kara monogatari (Tales of China). The twenty-seven tales are interesting as stories, literate as short written pieces, and important as a Japanese cultural source, as well as being of interest to students of China. The Kara monogatari gave Japanese readers vernacular translations of some of the most well-known stories about China. It offers an interesting example of the transition in Japanese literature from the uta monogatari (poem tale) form to the setsuwa bungaku (story literature) form.

This was one of the works from the collection of the Arizona State University Center for Asian Studies, published with their permission and cooperation.

Toward Dusk and Other Stories YOSHIYUKI Junnosuke translated by Andrew Clare preface by James Dorsey

Yoshiyuki Junnosuke was a sensual writer, whose style is reminiscent of that of novelists such as Tanizaki Jun'ichirō and Nagai Kafū. His works deal with the possibility of emotional purity in the relationships between men and women. Often, the relationship is examined through the agency of the protagonist's association with prostitutes.

In the preface to New Writing in Japan, Mishima Yukio says of Yoshiyuki: "The delicacy of Yoshiyuki's language and sensibility is probably more subtle and sophisticated than that of any Japanese writer since the war...The idée fixe of Japanese youth today—that love is impossible and impracticable—lies deep at the root of Yoshiyuki's thinking."

His elegant prose style is often likened to that of Albert Camus. Howard Hibbett said of Yoshiyuki (in Contemporary Japanese Literature: an Anthology of Fiction, Film and Other Writing Since 1945): "The cool, polished surface of his fiction faithfully reflects a world of mingled frivolity and futility...The urbane refinement of his astringent prose style is much admired."

"Toward Dusk", which in 1978 won the Noma Prize, Japan's highest literary award, is considered to be Yoshiyuki's best work in the rensaku form: a series of stories or chapters bound by common theme.

The story ostensibly revolves around Sasa, the middle-aged protagonist, his fascination with virginity and, in particular, his obsessive quest for an emotional purity in his mistress, Sugiko.

In many ways, the main theme is similar to that in "The Dark Room" (winner of the prestigious Tanizaki Prize; translated into English by John Bester). As the critic James Kirkup pointed out, "The postwar mood of disillusionment made Yoshiyuki see the love lives of men and women as fragile and unreliable, fleeting, irresponsible." Like Nakata in "The Dark Room", Sasa also lives for his assignations. And, although (unlike Nakata) he is married with a daughter, his family life is empty and meaningless and his home simply somewhere to stay when he is not seeing his mistresses.

Sasa wished to keep his relationships casual, at arms' length, and he arranges them to suit himself. But, ultimately, he realizes that he and Sugiko must go their separate ways, and that nothing lasts forever.

"Toward Dusk" is joined here by a selection of some of his finest short stories, and all of the pieces in this collection are published here for the first time in English.

• Burning Dolls (Ningyō o yaku)
• The Molester (Chi)
• At the Aquarium (Suizokkan ni te)
• Treatment (Chiryō)
• Straw Wedding Anniversary (Wara konshiki)
• Midnight Stroll (Shinya no sanpo)
• Flowers (Hanataba)
• Voice of Spring (Haru no koe)
• A Bad Summer (Warui natsu)
• Toward Dusk (Yūgure made)

Speculative Japan 2 "The Man Who Watched the Sea" and Other Tales Introduction by Darrell Schweitzer

The second book of the groundbreaking Speculative Japan series, this volume presents a selection of never-before published translations covering a broad range of speculative fiction... from gritty SF to soft fantasy, it offers glimpses into the diverse and rich imaginations of modern Japanese authors.

While the first volume in the Speculative Japan series concentrated on outstanding works from authors positioned solidly in the SF field, we have deliberately widened the scope of this volume to include stories that are a bit outside the usual definition of "science fiction" , choosing instead to concentrate on "speculative" in an attempt to explore a bit of the immense universe of the Japanese imagination. Most of these authors are appearing in English for the first time, and are sure to open up new dimensions in reading pleasure in a variety of genres.

AWA Naoko 安房 直子
"A Gift from the Sea" 海からの贈り物
translated by Sheryl A. HOGG

ENJOE Toh 円城 塔
"Freud" Freud
translated by Kevin STEINBACH

ŌHARA Mariko 大原 まり子
"The Whale that Sang on the Milky Way Network" 銀河ネットワークで歌を歌ったクジラ
translated by Nancy H. ROSS

OGAWA Issui 小川 一水
"Old Vohl's Planet" 老ヴォールの惑星
translated by Jim HUBBERT

ONDA Riku 恩田 陸
"The Big Drawer" 大きな引き出し
translated by Nora Stevens HEATH

KAJIO Shinji 梶尾 眞治
"Emanon: A Reminiscence" おもいでエマノン
translated by Edward LIPSETT

KITAKUNI Kōji 北國 浩二
"Midst the Mist" 靄の中
translated by Rossa O'MUIREARTAIGH

KOBAYASHI Yasumi 小林 泰三
"The Man Who Watched the Sea" 海を見る人
translated by Anthea MURPHY

TAKAGI Nobuko 高樹 のぶ子
"Melk's Golden Acres" メルクの黄金畑
translated by Dink TANAKA
This translation won the 2009 Kurodahan Press Translation Prize.

TANI Kōshū 谷 甲州
"Q-Cruiser Basilisk" 仮装巡洋艦バシリスク
translated by Simon VARNAM

NAKAI Norio 中井 紀夫
"Mountaintop Symphony" 山の上の交響楽
translated by Terry GALLAGHER

HORI Akira 堀 晃
"Open Up" 開封
translated by Roy BERMAN

YAMAO Yūko 山尾 悠子
"Perspective" 遠近法
translated by Ginny Tapley TAKEMORI

Akutagawa and Dazai: Instances of Literary Adaptation James O’Brien

James O’Brien’s work contains translations of three short stories by Dazai Osamu – “Hear my Plea”, “Melos, Run!” and “Crackling Mountain” – as well as the following short stories by Akutagawa Ryunosuke: “The Clown’s Mask”, “The Immortal”, “Rasho Gate”, “Hell Screen”, “Within a Grove”, and “The Shadow.” The introduction interprets the short stories by these two twentieth-century Japanese authors and outlines the nature of literary adaptation in their work.

This was one of the works from the collection of the Arizona State University Center for Asian Studies, published with their permission and cooperation.

The Black Lizard and Beast in the Shadows EDOGAWA Rampo translated by Ian Hughes introduction by Mark Schreiber

Edogawa Rampo (pseudonym of Hirai Tarō, 1894-1965) is the acknowledged grand master of Japan’s golden age of crime and mystery fiction. Kurodahan Press takes great pleasure in presenting the first English language translations of these two short novels.

<i<The Black Lizard (Kurotokage) first appeared as a magazine serial, published in twelve monthly instalments between January and December, 1934. It features Rampo's main detective character, Akechi Kogorō: a figure who combines elements of Poe’s Auguste Dupin with the gentleman adventurers of British golden age detective literature. The Black Lizard herself is a master criminal and femme fatale, whose charged relationship with detective Akechi and unconcealed sadism have inspired shuddering admiration in generations of readers. The story has been adapted for film and television several times, most notably in a 1968 feature film that included a cameo by Mishima Yukio, and a title song with lyrics by the celebrated novelist. Mishima was also involved in the stage adaptation the same year conceived and directed by Miwa Akihiro, in which Miwa himself played the part of the Black Lizard. It is largely thanks to this classic of 1960s Japanese theatre that the story remains associated with sexual transgression and blurred boundaries between male and female, hunter and hunted, detective and criminal.

Themes of deviance and sado-masochism are central to Beast in the Shadows (Inju), a tale from the height of Rampo’s grotesque period, which appeared in serial form between August and October, 1928. This tale of secret identities, violent sexuality, and dark crimes stands in stark contrast to the genteel detective stories then popular in English literature. It bears comparison with the American pulp fiction serial, the genre that led to the classic modern American crime novel, and with the more extravagant moments of film noir. Beast in the Shadows, however, recalls classic themes in Japanese popular fiction, with origins in the illustrated novels and mass market shockers of the Edo period (1600-1868). Rampo’s special contribution was to combine this strain in Japanese literature with styles and atmospheres imported from Europe: from Oscar Wilde and Maurice Maeterlinck, to Rampo’s own contemporaries in the American pulps and English novels.

Japan in Five Ancient Chinese Chronicles: Wo, the Land of Yamatai, and Queen Himiko Massimo SOUMARÉ translated by Davide Mana edited by Anthony J. Bryant and Mark Hall

For the first time in English, this work presents a comparative study of the content of famous Chinese historical texts that are fundamental in the knowledge of Japan’s ancient history. Soumaré translates documents from the Chronicle of the Wei to the History of the Song, thus providing an unparalleled resource for scholars, students, and general readers with an interest in Japanese history and culture.

Japan in Five Ancient Chinese Chronicles is a stimulating and valuable investigation into the earliest periods of Japanese recorded history. Archaeological finds from Japanese tombs can be better understood by combining Japanese historical resources such as the Kojiki and the Nihonshoki with precise dating of the Chinese dynastic histories. Massimo Soumaré’s original research sheds new light on formerly obscure aspects of intercultural exchange, and contributes to our knowledge of the whole of Eastern Asia.

The cultural foundations of Japan are intimately linked to continental Asia. China and Korea in particular helped shape the early Japanese states in many ways, over centuries of immigration and cultural exchange. The introduction of rice agriculture, the Chinese writing system, and the Chinese system of bureaucratic imperial government are perhaps the most well-known examples, but the influence of mainland cultures on the Japanese archipelago was pervasive.

Although there are many works covering important dates and discussing how various cultural and other elements entered Japan, until now there has never been a comprehensive study of how the Japanese (the "Wo") were viewed by the Chinese in ancient times. Independent Italian scholar Massimo Soumaré corrects this imbalance with Japan in Five Ancient Chinese Chronicles.

The book serves as a guide for scholars in the field, providing information on date of first publication, content, and authors of the different histories, with the original text accompanied by translations and explanatory notes. Reprints and related academic publications are covered in an extensive multilingual bibliography, making this an essential textbook for any student of ancient Japan, and a key reference work for investigations into the spread and influence of Chinese culture.

Queen of K’n-Yan ASAMATSU Ken translated by Kathleen Taji introduction by Darrell Schweitzer

The mummy of a beautiful young girl from Shang Dynasty China is found in an ornate and astonishingly large underground tomb. Preliminary research shows that her cells contain reptilian DNA, and a Japanese research lab is asked to investigate further…

Working under the stern Dr. Li, molecular biologist Morishita Anri begins to probe the mysteries locked in the mummy’s genetic code, while experiencing strange hallucinations of being a young girl imprisoned in one of the infamous experimental facilities established in China by Japanese Unit 731 for biological warfare.

As Dr. Li hints at prehuman intelligences and huge caverns under the earth, Anri begins to wonder why uniformed soldiers of the PRC Liberation Army are present in the research center in Tokyo. Hallucinations and reality fuse as innocents begin to die in both realities…

A classic work of modern horror from the fevered brain of Asamatsu Ken, recognized as a master of weird fiction and horror in Japan.

The Red Star of Cadiz ŌSAKA Gō translated by Usha Jayaraman

Kurodahan Press is proud to present the first English translation of Red Star of Cadiz, an international suspense thriller that won author Osaka acclaim as a new master of the genre in Japan. The work has won three prestigious awards: the 96th Naoki Prize, the 40th Mystery Writers of Japan Award, and the 5th Japan Adventure Fiction Association Prize. The perfect hard-boiled introduction to Japanese crime and suspense fiction!

Spain was still under the domination of the Franco dictatorship in 1975, and Japan itself harbored fears of terrorism by the radical left.

Freelance public relations expert Urushida Ryō is asked by one of his major clients, Hino Musical Instruments, to help locate a man sought by famous Spanish guitar craftsman Jose Ramos: a Japanese guitarist known as Santos, who had visited Ramos’ workshop twenty years earlier. In spite of his outstanding guitar technique, it had proved impossible to find him in Japan’s flamenco guitar world. Urushida begins to trace Santos’ footsteps from the scarce leads remaining…

Ōsaka draws heavily on his own experiences in the advertising industry to portray the intense competition surrounding advertising agencies and their musical instrument manufacturing clients, as well as behind-the-scenes deals with consumer action groups. The story delves into the secrets surrounding the “Red Star of Cadiz,” a legendary guitar created by a master craftsman during the Spanish Civil War, and the desires and losses of the people around it. And as Urushida pursues Ramos’ granddaughter Flora and Paco, whom he suspects is Santos’ son, he is gradually pulled in a vortex of intrigue involving the Spanish ultra-left and secret police.

Multiple story lines intersect, doubling back on one another and weaving a rich tapestry of memories, including Urushida’s love for Risayo, at a rival PR firm; the activities of the staff at Urushida’s agency; and the search for Santos, that began as a simple and heartwarming request. The action shifts to Spain and accelerates, drawing the reader into a gripping story all the more real for the stunning visual imagery of Spain, and instilling a newfound love for flamenco guitar.

