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Akumu hyakuichi ya (One Hundred and One Nightmares) is a collection of short stories exploring our deepest fears and neuroses while remaining firmly rooted in our experiences of daily life. Although drawing on elements of Japanese culture, the nightmarish scenarios are surprisingly familiar for Western readers who will immediately identify with the characters and the situations they face. The two stories so far selected for translation are Hellbound and Compos Mentis. Hellbound recounts a shopping trip by Shizuko Toki, a dentist who finally obtains her driving license well into middle-age—with disastrous results. Compos Mentis is a new take on an old ghost story favorite in which a provincial bank manager, having achieved national fame after seeing a ghost, wreaks his revenge on a psychiatrist who publicly humiliated him. Author Kanji Hanawa is a master of the short story format, and uses skillful pacing to retain the reader's attention and fascination all the way to the final twist at the end of each tale. His elegant style belies his unremitting eye for the perverse, which he combines with dark humor to devastating effect. Thought-provoking and compulsive reading.

submitted by Ginny Tapley