Flight, Volume 4 by Kazu Kibuishi
A full-color graphic anthology of short stories by some of the hottest creators in the field, FLIGHT, Volume Four is the newest addition to a great success story in graphic novel publishing.

Since 2004, when the first Volume of Flight burst on the scene, the publication of subsequent volumes has become a highly anticipated annual event. Artists are constantly contacting Kibuishi (the editor of the Flight volumes and himself a contributor), asking to be included in the next volume of Flight. So it’s no wonder Flight has ascended so rapidly in the graphic novel universe, becoming a fan favorite and developing a rabid following. Each contributor’s story in the anthology represents a labor of love, and that fact shines through in the overall quality of the series.

Baltimore: Or, the Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire by Christopher Golden and Mike Mignola
From celebrated comic artist Mike Mignola and award-winning novelist Christopher Golden comes a work of gothic storytelling like no other. Reminiscent of the illustrated tales of old, here is a lyrical, atmospheric novel of the paranormal—and a chilling allegory for the nature of war.

“Why do dead men rise up to torment the living?” Captain Henry Baltimore asks the malevolent winged creature. The vampire shakes its head. “It was you called us. All of you, with your war. The roar of your cannons shook us from our quiet graves…. You killers. You berserkers…. You will never be rid of us now.”

When Lord Henry Baltimore awakens the wrath of a vampire on the hellish battlefields of World War I, the world is forever changed. For a virulent plague has been unleashed—a plague that even death cannot end.

Now the lone soldier in an eternal struggle against darkness, Baltimore summons three old friends to a lonely inn—men whose travels and fantastical experiences incline them to fully believe in the evil that is devouring the soul of mankind.

As the men await their old friend, they share their tales of terror and misadventure, and contemplate what part they will play in Baltimore’s timeless battle. Before the night is through, they will learn what is required to banish the plague—and the creature who named Baltimore his nemesis—once and for all.

Read the online review

The Marvel Encyclopedia: The Complete Guide to the Characters of the Marvel Universe
Marvel Comics’ character roster boasts some of the best known and most popular characters ever conceived-heroes that are international household names, both as comic book stars and movie stars, such as Spider-Man, the Hulk and Wolverine. This unique, one-volume encyclopedia contains more than 1000 of Marvel’s greatest, with full details of their powers and their thrill-packed careers. The encyclopedia’s range of spectacular art features eye-popping work by Marvel’s finest artists, while the authoritative text is supplied by a team of top Marvel comic book writers. In addition, double-page features, illustrated with classic covers, trace the fascinating story of Marvel Comics through the decades. The Marvel Comics Encyclopedia is an essential book both for new fans and for those who grew up loving the excitement, heroism and humor of the Marvel Universe. Includes a foreword by Stan Lee.

Also available: The DC Comics Encyclopedia

If horror movies keep you awake, you should try reading a horror story. You may not know it yet, but we have an excellent selection of horror fiction at the store. Here are just some of them.

(Note: The Bram Stoker Awards are awarded annually in the United States by the Horror Writers Association for Superior Achievement in the horror genre and are named after Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula.)

The Traveling Vampire Show by Richard Laymon
2000 Stoker Award Winner for Novel

The Traveling Vampire Show

Come and see–
the one and only known Vampire in captivity!

–Valeria–
Gorgeous! Beguiling! Lethal!

This stunning beauty, born in the wilds of Transylvania, sleeps by day in her coffin. By night she feeds on the blood of strangers.

See Valeria rise from the dead!
Watch as she stalks volunteers from the audience!
Tremble as she sinks her teeth into their necks!
Scream as she sups on their blood!!!

Where: Janks Field, 2 mi south of
Grandville on Route 3
When: One Show Only - Friday, midnight
How much: $10

(Nobody under age 18 allowed)

For three local 16-year olds, two boys and a girl, this is a show they can’t miss. Even though the flyers say no one under eighteen will be admitted, they’re determined to find a way. What follows is a story of friendship and courage, temptation and terror, when three friends go where they shouldn’t go, and find much more than they ever expected.

Swan Song by Robert McCammon
1987 Stoker Award Winner for Novel, tied with Stephen King’s Misery

Description: An ancient evil roams the desolate landscape of an America ravaged by nuclear war. He is the Man with the Scarlet Eye, a malevolent force that feeds on the dark desires of the countless followers he has gathered into his service. His only desire is to find a special child named Swan — and destroy her. But those who would protect the girl are determined to fight for what is left of the world and their souls.