The book includes an introduction to the author and his works by Japanese literary critic IKEGAMI Fuyuki, and a foreword by Dr. Amanda Seaman (U. Mass. Amherst), author of Bodies of Evidence: Women, Society, and Detective Fiction in 1990s Japan.

The Edogawa Rampo Reader Stories and essays by EDOGAWA Rampo EDOGAWA Rampo edited and translated by Seth Jacobowitz introduction by Tatsumi Takayuki

Edogawa Rampo (pseudonym of Hirai Tarō, 1894-1965) is the acknowledged grand master of Japan's golden age of crime and mystery fiction. He is also a major writer in the tradition of Japanese Modernism, and exerts a massive influence on the popular and literary culture of today's Japan.

The Edogawa Rampo Reader presents a selection of outstanding examples of his short fiction, and a selection of his non-fiction prose. Together, they present a full and accurate picture of Rampo as a major contributor to the Japanese literary scene, helping to clarify his achievements to the English-speaking world.

All the content of The Rampo Reader is brand-new to English. His non-fiction work has never been translated into English before. This is the only place to find a comprehensive one-volume introduction to the world of Edogawa Rampo.

I. The Fiction

1. The Daydream (Hakuchūmu)
2. The Martian Canals (Kasei no Unga)
3. The Appearance of Osei (Osei Tōjō)
4. Poison Weeds (Dokusō)
5. The Stalker in the Attic (Yaneura no Sanposha)
6. The Air Raid Shelter (Bōkūgō)
7. Doctor Mera’s Mysterious Crimes (Mera Hakase no Fushigina Hanzai)
8. The Dancing Dwarf (Odoru Issun Bōshi)

II. The Essays

1. The Horrors of Film (Eiga no Kyōfu)
2. Spectral Voices (Koe no Kyōfu)
3. A Fascination with Lenses (Lens Shikōshō)
4. The Phantom Lord (Genei no Jōshū)
5. My Love for the Printed Word
(Katsuji to Boku to - Shōnen no Dokusha ni Okuru)
6. Confessions of Rampo (Rampō Uchiakebanashi)
7. Dickens vs. Poe (Dickens no Senben)
8. Fingerprint Novels of the Meiji Era (Meiji no Shimon Shōsetsu)
9. An Eccentric Idea (Kikyō na Chakusō)
10. A Desire for Transformation (Henshin Ganbō)

Speculative Japan: Outstanding Tales of Japanese Science Fiction and Fantasy selected and edited by Gene van Troyer and Grania Davis

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”

Masaharu Anesaki (1873-1949) was a leading member of Japan’s most interesting generation: the second generation of Meiji scholars, who lived in a highly-educated if not rarefied world that blended Japanese and Western traditions in a way that made them unique in their country’s long history.

This neglected classic of travel writing, philosophy, history, and comparative religion has been out of print in Japan for nearly a century. Its publication in English translation will open a fascinating vista for scholars and general readers, into the mind of modern Japan — as it stood at the crossroads of modernity.

In the late fall of 1907, Anesaki left Japan to travel around the world on a travel grant from the Kahn Foundation, a philanthropic organization that funded scholars’ overseas travel in the interest of promoting international understanding. Three months of his journey in the spring of 1908 were spent in Switzerland and Italy. He wrote at length about his experience, focusing on a few key subjects: St. Francis of Assisi, whom he admired, the painter Fra Angelico, whom he also admired, and their connection (as he saw it) to the Japanese Buddhist saint Hōnen.

Published in 1909, Hanatsumi Nikki is the record of his travels in Italy. But it is more than a memoir: it is an extended meditation on art, human life, European and Japanese culture, Buddhism, Christianity, and faith. Anesaki was a leading member of a generation of Japanese scholars and public intellectuals who helped to introduce Japan to the West. He also attempted to integrate his understanding of Western culture in his own study of Japanese religion. The full range of his erudition, sensibility, and passionate humanity shines through the pages of The Flowers of Italy.

This translation by Susanna Fessler includes the text of Anesaki’s article "How Christianity Appeals to a Japanese Buddhist".

Speculative Japan 3: "Silver Bullet" and Other Tales of Japanese Science Fiction and Fantasy Introduction by Darrell Schweitzer

The third book of our well-received Speculative Japan series, this volume brings more outstanding authors from the Japanese archipelago to English, with a selection of never-before published stories covering a broad range of speculative fiction... from gritty SF to dark fiction, enjoy a whole new dimension of the imagination!

This, the third volume of the Speculative Japan series, introduces a few touches of horror, gently flavoring the mix to give an extra tang to the usual shot of science fiction. And, as always, all of the stories and many of the authors are coming to English for the first time in English.

Introduction by Darrell Schweitzer

ASAMATSU Ken 朝松 健
"A White Camellia in a Vase" 立華　白椿
translated by Joe EARLE

AYATSUJI Yukito 綾辻 行人
"Heart of Darkness" 心の闇
translated by Daniel JACKSON

UEDA Sayuri 上田 早夕里
"Fin and Claw" 魚舟・獣舟
translated by Daniel HUDDLESTON

OGAWA Issui 小川 一水
"To the Blue Star" 青い星まで飛んでいけ
translated by Edward LIPSETT

ONDA Riku 恩田 陸
"The Warning" 忠告
translated by Mikhail S. IGNATOV
This translation won the 2010 Kurodahan Press Translation Prize.

KAMON Nanami 加門七海
"A Piece of Butterfly's Wing" 蝶の断片
translated by Angus TURVILL
This translation won the 2011 Kurodahan Press Translation Prize.

SUGA Hiroe 菅 浩江
"Five Sisters" 五人姉妹
translated by Ginny Tapley TAKEMORI

TAKANO Fumio 高野 史緒
"Lest You Remember" 空忙の鉢
translated by Jim HUBBERT

TACHIHARA Toya 立原 透耶
"Invisible" インビジブル
translated by Nancy H. ROSS

FUJITA Masaya 藤田 雅矢
"Angel French" エンゼルフレンチ
translated by Pamela IKEGAMI

MATSUZAKI Yuri 松崎 有理
"The Finish Line" あがり
translated by Nora Stevens HEATH

MINAGAWA Hiroko 皆川 博子
"Sunset" 夕陽が沈む
translated by Karen SANDNESS

MORI Natsuko 森 奈津子
"It's All Thanks to Saijō Hideki" 西城秀樹のおかげです
translated by Anthea MURPHY

YAMADA Masaki 山田 正紀
"Silver Bullet" 銀の弾丸
translated by Stephen CARTER

Marc SCHULTZ
"Green Tea Ice Cream"

Edogawa Rampo's The Fiend with Twenty Faces A Tale of the Boy Detectives Club EDOGAWA Rampo translated by Dan Luffey

The Fiend with Twenty Faces, the first in the Boy Detectives series by Japan's master of mystery Edogawa Rampo, helped create a new genre in Japan and enthralled thousands of young readers.

When 1930s Tokyo is threatened by a master thief who claims he can take on any disguise and stymie any matter of law enforcement, the people of the city have nowhere else to turn but Japan's greatest detective, Akechi Kogorō. Unfortunately for Tokyo, however, Akechi Kogorō is off on overseas business, so it becomes the job of his 12-year old assistant, Kobayashi Yoshio, to track down the thief and desperately keep him at bay until his mentor returns.

In the spirit of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Baker Street Irregulars, The Fiend with Twenty Faces is a classic mystery tale by a world-renowned author filled with disguises, tricks, "A-ha!" moments, and spiced with a unique Japanese flair. Will Kobayashi's intrepid band of little detectives be able to outwit the nefarious fiend, or will Tokyo be forever at the mercy of the face-swapping phantom?

The Japanese text is from the original edition published (and still in print!) by Poplar Publishing (ポプラ社). Rampo himself wrote the first two dozen or so books in the series　(and Poplar was nice enough to put them in a boxed set!), and had the remaining two dozen titles or so ghostwritten while retaining much control over the product.

Edogawa Rampo (pseudonym of Hirai Tarō, 1894–1965) is the acknowledged grand master of Japan's golden age of crime and mystery fiction. He is also a major writer in the tradition of Japanese Modernism, and exerts a massive influence on the popular and literary culture of today's Japan.

Murder in the Red Chamber ASHIBE Taku translated by Tyran C. Grillo

Murder in the Red Chamber, first published in Japanese by Bungei Shunjū as part of its "Mystery Masters" series, is set in the world of the original Dream of the Red Chamber, the masterwork of eighteenth-century Chinese fiction by Cao Xueqin. Building skillfully on that famous background, Ashibe plays out a most formidable murder mystery set in Peking during the late Qing dynasty. The tale opens with the visitation of Jia Yuan-chun, esteemed daughter of the prosperous Jia family and newly instated concubine to the emperor.

In preparation for her arrival, the Jias have constructed a magnificent homage in land known as Prospect Garden. After an all too brief celebration, as a parting gift to her beloved family Yuan-chun decrees that her sisters and closest female cousins relocate from their homes to the Garden proper, along with her brother Bao-yu.
Little do they know what horrors await them.

During an evening gathering, one of the young maidens of the Garden is brutally murdered in plain sight. This spectacle sets off a series of mysterious deaths. Lai Shang-rong, a local magistrate and Chief Inspector in service to the Jias, is specially commissioned to investigate the goings on and get to the root of the evil that has darkened this otherwise idyllic setting.

Bao-yu, however, has designs of his own. As the only male inhabitant of Prospect Garden, and with the pressure of success breathing down his neck as the next in line to the Jia throne, Bao-yu feels obliged to protect those dearest to him and decides to launch a private investigation. Bao-yu's methods confuse Shang-rong, who is certain that a more orthodox approach will flush out the killer in due course. As luck would have it, Bao-yu is soon assigned as an assistant to Shang-rong, who is content to work alone. In spite of the inconvenience, Shang-rong knows that Bao-yu's status as an insider might prove helpful.

Yet as time goes on and more murders are committed right under his nose, Shang-rong begins to suspect that Bao-yu may in fact be behind them all. Shang-rong is expected to cooperate with Bao-yu all the same, and so he must face a difficult choice: point the finger at his exalted sidekick, or crack the case before imminent dangers destroy him.

Ashibe's tragic conclusion leaves us with a heavy moral question while presenting even the most seasoned mystery fan with a refreshing and innovative take on the detective novel formula.

Fair Dalliance: 15 Stories by Yoshiyuki Junnosuke YOSHIYUKI Junnosuke translated by Lawrence Rogers, Hiroko Igarashi, and William Matsuda preface by Donald Richie

This collection has come into being out of the conviction that the short stories of Yoshiyuki Junnosuke, if they were made accessible in English under one cover, would certainly be appreciated and enjoyed abroad as they have been in Japan. The prolific Yoshiyuki Junnosuke has left us a vast body of literature, a feast of short stories, novels, novellas, essays on a wide range of topics, translations from English, and light fiction whose function is simply to entertain. An edition of his complete works published in 1983, eleven years before death stilled his pen, came to 20 volumes.

In the preface to New Writing in Japan, Mishima Yukio says of Yoshiyuki: "The delicacy of Yoshiyuki's language and sensibility is probably more subtle and sophisticated than that of any Japanese writer since the war...The idée fixe of Japanese youth today—that love is impossible and impracticable—lies deep at the root of Yoshiyuki's thinking."

His elegant prose style is often likened to that of Albert Camus. Howard Hibbett said of Yoshiyuki (in Contemporary Japanese Literature: an Anthology of Fiction, Film and Other Writing Since 1945): "The cool, polished surface of his fiction faithfully reflects a world of mingled frivolity and futility... The urbane refinement of his astringent prose style is much admired."

• My Bed Is a Boat (Nedai no fune)
• Japanese Handball (Temari)
• On Houses (Kaoku ni tsuite)
• The Man Who Fired the Bath (Furo taku otoko)
• Perfume Bottles (Kōsuibin)
• The Illusionist (Tejinashi)
• Hydrangeas (Ajisai)
• I Ran Over a Cat (Neko funjatta)
• Something Unexpected (Fui no dekigoto)
• Three Dreams (Yume mittsu)
• Twins (Sōsei)
• A Certain Married Couple (Aru fūfu)
• The Flies (Hae)
• The Battle of the Clays (Nendo gassen)
• Katsushika Ward (Katsushika)

Otogizōshi: The Fairy Tale Book of Dazai Osamu DAZAI Osamu translated by Ralph McCarthy introduction by Joel Cohn

Momotarō, Click-Clack Mountain, The Sparrow Who Lost Her Tongue, The Stolen Wen, Urashima-san . . . The father reads these old tales to the children. Though he's shabbily dressed and looks to be a complete fool, this father is a singular man in his own right. He has an unusual knack for making up stories.

Once upon a time, long, long ago . . .
Even as he reads the picture book aloud in a strangely imbecilic voice, another, somewhat more elaborate tale is brewing inside him.

