Setsubun is a spring ritual that involves throwing lucky soybeans at vicious oni (ogres or demons) in order to drive bad luck out and bring good luck in. And wouldn’t you know, some oni showed up at our door this year.

They seek to gang up on us!

Red oni seems particularly formidable.

Don’t worry though—we had the situation well in hand.

Also in hand, the beans!

The oni tried to enter, but could not withstand our bean blast!

Ka-pow!

A silly ritual from the olden days? Perhaps! But just yesterday, didn’t a bunch of people in top hats gather around a large rodent and try to compel it to predict the weather?

Punxsutawney Phil photo from ABC News

Yes, yes they did.

The World of MM9

by Hiroshi Yamamoto
translated and with annotations by Nathan Collins

This is a world just like ours except for one difference—kaiju. Periodically, giant monsters attack populated areas and leave many victims. In this world, destructive kaiju are considered natural disasters, the same as earthquakes or typhoons.
In Japan, a section of the Meteorological Agency known as the Monsterological Measures Department, or MMD, stands against the Kaiju threat.

The men and women of the MMD never fire weapons, as battling the kaiju is the role of the Japan Self-Defense Force. Instead, the MMD’s cause is to prevent disaster, by hurrying to the scene, uncovering the monsters’ true nature, exploring potential countermeasures, and predicting the paths of the kaiju.

Their work is thankless, with heavy criticism from the outside world, as inaccurate forecasts sometimes lead to people ending up in harm’s way. But their efforts have undoubtedly saved the lives of many Japanese.

MM stands for Monster Magnitude, a scale of kaiju size. Any monsters over MM5 pose a natural threat to humanity, and upon nearing a populated area may be terminated unconditionally.

MM8 signifies a body volume equivalent to 1,600 to 4,000 tons of water. In the archetypal bipedal reptilian monster, this would equal a body length of between 40 and 50 meters. The largest recorded kaiju in history was an MM8.9.

An MM9-class kaiju has never been confirmed by modern monsterological science, only mentioned within ancient legends and unreliable eyewitness accounts.

***

The seeds for this story came over twenty-five years ago, from a silly conversation I was having with a friend, who was a tokusatsu [live-action movies and TV featuring special effects] genre geek.

The question came up: “Who names kaiju, anyway?”

Week in and week out, new kaiju appeared in tokusatsu TV shows like the Ultra Series. Some of the giant monsters were named for reasons made apparent in the episode, for example: Kurumanikurasu hated cars [kurima = car; nikumu = to hate] or Gomes’s scientific name was Gometeus. But other names seemed to have just been doled out to the creatures.

Take Kaiteigagan from Ultraman Ace. There’s no scene where the monster is named, yet everyone calls it Kaiteigagan. Who gave it a name like that? Yapool [the series’ antagonist]? Someone in the TAC [Terrible-Monster Attacking Crew]?

Then the answer popped into my head: “It’s gotta be the Meteorological Agency.”

In a world where kaiju appear every week, the people would surely regard the monsters as though they were natural disasters. A kaiju forecast might even be broadcast at the end of the evening news. The first kaiju of the year would be called Kaiju One and eventually be assigned a name. Talking about it, my friend and I became animated.

I always kept that silly discussion in the back of my mind, wanting to use it in some form, some day.

The other hint for my story came from a doujinshi [self-published] series called M-HUNTER. In the world of M-HUNTER, giant monsters and space aliens were commonplace (although there’s no Ultraman). The stories follow the Hunters, who specialize in the capturing and killing of kaiju, and I enjoyed seeing familiar kaiju appear in unexpected roles.

M-HUNTER inspired me to want to write more, but the series had well covered the kaiju hunter setting. Then I realized I could write not about the people who killed kaiju, but rather about the people whose jobs were to counteract the monsters.

This novel, MM9, is a heavily-revised compilation of serialized short stories originally published in the mystery periodical Mysteries!

When I first proposed the stories to my editor, I was turned down. The editor said, “This is a mystery magazine.” Accepting that, I made my next submission more mystery-like.

