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"I lived in a haunted apartment." Zack Davisson opens this definitive work on Japan''s ghosts, or yurei, with a personal tale about the spirit world. Eerie red marks on the apartment''s ceiling kept Zack and his wife on edge. The landlord warned them not to open a door in the apartment that led to nowhere. "Our Japanese visitors had no problem putting a name to it . . . they would sense the vibes of the place, look around a bit and inevitably say ''Ahhh . . . yurei ga deteru.'' There is a yurei here."

Combining his lifelong interest in Japanese tradition and his personal experiences with these vengeful spirits, Davisson launches an investigation into the origin, popularization, and continued existence of yurei in Japan. Juxtaposing historical documents and legends against contemporary yurei-based horror films such as The Ring, Davisson explores the persistence of this paranormal phenomenon in modern day Japan and its continued spread throughout the West.

Zack Davisson is a translator, writer, and scholar of Japanese folklore and ghosts. He is the translator of Mizuki Shigeru''s Showa 1926–1939: A History of Japan and a translator and contributor to Kitaro. He also worked as a researcher and on-screen talent for National Geographic''s TV special Japan: Lost Souls of Okinawa. He writes extensively about Japanese ghost stories at his website, hyakumonogatari.com.

"Shimoda is a consummate storyteller" — Booklist"Shimoda skillfully weaves (these) tales into the narrative, revealing how past events "continue to affect the island, like aftershocks." Earthquakes are an apt metaphor for the social disruptions on the island, and Shimoda links modern earthquake science, ancient Japanese myths on the origin of earthquakes, and an unforgettable cast of characters to create a suspenseful, richly illustrated novel." — Publishers Weekly"Husband and wife team Todd and Linda Shimoda’s skills blend seamlessly together to make Subduction a hauntingly beautiful and highly unique novel. The author’s prose and illustrator’s talent give the book a tone and quality that is both rare and memorable." - ForeWord

Subduction is a timely, electrifying thriller set on a tiny, earthquake-plagued island. Endo, a young physician unjustly charged with a patient''s death, is banished to the island to care for the few remaining elderly residents. Determined to remain on their crumbling island and resuscitate their defunct fishing industry, the aging islanders plot against all outsiders.

After a mysterious death and attacks on Endo and fellow newcomvers, he discovers why the islanders don''t wish to leave: years ago, jealousies, lust, and violence ripped apart their lives, and the wounds haven''t healed. The aftershocks of the islanders'' past, as well as Endo''s own troubled history, replay violently in the present just as a massive earthquake strikes.

Exquisitely designed with L.J.C. Shimoda''s artwork throughout, Subduction also features a sixteen-page illustrated retelling of the myth of Kashima, the god who controls a giant, thrashing catfish that causes earthquakes. The myth offers clues to the mysterious motives of the island''s denizens.

Todd Shimoda won the 2010 Elliot Cades Award for Literature from the Hawai''i Literary Arts Council. His previous novel Oh! was an NPR Best Summer Read. The Fourth Treasure was translated into six languages and named a notable book by the Kiriyama Prize.

L.J.C. Shimoda is an accomplished artist, illustrator, and book designer. Her artwork and illustrations have appeared in her husband Todd Shimoda''s novels 365 Views of Mt. Fuji, The Fourth Treasure, and Oh!

Leslie D. Helm''s decision to adopt Japanese children launches him on a personal journey through his family''s 140 years in Japan, beginning with his great-grandfather, who worked as a military advisor in 1870 and defied custom to marry his Japanese mistress. The family''s poignant experiences of love and war help Helm overcome his cynicism and embrace his Japanese and American heritage.

This is the first book to look at Japan across five generations, with perspective that is both from the inside and through foreign eyes. Helm draws on his great-grandfather''s unpublished memoir and a wealth of primary source material to bring his family history to life.

Leslie D. Helm is a veteran foreign correspondent, having served eight years in Tokyo for Business Week and the Los Angeles Times. Currently, he is editor of Seattle Business, a monthly magazine that has won multiple first place excellence in journalism awards in the Pacific Northwest. Helm earned a master''s degree in journalism from the Columbia University School of Journalism and in Asian studies from the University of California, Berkeley. He was born and raised in Yokohama, Japan, where his family has lived since 1868.

"Rozek''s [work] is antimedia media, almost disorienting in its simplicity."—Wired magazine

Lynzsea Sky, a twenty-something college student, tells the author her heartbreaking, disturbing, and culture-challenging life story. She speaks at first hesitantly, then with increasing clarity about sex, drugs, family life, education, tattoos, homelessness, her dreams of becoming a filmmaker, her brother''s time in prison, and her mother''s struggle with mental illness.

The book is just the conversation; the absence of anything else makes this a groundbreaking new form of nonfiction. The lean prose is void of stylistic hijinks, drawing the reader in without drawing attention to the writer.

The author''s first book is part of a planned series called American True Stories, all of which will be similarly dialogue based. Michael Rozek''s work illuminates real American lives and gives a voice to people who often are overlooked by the mainstream media.

