Search Worlds Without End

The cult phenomenon Battle Royale has been lauded as a masterpiece and decried as exploitative gore, but it's always remained in the public consciousness. This collection of essays by some of the best science fiction, horror, and thriller writers working today explore the depth, details, and controversies surrounding Battle Royale in an intelligent, accessible fashion.

A web browser that threatens to conquer the world. The longest, loneliest railroad on Earth. A North Korean nuke hitting Tokyo, a hollow asteroid full of automated rice paddies, and a specialist in breaking up virtual marriages. And yes, giant robots. These thirteen stories from and about the Land of the Rising Sun run the gamut from fantasy to cyberpunk, and will leave you knowing that the future is Japanese!

Contributors include cyberpunk legends Pat Cadigan and Bruce Sterling, New York Times bestselling author Catherynne Valente, the enormously popular and prolific Japanese writer Hideyuki Kikuchi, and hot new writers Rachel Swirsky, David Moles, and Ken Liu--who have won or been nominated for the Nebula and Hugo awards.

Table of Contents:

• Foreword - essay by Masumi Washington
• Revolving Around a Rising Sun - essay by Nick Mamatas
• Mono no Aware - shortstory by Ken Liu
• The Sound of Breaking Up - shortstory by Felicity Savage
• Chitai Heiki Koronbin - shortstory by David Moles
• The Indifference Engine - shortstory by Project Itoh
• The Sea of Trees - shortstory by Rachel Swirsky
• Endoastronomy - shortstory by Toh EnJoe
• In Plain Sight - shortstory by Pat Cadigan
• Golden Bread - shortstory by Issui Ogawa
• One Breath, One Stroke - shortstory by Catherynne M. Valente
• Whale Meat - shortstory by Ekaterina Sedia
• Mountain People, Ocean People - shortstory by Hideyuki Kikuchi
• Goddess of Mercy - novelette by Bruce Sterling
• Autogenic Dreaming: Interview with the Columns of Clouds - shortstory by TOBI Hirotaka

The secret history of the most famous secret agent in the world. A bunny costume that reveals the truth in our souls. The unsettling notion that Japan itself may be a dream. The tastiest meal you'll never have, a fedora-wearing neckbeard's deadly date with a yokai, and the worst work shift anyone--human or not--has ever lived through. Welcome to Phantasm Japan.

Table of Contents:

• Gary A. Braunbeck: "Shikata Ga Nai: A Bag Lady's Tale"
• Nadia Bulkin: "Girl, I Love You"
• Quentin S. Crisp: "The Last Packet of Tea"
• Project Itoh: "From the Nothing, With Love"
• Yusaku Kitano: "Scissors or Claws, and Holes"
• Jacqueline Koyanagi: "Kamigakari"
• Alex Dally MacFarlane: "Inari Updates the Map of Rice Fields"
• Zachary Mason: "Five Tales of Japan"
• Miyuki Miyabe: "Chiyoko"
• James A. Moore: "He Dreads the Cold"
• Lauren Naturale: "Her Last Appearance"
• Tim Pratt: "Those Who Hunt Monster Hunters"
• Benjanun Sriduangkaew: "Ningyo"
• Seia Tanabe: "The Parrot Stone"
• Joseph Tomaras: "Thirty-Eight Observations on the Nature of the Self"
• Dempow Torishima: "Sisyphean"
• Sayuri Ueda: "Street of Fruiting Bodies"

Hanzai Japan: Fantastical, Futuristic Stories of Crime From and About Japan --

The latest in Haikasoru's anthology series that began with the acclaimed The Future is Japanese, Hanzai Japan gathers weird crime and mystery stories from an international list of best-selling authors and some of the brightest, and darkest, new writers working today.

A murderer doing time in Hell. A girl who just wants to win her high school band contest... no matter what it takes. Sumo wrestlers with a supernatural secret. A future Tokyo where vampires are menial laborers nursing long-held grudges against humanity. And even a very conscientious, if unstable, Universal Transverse Mercator projection. These crime and mystery stories from and about Japan explore myth, technology, the sharpness of a sleuth's mind, and the darkness in the hearts of criminals. Read these stories and learn that hanzai means crime!

• Ray Banks
• Libby Cudmore
• Brian Evenson
• Kaori Fujino
• Jyouji Hayashi
• Naomi Hirahara
• Yumeaki Hirayama
• Violet LeVoit
• Yusuke Miyauchi
• S. J. Rozan
• Hiroshi Sakurazaka
• Setsuko Shinoda
• Jeff Somers
• Genevieve Valentine
• Carrie Vaughn