But soon after, I received the issue and was surprised at what I saw. They had printed a mystery with a time machine by Taku Ashibe, and a science fiction piece with a robot by Hiroe Suga!

When I protested, “Why are time machines and robots acceptable but not kaiju?” I was given the okay without any further trouble. You never know until you ask. Thusly I accomplished the heroic feat of getting a kaiju story into a mystery magazine.

At the time, I only had two stories conceptualized. As I tried to come up with more, I was really worried about what I would do. I ended up writing each piece while still thinking of the plot ahead.

For some time I had been dissatisfied with the dearth of kaiju fiction, especially when compared with the large number of kaiju movies and kaiju fans. Even among light novels, kaiju are rare—even though the novels are filled with main characters using superpowers or supernatural abilities to defeat monsters, and with giant robot battles.

What surprised me when talking to people from the generation after me—people who grew up in the 80s and 90s—was that they felt almost no connection to the Ultra Series or kaiju. Having never watched the real thing, their knowledge of kaiju or Ultraman comes only from The Science Fiction Textbook [a popular book series examining the science of science fiction works]. So to them, kaiju seemed ridiculous.

Tokyo turned into a sea of fire by the first Godzilla, Tokyo Tower snapped apart by Mothra, Fukuoka devastated by Rodan, the pure cool of King Ghidrah’s destructive beam, the horror of Hedorah, and the great tornado summoned by Seamons and Seagoras…Any who never experienced these scenes on the tube or the screen can’t possibly imagine the sense of wonder contained within those moments, and how they excited us and filled us with fear.

Kaiju are ridiculous? Then so are giant robots and super powers and time travel and the sinking of Japan! Aren’t silly settings entertaining because they are written with a serious approach?

As I wrote, the biggest questions I had yet to answer were: “Why do giant monsters exist when science states they shouldn’t?” and, “Why is the history of this world exactly like our own?” A world where kaiju have always existed couldn’t possibly have exactly the same history as ours. But I had decided to write the story with a straight approach, and I didn’t want to ignore those points.

That’s why I introduced the fictional parallel anthropic principle, which ended up being very useful. I was happy myself when everything held together through the end.

[Warning: the following are notes on each section of the book and will be best enjoyed after reading. Plot spoilers ahead!]

Part 1: Crisis! Kaiju Alert!
A SDF submarine collides with a kaiju in the waters of Ogasawara. The kaiju—possibly an MM9—is confirmed heading for eastern Japan. If the monster is allowed to reach land, Japan could see devastation equal to the great disaster of 1923. Ryo Haida and the MMD Mobile Unit hurries to the kaiju’s location.

This is the first story, a simple introduction to the setting and our characters. After I wrote this, I read Hiro Arikawa’s The Bottom of the Sea, and became depressed by the overlap between our stories. To make things worse, hers was more interesting.

Part 2: Danger! Girl at Large!
A twenty-meter-tall girl has appeared near Gifu City—she is Kaiju Six, codenamed Princess. She can’t understand our speech and is too large to hold in custody. The MMD agonizes over whether to give the order to kill. Meanwhile, a cultist plot lurks behind the scenes.

The seed for this story came from Ultraman Tiga’s “Monster Zoo.” I hated that episode, hated it. It made me think, “If you have that useful a power, why didn’t you ever use it on other kaiju!”

[In “Monster Zoo,” a giant mutated mole-rat kaiju appears at a zoo, but is seemingly docile. GUTS forces, taking pity on the creature, decide not to kill the kaiju until the creature makes an aggressive move. At nightfall, the kaiju’s eyes turn red and its fangs grow, and the giant monster turns violent. Ultraman Tiga battles the kaiju, but as he is about to deliver the killing blow, Officer Rena yells for him to stop. Tiga then sends out a cellular transformation beam that tames the kaiju and shrinks it down to normal size. The creature joins the other animals in the zoo.]

I like that they approached the issue, but I think you mustn’t run away from the conclusion. Creatures that endanger the lives of many must be killed, no matter how tragic it seems. Actually, the episode of Ultraman Taro with King Tortoise and Queen Tortoise takes on this theme with more sincerity (even if the ending is fairy tale).