In a wasteland born of rage, populated by monstrous creatures and marauding armies, the last survivors on earth have been drawn into the final battle between good and evil that will decide the fate of humanity….

Boy’s Life by Robert McCammon
1991 Stoker Award Winner for Novel

Nightmare Chronicles by Douglas Clegg
1999 Stoker Award Winner for Fiction Collection

Description: It begins in an old tenement with a horrifying crime. It continues after midnight, when a young boy, held captive in a basement, is filled with unearthly visions of fantastic and frightening worlds. How could his kidnappers know that the ransom would be their own souls? For, as the hours pass, the boy’s nightmares invade his captors like parasites — and soon, they become real.

Thirteen nightmares unfold: A young man searches for his dead wife among the crumbling buildings of Manhattan…a journalist seeks the ultimate evil in a plague-ridden outpost of India…ancient rituals begin anew with the mystery of a teenage girl’s disappearance…and in a hospital for the criminally insane, there is only one doorway to salvation…But the night is not yet over, and the real nightmare has just begun.

Wither by J. G. Passarella
1999 Stoker Award Winner for First Novel

Description: The college town of Windale, Massachusetts is proud of its colonial heritage — including the legend of a dark witches’ coven dating back three hundred years. No one in Windale actually believes in witches, or imagines that the blood-chilling history of the Salem era could repeat itself. But three people, unknown to one another, are experiencing vivid nightmares of palpable horror. They alone can sense that a dreadful presence is working its way into their waking lives — and is coming for them.

On a crisp autumn night deep in the New England woods, a young woman’s harmless channeling ritual unwittingly opens the floodgates to terrifying forces that have, until then, lived only in dreams: a breed of demonic creatures with the power to shatter an unsuspecting town.

The Night Class by Tom Piccirilli
2002 Stoker Award Winner for Novel

Lost Boy Lost Girl by Peter Straub
2003 Stoker Award Winner for Novel

Description: A woman commits suicide for no apparent reason. A week later, her son– fifteen-year-old Mark Underhill–vanishes. His uncle, novelist Timothy Underhill, searches his hometown of Millhaven for clues that might help unravel this horrible dual mystery. He soon learns that a pedophilic murderer is on the loose in the vicinity, and that shortly before his mother’s suicide, Mark had become obsessed with an abandoned house where he imagined the killer might have taken refuge. No mere empty building, the house whispers from attic to basement with the echoes of a long-hidden true-life horror story, and Tim Underhill comes to fear that in investigating its unspeakable history, Mark stumbled across its last and greatest secret: a ghostly lost girl who may have coaxed the needy, suggestible boy into her mysterious domain.

In the Night Room by Peter Straub
2004 Stoker Award Winner for Novel

Description: Willy Patrick, the respected author of the award-winning young-adult novel In the Night Room, thinks she is losing her mind–again. One day, she is drawn helplessly into the parking lot of a warehouse. She knows somehow that her daughter, Holly, is being held in the building, and she has an overwhelming need to rescue her. But what Willy knows is impossible, for her daughter is dead.

On the same day, author Timothy Underhill, who has been struggling with a new book about a troubled young woman, is confronted with the ghost of his nine-year-old sister, April. Soon after, he begins to receive eerie, fragmented e-mails that he finally realizes are from people he knew in his youth–people now dead. Like his sister, they want urgently to tell him something. When Willy and Timothy meet, the frightening parallels between Willy’s tragic loss and the story in Tim’s manuscript suggest that they must join forces to confront the evils surrounding them.

Oddest Yet: Even More Stories To Chill The Heart by Steve Burt
2004 Stoker Award Winner for Work for Young Readers, tied with Cliver Barker’s Abarat

Dark Delicacies edited by Del Howison, Jeff Gelb
2005 Stoker Award Winner for Anthology

Creepers by David Morrell
2005 Stoker Award Winner for Novel

Description: On a cold October night, five people gather in a run-down motel on the Jersey shore and prepare to break into the Paragon Hotel. The once-magnificent structure is now boarded up and marked for demolition. They are “creepers”: urban explorers with a passion for investigating abandoned buildings and their dying secrets. Reporter Frank Balenger joins them to profile this highly illegal activity for the New York Times. But he isn’t looking for just another story, and soon after they enter the rat-infested tunnel leading to the hotel, he gets more than he bargained for. Danger, fear, and death await the creepers in a place ravaged by time and redolent of evil.