Dazai Osamu wrote The Fairy Tale Book (Otogizōshi) in the last months of the Pacific War. The traditional tales upon which Dazai's retellings are based are well known to every Japanese schoolchild, but this is no children's book. In Dazai's hands such stock characters as the kindhearted Ojī-san to Obā-san ("Grandmother and Grandfather"), the mischievous tanuki badger, the fearsome Oni ogres, the greedy old man, the "tongue-cut" sparrow, and of course Urashima Tarō (the Japanese Rip van Winkle) become complex individuals facing difficult and nuanced moral dilemmas. The resulting stories are thought-provoking, slyly subversive, and often hilarious.

The Dream of Lafcadio Hearn Roger Pulvers

This fascinating fictional account of the life and times of Lafcadio Hearn probes the question: "What was the nature of this man, born wanderer, informant of the fiendish details of Japanese lore ... a man who chose to live his life 'in defiance of the season'?"

Though now largely forgotten in the West, he is, in the 21st century, still considered by the Japanese to be the foreigner with the most insight into their mind and mores.

Orphan of Europe, chronicler of the eerie and the grotesque, journalist and ethnographer of subcultures, Greek-Irish author Lafcadio Hearn arrived in Yokohama from the United States in 1890. During his 14-year stay in Japan he wrote 14 books about the country, becoming known, in the decades succeeding his death, as the foremost interpreter of things Japanese in the West.

The Dream of Lafcadio Hearn is a novel not only about Hearn in Meiji Japan but about any person in any era who may feel, for a time or forever, more at home in a foreign land than in their own. The novel is preceded by a detailed introduction on Hearn from the time of his birth in Greece in 1850 until his death in Japan in 1904.

Phantom Lights and Other Stories MIYAMOTO Teru translated by Roger K. Thomas

Presenting a new collection of stories exploring the perennial themes of Miyamoto Teru's fiction, narrative sketches of the working-class world of the Osaka-Kobe region of his childhood employing memory to reveal a story in layered frames of time with consummate skill. His work examines the mutual proximity—or even the identity—of life and death, often touching on such grim topics with a touch of humor. Stories of personal triumph and hope are often set in situations involving death, illness, or loss, but what might be the stuff of tragedy in the hands of some writers turns into stepping stones for his characters to climb upward and onward.

Miyamoto's considerable and devoted following in Japan has come increasingly to be mirrored in other Asian countries and parts of Europe as his fiction has been translated into various languages. With renditions of only three of his works currently available in English, however, Anglophone readers have for the most part been unaware of the "Teru" literary phenomenon. The present collection aims to fill part of this lack by offering a selection of some his finest short stories along with one of his most admired novellas—Phantom Lights—which was made into the internationally acclaimed 1995 movie Maborosi by Koreeda Hirokazu.

The will to live, karma, and death are themes developed through the lives of Miyamoto's fictional characters, who struggle to achieve closure with their respective pasts and in their often difficult relations with others. The comments of Washington Times writer Anna Chambers in her review of Kinshu: Autumn Brocade aptly apply to the works presented here as well: ". . . existential crisis after existential crisis force the characters to question whether one can shape one's own karma—rather than construct one's own soul, as a Western reader might have put it. And herein lies the Westerner's entree into the book as more than an observer of Japanese culture." And like Kinshu, the stories in the present collection provide "a satisfying taste of what it means to grapple with fate at the intersection of modernity and tradition."

Miyamoto deftly weaves his tales using scenes and settings from his native Kansai region, and all are flavored with the language of western Japan. Like the depressed areas described in much of his fiction, his characters too are "left behind" by post-war Japan's rapid economic growth, by unexpected changes in their lives, or by the deaths of loved ones. His heroes are ordinary people who, as he puts it, "are trying to lift themselves up, who are struggling to live," and who achieve quiet triumphs.

Citadel in Spring —A Novel of Youth Spent at War— AGAWA Hiroyuki translated by Lawrence Rogers

Published in Japanese in 1949, Citadel in Spring is, at its heart, an autobiographical novel of the author's life from university through induction into the Imperial Japan Navy, assignment to intelligence service in China, and Japan's final defeat. In addition to details of actual code-breaking activities, it also paints grimly honest pictures of some of the fiercest naval battles of the war, and the horrors of the Hiroshima atomic bombing. As a witness to World War II and its effects on the people and culture of Japan, this document—although cast as fiction—is a crucial reminder of the real costs of war to a generation who have never experienced it.

The Nobility of Failure Tragic Heroes in the History of Japan Ivan Morris preface by Juliet Winters Carpenter

Alexander, Robin Hood, Wellington, George Washington... The Western literatures are packed with the stories—real and otherwise—of diverse heroes, but most of them share the common element of victory. Many of them died heroically to achieve their goals. In Japan, however, many of the most revered heroes lost their lives without achieving their goals, and in many cases fought their battles in full realization that they would end in abject defeat and death.

This cultural background remains a bedrock underlying the modern Japanese psyche, and continues to shape the Japanese as individuals and a society even today, unconsciously, in the same way the West is still affected by the myths and legends passed down from Greece and Rome.

Long recognized as a core book in any study of Japanese culture and literature, The Nobility of Failure examines the lives and deaths of nine historical individuals who faced overwhelming odds, and, realizing they were doomed, accepted their fate--to be killed in battle or by execution, to wither in exile, or to escape through ritual suicide. Morris then turns his attention to the kamikaze pilots of World War II, who gave their lives in defense of their nation in the full realization that their deaths would have little effect on the course of the war.
Through detail, crystal-clear prose and unmatched narrative sweep and brilliance, Professor Morris takes you into the innermost hearts of the Japanese people.

Supported by extensive notes and bibliography, the chapters cover:

• Yamato Takeru
• Yorozu
• Arima no Miko
• Sugawara no Michizane
• Minamoto no Yoshitsune
• Kusunoki Masashige
• Amakusa Shirō
• Ōshio Heihachirō
• Saigō Takamori
• and the kamikaze fighters of World War II

Yamato Andrew Clare

Yamato is a tense alternative-history thriller set in 1953 during the American occupation of Japan. Lieutenant Harvey Brice, an army intelligence officer, is found in his apartment with a bullet in his head. But was it suicide or homicide? World-weary CIA agent Ralph Carnaby, together with his Japanese-American sidekick, Dan Morita, are unwittingly drawn into a conspiracy which is unfolding in the very heart of the occupation headquarters in Tokyo—a conspiracy which ultimately threatens to change the course of Japan's postwar history. With a style reminiscent of Robert Harris' Fatherland, Clare weaves a web of intrigue and espionage which sees Carnaby and his fellow agents pitted against internal rivalries, yakuza gangsters, and a far more menacing and invisible force, in a nail-biting race against time.

On the Brink: The Inside Story of Fukushima Daiichi KADOTA Ryūshō translated by Simon Varnam technical supervision by Akira Tokuhiro

March 11, 2011.

The Tōhoku earthquake struck just before three on a Friday afternoon. Massive earthquake damage was followed by tsunami rising to heights of 40 meters that swept 10km inland, scouring the land of homes, schools, communities, and people. The earthquake and tsunami alone were disasters of incredible proportion, resulting in over 15,000 deaths, over 100,000 buildings destroyed, and economic losses estimated as high as $235 billion by the World Bank.

And that was only the natural disaster.

The manmade disaster began the same day, as the tsunami swept over the seawall of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, flooding the facility and destroying much of its equipment, including its onsite emergency power generators. Cut off from all external power sources, the reactors and spent fuel-rod assemblies began to overheat. Three reactors suffered meltdowns. Hydrogen gas explosions blew apart the outer containment buildings on three reactors. And the world watched as Japan struggled to bring the situation under control before the worst scenario came to pass.

Despite further natural and manmade obstacles, the men and women at the plant succeeded in their efforts, gradually bringing the reactors under control, restoring power, and edging back, one inch at a time, from the very brink of disaster.

This is their story, based on extensive interviews with the people who fought and won that battle, and especially with Masao Yoshida, the man who drove them all to get the job done.

Here at last is the inside story of what they faced, what resources and information they had to work with, and why they made the decisions they did.

Blue Bamboo: Tales by Dazai Osamu DAZAI Osamu translated by Ralph McCarthy

Scholars and fans often divide the career of Dazai Osamu (1909–1948) into three periods: early, middle, and late. The early and late periods tend to get all the attention, but in fact Dazai was at his very best in the middle period, which corresponds roughly to the years of the Pacific War. All the stories in this collection, with the exception of the early "Romanesque," were written during that time.

The majority of these translations were first published by Kodansha International in 1993, as Blue Bamboo: Tales of Fantasy and Romance, which has been out of print for decades now. The prior translations have been massively revised by the translator, and new material added to make this a book that reveals an intelligent and humorous Dazai seldom encountered in existing English translations.

• On Love and Beauty
• The Chrysanthemum Spirit
• The Mermaid and the Samurai
• Blue Bamboo
• Alt Heidelberg
• Romanesque
• Lanterns of Romance

Rivers MIYAMOTO Teru translated by Roger K. Thomas and Ralph McCarthy

Miyamoto Teru has established a considerable and devoted following in Japan, and is rapidly building a devoted readership in other Asian countries and parts of Europe as his fiction is translated into various languages. With only a few of his works currently available in English, however, Anglophone readers have for the most part been unaware of the "Teru" literary phenomenon. This book brings together his most famous work, the superlative Rivers Sequence: "Muddy River," which was published in 1977 and won the 78th Akutagawa Prize; "River of Fireflies," published the following year and promptly winning the 13th Dazai Osamu Prize; and "River of Lights," also published in 1978 but later extensively rewritten and expanded into a novel. All three works have been released as major films in Japan.

Rivers explores the perennial themes of Miyamoto's fiction, drawing extensively on his own childhood in working-class Osaka neighborhoods to recreate a vivid and powerful world with consummate skill. While he frequently deals with perennial themes of life, death, and loss, his writing is touched with a pathos and humor to bring out the essential humanity of each character. Like the depressed areas described in much of his fiction, his characters too are often "left behind" by post-war Japan's rapid economic growth, by unexpected changes in their lives, or by the deaths of loved ones. His heroes are ordinary people who, as he puts it, "are trying to lift themselves up, who are struggling to live," and who achieve quiet triumphs.

• Muddy River (泥の河), tr. Ralph McCarthy
• River of Fireflies (蛍川), tr. Ralph McCarthy
• River of Lights (道頓堀川), tr. Roger Thomas

Edogawa Rampo: The Early Cases of Akechi Kogorō EDOGAWA Rampo translated by William Varteresian

Akechi Kogorō, detective extraordinaire.

In Japan, this is a name that fires the hearts and imaginations of readers young at heart. Cool and sophisticated, Akechi moves effortlessly through the world of Japan in the golden era between the wars, defeating masterminds and saving the day. He has been the hero of Japanese children for generations, and starred in a host of movies.

The stories in this volume predate all of that; his secret origin, if you will. Readers familiar with the exploits of the great detective Akechi Kogorō might have some difficulty recognizing the impeccably dressed and universally respected man of action in the amateur detective, an eccentric twenty-something of little means with disheveled hair and a shabby kimono. The Akechi who appears in this volume is a hobbyist in crime whose identity is not yet fixed either in the eyes of the reading public or in the mind of his creator. Supporting characters such as Akechi's wife and his young assistant have not yet been introduced, and the first confrontation between the great detective and the Fiend with Twenty Faces is still a decade away.

Rampo initially conceived of Akechi Kogorō only as a protagonist for 'The Case of the Murder on D___ Hill,' never intending to make further use of the character, but the positive reactions of Rampo's friends and colleagues prompted him to make Akechi a recurring protagonist in his detective fiction. The first five Akechi mysteries, 'The Case of the Murder on D___ Hill,' 'The Psychological Test,' 'The Black Hand Gang,' 'The Ghost,' and 'The Stalker in the Attic,' were all published in the first half of 1925 as part of Rampo's first serial for Shin-Seinen magazine.

• The Case of the Murder on D Hill 「D坂の殺人事件」
• The Black Hand Gang 「黒手組」
• The Ghost 「幽霊」
• The Dwarf 「一寸法師」

Teiunshū: Wandering Clouds ANESAKI Masaharu translated by Susanna Fessler

Masaharu Anesaki (1873-1949) was a leading member of Japan’s most interesting generation: the second generation of Meiji scholars, who lived in a highly-educated if not rarefied world that blended Japanese and Western traditions in a way that made them unique in their country’s long history.

Following our first-English publication of Hanatsumi nikki, his neglected classic of travel writing, philosophy, history, and comparative religion, we are delighted to be able to offer the second volume of his fascinating examination of America, Europe, and India in the very first years of the 20th century. For scholars and general readers both, here is a glimpse into the mind of modern Japan as it stood at the crossroads of modernity, and a look into a very different, and gentler, West viewed through Japanese eyes.

Anesaki kept a detailed diary of his travels around the world, including one journey on a travel grant from the Kahn Foundation, a philanthropic organization that funded scholars’ overseas travel in the interest of promoting international understanding.

Published in 1909, Teiunshū combines the records of several trips, opening a window into his thoughts on art, human life, European and Japanese culture, Buddhism, Christianity, and faith. Anesaki was a leading member of a generation of educated, humanistic, and surprisingly global Japanese scholars and intellectuals who helped to introduce Japan to the West. He also attempted to integrate his understanding of Western culture in his own study of Japanese religion.