Michael Rozek has written more than two thousand articles for various national magazines including Rolling Stone, Esquire, Sports Illustrated, and The Village Voice in a career spanning nearly forty years. He walked away from a lucrative free-lance career to publish the popular Rozek''s Newsletter in the 1990s in response to the "fast food" journalism he saw increasingly creeping into American magazines. For more than a decade, Rozek and his wife Charlotte have struggled with homelessness and poverty, yet Rozek continues to talk to and write about everyday Americans with empathy and insight. This is his first book.

Drought and fires, floods and rising tides: These and other climate-driven forces are compelling us to examine our role as inhabitants of our imperiled planet. In over forty vitally important essays and vignettes, Natural Consequences is Char Miller’s literary tour de force that illuminates the historical background of how we got here, what we need to do now, and how we can thrive into the future.

Professor of Environmental Analysis and History, and author of books, articles, and essays, Char Miller’s narratives are not only expansive in scope, but also intimate and personal. Living in Southern California, he walks us through the environmental touchstones of his backyard, through his neighborhood, into the widely varied ecospheres of California, and then the world beyond.

The essays encourage readers to look for themselves at the meaning behind environmental disasters and injustices, but also examine the tiniest details that can be encountered simply by taking a walk. As Char Miller wanders, we see the world anew through his eyes and words. And we are better for it.

From debut fiction writer Carla Crujido comes a delicately intertwined, fairytale-inspired collection of short stories.

Part vivid historical drama, part melancholy fever dream, The Strange Beautiful centers on Mount Vernon Apartments in Spokane, Washington, offering a glimpse into the lives of ten tenants over a period of one hundred years.

In the opening story, "The Songbird," we meet the building''s caretaker, a WWI veteran trying to rebuild his life amidst the Spanish flu pandemic. In "The Telephone," a 21st-century poet''s longing for a bygone era nurtures a friendship that transcends time. A 1930s department store mannequin navigates the challenges of womanhood in the surreal, darkly humorous tale, "The Mannequin." And in "The Suitcase," an exhausted woman scrambles to tidy up her boyfriend''s unprocessed emotions, which have materialized inside boxes all over the apartment.

As we witness the quiet but fraught moments of the tenants'' everyday lives, these uncanny narratives create a world that is at once familiar and fantastic. A striking portrait of a city not often depicted in literature, The Strange Beautiful leads us through the streets of Spokane and the similarly evolving internal landscapes of these ten characters. Crujido''s masterful storytelling shows us how a single place can hold a myriad of histories, how our lives are interconnected with strangers, and how our collective tales are forever repeating.

Not All Dead Together is a sweeping saga that chronicles the lives of family members brought together by blood and by choice over decades of violent sociopolitical conflict and exploitative foreign relations between the United States and Guatemala.

Through lyrical, richly detailed narratives told from multiple perspectives over a period of 65 years, we meet an ensemble cast of characters at critical points in their lives. Miguel, a physician at a neighborhood clinic in Guatemala, must immediately treat a boy who shot his own hand. Years earlier, his sister, Aleta, strives to improve the lives of her indigenous neighbors despite relentless systemic injustices and the constant threat of state-sponsored terror. A rudderless young Peace Corps volunteer named Gray finds the familial connection she craves in caring and perceptive Aleta, brilliant Miguel, their guileful brother, Carlos, and their kindhearted mother, Doña Paz. As the characters'' paths intertwine, all question the direction of their lives in a world where the political and personal are inextricable and their choices can have life-or-death consequences.

Master storyteller Lynn Stansbury creates a vivid and intimate portrait of how the Guatemalan Civil War – a horrendous era in foreign policy that the U.S. rarely confronts – upended the lives of ordinary people and continues to perpetuate harm across generations. At once fierce and tender, Not All Dead Together wrestles with complex questions on the meaning of heroism, resilience, and found family.

The seventeen stories in this debut collection by Juyanne James interpret the Louisiana experience. They stage encounters mostly with strong women—but also interesting men and families—all trying to survive in their own way. While this collection is as an evolution of the idea of "double-consciousness" and how African Americans see themselves in the world, the characters are remarkable in their own right, without having to be labeled. They are not so much concerned with color as they are with survival.

The collection opens with "You Don''t Know Me, Child": a young bus rider grows fascinated with a female passenger who carries pictures in her hair, and the rider imagines the woman''s past. The fractured "Bayou Buoys" is about a mother whose two boys are missing on the bayou. "Doll" is about early twentieth-century life—when black teachers were brought into small towns in the South to teach—and what happens when a field hand falls in love with a teacher.

James has written a thoroughly eclectic, lyrical collection of stories that speaks to the African American tradition, depicting life in New Orleans and rural Louisiana.

Juyanne James grew up on a farm in southeast Louisiana; she left at seventeen to join the US Navy. After holding a number of odd jobs (such as over-the-road truck driver), she returned to Louisiana to write and teach. Her fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

A fortuneteller hires a detective to find her missing son in this existential noir mystery. A startling clue leads the detective into the underground worlds of fortunetelling and "pleasure" tours. The missing son reminds him of an old case which ended badly, one he is compelled to reopen. As he investigates both, he finds his life becoming more ghostlike.