Back in February, we hosted a book launch for Heartbreak, a collection of short stories from Cozy Reads Publishing. We are happy to announce that the young publishing company has come up with its second title (of a trilogy), another short story collection called “First Love: Unforgettable Stories of Getting Weak In The Knees And Falling.”

This cozy read is just as nicely printed as the first one. It has a shiny cover with eleven stories on thick creamy paper inside. Of the eleven, I enjoyed That Familiar Hand by Celestine Marie Trinidad the most. Of course all the stories are about first loves and this one was about that first feeling between two people in their sixties. Here is the complete list of eleven stories and authors:

Project Uno by Elyss G. Punsalan
- Three random words from the story: serendipity, returned, sign
That Familiar Hand by Celestine Marie Trinidad
- First line: His handwriting seemed vaguely familiar.
Room 101 by Belen Morabella
- The only line in italics: Why can’t you forget him?
Summer Interlude by Chona Suner-Narvadez
- Musical acts mentioned: Marilyn Manson, Black Sabbath, Mozart
A Certain Quality by I. P. Goze
- Theme song: Could It Be Magic by Barry Manilow
A Kiss Is A Kiss Is A Kiss by Karen Manalastas
- Lola says: Don’t be too hard on him.
What Ever Happened To…? by Sally Magdiwang
- Last line: Huy! Excuse me, are you still listening?
Meeting at San Agustin by Ana Maria S. Villanueva
- Last line: He didn’t ever want to let go.
Love, Digitally by Jason Paul Laxamana
- Online handles: Midnighter, Porkyupine
The Seatmate by Raymund P. Reyes
- Symptoms: daydreaming, loss of appetite, singing, restless tossing, pimples
Note to Self by Isabel Reoja
- Advice: Go for broke.

“First Love” is edited by Faye Ilogon.

I got a chance to read the latest issue of The Digest of Philippine Genre Stories yesterday. My favorite story this time was the one called “Y” by Sharmaine Galve. It is science fiction (the author’s first) about a man who wants to change the world through… Let’s just say it deals with the issue of how much of what we think, feel, or act depends on our genes. In her notes the author tells us outright that her story was “borrowed” from works of a lot of other authors. The premise may not be unique but I enjoyed the story anyway.

I enjoy reading the Editor’s page as much as the stories in the digest. In this issue, editor Kenneth Yu mentioned other publications that are open to short story submissions. He mentioned The Philippine Free Press, The Philippine Graphic, and Story Philippines. Story Philippines was the only one I found online in a few short seconds so here is a link to its submission guidelines.

You should also visit the digest’s blog here as Kenneth Yu posts many interesting links, articles, and insights. The digest is on its third issue and I expect it will go on for more. I am waiting, waiting for an issue of mystery/detective stories. There have been some mysteries in the digest including “Homer’s Child” in this issue and my favorite story from the last issue, “Beneath the Acacia.” But, I guess, I want more.

Gingerbread Girl, Stephen King’s new 21,000-word “long story” is appearing in this month’s issue of Esquire magazine.  The novella is the story of Em who runs from her husband to a secluded place in Florida where she makes the mistake of running into a neighbor inside a Stephen King story.

Another novel that previously made its first appearance in Esquire was Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s.  The magazine’s website includes an excerpt of the novella.

Volume 2 of The Digest of Philippine Genre Stories was delivered to our store a few days ago and with the rain in the background, I thought today was a perfect time to do some reading.

It was an afternoon well-spent. We have to congratulate Kenneth (the editor and creator of the magazine) for getting over the second issue hurdle (which can sometimes be more difficult than getting over the first one) and giving us another digest of entertaining short stories by Filipino writers.

You’ll find that some things have changed from the first, but all the good things mentioned in our first post about the digest were kept intact: author profiles, comments from the authors on the writing process, a writing contest, etc. (One thing I did miss from the first one though was the front-to-back cover art spread since this volume has the art entirely on the front cover. Not a big deal, I just thought the cover art looked very nice as a full spread.) My favorite story this time was a mystery in a Philippine fairy tale/mythological setting called “Beneath the Acacia,” by Celestine G. Trinidad. I liked it because I thought it was funny and I enjoy mysteries.

It has to be said that we also love the magazine’s “sincerity.” The magazine truly does exist to showcase local talent, to give us an affordable and entertaining read, and ultimately to contribute to the effort to get Filipinos to read. As someone who has delved into the risky, romantic, and rewarding business of bookselling, this is something I understand and appreciate.