Oh, Tama! KANAI Mieko translated by Tomoko Aoyama and Paul McCarthy

Oh, Tama! takes the reader deep into the haphazard lives of Natsuyuki, the protagonist, and his loosely connected circle of dysfunctional acquaintances and family. Trying to keep some semblance of order and decency in his life, working as an occasional freelance photographer, Natsuyuki is visited by his delinquent friend Alexandre, who unexpectedly entrusts him with his sister's pregnant cat, Tama. Despite his initial protests, Natsuyuki accepts his new responsibility and cares compassionately for Tama and her kittens.

Hanatsumi Nikki—The Flowers of Italy ANESAKI Masaharu translated by Susanna Fessler

Masaharu Anesaki (1873-1949) was a leading member of Japan’s most interesting generation: the second generation of Meiji scholars, who lived in a highly-educated if not rarefied world that blended Japanese and Western traditions in a way that made them unique in their country’s long history.

This neglected classic of travel writing, philosophy, history, and comparative religion has been out of print in Japan for nearly a century. Its publication in English translation will open a fascinating vista for scholars and general readers, into the mind of modern Japan — as it stood at the crossroads of modernity.

In the late fall of 1907, Anesaki left Japan to travel around the world on a travel grant from the Kahn Foundation, a philanthropic organization that funded scholars’ overseas travel in the interest of promoting international understanding. Three months of his journey in the spring of 1908 were spent in Switzerland and Italy. He wrote at length about his experience, focusing on a few key subjects: St. Francis of Assisi, whom he admired, the painter Fra Angelico, whom he also admired, and their connection (as he saw it) to the Japanese Buddhist saint Hōnen.

Published in 1909, Hanatsumi Nikki is the record of his travels in Italy. But it is more than a memoir: it is an extended meditation on art, human life, European and Japanese culture, Buddhism, Christianity, and faith. Anesaki was a leading member of a generation of Japanese scholars and public intellectuals who helped to introduce Japan to the West. He also attempted to integrate his understanding of Western culture in his own study of Japanese religion. The full range of his erudition, sensibility, and passionate humanity shines through the pages of The Flowers of Italy.

This translation by Susanna Fessler includes the text of Anesaki’s article ‘How Christianity Appeals to a Japanese Buddhist’.

The Erinys Incident TANI Kōshū translated by Simon Varnam

Erinys, tiny moon of Uranus, home to a tinier and almost forgotten colony. Left behind in the debris of the failed Outer Planet Revolt in 2099, Erinys is quietly decaying. For the hunted remnants of the Outer Planet Alliance (OPA), however, it offers a potential hiding place, and, possibly, a way to independence for the Outer Planets.

With a highly detailed background, realistic technology, and convincing characters, The Erinys Incident is a fascinating journey from deep in the gravity well of the sun, to lonely outposts far beyond the rings of Saturn.

When it comes to gritty, realistic Space Opera, Tani Kōshū's name is always high on the list. With an extensive future history stretching from the early 21st century (and already partially overwritten by the pace of history!) into the far future, he writes of people and spaceships with quirks and "issues," facing life-and-death problems with creativity and dogged determination. Tani's first story in English, "Q-Cruiser Basilisk," was published to acclaim in Speculative Japan Volume 2, and Erinys reveals another part of his saga of the development of starfaring humanity. The author is currently revising his works to take recent astronomical discoveries (and technological developments) into account, and continuing to write new adventures set in the same universe.

Long Belts and Thin Men: The Postwar Stories of Kojima Nobuo translated by Lawrence Rogers

Kojima Nobuo is best-known in English for his outstanding novella, "Amerikan sukuuru" (1954, "The American School"), which earned the Akutagawa Prize that year. Strongly affected by World War II and the postwar era, his style evolved into a powerful, often painfully honest satire depicting the Japanese male as a Milquetoast, under the thumbs of women and society in general. Influenced by Gogol and other giants of Russian literature, Kojima's style and technique immerse the reader in the doubts and dilemmas of his characters to powerful effect.

Kojima's award-winning story, "The American School," depicts the visit of a group of Japanese English-language teachers to an international school for the children of Americans and others living in Japan. The reactions of the educators as they walk four miles to the school and come into contact with transplanted American culture for the first time are both touching and comical; the perfect satire. Many of his stories from this period deal with the irony, pain, and internal turmoil of men who have not come to grips with the society of post-War Japan, or their place within it.

In addition to "The American School," this volume contains a number of his other important works, illuminating the trials faced by the Japanese following World War II, individually and as a society, through the eyes of a succession of world-weary and ineffectual protagonists.

• The Rifle (小銃)
• The Smile (微笑)
• Voices (声)
• The American School (アメリカン・スクール)
• The Black Flame (黒い炎)
• Buffoon in an Alien Land (異郷の道化師)
• A Certain Day (或る一日)
• The House of the Hooligans (狼藉者のいる家)
• In Our Forties (四十代)

Tokyo Decadence: 15 Stories by Murakami Ryu translated by Ralph McCarthy

A cream-of-the-crop selection of Murakami's brilliance and piercing wit.
This collection shows sides of Ryu Murakami that even avid fans may not be expecting.

The intriguing, somewhat disturbing stories that Topaz was based on are included here, as are three entertaining and revealing portraits of the artist as a young man back in the Transparent Blue period of the late sixties and early seventies. We hear tales told by four very different individuals living in eighties Tokyo, each with his or her own problems but all with a thing about a certain pro baseball player, and we meet a brokenhearted young woman who finds an unexpected moment of love in the nineties and a single mother who stumbles on a ray of hope in the hard times of the noughties.

Mixed in there somewhere are three linked stories about desire and obsession, with the timeless, seductive rhythms of Cuban music in the background.

From Run, Takahashi! (1986, 走れ！タカハシ)

• Whenever I Sit at a Bar Drinking Like This (カウンターで飲んでいる時、いつも思うのだが、バーテンダーというのは何と崇高なのだろう)
• I Am a Novelist (私は小説家である)
• It All Started Just About a Year and a Half Ago (あれはちょうど一年半くらい前のことだった)
• Each Time I Read Your Confession (調書を全部何回読んでも、わからん事がある、どうしてお前はあの女を殺さなかったんだ？)

From Topaz (1988, トパーズ)

• Topaz (トパーズ)
• Lullaby (子守唄)
• Penlight (ペンライト)

From Ryu's Cinematheque (1995, 村上龍映画小説)

• The Last Picture Show (ラストショー)
• The Wild Angels (ワイルドエンジェル)
• La Dolce Vita (甘い生活)

From Swans (1997, 白鳥)

• Swans (白鳥)
• Historia de un Amor (或る恋のものがたり)
• Se Fué (彼女は行ってしまった)
• All of Me (わたしのすべてを)

From At the Airport (2003, 空港にて)

• At the Airport (空港にて)

Mr. Turtle KITANO Yusaku translated by Tyran Grillo

In a world of humans, what's a cyborg turtle to do?

It's a fair question in the bizarre, compelling story of Mr. Turtle.
Yusaku Kitano's science fiction masterpiece, originally published under the eponymous title Kame-kun, renews the visionary integrity that won it the Nihon SF Taisho (Japan's equivalent of the Nebula) Award in 2001 as it finds its way into English at last. Kitano's protagonist is a hero in a half shell of an altogether different sort, a killing machine designed for combat who wants only to enjoy the simple pleasures of his daily life—working a blue collar job, going to the library, and typing on his laptop—even as he is haunted by vague memories of a war on Jupiter.

In order to determine his future, he must piece together his past, navigating an unsympathetic society toward revealing the novel's philosophical heartbeat. A character study of surreal wit, Mr. Turtle delivers action and insight, all the while crafting an homage to its chosen genre unlike any other.

Speculative Japan 4: "Pearls for Mia" and Other Tales

The fourth book of our well-received Speculative Japan series introduces new talents from Japan, and fresh new stories by some of the outstanding authors we've introduced to the English-speaking world already. From deep in the mountains of the Japanese countryside to the plains of frigid Pluto, from a warm South Pacific isle to a freezing mountainside, to Mars or inside a lonely psyche... a positive smorgasbord of speculative enjoyment, in English for the first time!

ASAMATSU Ken "Genesis: Dark Birth - Shining Death"
朝松 健 「一休暗夜行・発端　暗生/明死」
translated by Tyran GRILLO

AZUMA Hiroki "The Fish in Chryse"
東 浩紀 「クリュセの魚」
translated by Ginny Tapley TAKEMORI

HANMURA Ryo "The Sparrow Valley"
半村 良 「雀谷」
translated by Nick JOHN
This translation won the 2015 Kurodahan Press Translation Prize.

HORI Akira "Encounters on the Solar Wind"
堀 晃　「太陽風交点」
translated by Daniel HUDDLESTON

INOUE Masahiko "Last Words"
井上 雅彦 「残されていた文字」
translated by Iain ARTHY
This translation won the 2014 Kurodahan Press Translation Prize.

KAJIO Shinji 　"Pearls for Mia"
梶尾 真治 「美亜へ贈る真珠」
translated by Milo BARISOF

KOBAYASHI Yasumi "Prototype No. 3"
小林 泰三 「試作品三号」
translated by Nora Stevens HEATH

MAKINO Osamu "Dancing Babylon"
牧野 修 「踊るバビロン」
translated by William ADAMS

MASE Junko "The Ebb and Flow of the Aurora Sea"
間瀬 純子 「オーロラの海の満ち干」
translated by Keith ROELLER

MINAGAWA Hiroko "Morceaux"
皆川 博子 「断章」
translated by Milo BARISOF
This translation won the 2013 Kurodahan Press Translation Prize.

SUZUKI Miekichi "Nightfall"
鈴木 三重吉 「たそがれ」
translated by Lawrence E. TURNER
This translation won the 2016 Kurodahan Press Translation Prize.

TAKAHASHI Takako "Communion"
高橋 たか子 「交わり」
translated by Lucy NORTH

TSUKIMURA Ryoe "The Burning House"
月村 了衛 「機龍警察 火宅」
translated by Pamela IKEGAMI

UEDA Sayuri "Vermilion"
上田 早夕里 「真朱の街」
translated by Jim HUBBERT

YAMADA Masaki "Matsui Seimon, on the Case"
山田 正紀 「松井清衛門、推参つかまつる」
translated by Kevin STEINBACH

Bullseye! TSUTSUI Yasutaka translated by Andrew Driver

A new collection of stories by Tsutsui Yasutaka, famed in Japan and worldwide for his darkly humorous, satirical handling of a vast range of themes central to the human condition. Although often criticized for his treatment of "taboo" subjects such as disabilities, the Emperor, and old age, he is also recognized as one of the founders of post-modern science fiction in Japan.

A number of his works have been published to widespread acclaim in English including The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Salmonella Men on Planet Porno, and Paprika.

• Bullseye
• Call for the Devil!
• The Onlooker
• It’s My Baby
• Zarathustra on Mars
• Having a Laugh
• The Good Old Days
• Running Man
• Sleepy Summer Afternoon
• Cross Section
• Narcissism
• Sadism
• The Wind
• A Vanishing Dimension
• Oh! King Lear
• Meta Noir
• The Agency Maid
• The Night they Played Hide and Seek
• The Countdown Clock
• Animated Realism

Into A Black Sun KAIKO Takeshi translated by Cecilia Segawa Seigle

Recognized as the author's finest work, Into A Black Sun blurs the line between literature and journalism, drawing on his experiences as a war correspondent in Vietnam to present an immersive depiction of the war. This is not a combat novel, but rather an Asian perspective on one of the wars that shaped modern America.

He tells his stories of the men and women of the land, of the conflicted turmoil of their beliefs and lives and deaths, through prose brought to life through the five senses, realizing the jungles, brothels, and camps of the Vietnam War, with the diverse people entrapped by it.

And in the telling, he reveals the enormous contradictions that the war revealed in friend and foe alike.

Beneath the Sleepless Tossing of the Planets: Selected Poems ŌOKA Makoto translated by Janine Beichman

One of the most important poets of contemporary Japan, Makoto Ōoka's works continue to resonate powerfully among readers today. He speaks to the spirit, not of Japan and the Japanese, but of humanity, and of the world we are a part of.

Winner of the 2019-2020 Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature. It is an honor and a delight to be able to bring such an important work to the English language, and to re-introduce the genius of the author, Ōoka Makoto, to the community of global literature.

This new edition brings together some of his best work in English translation by Janine Beichman, who worked with Ōoka for many years. Also included are the original Japanese poems, the author's own calligraphy and drafts, and selected photographs from his personal life... a book to be savored for a depth and beauty that surpasses any single cultural identity.

When I Was a Wolf Outlaw Takes on Fables and Fairy Tales TERAYAMA Shūji translated by Elizabeth L. Armstrong

First published in 1982, this delightful collection of essays and rewrites reinterprets, from a nonconformist perspective, such well-known and canonical Western stories as Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Mother Goose stories, and Aesop’s fables.

