Tag Archives: Yamada Monogatari: To Break the Demon Gate

Publisher’s Weekly Comes Through

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Yamada_BTG_cover-V06b-PrimeOne problem with the writer existence is that it’s feast or famine, and there is an awful lot of famine. But, now and then, a feast. Last night I got an IM from my publisher telling me to check my email, and sitting there was a link to a Star Review in Publisher’s Weekly for Yamada Monogatari: To Break the Demon Gate. I’ve only gotten one of those before. You can read the entire review here, but one takeaway is in the final line.

“Playing with Japanese demonology and political scandal, Parks creates an absorbing and original tale.”

I’d only quibble with the first line of the review, wherein I am proclamined to be “prolific,” which I know I am not, or at least not nearly enough. As for the rest, you can’t beat that, not even with a really big stick.

Locus New and Notable – February 2015

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Yamada_BTG_cover-V06b-PrimeYamada Monogatari: To Break the Demon Gate made the Locus New and Notable list for February. My books have made the list a few times and it’s always cool. Especially when they say things like this:

“Parks is a versatile fantasy writer, but he excels at fiction inspired by Japanese culture and mythology, and this is no exception.”

Granted, in reviewer-speak “versatile” is often a euphemism for, “Would you find one kind of thing to write and stick to it, please?” Regardless, I consider it a compliment of the highest order.

 

It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over

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Yamada_BTG_cover-V06b-PrimeHolidays. They’re what’s for…something, I don’t know. I was so confused that I posted the next installment of Power’s Shadow on Friday rather than today, where most people missed it. No worries, it’s still there, one post back in time from this one. Time travel—it’s what’s for breakfast.

There’s a variation on an old saying first attributed to Ian Maclaren, and it more or less goes like this—“Be kind. Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about.” In that sense we all comrades in arms, without the benefit of spiffy uniforms, commissary, or a decent MASH unit. On our own, maybe, but it never hurts to remember that you’re not really alone. If security is an illusion, then so is our separation from each other. Once you realize that, maybe the war won’t be quite as tough. It’s something I like to remind myself of now and again. During and just after the holidays, I’ve found, is a good time to do it.

Early indications are that Yamada Monogatari: To Break the Demom Gate, is selling at least as well and maybe a little better than YM:DH, and doing so without any buzz or substantive reviews, so that’s something to be grateful for. The third volume, Yamada Monogatari: The War God’s Son, will likely be coming out in September of this year (started to say “Next Year,” but that’s now “This Year.” (“Time’s a trip, Man.” – Captain Cloud, and kudos to anyone who gets the reference). Assuming that one does okay, there should be one more YM book, at least. Isn’t written yet, but I’m thinking about it. If/when it’s done it will complete the first story arc for Yamada. After that we’ll just have to see. In the meantime I still have a test to study for and another book already begun yet to finish. My year’s cut out for me.

Year End Summary

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WRITING 02There was a time when any kind of year-end summary from me would consist mostly of what short stories I’d published and where. Maybe a long list is more impressive, but this year there are only a few things to report because most of the works are longer, which makes for fewer of them. Be that as it may, here they are:

The Manor of Lost Time, BCS #150, Special Double Issue, June 2014

The Sorrow of Rain, BCS #157, Sixth Anniversary Double Issue, October 2014

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Yamada Monogatari: To Break the Demon Gate, TP,  Prime Books, November 2014

 

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To Break the Demon Gate, Ltd. HC, PS Publishing, December 2014

Edited to Add: And after all that, I forgot this:

The God of Small Troubles

The God of Small Troubles and Other Stories, which includes:

The God of Small Troubles
Anchors and Sails
Olam Drexler’s School For Exceptional Children
Small Deaths
Miss Jean Takes a Walk

So that’s seven stories and two editions of the same novel. Not bad.

 

 

Yamada Monogatari: To Break the Demon Gate -Addendum

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Break The Demon Gates endpapers

 

The lovely dancer above is Ben Baldwin’s illustration of Lady Snow, from the endpapers for the PS Publishing edition of  To Break the Demon Gate. You haven’t met Lady Snow yet, but if you’re a reader of the series you’ll see a few familiar faces. In fact, some of it will be very familiar, since Part 1 of the novel is a revised version of “Moon Viewing at Shijo Bridge.”

I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating as the book is practically published even as I speak–I didn’t know that “Moon Viewing at Shijo Bridge” was the opening to a novel when I wrote it, at least partly because it is a self-contained story arc all to itself. It wasn’t the whole story, and I did know that at the time, but I assumed it was because later stories in the series would expand and resolve it the unresolved issues. I was wrong about that. The stories do not, for the most part, directly address the events from “Moon Viewing,” nor do they ignore it, and some of the closure, as long-time readers know, comes from “The Ghost of Shinoda Forest.” However, that still leaves one heck of a lot of story. Continue reading →