We have a feeling that the digest is going to be around for a while now that it actually has sponsors! Don’t worry, the ad pages will not take away from your reading enjoyment. The digest is available at Booktopia for P100. It’s very handy so you can put it in your purse or fold it into your pocket and whip it out anytime you need an enjoyable read.

What to do this Valentine’s? Join us this Friday, February 9, from 6-9pm at Booktopia for Cozy Conversations — an engaging evening chatting about Heartbreak, a new book featuring stories from ten of the country’s promising and prolific writers. Get a chance to meet some of the authors and have your book signed. Mingle and get into intimate discussions with other book lovers. Who knew Heartbreak can be this cozy?

Heartbreak: Stories That Will Stay With You Longer Than Your Ex Did
by Cel Coscolluela (Ed.)

Cozy Reads proudly presents Heartbreak, a collection of stories featuring new and exciting voices alongside prize-winning authors, all of whom tell the story of love’s many disappointments with the grace and wisdom of the experienced.

A jaded model lands a gig at a fantasy convention where she dons an Arwen costume and promptly falls for a man who calls himself “Aragorn.”

A woman files for annulment, and on the very same day, loses an arm when the train she is riding gets bombed.

A perennially single twentysomething contemplates wedding invitations until her romantic prospect comes knocking on her hotel room, arm in arm with another man.

Here are ten stories that show the tragedy and comedy that is heartbreak. A demonstration of the human propensity for getting high on an emotion that, unfortunately, also has the power to bring anyone crashing down. Unfortunate? Yes. Inevitable? Perhaps. And does it make for a good read? Absolutely.

Booktopia is proud to soon be carrying two new publications from some very talented Filipino authors.

Philippine Speculative Fiction, Volume 2
by Dean Francis Alfar (Editor)

First, there’s Philippine Speculative Fiction Volume 2, a collection of short fiction of the imagination (including fantasy, science fiction, horror, magic realism and surrealism) written by Filipinos at home and abroad. Nineteen authors are represented, both new and established, from all over the Philippines and as far away as France and The Netherlands. The only anthology of its kind in the country, the previous volume was a Finalist for the National Book Award for Best Anthology.

Editor Dean Francis Alfar is an advocate of the literature of the fantastic. His plays have been performed in venues across the Philippines, while his fiction has been published in national (Philippines Free Press, Story Philippines, Manual, Digest of Philippine Genre Stories) and international markets (Strange Horizons, Rabid Transit: Menagerie and The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror). His writing awards include nine Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, including the Grand Prize for Novel in 2005 for Salamanca (Ateneo Press, 2006). He was the recipient of the National Book Award for the graphic novels Siglo: Freedom and Siglo: Passion. His first collection of short fiction, The Kite of Stars and other stories, is scheduled by Anvil Publishing for release in 2007.

Read full write-up

The Digest of Philippine Genre Stories, Volume 1
by Kenneth Yu (Editor)

View full cover art

The second one is a collection of genre stories in digest form. This is a small magazine format, just like Reader’s Digest. Other well-known magazines in this format would be the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine. As you can see, the digest format is very popular with genre fiction. Genre stories are those that fit into specific genres like science fiction, fantasy, mystery, crime, horror, detective, etc. The premiere issue has a mix of fantasy, horror, and speculative fiction.

An excerpt from The Middle Prince, by Dean Francis Alfar:
The middle prince soon found himself unable to bear the weight of the fishes’ declarations, and clutched at his bleeding ears vainly in an effort to stifle the power of the multiple assertions. The last thing he remembered hearing before he lost his ability to comprehend the vision of thousands of coruscating mouths and slipped into darkness, was a voice that said: “There is nothing more precious than a love foretold, and nothing as equally damning.”

An excerpt from Wail Of The Sun, by Vince Simbulan:
He dreamed of riding to battle on sheets of flame, of reducing whole armies to ash, of razing castles to the ground. He was Rubric again, and fire obeyed his every whim. Then the dream descended into nightmare, scenes of his final battle, of his greatest triumph over the Witch-Queen Amarath destroyed by her final curse, and Rubric could only wail in horror when his flames betrayed him as a stray fireball reduced his wife and his world to ashes.