[The two kaiju and their offspring are victim to poachers and betrayed by the military, but in the end, Ultraseven is able to bring the only two survivors, King Tortoise and Mini Tortoise, to a safe place in outer space.]

Another inspiration was C.L. Cottrell’s novelette, “Danger! Child at Large.” It’s one of my favorite SF works, a suspenseful story about a young girl with incredible super powers who escapes a secret military lab. The title to this section is a reference to this novelette.

At first, I had a different ending for this section, but as I developed Princess’s tale, I realized I could use her to foreshadow the final story. I know I’ll get criticism that I’m “too soft,” or that I’m a “writer of convenience,” but I find the story believable, and I hope the exciting finale will earn me forgiveness from my readers.

I made Gifu City the setting because I went there with my family when I was invited to a science-fiction convention. The Mobile Unit first encounters Princess behind the hotel where we stayed.

Part 3: Menace! Attack of the Flying Kaiju!
In early 2006, a kaiju flies to Japan across the Sea of Japan—Kaiju One, Glowbat. Because the monster is only a MM1.5, the MMD are off guard. But a shocking discovery reveals that this kaiju is not going to be easy to deal with. Meanwhile, Ryo is off-duty, enjoying an evening with his date…

I wrote this story specially for the novel.

I had four elements I wanted to include when writing this piece:

1) Ryo is supposed to be the main character, but he doesn’t stand out, so make the story feature his efforts.

2) Write about the daily lives of the members of the MMD, which I hadn’t been able to get to in the serials.

3) Present a flying kaiju.

4) Explain to the reader that the world contains not only kaiju but yokai.

Putting those four elements together, I got the story of Ryo, off-duty, getting drawn into a kaiju incident.

In truth, through each installment of this series, I put less thought into how each kaiju would be defeated as I did into how to make it difficult to defeat each kaiju. If the SDF were able to launch an all-out attack, a smaller kaiju would be defeated easily. In order to make the stories more interesting, I needed to create situations where they couldn’t be attacked without due care. The same is true in this section as in part two with Princess, part four with Megadrake, and part five with XXXXXX.

Glowbat is a kind of kaiju that used to appear frequently but has recently not been given much screen time in Japanese TV shows. I wanted to at least give it a place in the novel. I pictured Glowbat not as live-action costume kaiju but rather a Harryhausenesque stop-motion animation monster.

Also, I was allowed to tour the back halls of The National Museum of Nature and Science in Ueno, which was a great help in the writing of this section. For security purposes, I’ve changed the layout a little bit from the real version.

Part 4: Scoop! Twenty-Four Hours with the MMD!
A documentary crew comes to the MMD. Chief Kurihama is worried about making a mistake on camera. From Suita, Osaka come reports Kaiju 5, Megadrake, from Suita, Osaka.

From the start I had the idea to have a TV crew come in. I also needed this section to insert an explanation of the parallel anthropic principle through Yuri’s dialogue.

But I had some struggle coming up with the concept for the kaiju itself. After all, an unconventional monster would be more interesting. Then I had the thought that not there haven’t been many notable plant kaiju, and I created Megadrake.

Before I started writing the story, I tried to draw the monster to solidify an image in my head.

Megadrake!

Normally, the focus of plant kaiju is on the aboveground portion, but I went the opposite route and made the roots take the majority of the kaiju’s body. I thought of the design so it could be made into a kaiju suit and worn, not that the decision mattered for anything. I didn’t retain the mandrake form, but well, kaiju are like that.

I wanted to scout for locations for this section, but I didn’t have time for a scouting trip, and instead made do with the area around the Midosuji Line’s Esaka Station, only a twenty-minute walk from my house. It felt good to destroy a place I knew well.

Part 5: Arrival! The Colossal Kaiju of the Apocalypse!
A MM9-class many-headed dragon is discovered dormant beneath the ground on Kojin Island in the Seto Sea. Is the monster the legendary Yamata-no-Orochi? Faced with the impending danger of unprecedented catastrophe, the MMD goes on full alert, while a mysterious organization makes its move. The curtain rises upon a great kaiju battle to determine the fate of the world!

