(Update: I have since republished these stories in a larger compilation that you can find here, which is available in both paper and ebook format. I have changed the links in the article below to the original short e-book to point to this newer book.)
(To jump to the book’s page on Amazon click here)
As those of you who read this blog frequently know, around early 2018 I started making E-books out of my translations of Japanese literature and publishing them on Amazon. My first book was a series of short stories by Japanese science fiction pioneer Juza Unno (海野十三), who hadn’t been published in English before that book’s release. Since then I’ve managed to put out a few books a year across a variety of authors and genres.
I’m happy today to announce the release of my 10th book of Japanese literature, which brings me back to Juza Unno with a collection of stories that I feel are some of his best. It’s volume three of the “Science: Hopes & Fears” series, titled “Crematoria” (after one of the stories), and is about Juza Unno’s portrayal of how science can be used for good or evil purposes.
This collection covers a diverse set of stories––from a story about a terrible prank played by two boys on their summer vacation, to the discovery of a distant alien civilization on the verge of impending doom, to an author who suddenly comes across a friend who had recently passed away. It took me quite a while to find these stories (in total I’ve probably read at least part of 40+ of Juza Unno’s works) but it was well worth it.
Translating these was also a lot of fun because of the variety of literary styles employed by the author; I was translating long-winded passages with heavy technical terms in one story and then translating simple dialog aimed at a young audience in another.
As always, I want to give many thanks to all those who helped with this project: Yeti (of Shousetsu Ninja), Jim Miles (of Annotranslate), and Kaimai Mizuhiro (his web site is here, and books are here).
Here is the book on Amazon. Like most of my other books, it is enrolled into KDP select, which means it is available for Kindle Unlimited and the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.