Search Worlds Without End

Sixty-two years after human life on Earth was annihilated by rampaging alien invaders, the enigmatic Messenger O is sent back in time with a mission to unite humanity of past eras-during the Second World War and ancient Japan, and even back to the dawn of the species itself-to defeat the invasion before it begins. However, in a future shredded by war and genocide, love waits for O. Will O save humanity only to doom himself?

Humanity is returning to the moon, but this time the mission is Japanese, and in private hands for commercial purposes. The year is 2025 and Otaba General Construction—a firm that has built structures to survive the Antarctic and the Sahara—has received its most daunting challenge yet. Sennosuke Touenji, the chairman of one of the world's largest leisure conglomerates, wants a moon base fit for civilian use, and he wants his granddaughter Tae to be his eyes and ears on the harsh lunar surface. Tae and Otaba engineer Aomine head to the moon where adventure, trouble, and perhaps romance await.

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.

"...the stories you'll find collected here will broaden your view of what is possible or imaginable, provoking unusual -- and sometimes uncomfortable -- thoughts. That is as it should be."
--David Brin, preface to Speculative Japan Volume 1

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.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Darrell Schweitzer
• A Gift from the Sea - short fiction by Awa Naoko
• Freud - short fiction by To Enjo
• The Whale That Sang on the Milky Way Network - short fiction by Ohara Mariko
• Old Vohl's Planet - short fiction by Ogawa Issui
• The Big Drawer - short fiction by Riku Onda
• Emanon: A Reminiscence - short fiction by Kajio Shinji
• Midst the Mist - short fiction by Koji Kitakuni
• The Man Who Watched the Sea - short fiction by Kobayashi Yasumi
• Melk's Golden Acres - short fiction by Takagi Nobuko
• Q-Cruiser Basilisk - short fiction by Tani Koshu
• Mountaintop Symphony - short fiction by Nakai Norio
• Open Up - short fiction by Hori Akira
• Perspective - short fiction by Yamao Yuko