Like Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber, the author "breaks open classic fairy tales to find new things in them." Both Carter and Terayama give the tales a radical twist laced with dark taboo-violating undertones. The first half of this book includes Terayama’s subversive analysis of such stories as The Emperor’s New Clothes, The Bremen Town Musicians, Pinocchio, and Puss in Boots. In the latter half, he offers his own rewrites of Thumbelina, Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella. In every case, he turns the story on its head, and then having thrown the reader off balance, asks them to follow him into new territory of unorthodox interpretation, arguing that the conventional interpretation of a story we have read for pleasure since childhood is ill-conceived and thoughtless.

Vampiric: Tales of Blood and Roses from Japan

Japan has always had its own vampire tradition, and has eagerly naturalized Western vampires and vampire literature to produce exotic new hybrids and species of horror, of terror, and of sensual, exquisite beauty. Here are a few of their masterpieces.

The Japanese word for vampire is kyūketsuki, which translates literally to "blood-sucking monster," but the literary tradition is far, far more complex.

The practice of Buddhism permeates Japan, and burials are almost always by cremation... leaving the Count and his relatives with no coffins to sleep in! But there is more than one way to sip a little blood, as these authors reveal. Thanks to Bram Stoker, Christopher Lee, and countless others who have popularized the Western vampire, modern Japanese authors have an extensive range of traditions and tales to weave into their own creations.

• Masaya SHIMOKUSU — "A Cultural Dynasty of Beautiful Vampires: Japan’s Acceptance, Modifications, and Adaptations of Vampires"
• INOUE Masahiko—"Blue Lady"
  井上 雅彦 「ブルー・レディ」
  translated by Neil WEBB
• ASUKABE Katsunori — "Kingdom"
  飛鳥部 勝則 「王国」
  translated by Laura Woolley DOMINGUEZ
• KIKUCHI Hideyuki — "The Stone Castle"
  菊地 秀行 「石の城」
  translated by Jonathan BUNT
• OKAMOTO Kidō — "The One-Legged Woman"
  岡本 綺堂 「一本足の女」
  translated by Neil WEBB
• HIKAGE Jōkichi — "Vampire"
  日影 丈吉 「吸血鬼」
  translated by Jo ASH
• ASAMATSU Ken — "The Crimson Cloak"
  朝松 健 「緋衣」
  translated by Aragorn QUINN
• SUNAGA Asahiko — "Vow"
  須永 朝彦 「契」
  translated by Irit WEINBERG
• KAJIO Shinji — "The Husk Heir"
  梶尾 真治 「干し若」
  translated by Ben CAGAN
• KAMON Nanami — "A Piece of Butterfly's Wing"

加門 七海 「蝶の断片」
translated by Angus TURVILL
This translation won the 2011 Kurodahan Press Translation Prize.

• OKUDA Tetsuya — "Unnatural"
  奥田 哲也 「非業」
  translated by Hayley SCANLON
• IINO Fumihiko — "Paradise Missing"
  飯野 文彦 「楽園回帰」
  translated by Lucy GALBRAITH
• FUKUZAWA Tetsuzō — "Dracula’s House"
  福澤 徹三 「ドラキュラの家」
  translated by Irit WEINBERG
• KONAKA Chiaki — "Birth of a Vampire"
  小中 千昭 「吸血魔の生誕」
  translated by Lauren BARRETT
• MIKAWA Yū — "Halvires"
  三川 祐 「混血の夜の子供とその兄弟達」
  translated by Jonathan BUNT
• INOUE Masahiko — "Parasol"
  井上 雅彦 「パラソル」
  translated by YAN Yijun
  This translation won the 2018 Kurodahan Press Translation Prize.

The majority of the stories in this book were translated through a translation program hosted by the School of Modern Languages at Cardiff University, which culminated in a translation workshop in April 2019. The program is designed to nurture the development of new translators by providing them with hands-on experience in the commercial literary translation process. Translators were paired with mentors experienced in translating fiction for publication and who assisted them in refining their translations.

Strokes of Brush and Blade Tales of the Samurai Selected by Edward Lipsett

The samurai were more than just warriors, although of course when war came they were ready. For a thousand years they were, in a very real sense, the glue that held Japan together through all the emperors and shoguns who wielded the power.

While many children in the West grew up with The Lone Ranger or Bonanza, and newer generations instead rooted for Adam-12 or CSI, in Japan the heroes wore topknots and swords: Abarenbō Shogun, Tōyama no Kin-san, and the other sword-wielding heroes of Old Japan.

The tradition of the samurai remains an integral part of Japanese society even today, constituting a social background as pervasive as the archetypal cowboy or cop in America. But there was a lot more to their lives than just waving swords...

This anthology brings together some of the best authors in the genre today, with immersive tales that will transport you back to the good old days, in Japan.

• AKIYAMA Kano 秋山 香乃
  Izō 「以蔵」
  translated by Pamela Ikegami
• ARAYAMA Tōru 荒山 徹
  The Fox Sword, Unbroken 「狐剣は摧れず」
  translated by Tyran Grillo
• ASAMATSU Ken 朝松 健
  Zui 「甤（ずい）」
  translated by Dan Luffey
• ASHIBE Taku 芦辺 拓
  The Mummy and the Unicorn 「木乃伊とウニコール」
  translated by Nancy Ross
• HAYAMI Shun 早見 俊
  Ieyasu’s Scroll 「神君の掛け軸」
  translated by Richard Donovan
• HAYAMI Shun 早見 俊
  The Demise of Yoshitatsu 「義龍最期の日」
  translated by Matthew Carpenter
• HONDA Ryūichi 誉田 龍一
  Seppuku 「切腹」
  translated by Nick John
• KAMIYA Masanari 神家 正成
  Left-Hand Man 「添え手」
  translated by Steve Venti
• KANBARA Jirō 蒲原 二郎
  The Princess Is the First Spear 「姫こそが一番槍」
  translated by Kristi Fernandez
• KARIGINU Yayoi 狩衣 弥生
  The Thirteenth Night 「十三夜」
  translated by Ralph McCarthy
• KATAKURA Izumo 片倉 出雲
  Throw the Witness in the River! 「証人は濁流に流せ」
  translated by Kevin Steinbach
• NIIMI Ken 新美 健
  The Three Retirees of Komachi Row House 「古町長屋の三隠居」
  translated by James Balzer
• SUZUKI Ayako 鈴木 彩子
  Memento Mori 「忘れ形見」
  translated by Sharni Wilson
• SUZUKI Eiji 鈴木 英治
  Lingering Fragrance 「残り香」
  translated by Richard Medhurst
• YATSU Yaguruma 谷津 矢車
  The Contest 「通し矢をもう一度」
  translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter

Kthulhu Reich ASAMATSU Ken translated by Jim Rion

World War II was a world-spanning conflict that engulfed dozens of countries, a maelstrom that dragged nations and religions and millions of people to their deaths.
But it was fought with more than merely guns and machines...

Even before the War was begun in earnest, Nazi Germany had sent expeditions to the darkest hiding places of the world: to shadowed Africa, to the towering peaks of Tibet, and even to the frigid wastes of Antarctica. Their goal was to locate occult weaponry and "aid" for the glory of the Third Reich.

And they were successful.

But were those they sought truly allies? Or were they the old Gods themselves, waiting for their chance to remold the world of Man in their own image once again?

This collection of related stories is another masterpiece of the War, the Cthulhu Mythos, and humanity trapped in the middle.

The Sheltering Rain HANMURA Ryō translated by Jim Hubbert

A diverse cross-section of Japan passes through the bar Lui, and the bartender tends to them all, with all their hopes and their fears. Underneath the black suits—whether crumpled or designer—and the cosmetics, they're all people on the way to somewhere else in Tokyo's glittering boom era. The bartenders and Mama-sans who keep everything running smoothly rely on their own camaraderie, night after night.
Winner of the 1975 Naoki Prize.

Amayadori (雨やどり) originally appeared as a series of short stories in various magazines from 1973–74, later compiled into this book as Amayadori, with the subtitle "Shinjuku baka monogatari," which could be roughly translated as "Tales of Shinjuku naifs." Written while Japan was close to the peak of the post-War economic boom, Hanmura captures the "economic animals" of Japan, and the countless men and women in their periphery who kept the bars and cabarets running all night long to let them blow off steam.

Japan of the 21st century is vastly different, and Hanmura's depiction of a very different era is still popular among those who fondly remember "the way it used to be." While the settings have changed and smartphones provide new modes of interaction, the same archetypical salesmen, bartenders, and bargirls still haunt the night spots of Tokyo, searching for something better.

Somehow, Crystal TANAKA Yasuo translated by Christopher Smith

A journey into the carefree, today-centric generation of Japan's economic boom years, as they enjoy the cosmopolitan lifestyle of Tokyo while exploring new dimensions in Japanese society and self-image. It won the coveted Bungei Prize partly because it was so completely different from the relatively staid, traditional literature of the time, but also because it served as a guide into the evolving world of a rich, global, commercialized nation and a younger generation who grew up never knowing war.

Winner of the 1980 Bungei Prize
Finalist for the 1981 Akutagawa Prize.

The Japanese students inhabiting these pages pursue pleasure, fashion, and the recognition of their peers, forging new senses of identity through brand-name goods and music, but even as they drift from encounter to encounter they remain aloof from serious involvement, isolated from the essential interactions and demands of Japanese society. The book is clearly a product of the time, with a bewildering array of names and events that fix it in the young college scene of the 70s and 80s, and presents a dazzling cross-section of a generation.

Gold Mask EDOGAWA Rampo translated by William Varteresian

Gold Mask is Edogawa Rampo's sixth novel featuring detective Akechi Kogorō, as he investigates the crime spree of the uncanny costumed “Gold Mask.” Lovers of crime fiction will be delighted to discover that this resourceful thief, confounding Akechi’s every move, is none other than Maurice Leblanc's famous "gentleman burglar," Arsene Lupin! Given Lupin's obvious influence on Rampo's own Fiend with Twenty Faces, this work serves as a fascinating precursor to his Boy Detectives series, and marks another major step in the development of Japanese detective fiction in the period between the Wars.

The novel was originally published as a newspaper serial in 1930-31, and has since been collected and released by a variety of publishers, including a revised children's edition from Poplar as part of the Boy Detectives series and in the definitive Kōbunsha edition of Rampo's complete works, on which this translation is based.

Obey Not Know Essays on Japanese Law and Society Colin Jones

Like many things Japanese, the Japanese legal system has its peculiarities... and Professor Jones applies his decades of legal and teaching experience to shed light on its mysteries. As with most legal systems there is method to its madness, and while the reasoning behind it all is a bit different from the approaches of Western nations, it works. Usually.

Based on the author's long-running feature in The Japan Times, the book offers a selection of his most important columns, plus other articles drawn from numerous sources, and including a number of never-before published pieces. Older articles have been updated to reflect more recent developments, but remain vitally important to understanding how things work in Japan. And in spite of being written by an attorney, the book is in everyday English, peppered with entertaining and sometimes stinging asides.

Here, at last, is a glimpse into the Japanese legal system, ideal for foreign residents of Japan as well as legal researchers and practitioners.

West of Innsmouth: A Cthulhu Western KIKUCHI Hideyuki translated by Jim Rion

Bounty hunter Shooter searches the badlands of 1880s Kansas for four outlaws—the “Dreams Made Flesh” minions born of the fleeting thoughts of Cthulhu—and manages to shoot one, but the outlaw’s corpse vanishes to leave only mysteries: he shot bullet after bullet, but never reloaded, and his gun was icy cold.

In Dodge City he meets up with Bat Masterson, Doc Holiday, and Wyatt Earp, employing the powers of the Esoteric Order of Dagon to kill the four Dreams before they attract undue attention to the Church’s own attempts to awaken the Master.
The shootout at the OK Corral will decide the victor—and possibly the fate of humanity.

A unique mash-up blending two of America’s favorite literary genres—the western and the Cthulhu Mythos—with a dash of Japanese ninja for added zest, brought to life with the humor and bold imagination that made his Vampire Hunter D series such a success in English translation.

The Cthulhu Helix UMEHARA Katsufumi Translated by Jim Hubbert

"DNA contains two types of base pair sequences. Exons are meaningful templates for making proteins. Introns are meaningless, random sequences. Yet introns account for ninety-five percent of human DNA. Why is such a huge proportion of the genome reserved for useless code?"

What if all that genetic information wasn't really useless? What if it was put there by someone, something, in the impossibly distant past, for a purpose? And what if humanity's interest in understanding and engineering human DNA unlocks something that should have remained hidden?

Award-winning science fiction author Umehara Katsufumi drags you screaming into a darker future as the monsters of our own genetic code come to life, revealing all too clearly humanity's fatal misunderstanding of its place in the universe... and its very reason for existence, weaving the Cthulhu Mythos, genetic engineering, and the battle against extinction into a masterpiece of horror.

The first part of this book was originally published in Shibano Takumi's famous Uchujin fanzine, promptly winning the 9th SF Fanzine Award, and the book was nominated for both the Mystery Writers of Japan Award and the Seiun Award.

