A quick recap, for those who don't know - light novels are a form of literature that is very popular in Japan, Taiwan and China. They are illustrated short novels (about the length of novella) designed primarily for e-readers, written in a peculiar, minimalist, dialogue heavy style. Very few light novels have ever been published in America, mostly anime tie-ins with major franchises like Spice and Wolf or A Certain Magical Railgun, but they represent a huge percentage of publishing in Asia. Despite the 'light' in the title, there is no limit to the subject matter or intended age of the reader implied - this is not like the Western 'Young Adult' label. Light novels can be experimental, complicated, even horrifying.

So why did I, an average guy from California, become interested in writing a light novel? And why did I bother to write in a style known for a poor reception in the US?

I'm glad you asked.

I am lucky enough to have some Japanese friends who are patient/obsessive enough to translate light novels that have otherwise never crossed the Pacific. While some of their work is a little muddled, and formatting problems are rife, I was fascinated from the first volume I read. This is partly due to my own preference for illustrated novels - Alice in Wonderland is my single favorite book, after all, and I have many of the illustrations tattooed on me - and partly due to the sheer novelty of the style.

I had been kicking around the idea of writing something using elements of the Cthulhu mythos (see HP Lovecraft), particularly parts of The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath, an extremely pulpy adventure story in the style of Burrough's Conan novels that I had loved as a child, and found a bit more ridiculous as an adult (no offense to Lovecraft - he was a great writer, and he didn't think the book was any good either). My problem was that I didn't want to write a horror novel. I wanted to write something that would be psychological in nature, funny, dark and sexy, as a sort of working break from my science-fiction novels, The Central Series.

At just the right time, I was given a crude dub of the utterly brilliant anime and light novel, Bakemonogatari, a collection of experiment light fiction from Japan called Faust, and a rough homemade internet translation of a few of NisiOisiN's books (perhaps the most important Japanese author in the genre). I was blown away, super-excited to discover a literary tradition that I was completely unfamiliar with.

Soon, these two very different ideas begin to tentatively mix in my head - the beginning of my own humble work, The Unknown Kadath Estates .

In the next entry, I will talk a little bit about what I liked about Asian light novels, what I thought was wrong with them to attract a US audience, and how I eventually laid out my own theory on what an American Light Novel could be.

Thanks for reading, and, as always, feel free to hit me up at spook_nine@yahoo.com with any questions.