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Willow Heath

Will predominantly writes about the books of Books and Bao, examining the literature of a place and how the authors have used the art of storytelling to reflect the world and the culture around them.

Translated from the Japanese by Kalau Almony “The lives of the characters in this story are burning up within their bodies,” Saihate writes in the afterword to Astral Season, Beastly Season. “They certainly cannot expose those lives to others, and no one will understand them fully.” This is the debut novel in English by a …

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Indonesia, Asia’s largest archipelago, is one of the world’s most ethnically, religiously, and culturally diverse countries. It is a place called home by every kind of human being. And so, Indonesian novels, stories, and poems offer readers that same kind of diversity and excitement. The Indonesian novels, stories, and poems found here do not encompass …

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Nobody does horror like Junji Ito, and there is no manga quite like a Junji Ito manga. While scary stories have been told for as long as we’ve had stories, and mythologies across the world are filled with creatures and tales of terror, it’s only within the last century that horror has become cemented as …

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It’s an irrefutable fact that Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is the biggest anime in the world right now. Hype surrounding the Demon Slayer anime is intense, and the Mugen Train movie has become one of the biggest box office hits in the history of Japanese animation. Because of this, the Demon Slayer manga, written …

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Tokyo Ghoul is a manga series by mangaka Sui Ishida. The series’ 143 chapters are available in fourteen volumes, followed then by its sequel series Tokyo Ghoul: re. The series has been adapted into an anime series; both the Tokyo Ghoul manga and anime are hugely popular amongst fans but, for first-timers and anime fans …

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Translated from the Japanese by Polly Barton While I don’t know the complete shape of Japanese literature today, many Japanese books in translation have, for the past several years, been reflective of the frustrating, exhausting world their writers were born into. Most of these writers are inspiring women, exhausted and angered by modern politics, inequality, …

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Translated from the Spanish by Frances Riddle One of 2020’s finest novels in translation, Theatre of War marks a lot of firsts. This is the first Chilean novel published by Charco Press; it’s the first Chilean novel I’ve ever read; and it’s my first experience with translator Frances Riddle. It’s also a masterpiece. Theatre of …

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Translated from the Georgian by Elizabeth Heighway The Pear Field is a novel of juxtapositions. It is full of tragedy, but written with a calm joviality. It has a gothic tone but is populated by lovable characters, rather than ones you love to hate. It shocks and frightens you at one turn while filling you …

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The landscape of indie publishing is so rich and diverse right now. Risk of failure might be high, but that hasn’t stopped so many courageous people fighting to forge, and make roaring successes of, some of the best publishing companies in the world right now – all with nothing but their own blood, sweat, and …

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What an incredible city York is. A place rich in Roman, Medieval, Tudor, and Victorian history. A city for bookworms and art-lovers. A friendly, warm town of ancient cobbled streets and strange, enigmatic places. We have so much to say about historic, haunted York. So, let’s start with the most unique things to do in …

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