Todd Shimoda has published four novels on Japanese themes. The books have been translated into six languages with over one hundred thousand copies printed worldwide. Todd was also the recipient of the Hawaii Literary Arts Council''s 2010 Elliot Cades Award for Literature.

This dark comedy explores the lost universes of disgraced idol Dylan Greenyears. Dylan had always wanted to live as many lives as he could—that was the appeal of being an actor. But at the end of a brief stint as a Hollywood heartthrob, Dylan loses the lead in Titanic and exiles himself and his wife to a recently settled exoplanet called New Taiwan.

At first, life beyond Earth seems uncannily un-wondrous. Dylan teaches at an American prep school, raises a family with his high school sweetheart, and lives out his restlessness through literature. But then a box of old fan mail (and the hint of a galaxy-wide conspiracy) offers Dylan a chance to recapture the past. As he tries to balance this transdimensional midlife crisis against family life, Dylan encounters a cast of extraordinary characters: a supercomputer with aspirations of godhood, a Mormon-fundamentalist superfan, an old-school psychoanalyst, a sampling of his alternate selves, and, once again, the love of his lives.

King of the Worlds throws cosmology, technology, nineties pop culture, and religion into an existential blender for a mix that is by turns tragic and absurd, elegiac and filled with wonder.

M. Thomas Gammarino is the author of the novel Big in Japan and the novella Jellyfish Dreams. His short fiction has appeared in the New York Tyrant, Tinfish, Word Riot, and the Hawai''i Review, among others. In 2014, Gammarino received the Elliot Cades Award for Literature, Hawaii''s highest literary honor. He lives and teaches in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Equal parts muckraking novel, transnational love story, and socially engaged panorama, Cho Chongnae’s The Human Jungle portrays China on the verge of becoming the world’s dominant economic force.

Against a backdrop of rapidly morphing urban landscapes, readers meet migrant workers, Korean manufacturers out to save a few bucks, high-flying venture capitalists, street thugs, and shakedown artists. The picture of China that emerges is at turns unsettling, awe-inspiring, and heart-breaking. Chongnae deftly portrays a giant awakening to its own raw, volatile, and often uncontrollable power.

Translators Bruce Fulton and Ju-Chan Fulton have condensed three of Chongnae’s Korean novels, each of which sold more than one million copies in South Korea, into this single English-language edition.

Cho Chongnae is one of Korea’s most important living writers. He is best known for a trio of massive historical novels: the ten-volume T’aebaek Mountains (1989), the twelve-volume Arirang (1995), and the ten-volume Han River (2002). Cho lives in Seoul, South Korea.

Bruce Fulton and Ju-Chan Fulton are the translators of numerous volumes of modern Korean fiction, including the award-winning women’s anthologies Words of Farewell and Wayfarer, and, with Marshall R. Pihl, Land of Exile: Contemporary Korean Fiction. They have received two National Endowment for the Arts Translation Fellowships, including the first ever given for a translation from the Korean language, and the first residency at the Banff International Literary Translation Centre awarded to translators from any Asian language. Bruce Fulton is the inaugural holder of the Young-Bin Min Chair in Korean Literature and Literary Translation at the University of British Columbia.

Seattle''s Gang of Four changed the face of the city in the 1960s, ''70s, and ''80s by bringing four ethnic groups together in battle against city powerbrokers over development, poverty, fishing rights, and gentrification. The four leaders learned quickly that working together provided greater results than working apart. This is the story of a powerful political alliance and lifelong friendships forged through sit-ins, protest rallies, and other acts of civil disobedience. "We got very good at occupying buildings," remarked one of the Gang.

Bob Santos and Gary Iwamoto recall how a Native American, Asian American, African American, and Mexican American came together to fight for their neighborhoods and their people.

Bob Santos has spent most of his life in the International District of Seattle. He grew up in the N.P. Hotel with his widowed father, Sammy Santos, a professional prizefighter. He was hired in 1972 to lead the International District Improvement Association (Inter*Im). During his tenure at Inter*Im, Santos organized property owners, businesses, residents, and activists from the Asian American community to preserve the neighborhood and build new housing.

Gary Iwamoto is a regular contributing writer for the International Examiner, an Asian Pacific Islander community newspaper. He has written several plays, notably Miss Minidoka 1943, which was produced by the Northwest Asian American Theater. He and Bob Santos also wrote Humbows, Not Hot Dogs in 2002.

This in-depth look at one of the fastest-growing immigrant groups in the Pacific Northwest provides a much-needed overview of the Korean American experience as well as moving personal anecdotes. Graphs offer information about Korean immigration patterns over time, while black-and-white portraits reveal the people behind the statistics.

The Korean American Historical Society is a nonprofit organization founded in 1985 to enrich the collective memory of Korean Americans by collecting, maintaining, and transmitting their stories.