This is the final section.

The novel had heretofore been limited because I couldn’t let the kaiju go on too big a rampage. One of the kaiju causing great damage would mean a defeat for the MMD.

But thinking that the climax needed a colossal kaiju running amok, I ended up with this story.

I had the idea from the beginning of the series that the final kaiju would be Yamata-no-Orochi [an eight-headed dragon of Japanese myth], but when I tried to draw what the monster looked like, I couldn’t come up with anything good.

When I went to design the kaiju, I imagined King Ghidrah, but the monster’s elegant design relied on the balance of its giant wings. Without the wings, the kaiju’s torso was too long and appeared lacking. When I thought about it, I realized that The Birth of Japan [a 1959 fantasy epic featuring a battle between Susano-o (Toshiro Mifune) and Yamata-no-Orochi] and The Little Prince and the Eight Headed Dragon [a 1963 animated feature film] almost exclusively depicted Yamata-no-Orochi’s necks, and almost never showed the monster’s full body. But with wings, the Orochi would simply be King Ghidrah.

After much worry, I revised the plot to contain a kaiju that looked like Yamata-no-Orochi but was different. After dozens of sketches, I placed something besides wings on the kaiju’s back, providing balance and impact to the design. For the monster’s backstory, I stitched together pieces of Japanese lore and biblical stories and Greek legend [and a dash of H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu!], but I’m personally pleased with my preposterous explanation of Susano-o and the slaying of the giant serpent.

I scouted the location for the last battle, Kobe Port Island, just before the amusement park was closed down. As I wrote in the book, the park closed in March, 2006, and is currently being torn down.

Other References
I wouldn’t go so far as to call MM9 an homage to the Ultra Series, but there are homages to that and other special-effects works scattered throughout. Almost every mention of a historical kaiju attack references something.

For example, the Great Kanto Kaiju Disaster of 1923 was of course modeled on Godzilla. Eve was from Reptilicus, Eugene from Gorgo, Ray from The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Glenn from The Amazing Colossal Man, Allison from The Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, Arnold from Tarantula, and Niuhi from Gamera vs. Jiger. I’ve mixed together bits and pieces from the kaiju and special-effects movies I’ve seen, including Them!, It Came from Beneath the Sea, The Deadly Mantis, Ultra Q, Spectreman, and on and on. Note that for purposes of the novel, the dates of each kaiju’s appearance don’t match up with each film’s release date.

As for the names of the author Hideyo Tomono or Dr. Akihiko Inamoto, anyone who is a special-effects fan will immediately know who they are. [Actors Hideyo Amamoto and Akihiko Hirata, perhaps?]

But this kind of pastiche is not only for fun. I think if you read to the end, you’ll see the book has meaning. At the very least, I’m extremely satisfied with what I was able to write.

This is love!

tion, for taking the question so seriously! Also, I think tion will quite enjoy the final monster in the book…

Wintermute, for I am a sucker for poetry.

Daniel H. for a unique answer nobody else could have given.

Paula D. for saying King Kong!

Sorry if you didn’t win next time. Be sure to try again in March when we give away The Navidad Incident. According to the new marketing team, we may also be giving away from copies of that book on Goodreads.com, so if you’re a member of that site, keep an eye out!

Yes, we usually do the giveaway before the book is released, but I was on vacation for most of last week. On the bright side, the essay is easy this time. MM9 stands for “monster magnitude 9″—think of what newscasts would be like if giant monster attacks were as common as earthquakes or hurricanes. The rating of nine is reserved for the largest of monsters. So, the contest!

What’s your favorite giant monster, and why, in 200 words or less. Be sure to leave your answer as a comment by noon, Pacific time, on Friday. The four answers we like best get a free book. And yes, we ship anywhere!

Mardock Scramble
It’s an epic of post-cyberpunk. It’s also very strange. Yes, as is perhaps an inevitability in these post-Pokemon times, the main character has a little yellow mouse as a best friend and as a pocket-sized assistant badass. And yes, there is a three hundred page interlude of casino gambling. If you’re ready for weird SF, this is the one for you.