An excerpt from Thriller, by Andrew Drilon:
“I was at the mall when it broke out,” he says, “I managed to get this rifle and a pack of bullets before I got out, but guns only get you so far. There were five of us a couple hours ago; now, it’s just me.”

An excerpt from Insomnia, by Joseph Nacino:
5 April 2006… So I managed to talk to Justine’s friend, Eden, in Diliman and this is getting stranger by the minute. It seems that the language Justine isolated from the taped conversations are really old, older even than Latin. Eden told me she’ll get back to me on the translations. She seemed really excited…

An excerpt from Inhuman, by Alexander Marcos Osias:
“What name will you answer to? Tell us, in the name of Jesus. What name will you answer to?”

A long wail escaped from Marcel’s throat before it turned to a soft snicker.

“We have many names.” The words seemed spoken by neither male nor female, and was full of strange echoes and distortions, as though a million voices had uttered them in unison through a narrow crack in a thin, splintering door. “Do you want them all?”

Fragile Things
by Neil Gaiman

Description:
A mysterious circus terrifies an audience for one extraordinary performance before disappearing into the night, taking one of the spectators along with it . . .

In a novella set two years after the events of American Gods, Shadow pays a visit to an ancient Scottish mansion, and finds himself trapped in a game of murder and monsters . . .

In a Hugo Award-winning short story set in a strangely altered Victorian England, the great detective Sherlock Holmes must solve a most unsettling royal murder . . .

Two teenage boys crash a party and meet the girls of their dreams—and nightmares . . .

In a Locus Award-winning tale, the members of an excusive epicurean club lament that they’ve eaten everything that can be eaten, with the exception of a legendary, rare, and exceedingly dangerous Egyptian bird . . .

Such marvelous creations and more—including a short story set in the world of The Matrix, and others set in the worlds of gothic fiction and children’s fiction—can be found in this extraordinary collection, which showcases Gaiman’s storytelling brilliance as well as his terrifyingly entertaining dark sense of humor. By turns delightful, disturbing, and diverting, Fragile Things is a gift of literary enchantment from one of the most unique writers of our time.

About the Author:
Neil Gaiman is the critically acclaimed and award-winning creator of the Sandman series of graphic novels, author of the novels Anansi Boys, American Gods, Coraline, Stardust, and Neverwhere, the short-fiction collection Smoke and Mirrors, and the bestselling children’s books The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish and The Wolves in the Walls (both illustrated by Dave McKean). Originally from England, Gaiman now lives in the United States.

Excerpt:

Chapter One - A Study in Emerald

I. The New Friend

Fresh from Their Stupendous European Tour, where they performed before several of the crowned heads of Europe, garnering their plaudits and praise with magnificent dramatic performances, combining both comedy and tragedy, the Strand Players wish to make it known that they shall be appearing at the Royal Court Theatre, Drury Lane, for a limited engagement in April, at which they will present My Look Alike Brother Tom!, The Littlest Violet Seller and The Great Old Ones Come (this last an Historical Epic of Pageantry and Delight); each an entire play in one act! Tickets are available now from the Box Office.

It is the immensity, I believe. The hugeness of things below. The darkness of dreams.

But I am woolgathering. Forgive me. I am not a literary man.

I had been in need of lodgings. That was how I met him. I wanted someone to share the cost of rooms with me. We were introduced by a mutual acquaintance, in the chemical laboratories of St. Bart’s. “You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive,” that was what he said to me, and my mouth fell open and my eyes opened very wide.

“Astonishing,” I said.

“Not really,” said the stranger in the white lab coat, who was to become my friend. “From the way you hold your arm, I see you have been wounded, and in a particular way. You have a deep tan. You also have a military bearing, and there are few enough places in the Empire that a military man can be both tanned and, given the nature of the injury to your shoulder and the traditions of the Afghan cave folk, tortured.”

Put like that, of course, it was absurdly simple. But then, it always was. I had been tanned nut brown. And I had indeed, as he had observed, been tortured.

The gods and men of Afghanistan were savages, unwilling to be ruled from Whitehall or from Berlin or even from Moscow, and unprepared to see reason. I had been sent into those hills, attached to the—th Regiment. As long as the fighting remained in the hills and mountains, we fought on an equal footing. When the skirmishes descended into the caves and the darkness then we found ourselves, as it were, out of our depth and in over our heads.

I shall not forget the mirrored surface of the underground lake, nor the thing that emerged from the lake, its eyes opening and closing, and the singing whispers that accompanied it as it rose, wreathing their way about it like the buzzing of flies bigger than worlds.

