PR: VIZ Media Participates in First Ever Bay Area Book Festival June 6-7

"MONONOKE HIME" (1980 nen Shoki Settei Ban)
By Hayao Miyazaki
© 1993 Nibariki
All rights reserved. 
© 1993 Studio Ghibli

The Largest Manga Publisher In The U.S. Will Showcase A Wide Variety Of Manga, Art Books And Other Acclaimed Titles At Literary Festival Taking Place In Berkeley, CA Next Month

San Francisco, CA, May 28, 2015 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest distributor and licensor of manga and anime in North America, proudly announces its support and participation in the first-ever Bay Area Book Festival, set to take place the weekend of June 6-7, 2015 in downtown Berkeley, CA.

VIZ Media will exhibit and offer for sale a wide selection of its published titles throughout the festival, including art books, graphic novels, manga and other noteworthy releases from the Perfect Square, Studio Ghibli and Haikasoru literary imprints, as well as contemporary titles from the VIZ Signature collection.

The Bay Area Book Festival is FREE to attend and will take place from 10:00AM to 6:00PM at Civic Center Park and 12 surrounding themed blocks in downtown Berkeley. Exhibitors will include publishers, indie bookstores, literary and literacy organizations, library services, writing programs, book artists, authors, and more. A variety of indoor and outdoor activities and exhibits aimed at adults, teens and children also will be offered. More than 150 local, national, and international authors will be reading, debating, and presenting in great spaces, both indoor and outside, throughout the Downtown Arts District as well as selected venues on the UC Berkeley campus. Full details on the Bay Area Book Festival are available at: http://www.baybookfest.org.

PR: Haikasoru Debuts New Title By Miyuki Miyabi

Apparitions: Ghosts of Old Edo (AYASHI) 

by MIYABE Miyuki

© 2000 MIYABE Miyuki

All rights reserved.

VIZ MEDIA’S HAIKASORU IMPRINT RELEASES AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR MIYUKI MIYABE’S APPARITIONS: THE GHOSTS OF OLD EDO

Edo, Birthplace Of Japan’s Modern Age, Is Also Home To Vengeful Ghosts Of The Past In A Gripping Horror Collection By Acclaimed Author Of BRAVE STORY And ICO: CASTLE IN THE MIST

San Francisco, CA, November 19, 2013 – VIZ Media’s Haikasoru literary imprint is proud to announce the North American release of famed Japanese author Miyuki Miyabe’s chilling collection of ghost stories – APPARITIONS: THE GHOSTS OF OLD EDO. The new release carries an MSRP of $14.99 U.S. / $16.99 CAN.

An eBook edition is also available for $8.99 (U.S. / CAN) for the Amazon Kindle, Apple’s iBooks Store, Barnes & Noble’s Nook Book Store, and the Kobo eBooks Store.

Haikasoru publishes some of the most compelling contemporary Japanese science fiction and fantasy stories for English-speaking audiences, and is the first imprint based in the U.S. dedicated to Japanese science fiction and fantasy in translation.

In old Edo, the past was never forgotten. It lived alongside the present in dark corners and in the shadows. In these tales, award-winning author Miyuki Miyabe explores the ghosts of early modern Japan and the spaces of the living world – workplaces, families, and the human soul – that they inhabit. Written with a journalistic eye and a fantasist’s heart, APPARITIONS brings the restless dead, and those who encounter them, to life.

PR: Viz's Haikasoru Imprint Announces Several New Titles

HAIKASORU ANNOUNCES LATEST ACQUISITIONS, INCLUDING ALL YOU NEED IS KILL GRAPHIC NOVEL AND ‘REMASTERED’ BATTLE ROYALE NOVEL

ALL YOU NEED IS KILL Graphic Novel, Based On The Book That Inspired Upcoming Film EDGE OF TOMORROW;

BATTLE ROYALE: REMASTERED Novel Features New Translation; New Non-Fiction THE BATTLE ROYALE SLAM BOOK Explores The Novel’s Impact On Pop Culture;

San Francisco, CA, July 18, 2013 – VIZ Media’s Haikasoru literary imprint previewed an exciting trio of brand new publishing acquisitions slated for debut in Spring 2014 during the company’s panel at the recent 2013 Comic-Con International, the nation’s biggest comic book, science fiction and pop culture event.