Rocket Girls: The Last Planet

A sequel to Rocket Girls but it can be read on its own. Lots of so-called “hard SF” isn’t very hard at all—it’s really just bellicose about tough decisions and that sort of thing. Thus, humorless, and with dubious science. The Rocket Girls series is different: it’s real hard science fiction with all the physics and rocket science intact, and is delightful and light and charming at the same time. If you have a kid, or are a kid, and want to encourage an interest in science, buy ‘em both.

Mirror Sword and Shadow Prince

Epic fantasy, Japanese style. Not a sequel to Dragon Sword and Wind Child but set in the same ancient Japan, this is a story of conquest, betrayal and true love. It’s also heavily influenced by anime and traditional Japanese legends and folklore. I did a little interview with the fantasy magazine Black Gate in May, and that will get you up to speed.

Good Luck, Yukikaze

Yes, there were a lot of sequels and continuations in the summer of ‘11. While Yukikaze was more a novel-in-stories, this sequel is a large philosophical novel. The real battle is in inner space, in the recesses of Rei’s mind. The alien JAM are as enigmatic as ever, though we do learn more about them, and who they are really at war with. A must for lovers of the anime, or the first book.

ICO: Castle in the Mist

This was a big hit for us! A novelization of the cult classic videogame, ICO was also a labor of love for its author, Miyuki Miyabe. She loved the game (and games in general) and really brought all the skills she does to any of her hit novels to this book. It’s not quite “canon”, but its interpretation of Ico’s quest and Yorda’s past is wonderful. You don’t need to be a fan of the game to read the book, but if you do love the game, you need this.

The Cage of Zeus

Hard SF with a gender theme. Nothing seems so natural as a world of men and women, but gender—how we act as men and women—isn’t nearly so permanent or obvious as we may think. This book explores those issues in a deep-space setting, and provides plenty of actions as a terrorist group targets the genetically engineered Rounds (for “round-trip gender”), who have the sex organs of both genders.

The Book of Heroes

Now in paperback! And in ebook form as well! Miyuki Miyabe’s story of school bullying, a bratty Chosen One, and the evil King in Yellow from the classic nineteenth century horror tales of Robert W. Chambers has never been less expensive, and makes a great present. (Or self-present.)

Ten Billion Days and One Hundred Billion Nights

Japanese fans voted this the greatest Japanese SF novel of all time, for its epic sensibility and eon-spanning story. Here in the US National Public Radio loved it too. Indeed, we had to rush back to print already. And it makes a good Christmas present especially as cyber-Jesus and robo-Buddha have a high-tech laser battle twenty million years in the future! So, a holiday theme!

Keep an eye out online and in your local bookstore for our titles. They make great presents, and if you happen to get a gift certificate to a store or amazon or whatnot yourself, add our books to your list!

President Matías Guili sits on the sofa and mulls over the afternoon’s events. Earlier in the evening, he visited Angelina’s for a small snifter of cognac and commiseration, too preoccupied for much else. It’s been one hell of a hard day.

Today’s events call for otherworldly insights, the kind a spirit he knows can provide. He must summon him properly but can barely bring himself to say “Lee Bo,” the ghost of a name.

He rises from the sofa to fetch a candle, which he lights with the seldom-used coffee table cigarette lighter and places in the equally clunky ashtray beside it. Then he gets up again and turns off the room lights. No drafts enter the room, yet the flame wavers briefly before coming to a stable pinpoint of illumination. As age increases, so does ceremony. He looks at the candle and shakes his head; nothing but protocol lately. Politically, he pretends to tackle each and every situation, but it hardly takes more than a superficial mental swish. Real judgments are rare; he merely moves from ceremony to ceremony. Not once in the last year has he actually had to shift out of autopilot. Probably the last time was that Tamang decision. And he wonders why the days are so monotonous?

The flame stays perfectly still, not a flicker of movement. He stares until all thought settles like ash. Presently the flame appears to flare. He strains his eyes, then looks up to see sitting there before him…Lee Bo, glowering head-on. Matías nods. The apparition nods back.

