First Book—The Short Story Collective

A thirteen-part journey through contemporary Japan taking in themes as disparate as mental illness, Buddhism, the human drive for validation, workplace harassment, cults, tourist pollution, and the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A thirteen-part journey through contemporary Japan taking in themes as disparate as mental illness, Buddhism, the human drive for validation, workplace harassment, cults, tourist pollution, and the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

What We’re Reading—Things Remembered and Things Forgotten

book cover

A delightful book of short stories from Kyoko Nakajima, author of The Little House, and winner of the Naoki Prize

This is a delightful book of short stories from Kyoko Nakajima, author of The Little House, and winner of the Naoki Prize. I’m half-way through Things Remembered and Things Forgotten, (transl. Ginny Tapley Takemori) but my favorite story so far is “The Life Story of a Sewing Machine,” which describes the model number 100-30 machine, More…

Excerpt—Tokyo Stranger (from When a Stranger Comes to Town)

Includes the story “Tokyo Stranger” by Tina deBellegarde

Mystery Writers of America’s story collection When a Stranger Comes to Town, edited by Michael Koryta was just released (April 21, 2021)! Thanks to Hanover Square Press and Tina deBellegarde for giving BOA permission to run the following story from the anthology. It’s been said that all great literature boils down to one of two More…