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, […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]