The Moment Can Now Be Had!

I'm proud to announce my first book-length translation is now available in the US (originally released in the UK)! The book includes two novellas about young people in Tokyo struggling to make a human connection.

​The first story, "The End of the Moment We Had," is about a young man and woman who meet at an anti-war performance art event in Tokyo on the eve of the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. They shack up in a love hotel for five days in the hopes of creating a special little world just for themselves, convinced that by the time they leave the hotel the war will be over.

The second, "My Place in Plural," follows a woman's thoughts as she plays hooky from work and lies around her apartment all day. She is hyper-aware of her body, and is somehow also aware of everything that is happening around her husband as he rests in a cafe across town between work shifts. She replays episodes from her life and the lives of others in her head, always circling around something vital that's missing in her relationship with her husband.

The two stories share a stream-of-consciousness narration and hyper-colloquial dialogue that was an interesting challenge to translate. I found myself going back to my journal from 2003 (when I was roughly the same age as the characters) to mine for language.

I hope you find the stories as fascinating as I did!