Lee Bo—the erstwhile Leigh Beau—is formally attired in late eighteenth-century English frock coat, kinky hair tied behind in a queue, an intense scowl on his black face. His dark complexion could make him a Navidadian beachboy who chases pale-limbed Japanese tourist girls as they deplane; only his clothing and stern expression would seem out of place.

“Been a long time.”

“Aye,” says Lee Bo in a mannered basso profundo. “How fare the islands in my absence?”

“Lots going on, but nothing new at all. Same as ever here below.”

“Words becoming a man half unencumber’d of this mortal sphere.” The voice trails off into echoes, this visible form a mere shadow of his real self millions of leagues away. “Or do you feign this distant air?”

“Just as you might be putting on airs for me.”

“Nay, a cursed habit, that.”

“You speak from experience? Your time in London?”

“My conduct is inconsequent. ’Twas you who summoned, was it not?” Lee Bo steers the conversation back on course.

“So it was. I called you because something’s come up. Today, an entire bus disappeared on the way to Diego with forty-seven Japanese and two Navidadians on board.”

“Not each conveyance shall reach its destination,” muses Lee Bo.

“True. But the problem is this one bus—why didn’t it get there? It’s not the general principle but the particulars that concern me.”

“Ah, but did not you yourself just say that tho much transpires, little signifies? The vagaries of one coach, methinks, are of scant interest.”

“I’m a politician, so by day at least, I can’t be so casual about things. A bus has gone missing, and I need to know. Was it a natural accident? Was it a plot? And if so, by whom?”

“And the diff’rence? Is not the plotting of the human mind a work of nature?”

“If I wanted to take a philosophical view, I’d turn in the keys to my office. Politics is a hands-on job. I can’t just look on from above the clouds.”

“The coach is safe. As are those on board.”

“Then you do know! Who’s behind this?”

“Ah, the undercurrents are deep indeed.”

“When will they return?”

“Alas, I can no more divine the morrow than the next man, being privy to but one small part of the present scheme of things, as you must know.”

“I suppose so, yes,” admits Matías, even as his mind races to consider the ramifications of the delegation’s predicament. Yet if Lee Bo can’t read the future, who is he to try?

“This Suzuki is an evil knave,” says Lee Bo out of nowhere.

“There are no saints in his position.”

“Nay, far worse than that. The reek of money is on him, the stink of blood and filth.”

“That too comes with the job. Though his proposal does have its appeal.” He assumes the spirit already knows of the plan to build up the Island Security forces.

“As well it should. Man was born to desire medals and regalia and his own men-at-arms. Once the thirst for wealth and women has been quenched, that is.”

“Damn my honor. Do you trust them, tying me to Japan with that half-assed scheme?”

“’Tis a difficult strait that lies ahead. Especially when your own ship rode in on a wave of independence.”

“Promising a clean sweep of Japanese ties served its purpose. It got me elected.”

“Not once, but twice.” A momentary silence falls between them. “Tho ’tis deep inside, you have a mind to see the islands return to Japanese thralldom. You’d have Japan stay a short sight out to sea for an aire of freedom, whilst granting you boon and protection all the same. You’d like to see that, wouldn’t ye? You’ve always been more Japanese at heart than any Japanese.”

“Think so? I can’t really tell, myself.”

“It lies frozen and awaits the thaw, perchance in that miracle cooker in your servant Itsuko’s larder. Yet from the headings you have taken, I can tell: you fain would tell them to abandon this pretense of oil stores. You’d have them lay in a full-rigged naval base as grand as anything the Yankees have, the better to check the Chinaman’s advances in the South Formosa Sea and the Spratlys. Propose that, and ye’d no longer be some tick on the map no one e’er heard of. You’d be world-class. Have you no such ambitions? That lot who toppled the gate are after the same thing.”

“That lot? Who?”

“The waves are moved by many tides.”

“Damn it, man! Do you have something against proper names?”

“’Tis no longer my world. I see but the pitting of forces and take no int’rest in affixing names each to each. To be sure, you have a dire conspiracy in your midst, above and beyond whate’er plots you may ascribe to Suzuki and Kurokawa. Either you fail to notice or already think you know…”

“And which would be better, from your perspective?” asks Matías inadvertently.