That I survived was a miracle, but survive I did, and I returned to England with my nerves in shreds and tatters. The place that leech like mouth had touched me was tattooed forever, frog white, into the skin of my now withered shoulder. I had once been a crack shot. Now I had nothing, save a fear of the world beneath the world akin to panic, which meant that I would gladly pay sixpence of my army pension for a Hansom cab rather than a penny to travel underground.

Still, the fogs and darknesses of London comforted me, took me in. I had lost my first lodgings because I screamed in the night. I had been in Afghanistan; I was there no longer.

“I scream in the night,” I told him.

“I have been told that I snore,” he said. “Also I keep irregular hours, and I often use the mantelpiece for target practice. I will need the sitting room to meet clients. I am selfish, private, and easily bored. Will this be a problem?”

I smiled, and I shook my head, and extended my hand. We shook on it.

The rooms he had found for us, in Baker Street, were more than adequate for two bachelors. I bore in mind all my friend had said about his desire for privacy, and I forbore from asking what it was he did for a living. Still, there was much to pique my curiosity. Visitors would arrive at all hours, and when they did I would leave the sitting room and repair to my bedroom, pondering what they could have in common with my friend: the pale woman with one eye bone white, the small man who looked like a commercial traveler, the portly dandy in his velvet jacket, and the rest. Some were frequent visitors, many others came only once, spoke to him, and left, looking troubled or looking satisfied.

He was a mystery to me.

We were partaking of one of our landlady’s magnificent breakfasts one morning, when my friend rang the bell to summon that good lady. “There will be a gentleman joining us, in about four minutes,” he said. “We will need another place at table.”

“Very good,” she said, “I’ll put more sausages under the grill.”

My friend returned to perusing his morning paper. I waited for an explanation with growing impatience. Finally, I could stand it no longer. “I don’t understand. How could you know that in four minutes we would be receiving a visitor? There was no telegram, no message of any kind.”

He smiled, thinly. “You did not hear the clatter of a brougham several minutes ago? It slowed as it passed us—obviously as the driver identified our door, then it sped up and went past, up into the Marylebone Road. There is a crush of carriages and taxicabs letting off passengers at the railway station and at the waxworks, and it is in that crush that anyone wishing to alight without being observed will go. The walk from there to here is but four minutes.. . .”

He glanced at his pocket watch, and as he did so I heard a tread on the stairs outside.

“Come in, Lestrade,” he called. “The door is ajar, and your sausages are just coming out from under the grill.”

The foregoing is excerpted from Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced without written permission from HarperCollins Publishers, 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022

Popular Japanese storyteller Haruki Murakami (Norwegian Woodk, Wind-up Bird Chronicle) was recently awarded the Franz Kafka Prize, given annually through the cooperation of the Franz Kafka Society and the city of Prague, Czech Republic. Kafka is said to be a favorite of Murakami since he first read the Czech author’s works as a teenager. Murakami named the leading character of his novel Kafka on the Shore after Franz Kafka to honor him.

According to the organizers, the award is given to authors whose works exhibit “humanistic character and contribution to cultural, national, language and religious tolerance, existential, timeless character, generally human validity and ability to hand over a testimony about our times.” Past winners of the award have also received the Nobel Prize for Literature and Murakami has also been said to be a likely candidate for the prestigious prize.

Recently released:

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
by Haruki Murakami

Description:
Following the best-selling triumph of Kafka on the Shore comes a collection that generously expresses Murakami’s mastery. From the surreal to the mundane, these stories exhibit his ability to transform the full range of human experience in ways that are instructive, surprising, and relentlessly entertaining.

Here are animated crows, a criminal monkey, and an iceman, as well as the dreams that shape us and the things we might wish for. Whether during a chance reunion in Italy, a romantic exile in Greece, a holiday in Hawaii, or in the grip of everyday life, Murakami’s characters confront grievous loss, or sexuality, or the glow of a firefly, or the impossible distances between those who ought to be the closest of all.
About the Author

About the author:
Haruki Murakami was born in Kyoto in 1949 and now lives near Tokyo. His work has been translated into thirty-eight languages, and the most recent of his many honors is the Yomiuri Literary Prize, whose previous recipients include Yukio Mishima, Kenzaburo Oe, and Kobo Abe.

Murakami likes unagi, Smirnoff Vodka, and Radiohead. Learn more about the author from his website.