The cover to this edition is by Noriyoshi Ohrai, and was originally used on the first book edition, published in 1993 by Asashi Sonorama as a matched, 2-volume edition. Both books had "ELI ELI LAMA SABACHTANI" printed across the front cover.

Okamoto Kidō: Master of the Uncanny OKAMOTO Kidō translated by Nancy H. Ross

Born just after Japan transitioned from the Shogunate to Meiji, Kidō grew up in a samurai-oriented world being transformed by the West in many ways. As a reporter he covered domestic developments and overseas wars, while also marrying a traditional geisha, eventually becoming a playwright and author. In addition to a number of well-received plays, he also penned more than fifty horror stories over a roughly ten-year period starting in the mid-1920s. Just prior to this period, the Great Kantō Earthquake of 1923 destroyed almost everything in Tokyo that remained from the Edo era, and Japanese horror itself was transitioning from the traditional uncanny stories to more modern horror structures.

While many of Kidō’s stories are retellings of tales from China and other nations, he also drew on a diverse range of traditions, including the heritage of Edo-era storytellers such as Ueda Akinari and Asai Ryōi, to produce a dazzling array of work covering the entire spectrum from time-honored ghost tropes to modern horror. The majority of his stories were collected in four volumes: Seiadō kidan (1926), Kindai iyō hen (1926), Iyō hen (1933), and Kaijū (1936).

Kidō remains popular for his elegant, low-key style, subtly introducing the “other” into the background, and raising the specter of the uncanny indirectly and often indistinctly. His fiction spans an enormous range of material, much of it dealing with the uncanny, and as a pioneer in the field his work formed the foundation for the new generation of Japanese authors emerging in post-Restoration literature.

This selection presents a dozen of his best stories: pieces which remain in print almost a century later, and continue to enchant readers—and writers—today. Finally, English-reading audiences can enjoy his strange visions as well.

• The Kiso Traveler (木曽の旅人)
• The Green Frog God (青蛙神)
• Tone Crossing (利根の渡)
• The Monkey’s Eyes (猿の眼)
• The Snake Spirit (蛇精)
• The Clear-Water Well (清水の井)
• Crabs (蟹)
• The One-Legged Woman (一本足の女)
• Here Lies a Flute (笛塚)
• The Shadow-Stepping Game (影を踏まれた女)
• The White-Haired Demon (白髪鬼)
• The Man Cursed by an Eel (鰻に呪われた男)

Lonely people trapped in webs of their own design, seeking hope, love, forgiveness, validation... Five stories reveal the innermost hopes and fears of ordinary women, and men, facing the demands of others and of themselves in cool marriage and cold betrayal, exploring new avenues through new encounters.

Mukōda, renowned for her piercing depictions of loneliness, family, and inner turmoil, examines the roles of women and the 'man of the house,' whether husband, father, or even daughter. Her work explores the pain lurking in unmet expectations of family and love, and the resilience of women and men in finding purpose where none is forthcoming.

Beyond the Mountains of Madness Edited by Robert M. Price

Antarctica… a frozen wasteland of penguins, blinding ice and snow, and blizzards to kill the unprepared in minutes. But it is an ancient land, with ancient secrets, mysteries that humanity is only beginning to glimpse. HP Lovecraft introduced the world to the terrifying reality of this lonely continent in his famous novella, At the Mountains of Madness, and now a new team of intrepid authors follows in his footsteps.

New dimensions of horror will send chills up your spine, from the pens of Ken Asamatsu, Glynn Owen Barrass, Pierre Comtois, Laurence J. Cornford, Cody Goodfellow, C.J. Henderson, Willie Meikle, Edward Morris, William Patrick Murray, Joe Pulver, Mark Rainey, Peter Rawlik, and Brian M. Sammons, with a special guest appearance by Weird Tales legend John Martin Leahy and an introduction by Robert M. Price.

The cover is by Steven C. Gilberts.

• Glynn Barrass “The City at the Two Magnetic Poles”
• Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. “The Second Wave of Fear”
• Pierre V. Comtois “Second Death”
• Pete Rawlik “Beneath the Mountains of Madness”
• Ken Asamatsu “The Continent of Madness”
• Laurence J. Cornford “Gedney”
• C. J. Henderson “The Pleasure in Madness”
• Brian M. Sammons “A Biting Cold”
• Cody Goodfellow “Garden of the Gods”
• Stephen Mark Rainey “The Danforth Project”
• Edward Morris “Tekeli-Li!”
• Will Murray “Static”
• William Meikle “Into the Black”
• John Martin Leahy “In Amundsen’s Tent”

In the Court of the Yellow King Edited by Glynn Owen Barrass

There was once a play with the power to drive the reader mad… or to transport him into a bizarre world of Carcosa, and the King in Yellow. Banned, burned, yet never totally destroyed, the play lives on, eating away the fabric of society and rotting the veneer of civilization… and we have prepared a special copy just for you!

Celaeno Press is delighted to announce this new anthology based on the King in Yellow Mythos

The cover is by award-winning artist Daniele Serra.
These stories garnered seven Honorable Mentions in Ellen Datlow’s recommended list in Best Horror of the Year Volume Seven:

• Glynn Owen Barrass: “Future Imperfect”
• Tim Curran: “Penumbra”
• Cody Goodfellow: “Nigredo”
• T.E. Grau: “MonoChrome”
• Laurel Halbany: “Lights Fade”
• CJ Henderson: “Yield”
• Gary McMahon: “The Yellow Film”
• William Meikle: “Bedlam in Yellow”
• Christine Morgan: “The Viking in Yellow”
• Edward Morris: “Who Killed the King of Rock and Roll?”
• Robert M Price: “The Mask of the Yellow Death”
• Wilum Pugmire: “These Harpies of Carcosa”
• Mark Rainey: “Masque of the Queen”
• Peter Rawlik: “The Sepia Prints”
• Brian Sammons: “A Jaundiced Light at the End”
• Lucy A. Snyder：”The Girl with the Star-Stained Soul”
• Jeffrey Thomas: “Grand Theft Hovercar”

Arkham Nights Glynn Owen Barrass & Ron Shiflet

Trevor and Barnes… two tough survivors of The Great War. They meet in the darkness of Arkham, friends at first sight:

I was pleased to see Towers grab the fallen gun and then stunned as he aimed it at me!
“You ungrateful asshole!” I yelled. “What’s the big . . .”

Joining forces as the Arkham Detective Agency, they fight the good fight against evil, together with the office girl, a hot dame indeed:

I looked at the white-haired heavy weight in our doorway and asked, “Who are you?” I’m real quick witted that way.
The woman stepped forward and extended a mitt that was nearly big as mine. We shook hands and I reminded myself to check my pinkie later for fractures.

And against them are rallied all the horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos…

We’d truly entered an underground world of nightmare even the sinister streets of Innsmouth couldn’t bear to hint at.
…A mass of living white grease or filth, about thirty feet wide and sloping up to around half that in height, it was covered in pink, shiny globules of various sizes. That it was alive was obvious, for it pulsed and moved rhythmically, but not naturally.

The cover is by M. Wayne Miller.

Lin Carter’s Simrana Cycle Edited and with an introduction by Robert M. Price

Lin Carter, enthralled by the “Dreamland” tales of Lord Dunsany and others, contributed to the growing genre with a series of his own stories, dubbed “The Simrana Tales.” Some of them were published in a variety of small-press magazines and other publications, but they were never collected into a book, and many tales have never been published at all.
Until now.

As Carter himself commented in his afterword to Lord Dunsany’s Beyond the Fields We Know (Ballantine), “The most Dunsanian of my fiction is the Simrana series... the name was coined many years ago and lay in my notebooks awaiting the right kind of story to occur to me.” A complete collection of his Simrana tales could hardly be called complete without including the stories that inspired him to write them in the first place: Lord Dunsany’s masterpieces of fantasy.

Thanks to Bob Price, we are proud to be able to bring out, for the first time, the complete Simrana Cycle, accompanied by outstanding stories in the genre including Dunsany’s own “The Sword of Welleran” and others; Henry Kuttner’s 1937 Weird Tales gem “The Jest of Droom-avista,” and new stories by leading authors in the field: Gary Myers, Darrell Schweitzer, Adrian Cole, Charles Garofalo, and Glynn Barrass. Thanks to J. David Spurlock and Barry Klugerman, the book also features a series of six ink drawings by Roy G. Krenkel, originally done for the publication of Carter’s “The Gods of Neol Shendis” in AMRA No. 41.

The fantastic tales of Dunsany and his compatriots were snapped up by avid readers of Weird Tales over half a century ago, taking root in the imaginations of authors and artists who continue to craft new myths and tales today.

Here’s your invitation to a world of fantasy and fable that is as alluring and thriving today as it was in the heyday of Weird Tales!

The book features a commissioned cover by Stephen Hickman, master of delicate and colorful fantasies, and was published in ebook, softcover, and hardcover editions.

Lin Carter

• Introduction
• The Gods of Nion Parma
• The Whelming of Oom
• Zingazar
• How Sargoth Lay Siege to Zaremm
• The Laughter of Han
• The Benevolence of Yib
• How Ghuth Would Have Hunted the Silth
• The Thievery of Yish
• How Her Doom Came Down at Last on Adrazoon
• How Jal Set Forth on his Journeying
• The Gods of Neol Shendis

Lin Carter & Robert M. Price

• How Shand Became King of Thieves

Lin Carter & Glynn Owen Barrass

Darrell Schweitzer

• The Philosopher Thief

Gary Myers

• The Sorcerer’s Satchel

Adrian Cole

• An Unfamiliar Familiar
• The Summoning of a Genie in Error

Charles Garofalo

Robert M. Price

• The Devil’s Mine
• The Good Simranatan
• How Thongor Conquered Zaremm

Lord Dunsany

• The River
• The Fortress Unvanquishable, Save for Sacnoth
• The Sword of Welleran
• Carcassonne
• How Nuth Would Have Practiced His Art Upon the Gnoles
• The Distressing Tale of Thangobrind the Jeweller, and of the Doom That Befel Him
• In Zaccarath
• How the Enemy Came to Thlunrana

Henry Kuttner

• The Jest of Droom Avista

What October Brings: A Lovecraftian Celebration of Halloween Edited and with an introduction by Doug Draa

Halloween, a time for laughing children in white bedsheets and superhero costumes. A time for chocolate candy, and pumpkins, and Trick-or-Treat.
A time for dark things everything to slink out of the shadows and into our lives, reminding those unlucky few that our charades of Halloween cannot erase the centuries of history and pain behind the facade…

What October Brings celebrates the dark traditions of the autumn rituals, of Halloween and Samhain, in homage to the uniquely fascinating fiction of HP Lovecraft. Masters of the short story offer you a “once in a lifetime” Trick-or-Treat experience…
…perhaps your last experience!

The commissioned cover is by acclaimed Italian painter Daniele Serra.

• Paul Dale Anderson :: That Small, Furry, Sharp-toothed Thing
• Alan Baxter :: Waters Strangely Clear
• Ran Cartwright :: The House on Jimtown Road
• Adrian Cole :: No Other God But Me
• Storm Constantine :: Down into Silence
• Tim Curran :: Spider Wasp
• Arinn Dembo :: The Old Man Down the Road
• Cody Goodfellow :: The War on Halloween
• Andre E. Harewood :: The Immortician
• Nancy Holder :: Nyarlahotep Came Down to Georgia
• Erica Ruppert :: Summer’s End
• Brian M. Sammons :: A Night for Masks
• Ann K. Schwader :: Inheritance
• Darrell Schweitzer :: Uncle’s in the Treetops
• John Shirley :: Hum—Hurt You. Hum—Hurt You. Hum—Hurt You.
• Lucy A. Snyder :: Cosmic Cola
• Chet Williamson :: Hell Among the Yearlings

The Fourth Circle Zoran ŽIVKOVIĆ translated by Mary Popović

What could a computer wizard self-exiled in an abandoned Buddhist temple possibly have in common with the humble servant of a medieval fresco painter? What is the link between the enigmatic mission of a giant radio-telescope and a tribe of spherical beings who dwell in a world full of unearthly scents and herbs? What will bring four great scientists from various centuries, Archimedes, Ludolph van Ceulen, Nikola Tesla and Stephen Hawking, to the same spot in time? What has this got to do with Rama, a female computer program, impregnated by a strange ape? And, above all, why is it necessary for Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty to join forces so that the Fourth Circle can finally be closed?

This book was also released in hardcover, using the same image redone in black.

Time Gifts Zoran ŽIVKOVIĆ translated by Alice Copple-Tošić

A mysterious visitor comes to see three desperate human beings: an astronomer in his prison cell the night before his execution for the ultimate heresy; a paleolinguist with a wasted life behind her who has been forgotten by everybody in her dusty basement office; an old watchmaker with a dark, painful spot in his past that has haunted him for decades. The visitor has a unique but ambiguous time-gift for each one of them. His true identity is only known by an insane artist locked up in her asylum atelier. But who would believe an artist in this world, even if she were not insane?