The acquisitions include the imprint’s first original graphic novel: ALL YOU NEED IS KILL, based on the hit science fiction novel by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. The release will coincide with the upcoming film Edge of Tomorrow, starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt, also based on the ALL YOU NEED IS KILL book. Haikasoru’s other new acquisitions include BATTLE ROYALE: REMASTERED, featuring a brand new translation of the smash hit dystopian action/adventure story, and the BATTLE ROYALE SLAM BOOK: Essays on the Cult Classic Novel by Koushun Takami, both debuting on the 15^th anniversary of the novel’s first debut.

Haikasoru publishes some of the most compelling contemporary Japanese science fiction and fantasy stories for English-speaking audiences, and is the first imprint based in the U.S. dedicated to Japanese science fiction and fantasy in translation.

PR: Haikasoru Debuts Sci-Fi Novel SELF-REFERENCE ENGINE

THIS IS NOT A NOVEL.

THIS IS NOT A SHORT STORY COLLECTION.

THIS IS SELF-REFERENCE ENGINE

Award Winning Japanese Sci-fi Novel Has North American Debut From VIZ Media’s Haikasoru Imprint

San Francisco, CA, March 19, 2013 – VIZ Media’s literary imprint Haikasoru has announced today’s North American debut of author Toh EnJoe’s SELF-REFERENCE ENGINE, a work of hard science fiction where vignette, story, and philosophy combine to create a novel designed like a concept album. In Japan, EnJoe’s prize-winning fiction is well known for blending hardcore science fiction with bizarre surrealism.

SELF-REFERENCE ENGINE is available now and carries an MSRP of $14.99 U.S. / $16.99 CAN. An eBook edition is also available for the Amazon Kindle, Apple’s iBooks Store, the Barnes & Noble’s Nook Books Store, and the Sony Reader™ Store.

Haikasoru publishes some of the most compelling contemporary Japanese science fiction and fantasy stories for English-speaking audiences, and is the first imprint based in the U.S. dedicated to Japanese science fiction and fantasy in translation.

PR: Digital Audio Version Of ALL YOU NEED IS KILL Now Available

VIZ MEDIA ANNOUNCES A NEW AUDIOBOOK RELEASE OF THE HIT SCI-FI ACTION THRILLER 'ALL YOU NEED IS KILL' 

Acclaimed Novel Now In Production As A Major Feature Film From Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures, VIZ Media Also Secures Publishing Rights To Official Movie Novel Edition

San Francisco, CA, February 20, 2013 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest publisher, distributor and licensor of manga and anime in North America, has announced the digital release by Simon & Schuster Audio of an unabridged audio book version of Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s science fiction thriller ALL YOU NEED IS KILL. The acclaimed novel, read and narrated by Mike Martindale, is now available for $19.95 U.S. from the Simon & Schuster website.

ALL YOU NEED IS KILL is published in North America by VIZ Media’s Haikasoru imprint and is currently in production as a major feature film directed by Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity) and starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. The film is slated for release in the spring of 2014, to be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures. Liman is directing the film from a screenplay by Dante W. Harper and Jez Butterworth & John-Henry Butterworth and Christopher McQuarrie, based on the novel. Erwin Stoff, Gregory Jacobs, Jeffrey Silver, Jason Hoffs and Tom Lassally are the producers, with Doug Liman, Dave Bartis, Joby Harold, Hidemi Fukuhara and Bruce Berman serving as executive producers.

Novel Review: The Future Is Japanese

The Future Is Japanese: Stories From and About The Land Of The Rising Sun

Authors: Ekaterina Sedia, Bruce Sterling, Rachel Swirsky, TOBI Hirotaka, Catherynne M. Valente, Pat Cadigan, Toh EnJoe , Project Itoh, Hideyuki Kikuchi, Ken Liu, David Moles, Issui Ogawa, Felicity Savage

Haikasoru/Viz Media

350 pages

A web browser that threatens to conquer the world. The longest, loneliest railroad on Earth. A North Korean nuke hitting Tokyo, a hollow asteroid full of automated rice paddies, and a specialist in breaking up “virtual” marriages. And yes, giant robots. These thirteen stories from and about the Land of the Rising Sun run the gamut from fantasy to cyberpunk, and will leave you knowing that the future is Japanese! (Source: Goodreads)

I don't do anthologies. Well, short story anthologies at least; I've no problem when it's poetry or non-fiction pieces. The problem with (short story) anthologies and myself is that I get too attached to the characters and the setting of one story, only to have it end too soon and leave me wanting for more although I know full well there won't be. Plus, with so many authors in the pot, the likelihood of several bad apples spoiling the bunch climbs higher and higher.

