16 Sep, 2020
Translation
2017’s Otherside Picnic: Volume 1 is the first volume in Iori Miyazawa’s light-novel cosmic-horror series. The 2019 translation is by Sean McCann
The Otherside is a bizarre dimension filled with creatures straight out of urban legend. Few humans have found their way there. Fewer have found their way back.
9 Sep, 2020
Translation
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2020’s A Primer to Han Song, illustrations by Michelle Prebich, is a collection edited by Eric J. Guignard. The short collection is the fifth in the Exploring Dark Short Fiction series. In addition to the stories written by Han Song, there is a commentary by Michael Arnzen, Ph.D.
3 Sep, 2020
Translation
Seishi Yokomizo’s 19461 The Honjin Murders is the first novel in the seventy-seven volume Kosuke Kindaichi detective series. The 2019 English translation is by Louise Heal Kawai.
Kenzo Ichiyanagi’s wedding will be remembered for decades. Not for the happy marriage that followed (it didn’t). Not for the Ichiyanagi clan’s misgivings about Katsuko, the bride-to-be. It will be remembered for the brutal deaths of groom and bride on their wedding night — that, and the fact that their dead bodies were found in a room from which egress appeared to be impossible.
25 Aug, 2020
Translation
Asja Bakić’s 2015 Mars: Stories is a collection of speculative fiction stories. The 2019 English translation is by Jennifer Zoble.
19 Aug, 2020
Translation
Ryōko Kui’s Delicious in Dungeon (Japanese: ダンジョン飯, Hepburn: Danjon Meshi) is a Japanese fantasy comedy manga series. The series is published in Enterbrain’s Harta magazine. 2015’s Volume One collects the first seven chapters.
Laios’ tired and hungry crew of dungeon-delving adventurers make the mistake of challenging a red dragon living deep in the catacombs of a vast underground complex. Laios’ sister Falin manages to teleport most of the party to safety, at the cost of her own life.
All is not lost. If Laios and his allies can make their way back to where they confronted the dragon and defeat the dragon before it has finished digesting Falin, she can be resurrected.
There are one or two minor complications.
12 Aug, 2020
Translation
Satoru Noda’s Golden Kamuy (ゴールデンカムイ, Gōruden Kamui) is an ongoing Japanese manga; it has been serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Young Jump magazine since 2014. Thus far, there have been twenty-two tankōbon volumes. Volume 1 covers the first seven issues.
Thousands of Japanese soldiers died assaulting 203 Metre Hill during the Russo-Japanese War. Not Saichi “Immortal” Sugimoto, who earned his nickname shrugging off what should have been mortal injuries while carving his way through (very briefly) terrified Russian troops.
The Japanese government rewarded Saichi’s valour by discharging him without a pension. Penniless, and desperate for money, the young soldier tries his hand at gold prospecting in Hokkaido. Gold ore eludes him, until a chance encounter with a prospector offers him a quick pass to easy street.
6 Aug, 2020
Translation
Xia Jia’s 2020 A Summer Beyond Your Reach is her first English language story collection. Translations are by Ken Liu, Carmen Yiling Yan, Emily Jin, and Rebecca Kuang.
28 Jul, 2020
Translation
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Alejandro Jodorowsky’s comic The Incal (French: L’Incal) was illustrated by Moebius (AKA Jean Giraud). The Incal was serialized in Métal hurlant from 1981 to 1988. The series comprises six volumes.
John DiFool is a low-budget private investigator, competent enough for only the most lowly of tasks. When the series opens, DiFool is being thrown by masked assassins to his certain doom in a deadly lake of acid far below.
22 Jul, 2020
Translation
1979’s The Leopard Mask is the first volume in Kaoru Kurimoto’s one hundred volume plus (!) sword-and-sorcery Guin Saga. The 2003 English translation is by Alexander O. Smith and Elye J. Alexander.
The kingdom of Parros was peaceful and prosperous; its nobility was elegant and pious. It was a jewel of a kingdom. All the neighbouring Archduchy of Mongaul had going for it was a large army. This allowed Mongaul to crush its elegant neighbour.
The invading Mongaul attack managed to kill all but two members of Parros’ royal family. Twins Rinda and Remus — the Pearls of Parros — escape to the Roodwood. It’s a tossup whether Mongaul’s soldiers will capture the two teens before the Roodwood’s monsters eat them.
8 Jul, 2020
Translation
Chie Shinohara’s Purple Eyes in the Dark (Yami no Pāpuru Ai) is a Japanese shōjo manga series. Purple Eyeswas serialized in Shōjo Comic from 1984 to 1986.
First-year high-schooler Rinko Ozaki is a seemingly normal teen, save for a curious birthmark whose significance escapes her. She has a crush on her long-time bad-boy chum Shinya Mizushima, but as yet is too shy to act on it. Her birthmark and that friendship will combine to produce some unfortunate results.
Shinya has enemies. Since Shinya has proved adept at dodging the beating he clearly deserves, why not target helpless Rinko?