The book was also released as one of the works included in the hardcover Impossible Stories I, featuring the cover design of Seven Touches of Music redone in black.

The Book Zoran ŽIVKOVIĆ translated by Aleksandar B. Nedeljković

The Book is not quite a novel, although almost half of it takes the form of a narrative, neither is it an essay, although quite a lot of what is said in it adopts that style. It is actually closest to that rare type or “para-genre” of satirical prose embodied in the exemplary In Praise of Folly by the famous humanist from Rotterdam. Instead of the “Folly,” of human manias and absurdities, here, in a similar kind of double-talk, the books themselves “speak,” those monuments to our intelligence, ambitions and self-importance, and they primarily “speak” by making an analogy between man’s fate and that of books—to man’s detriment, of course.

This book was also released in hardcover, using the same image redone in black.

Impossible Encounters Zoran ŽIVKOVIĆ translated by Alice Copple-Tošić

Six strangely related stories about six encounters that could or should have never happened. A post mortem encounter with a clerk who has a most bizarre offer; an elusive encounter with oneself, only decades older; a seemingly innocent encounter with a bookshop visitor who is desperately looking for an ordinary SF story; a memorable encounter with God in a train which, unfortunately, has to be forgotten; a dreamlike encounter with Devil in a Church as a first step on a road which doesn’t lead to Hell; finally, a forbidden encounter of a dying author with one of his protagonists who brings an impossible book as a gift.

The book was also released as one of the works included in the hardcover Impossible Stories I, featuring the cover design of Seven Touches of Music redone in black.

Impossible Encounters Zoran ŽIVKOVIĆ translated by Alice Copple-Tošić

One of the most beloved “mosaic novels,” The Library presents a series of tales centered on our love of books—taken, at times, to extremes. A writer encounters a website where all his possible future books are on display; a lonely man faces an infinite flow of hardback books through his mailbox; an ordinary library turns by night into an archive of souls; the Devil sets about raising standards of infernal literacy; one book houses all books; a connoisseur of hardcovers strives to expel a lone paperback from his collection.

Winner of the 2003 World Fantasy Award for Best Novella!

The book was also released as one of the works included in the hardcover Impossible Stories I, featuring the cover design of Seven Touches of Music redone in black.

Steps Through the Mist Zoran ŽIVKOVIĆ translated by Alice Copple-Tošić

Five women of various ages face, each in her own way, what seems to be the deterministic trap of Fate: a freshman in a girls’ boarding school with the strange ability to share other people’s dreams; a young woman in a straitjacket, desperately trying to locate a very particular future; a middle-aged skier refusing to be just a puppet on a string; an elderly fortune-teller with insufficient faith in her own trade; finally, an old lady whose very precious alarm clock is suddenly broken. And engulfing all of them, a strange mist through which no-one can see clearly…

The book was also released as one of the works included in the hardcover Impossible Stories I, featuring the cover design of Seven Touches of Music redone in black.

Compartments Zoran ŽIVKOVIĆ translated by Alice Copple-Tošić

On a strange train journey, in a series of six compartments, a traveller experiences unpredictable encounters, culminating in a meeting of epiphanic power. Through a narrative of dreamlike sharpness Compartments taps into the fears and absurdities, the beauties and mysteries of the unconscious mind, to achieve a consummation both moving and full of hope.

This book was also released in hardcover, using the same image redone in black.

Four Stories Till the End Zoran ŽIVKOVIĆ translated by Alice Copple-Tošić

In what strange edifice of the imagination do you find a condemned cell, a hotel room and a hospital room? What kind of hotel offers a zinc mine, a meat-packing plant, a weapons factory and a cemetery of famous artists among its attractions? Why do four people commit suicide in the same bathroom and why does a literature professor cut up several of the greatest works of literature into a confetti of letters? In this wildly imaginative, wildly funny satire on Art and Death nothing is quite what it seems and the maze of symbols grows more complex with each encounter.

The book was also released as one of the works included in the hardcover Impossible Stories II, featuring the cover design of Twelve Collections redone in black.

Twelve Collections Zoran ŽIVKOVIĆ translated by Alice Copple-Tošić

What lies behind the human urge to collect things? What is the true psychology of the kleptomaniac? These questions bear on all of us; within every person there lurks a fanatical philatelist or a monomaniacal lepidopterist, just waiting to burst forth. In his new story cycle, Twelve Collections, Zoran Zivkovic, the master of mind-bending surreal fantasy, applies his fertile mind to this problem. Some of Zivkovic’s characters are lonely eccentrics, driven to gather unusual objects by quirks of temperament or fate; others are the victims of metaphysical collectors from Beyond, entities eager to snap up memories, emotions, and other loose fragments of the soul.

In these pages are explained the profound karmic consequences of photographic narcissism, insane record-keeping, the archiving of one’s nail clippings, and the infinite savouring of words; here also are exemplary warnings against surrendering hope, living without creativity, accepting too blithe a Heaven, and answering the phone in the middle of a dream-haunted night. Of course, even with such sage counsel, life remains uncertain and perilous; but even if ultimate answers can never be found, a Zivkovic collection is always eminently collectable…

The book was also released as one of the works included in the hardcover Impossible Stories II, featuring the cover design of Twelve Collections redone in black.

The Bridge Zoran ŽIVKOVIĆ translated by Alice Copple-Tošić

What is the link between red hair, a red bowling ball and a red bikini? Between an overcoat with asymmetrical lapels, a scarf with two blotches and a pair of non-matching sneakers? In this brainteasing trio of stories, Zoran Živković explores the collision of realities: a man encounters an alternate self, a woman out on a shopping trip runs into her dead neighbor and a fourteen-year-old girl chases her seventeen-year-old future son across town. Through absurd predicament, surreal situations and hot pursuit, Živković addresses deep and ultimately poignant questions of fate and chance, the vagaries of human character and the hidden potential which lies within us all.

The book was also released as one of the works included in the hardcover Impossible Stories II, featuring the cover design of Twelve Collections redone in black.

Miss Tamara, the Reader Zoran ŽIVKOVIĆ translated by Alice Copple-Tošić

In this suite of eight stories, the three ages of woman—youth, midlife and senescence—engage in a complex and fruitful dance. A young Miss Tamara is lured by a series of postcards concealed in library books. A middle-aged Miss Tamara discovers that her new reading glasses turn the pages blank. An afternoon’s reading is disturbed by the realisation that all books have turned fatally toxic. A mysterious phone call leads to a book which blinds its readers but also to romance. Woven through these seemingly simple narratives are deep themes of youth and ageing, memory and loss, solitude and companionship, and the relationship between the physical and the mental life. Above all this is a book about reading: its pleasures, rituals, essential preciousness. Reading as an obsession which can not only isolate, but also lead to discovery and love.

The book was also released as one of the works included in the hardcover Impossible Stories II, featuring the cover design of Twelve Collections redone in black.

Amarcord Zoran ŽIVKOVIĆ translated by Alice Copple-Tošić

Ten linked stories with resonant titles explore almost every conceivable aspect of human memory: the positive and the negative, the precious and the profane, the heavenly and the unbearably hellish. Zivkovic’s deceptively simple tales anatomize the essence of what makes human beings tick, our passions, our vanities and yearnings; the very memories which make us who we are.

The book was also released as one of the works included in the hardcover Impossible Stories II, featuring the cover design of Twelve Collections redone in black.

The Last Book Zoran ŽIVKOVIĆ translated by Alice Copple-Tošić

A series of mysterious deaths in the Papyrus Bookstore brings literature-loving police inspector Dejan Lukić to investigate. Here he meets the attractive owner, Vera Gavrilović, and learns that the only thing the victims have in common is that in the moments before their deaths they were reading an elusive and unidentified volume — The Last Book.

As the plot thickens and the seemingly causeless deaths multiply, the National Security Agency, a secret apocalyptic sect and an exotic teashop become involved, while Dejan and Vera’s growing attachment is threatened by nightmares and ever-encroaching danger. Is a literary madman on the loose, murdering readers according to the method laid down in The Name of the Rose?

In a final race against time, Inspector Lukić must discover the secret of The Last Book and the reason why he feels as though he has already read everything that is happening to him in a novel. The extraordinary denouement reveals hidden truths about the clash of realities and the awesome power of the creative imagination.

The book was also released as one of the works included in the hardcover The Papyrus Trilogy

Escher's Loops Zoran ŽIVKOVIĆ translated by Alice Copple-Tošić

Once again Zivkovic demonstrates the sheer power of storytelling in this complex cycle of interlocking narratives. Like one of Escher’s drawings, the narrative threads lead one through a dizzying labyrinth of recurring themes, images and characters, all of whom are linked with elegant mathematical precision: God and suicide, food and poison, monks, athletes, soldiers and soccer players all take their places in the circle-dance. Absurdity, surreality and humor abound; death is the ultimate destiny, yet always the next story offers infinite ways of escape.

This book was also released in hardcover, using the same image redone in black.

The Writer & The Ghostwriter Zoran ŽIVKOVIĆ translated by Alice Copple-Tošić

The Writer: A Very Short Novel, without Chapters, about Writing and Darkness

Where does all the writing come from? Is it divine inspiration, a bolt of lightning that reveals a whole new work in a single glimpse, or a unique gift granted by demonic forces to penetrate the darkness and see beyond it? Two fundamental principles of the most noble of all arts are in the permanent collision, surrounded by the contagious environment of the authors’ vanity, envy, malice.

The Ghostwriter

A writer sits down to work, but who can resist the addictive temptation of the email inbox? Each message alert brings a new question and a fresh challenge, until a tangled web weaves its way around the hapless author. Yet all the while his cat, Felix, gets on with life regardless. Zoran Zivkovic’s hilarious new novella lays bare the oddities and absurdities of the writing life: the traps writers set for themselves and the snares readers lay for them. Here, too, are fascinating puzzles about the nature of authorship and the writer’s identity, the relationship between the writer and their work and between the writer and the reader, the reader and that which is read. Above all, though, it is a paean to the Cat, to a relationship which in its simplicity and innocence, its playfulness and affection, makes nonsense of all these human perplexities.

This book was also released in hardcover, using the same image redone in black.

The Five Wonders of the Danube Zoran ŽIVKOVIĆ Translated by Alice Copple-Tošić

On five bridges over the Danube, five strange and remarkable tales are told: tales of the sacrifices that are made for Art. For the painter, the sculptor, the writer and the composer, creation is inextricably entwined with violence, suffering and the darkest reaches of the psyche, and the bridge to enlightenment is the hardest of all to cross. Yet through the innocence of a dog all can be redeemed, in the miraculous climax of this complex and exotic fable.

Zoran Živković’s latest masterpiece, available in English to readers around the world.
Perhaps his finest work to date, The Five Wonders of the Danube is another of his famous “mosaic” novels, cleverly weaving multiple narrative threads into a tapestry of surrealism, reaching a magnificent conclusion in the final tale. Readers eager for more of his unique stories, combining simplicity of language and structure with thought-provoking explorations of life and death and reality will reread this one again and again.

The book was also released in hardcover, featuring the same cover design redone in black.

The Grand Manuscript Zoran ŽIVKOVIĆ translated by Alice Copple-Tošić

An empty apartment, locked from the inside: this is the mystery that literature-loving police inspector Dejan Lukić, hero of Zoran Živković’s The Last Book, is called in to solve. What has become of the woman who lives there, bestselling detective fiction writer Jelena Jakovljević? And, perhaps more importantly still, what has happened to the manuscript of her newly-completed novel, Find Me? As Inspector Lukić becomes ever more entangled in the growing mystery, a highly-strung literary agent, a blind painter, a virtuoso lock-picker and various cutthroat publishers all have their part to play in an elaborate game of misdirection and pursuit. Not to mention the dark powers of the National Security Agency and a secret cult seeking the key to immortality. Once again, Inspector Lukić stands at the heart of a literary conundrum only he can solve and through which he stands to gain—or lose—everything.

The book was also released as one of the works included in the hardcover The Papyrus Trilogy

The Compendium of the Dead Zoran ŽIVKOVIĆ translated by Alice Copple-Tošić

When certain mysterious events involving books occur, it seems that Inspector Dejan Lukić is always the man for the job. This time, however, things are a little different. Inspector Lukić himself is at the heart of the mystery, lured by the appearance of a number of packages addressed to him in person and left at several highly unlikely locations. The contents of these packages – a set of books known as The Compendium of the Dead – a series of bizarre disappearances and a succession of strange encounters keep the baffled Inspector on his toes right up until the extraordinary dénouement, in which the finality of death itself is challenged. In this, the final part of the trilogy that began with The Last Book and The Grand Manuscript, Zoran Živković demonstrates beyond contradiction the magical and ultimately benevolent power of literature.

