First published 2023
A biologist loses his wife to Godzilla's rampage. Her last words about the monster's magnificence echo in his mind as he travels to an island reserve where Japan keeps its giant creatures. He wants to understand what beauty she saw in such destruction. His story opens this collection of twelve tales that blend Japanese folklore with modern anxieties. A man with a demon's ability to stretch his neck fights to save his failing marriage. The recently deceased attend orientation sessions to learn how to be proper Japanese ghosts. Parents work with a shapeshifter to bring back their dead daughter. In Tokyo, a woman starts a dancing epidemic that lasts for months, while people live in cycles of death and rebirth, losing their memories each time they return. These stories use monsters, spirits, and impossible futures to examine how people survive when everything familiar disappears.
Genres: short-stories, literary-fiction, fantasy, horror, magical-realism
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, emotional, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, grief, magical-realism
Setting: Japan, Tokyo
Period: modern
Audio CD · Dreamscape Media Llc
Content warnings: death, violence