But I felt obligated to pick up Haikasoru's collection of sci-fi/fantasy stories from and about Japan, mostly because it is Haikasoru and they are known for quality fiction of those genres (and typing that makes me wish I had picked up the paperback of Battle Royale I'd seen in a new and used book shop today, whoops). And this is a decision I do not regret, and neither will anyone else who follows suit.

PR: Viz's Haikasoru Debuts METAL GEAR SOLID: GUNS OF THE PATRIOTS Novel

© 2012 Konami Digital Entertainment
© Project ITOH 2008, 2010

HEAVY WEAPONS AND A DEADLY RACE AGAINST TIME BECKON READERS TO EXPLORE METAL GEAR SOLID: GUNS OF THE PATRIOTS,

NEW FROM VIZ MEDIA’S HAIKASORU IMPRINT

Action-Packed New Novel By Famed Japanese Author Explores Key Characters And The Plot’s Connection To Previous Metal Gear Solid Franchise Videogames

San Francisco, CA, June 6, 2012 – VIZ Media’s Haikasoru imprint brings the high octane futuristic military action of Metal Gear Solid to North American readers with the release of METAL GEAR SOLID: GUNS OF THE PATRIOTS, a brand new fiction title by the late Japanese science fiction author, Keikaku (Project) Itoh. The forthcoming novel, which is inspired by the massively successful videogame franchise, hits retailers on June 19^th with an MSRP of $15.99 U.S. / $18.99 CAN. An eBook edition will also be available for the Amazon Kindle, Apple’s iBooks Store, the Barnes & Noble’s Nook Books Store, and the Sony Reader™ Store.

Haikasoru publishes some of the most compelling contemporary Japanese science fiction and fantasy stories for English-speaking audiences, and is the first imprint based in the U.S. dedicated to Japanese science fiction and fantasy in translation.

METAL GEAR SOLID: GUNS OF THE PATRIOTS delivers the latest bullet-ridden adventures of Solid Snake, a crack soldier who is part of a worldwide nanotechnology network known as the Sons of the Patriots. Time is running out for Snake though, as he will soon succumb to the FOXDIE virus, but not before spreading the disease to nearly everyone he encounters, in essence becoming a walking biological weapon. Snake will need every advantage he can get, as the SOP network is about to be hacked by his old enemy Liquid Ocelot, and whoever controls SOP controls the world.

PR: Viz's Haikasoru Imprint Releases Sci-Fi/Fantasy Anthology

THE FUTURE IS JAPANESE
© 2012 VIZ Media

NEW FROM VIZ MEDIA’S HAIKASORU IMPRINT,

A STIRRING NEW ANTHOLOGY OF FANTASY, SCIENCE FICTION AND CYBERPUNK SHOWS WHY THE FUTURE IS JAPANESE

New Literary Release Features 13 Innovative Stories From And About Japan By An International Collection Of Some Of Sci-Fi Fiction’s Most Acclaimed Authors

San Francisco, CA, May 16, 2012 – VIZ Media’s Haikasoru imprint announces the release of THE FUTURE IS JAPANESE, a new fiction anthology featuring science fiction and fantasy stories from some of today’s greatest writers from both Japan and the English-speaking world. The book is now available from the company’s Haikasoru imprint and has a MSRP of $14.99 U.S. / $17.99 CAN. An eBook edition will also be available for the Amazon Kindle, Apple’s iBooks Store, the Barnes & Noble’s Nook Books Store, and the Sony Reader™ Store.

Haikasoru publishes some of the most compelling contemporary Japanese science fiction and fantasy stories for English-speaking audiences, and is the first imprint based in the U.S. dedicated to Japanese science fiction and fantasy in translation.