The book was also released as one of the works included in the hardcover The Papyrus Trilogy

A Biography of a Chance Miracle Tanja MALJARTSCHUK translated by Zenia Tompkins

A Biography of a Chance Miracle explores the life of Lena, a young girl growing up in the somewhat vapid, bureaucracy-ridden and nationalistic Western Ukrainian city of San Francisco. Lena is a misfit from early childhood due to her unwillingness to scorn everything Russian, her propensity for befriending forlorn creatures, her aversion to the status quo, and her fear of living a stupid and meaningless life. As her friends enter college, Lena sets forth on a mission to defend the abused and downtrodden of San Francisco—be they canine or human—armed with nothing more than an arsenal of humor, stubbornness, chutzpah and no shortage of imagination. Her successes are minimal at best, but in the process of trying to save San Francisco’s collective humanity, she may end up saving her own. At first glance a crazy and combative girl, Lena just may be the salvation that the Ukrainians of San Francisco sorely need.

With haiku-like precision, Tanja’s deceptively simple writing style blends surrealism and magical realism with satirical wit, occasionally outlandish humor and poignant social commentary. The German literary media has described her depictions of contemporary Ukraine as full of humor and absurdity, but “more exact and harsher” than those of her peers, comparing her to the 19th-century Russian satirist Saltykov-Shchedrin and hailing her as “a name to be remembered.” This work, her most provocative to date, was a finalist for the 2012 BBC Book of the Year Award in Ukraine, and has been lauded as “simply ingenious” by fellow Ukrainian authors.

The Image Interpreter Zoran ŽIVKOVIĆ translated by Randall A. Major

In a carriage of the Paris metro, nine people cross paths one ordinary Friday morning: a retired office worker who comes there purely to read; a tourist revisiting the memories of sixty years ago; a funeral mourner who has discovered the beauty of cemeteries; an author in search of her characters; a young man with a reality problem; an elderly woman with memory issues; a military administrator with a secret hobby; a jilted woman who has the key to the perfect match; and a secret agent high on adrenaline. Each in turn encounters that ubiquitous and unavoidable gadget: the cell phone camera. Each comes to a realization that changes their life forever. But who is the tenth person in the carriage, and what do her photographs tell her about the other nine that they could not possibly know themselves?

This book was also released in hardcover, using the same image redone in black.

The Narcissism of Death Svetozar SAVIĆ translated by Vuk Tošić

Once again Zivkovic demonstrates the sheer power of storytelling in this complex cycle of interlocking narratives. Like one of Escher’s drawings, the narrative threads lead one through a dizzying labyrinth of recurring themes, images and characters, all of whom are linked with elegant mathematical precision: God and suicide, food and poison, monks, athletes, soldiers and soccer players all take their places in the circle-dance. Absurdity, surreality and humor abound; death is the ultimate destiny, yet always the next story offers infinite ways of escape.

The Sorrow of Miles Franklin beneath Mount Kajmakčalan Ivan ČAPOVSKI translated by Paul Filev

In the latter years of World War I, renowned Australian writer Miles Franklin travels to the Macedonian Front, joining as a nurse at the Scottish Women’s Hospital near Mt. Kajmakčalan. Soldiers from many nations surge across a Macedonia that has been partitioned, absorbed by its neighbors. Its people struggle to survive in the face of staggering losses and being forcibly conscripted into foreign armies fighting on their soil.

Amidst it all, Miles captures the names and hopes of the oppressed, recording their travails, their quiet triumphs, and the turmoil of a nation affected by events beyond its control.

This fictionalized account of a short period from Miles Franklin’s life is based on her own writing and contemporaneous documents, supported by extensive additions from local history and culture.

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Ciuleandra Liviu REBREANU translated by Gabi Reigh

Written in the interwar period and published in 1927, this psychological thriller has captured the imagination of Romanian readers ever since. The book begins with a murder, as Puiu, a young aristocrat, strangles his wife on the night of the royal ball. To avoid a public trial and prison sentence, his father arranges to have him committed to a mental asylum.

Puiu’s discussions with his psychiatrist force him to confront his conscience and lead him to trace the root of his murderous passion to a wild, Dyonisian peasant dance called the Ciuleandra, where he first glimpsed his future wife. Unfortunately for Puiu, though, his psychiatrist may have more than a professional interest in the case…

This story of obsessive love paints a fascinating picture of the changes in Romanian society at the beginning of the 20th century. The work echoes the cultural landscapes evoked by Russian writers such as Dostoevsky and Gogol, as moments of high drama and emotional intensity bring to life the complex relationship between a decaying aristocracy and the rural world.

Hidden Camera Zoran ŽIVKOVIĆ translated by Alice Copple-Tošić

A quiet, somewhat neurotic undertaker spends his days caring for his exotic fish, and of course his silent bodies as they arrive. One day, quite out of the ordinary, he receives a ticket to the movies. The movie, however, turns out to be of him, apparently filmed without his knowledge! Convinced that he is being targeted by a TV reality show, he plays along, only to be dragged from one adventure to the next, in a fantastic journey that evolves into a story of love, of death, and of ultimate creativity.
And through his travails we discover new perspectives on our own roles in an increasingly insensitive and scripted world.

The book was also released in hardcover, featuring the same cover design redone in black.

The White Room Zoran ŽIVKOVIĆ translated by Randall A. Major

Ivana had gone missing… With her disappearance there begins a fantastical adventure for Professor Zoran Živković, author and teacher of creative writing. Assisted by Senior Inspector Sanja Mrvaljević of the Belgrade police, military counterintelligence, the National Security Agency and ultimately Interpol, the search for Ivana grows into a comic nightmare of unforeseen proportions. For why and how do a series of mysterious videos, in which Ivana plays the starring role, reach Professor Živković’s inbox, and why are their settings at once strangely familiar and unfamiliar? How will he escape the web of suspicion which weaves implacably about him, and will he and Ivana ever be reunited? Once again, this time in the ultimate sense, Živković explores the trickeries and mysteries of the creative process, in a book that is gripping, hilarious, touching and more revealing than any he has yet written.

This book was also released in hardcover, using the same image redone in black.

Gladwell the Parodist—A Whydunnit Tamar Yellin

Everyone wants to know who killed Gladwell the Parodist. Everyone, that is, except Jim Tate, alias Antinous, who is far more interested in the unpublished novels Ralph Gladwell is rumoured to have left behind. The brilliant Parodist, despiser of the modern novel, whose wit could skewer any writer living or dead, could have been murdered by any one of his many victims. But who was Gladwell really, and what true face lay behind his sardonic mask? In this brisk whydunnit, the feints and fallacies of human nature are peeled back, page by page, to reveal the rage, desperation, love and vulnerability out of which literature is made…

Me and Lin, Afterwards Ana STOJANOSKA

Ana Stojanoska’s literary debut, Me and Lin, Afterwards, is an antinovel, a collage composed of many fragments, an embedded narrative, a metafiction, an autofiction, and a playful work with a nod to magical realism, with a detective story thrown in. Anna Karenina, Vronsky, and Tolstoy make appearances in it. It also includes a positive and matter-of-fact portrayal of a gay character—the first in Macedonian literature. This inventive work zigzags between the narrator’s postmortem of the love triangle she was involved in and her attempt to write her first novel. The events of the love triangle are narrated out of sequence, leaving it up to the reader to fit them back together like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, while the story of the narrator’s novel in progress builds to an intriguing and engaging conclusion.

The author delights in experimenting with genre, form, and popular culture influences. She pushes against the boundaries of the novel form, and gives a fresh treatment to the standard love-triangle story— minus the pathos—and the novel-within-a-novel trope. Her work highlights the vibrancy and dynamism of contemporary Macedonian literature and is proof that Macedonian women writers rock.

The Four Deaths and One Resurrection of Fyodor Mikhailovich Zoran ŽIVKOVIĆ translated by Randall A. Major

A bizarre encounter between doubles in a foggy park. The mysterious sudden death of one of the passengers in a train’s restaurant car. The hilarious yet tragic consultation of a psychiatrist with her highly unusual patient. A conversation in a Turkish bath between an invisible stranger and a penniless gambler. What do all these odd situations have in common?

It is their famous, brilliant and troubled protagonist, for in this, the latest imaginative explosion from the brain of Zoran Živković, the main character is none other than the magnificent author of Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, Demons, and The Brothers Karamazov: our eponymous Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (a.k.a. F. M. D. 19).

The scenes may seem familiar, but Živković takes the great novelist to places he has never been before and to which no other writer would dare take him: into parallel realities, into Orient Express-like murder mysteries, into the realms of artificial intelligence and future miracles. And indeed, he does die four times, and indeed he is resurrected into an afterlife only an admirer who loved him with his whole heart could dream up for him…

This book was also released in hardcover, using the same image redone in black.

Night Land Issue No. 1 Publication: Spring 2012 Cover: Daniele Serra

Translated content

• Glynn Barrass and Ron Shiflet :: A Man Called West
  Translator: Kaneko Hiroshi
• Simon Bleaken :: The Door
  Translator: Tamura Misako
• Ramsey Campbell :: Cold Print
  Translator: Nomura Yoshio
• Scotch Carson :: Hellhounds of the Hogback
  Translator: Tanaka Kazue
• Tim Curran :: The Slithering
  Translator: Natsuki Kenji
• Robert E. Howard :: The Little People
  Translator: Nakamura Tōru
• Rafe McGregor :: The Letters of Reverend Dyer
  Translator: Masuda Mamoru
• Colin Wilson :: The Necronomicon: The Origin of A Spoof
  Translator: Morise Ryō

Night Land Issue No. 2 Publication: Summer 2012 Cover: Daniele Serra

Translated content

• Glynn Barrass :: What the Tide Brings
  Translator: Anno Rei
• Michael Fantina :: The Red Book of Simoons
  Translator: Natsuki Kenji
• Robert E. Howard :: The Valley of the Lost
  Translator: Nakamura Tōru
• Matt Leyshon :: Mine Heart of Portland Stone
  Translator: Masuda Mamoru
• Brian Lumley :: Aunt Hester
  Translator: Tanaka Kazue
• Patrick Rutigliano :: Alhazred
  Translator: Nomura Yoshio
• Ron Shiflet :: Unfinished Business
  Translator: Kaneko Hiroshi

Night Land Issue No. 3 Publication: Autumn 2012 Cover: Daniele Serra

Translated content

• Ray Bradbury :: The Handler
  Translator: Itō Norio

Shane Jiraiya Cummings :: Spin the Witch Bottle and Practical Joke"br>Translator: Uekusa Masami

Tim Curran :: The Eyes of Howard Curlix
Translator: Natsuki Kenji

Richard Matheson :: He Wanted to Live
Translator: Anno Rei

Simon Strantzas :: Pinholes in Black Muslin
Translator: Masuda Mamoru

Karl Edward Wagner :: The River of Night's Dreaming
Translator: Nakamura Tōru

Night Land Issue No. 4 Publication: Winter 2012 Cover: Daniele Serra

Translated content

• Robert E. Howard :: The Dwellers Under the Tomb
  Translator: Nakamura Tōru
• Joe Lansdale :: The Crawling Sky
  Translator: Tomonari Jun'ichi
• William Meikle :: The Sisters of Mercy
  Translator: Natsuki Kenji
• Larry Niven :: The Last Necronomicon
  Translator: Morise Ryō
• Ron Shiflet :: Keeping It Under Wraps
  Translator: Kaneko Hiroshi

Night Land Issue No. 5 Publication: Spring 2013 Cover: Daniele Serra

Translated content

• Glynn Barrass :: Fleshworld
  Translator: Uekusa Masami
• Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette :: Boojum
  Translator: Yasuda Kazumi
• Robert Bloch :: The Unspeakable Betrothal
  Translator: Anno Rei
• Laurel Halbany :: Electric Eye
  Translator: Masuda Mamoru
• Brian Sammons :: Disconnected
  Translator: Nomura Yoshio
• Angela Slatter :: The Coffin Maker's Daughter
  Translator: Tamura Misako

Night Land Issue No. 6 Publication: Summer 2013 Cover: Daniele Serra

Translated content

• Glynn Barrass and Ron Shiflet :: Big Boss
  Translator: Uekusa Masami
• Ramsey Campbell :: Mackintosh Willie
  Translator: Kaneko Hiroshi
• Derek Gunn :: A Diabolical Plan
  Translator: Morisawa Kumiko
• Joe Lansdale :: The Hunt: Before, and the Aftermath
  Translator: Tomonari Jun'ichi
• William Meikle :: Parting the Veil
  Translator: Natsuki Kenji

Night Land Issue No. 7 Publication: Autumn 2013 Cover: Daniele Serra

Translated content

• Glynn Barrass :: Cali
  Translator: Tanaka Kazue
• Matt Leyshon :: Sadistic Little Girls
  Translator: Tamura Misako
• Richard Matheson :: Deadline
  Translator: Itō Norio
• Brian Sammons :: Cold Desires
  Translator: Uekusa Masami
• Lucy Snyder :: Magdala Amygdala
  Translator: Morisawa Kumiko
• Simon Strantzas :: The Nightingale
  Translator: Masuda Mamoru
• Stanley Wiater :: Dark Dreamer: Richard Matheson
  Translator: Tanafuji Natalie

Night Land Issue No. 8 Unpublished Cover: Daniele Serra

Translated content (planned)

• Darrell Schweitzer :: Interview with Dennis Etchison
• Dennis Etchison :: The Olympic Runner