Bolstering the view that US science fiction readers ought to have greater access to sf published in other languages (see this article we published in July, for example), Gene van Troyer and Grania Davis have edited Speculative Japan: Outstanding Tales of Japanese Science Fiction and Fantasy, which is being published by Kurodahan Press in time for (and released at) this year’s WorldCon.
The publisher says of the book, which is expected to be the first of a series, “Japanese fiction has assumed a position of significance in many genres of world literature as it continues to chart its own creative course. Whereas science fiction in the English-speaking world developed gradually over a period of evolutionary change in style and content, SF in Japan took off from a very different starting line. Starting in the 1950s and 1960s, Japanese SF writers worked to combine their own thousand-year-old literary tradition with a flood of Western SF and other fiction. Contemporary Japanese SF thus began in a jumble of ideas and periods, and ultimately propelled Japanese authors into a quantum leap of development, rather than a steady process of evolution.
“The result has been phenomenal. As new authors developed in this exotic environment, they invented new ways to view SF, and used the genre to form new images of themselves and their culture. The time is long overdue to present the work of Japanese science fiction and fantasy writers to the world in English. We hope this shared world of speculative fiction produces a creative feedback relationship, which can only encourage new and more stimulating visions of tomorrow.”
The table of contents includes:
“Judy-san—Judith Merril, 1923-1997” by Grania Davis
Preface by David Brin
Introduction: “Phase Shifting” by Gene van Troyer
“The Savage Mouth” by Komatsu Sakyo (translated by Judith Merril)
“A Time for Revolution” by Hirai Kazumasa (translated by David Aylward)
“Hikari” by Kono Tensei (translated by Dana Lewis)
“I’ll Get Rid of Your Discontent” by Mayumura Taku (translated by Hattori M. & Grania Davis)
“The Road to the Sea” by Ishikawa Takashi (translated by Judith Merril & Yano Tetsu)
“Where Do the Birds Fly Now” by Yamano Koichi (translated by Dana Lewis)
“Another ‘Prince of Wales'” by Toy O Ta Aritsune (translated by David Aylward)
“The Flower’s Life is Short” by Fukushima Masami (translated by Judith Merril & Yano Tetsu)
“Girl” by Ohara Mariko (translated by Alfred Birnbaum)
“Standing Woman” by Tsutsui Yasutaka (translated by Dana Lewis)
“Cardboard Box” by Hanmura Ryo (translated by Dana Lewis)
“The Legend of the Paper Spaceship” by Yano Tetsu (translated by Gene van Troyer)
“Reiko’s Universe Box” by Kajio Shinji (translated by Toyoda T.)
“Mogera Wogura” by Kawakami Hiromi (translated by Michael Emmerich)
“Adrenalin” by Yoshimasu Gozo (translated by the author & Marilyn Chin)
“Collective Reason: A Proposal” by Shibano Takumi (non-fiction, translated by Xavier Bensky)
Afterword: “From Vertical to Horizontal” by Asakura Hisashi
Editor’s Afterword: “Translator as Hero” br Grania Davis
The 300-page trade paperback will be available at the WorldCon for the preview price of $15.00. After that, it’s list price is $20.00. In support of the book, Davis has written a brief essay on her trip to Japan this Spring to participate in Tokyo’s SF Seminar, which is available here.