“I merely observe the theatre of this world,”

answers the spirit with neither expression nor gesture. “’Tis most enjoyable, but brooks no comment. I favour your conversation, but ’twould not do for any words of mine to alter the course of the drama. All is as natural phenomena: we may predict the weather but ne’er control it, therein lies the fascination. And yet I do espy a seed of turbulence in ye that might well sprout a typhoon. Most promising.”

“Then there’s still something I can do about it?”

“Can and must,” laughs Lee Bo with a dry, ghostly cackle that echoes back two centuries. “Just last night, you met with someone who will o’ershadow your future more even than this Suzuki.”

“Who do you mean?”

“Aye, you noticed all right. You were quite taken.”

“And we talked?”

“Nay. You did only behold. But that trice suffic’d to cast her spell.”

“That new girl at Angelina’s?”

“The very same. Think on it. That face bewitch’d you. Made you yearn to see her, to speak to her, somewhere without Angelina.”

“Possibly. But haven’t I shown interest in new faces there before?”

“’Tis diff’rent this time. Heretofore was common lechery, pursued with Angelina’s grace and knowledge. Better she indulge your appetites wi’ plain consent than leave ye to nibble in secret. Full confidence has she in your mutual affections.”

“I didn’t look at the girl that way, not this time. For one thing, she’s there as a maid.”

“Nay, you didn’t view her with a carnal eye. But mark my words, that wench will furrow deep in your life.”

“Come on, I just heard she was from Melchor and looked her over. I used to see faces like that as a kid, but that’s all.”

“Aye, the countenance of a clan given to spiritual insights.”

“So whose side is she on?”

“Neither friend nor foe. Naught in this world is fix’d from the very outset. Tho ’twould be wise to pay court to her. Methinks your courses are bound to cross and mark a turning point.”

“Now that you mention it, Angelina did say the girl was maybe psychic. But only about little things.”

“Clairvoyance has no great or small. ’Tis the doer makes bold or weak. Nor shall the clairvoyant necessarily profess all she knows. Any more than all vessels disclose true position…” And with that, the spirit vanishes.

(Yeah yeah, at one point Ten Billion Days and One Hundred Billion Nights was #1 on the list, but by the time I woke up we were beaten by some sexy book.)

What happened? Simple: National Public Radio’s All Things Considered reviewed the book and it was a rave! It’s a perfect Christmas gift too—as Jesus is in it, and he’s a vengeance-seeking cyborg three billion years in the future!

Keep an eye out for the book, which will be coming your way in glorious hardcover in March!

A jittery reporter on the flatscreen TV was saying, “The child—no, the kaiju with the appearance of a child—just sat down in the Nagara riverside road and is holding a car, pushing it back and forth, playing with it like a toy. Oh! She’s lifted it up now. Oh, that’s really high. There doesn’t appear to be anyone inside, but . . .”

Kurihama fumed. “Enough of her face! Show us below her neck! Below her neck!”

“Chief,” Toshio said soothingly, “you know they can’t. It’s broadcast TV.”

Yuri grumbled, “Really, this doesn’t give us anything.”

Five hours had passed since the kaiju was first sighted, and all the networks had teams of reporters on-site—but all of them broadcast images with a digital mosaic obscuring the girl’s body below her neck. It was self-censorship, each network independently coming to the same conclusion—an uncensored image might have run afoul of child pornography laws. But even so, it was frustrating for the MMD not to have full knowledge of the kaiju they were dealing with.

Chief Kurihama asked one of the younger operators, “Do you have the Gifu office on the line?”

“We still can’t reach them. They seem to have run into a bit of trouble.”

“What about Yojiro’s team?”

“They got to Nagoya thirty minutes ago. They’re probably nearing the site now.”

“What the hell are they doing?” Kurihama threw his elbows on his desk and fretfully twirled his pen in his fingers. “The army’s already deployed, ready and waiting for our advice, and we can’t do anything because we’re still not even there. The media’s going to be all over us.”

“Chief,” said a female operator with one hand covering her phone receiver, “I’m getting several inquiries from the networks. They want to know if we have a name for Kaiju Six yet.”

“How the hell can we? We haven’t even seen what she looks like yet!”

One of the other operators happily reported, “Chief! I have a connection with Yojiro on-site!”

“Put him on the main screen.”

Yojiro’s face appeared on the flatpanel display. Visible behind him were a six-wheeled Type 82 Command and Communication Vehicle and a Type 89 Infantry Fighting Vehicle with SDF soldiers scurrying between them.

“Sorry it took us so long to get here,” Yojiro said. “But we’re here now.”

“What’s the situation?” the chief asked.

“Kaiju Six was moving westward but stopped northwest of Mt. Kinka, near the Nagara Bridge. We are located roughly two klicks downstream by the Chusetsu Bridge. Currently, the kaiju doesn’t seem to be making any major movements. I’ll put it on camera now.”

The camera panned right to show the Nagara River upstream.

The image zoomed in. All eyes were on the screen.

The room buzzed.

A bare-naked girl, sitting on the right-hand shore of the river, was playing with a car in her hand. At first glance, it was a tranquil scene. Her long hair hung down to her waist and covered her upper body like a cloak. The bridge in the foreground obscured her from the waist down. Aside from her darker skin, she looked like a normal Japanese girl—and nothing like a kaiju. This perception was heightened by the lack of a sense of scale in the long distance shot. She looked like a child of normal height playing with a miniature car.

Without thinking, Yuri said, “She’s pretty.”

The others in the room shared her sentiment. If the girl were a human, she would have been around ten years old. Her chest, though mostly covered by her hair, was clearly that of a child.

Yojiro continued his report. “The 10th Division and the 35th Infantry Regiment have been deployed along Highways 77, 157, and 248, forming a cordon around Kaiju Six. The evacuation of Gifu City is only about halfway complete, but the northern area of the city and everything within a three-kilometer radius of the kaiju are pretty much all clear. Security forces are checking for any stragglers. Once we’ve confirmed the evacuation is complete, we can commence the attack. We estimate Six to be twenty meters tall—MM5 at most. We anticipate that tank-mounted cannons or anti -
tank missiles will be enough to destroy it. The only problem is—”

“Its appearance,” Kurihama said.

“Exactly.”

A kaiju in the form of a human—or, more simply, a giant—was not entirely unprecedented. All living things on Earth had the capability of massive increases in size, although the cause or causes remained unknown. The press often called the transformations “sudden mutations,” but they were incorrect. The sudden changes
weren’t the result of a biological process, but rather developments contrary to the laws of physics, specifically, the law of conservation of mass.

There have been many examples of giant-sized life-forms in all regions of the globe: ants, grasshoppers, praying mantises, spiders, scorpions, snails, octopuses, lizards, snakes, crocodiles, chickens, mice, moles, rabbits, monkeys, and so on. As humans were also living creatures, it shouldn’t have been a wonder to find a human kaiju.

In 1974, Dick had a religious experience (check out the comic strip summary by R. Crumb) in which he “realized” that the Roman Empire had never fallen. He spent the rest of his life trying to come to terms with his vision, and he left behind nearly 9000 pages of material—letters, graphs, and other writing—trying to come to philosophical and theological terms with his experience. He did this while still being a prolific writer of science fiction novel. The three novels of the VALIS trilogy hint at his religious experience, but the exegesis itself has gone unpublished…until now.

Of course, Lethem pointed out right away, it’s not the whole exegeis. The new book is only about 1000 pages long, and has annotations and remarks from the editors and from scholars as well. So maybe a tenth of the two file cabinet drawers worth of material is represented in the book.

Two of Dick’s daughters were present as well. Laura Leslie and Isa Dick Hackett had conflicted memories of their father, and both only made a few comments, but they were interesting. Leslie noted that her father wasn’t “crazy” or “schizophrenic”, and that the exegesis shows a grasp of philosophy that few people have. Hackett relayed an anecdote in which her father, having described seeing an angel, burst into tears.

It was a very strange night about a very strange book. And that strangeness reminded me of the many joys of science fiction.