Kizuna: A Charitable Anthology to Benefit Japanese Orphans

Frequent visitors to my blog, The Writer’s Washroom, know that I am a writer first and foremost. I blog sporadically. I am a journalist for the Southwestern College Sun, and have won a few awards doing that. I’ve written scripts, press releases, magazine articles, and essays. I’ve even created slogans and an ad campaign. I’m also a notorious political rabble-rouser and seriously non-traditional student.

But, even with all that, what I want to do is write fiction.

Well, I do, but what I really want is to have this fiction published. Last year, I was fortunate enough to be included in A Year in Ink, Volume 4 by San Diego Writers, Ink. That was my first appearance in an anthology. But a few months ago, I was published in a different anthology.

Kizuna: Fiction for Japan is unlike most other anthologies. Designed to be purchased as an e-book, it is available in print from both Amazon and Createspace.

Kizuna is a labor of love, written by 76 different writers from 11 different countries – Spain, Singapore, Japan, Italy, New Zealand, Germany, France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada – all of whom took part in helping the victims of the last year’s earthquakes and tsunami in Japan.

I’m not exaggerating when I say this was the brainchild of American-born, Japan-based writer Brent Millis (also known as Made in DNA) – who alone developed the idea of a charity anthology and then started seeking the opinions of people he knew online.

Brent and I have known each other from Twitter for a couple of years, and from Facebook for nearly as long. We’ve never met, but we have clear respect for each other’s work and talent. And following this, Brent has my highest level of respect as a man able to do what few others have ever even attempted.

This is from his press release:

The earth shook. The waters rose. Japan cried out…

And we listened. After the devastating earthquake, people from all over the world have found ways to help, and Kizuna: Fiction for Japan is one that is new and unique, a mixed-genre anthology of short fiction, most 1000 words or less. It boasts internationally known authors like Michael Moorcock, Ken Asamatsu, Jon Courtenay Grimwood, John Shirley, Shinya Gaku, Vittorio Catani, Robert M. Price, Joseph S. Pulver, Sr., and Alvin Pang; genre authors like Bradley Sands, Jason Wuchenic, Andersen Prunty, and Garrett Cook; and independent authors like Trent Zelazny and Glynn Barrass. Approximately ninety percent of this is original work written specifically for the anthology. One hundred percent of the proceeds are going to help orphans in the disaster-devastated prefectures of Miyagi, Iwate, and Fukushima via the NPOs, Smile Kids Japan and Living Dreams.

So You’re Involved?

I’ve never been prouder to be involved with anything like this. I think the concept is brilliant, the goal is worthy, and the people involved are tremendous.

I’ve donated a short story, “Ploughman” to Kizuna: Fiction for Japan, for as long as Brent sees fit to use it. It’s a good piece, but I honestly couldn’t consider ever doing anything with it as good as this.

(Read the Huffington Post Books article about the book here.)

What’s in it?

Horror, humor, human drama, science fiction, fantasy, absurdist, bizarre, new wave, bugpunk, weird, Cthulu, Sherlock Holmes, historical fiction, straight fiction, and more. Don’t ask me what some of those mean. I swiped those from the Kizuna website.

Who’s in it?

Legendary English fantasist, godfather of dark fantasy, and creator of the “Eternal Champion,” Michael Moorcock. He gave us Elric, Corum, Dorian Hawkmoon, and Jerry Cornelius and popularized the entire Law versus Chaos notion of fantasy…

Cyberpunk/science fiction/horror writer, screenwriter, and lyricist John Shirley…

Award-winning British fantasy and science fiction author Jon Courtenay Grimwood…

Critically acclaimed Singaporean poet Alvin Pang…

Author of the cult favorite Night of the Living Trekkies, Kevin David Anderson…

Japanese novelists Shinya Gaku, Ken Asamatsu, and Fumihiko Iino, Canadian novelist Katherine Govier, acclaimed horror author/poet Joseph S. Pulver, Sr., Italian science fiction writer Vittorio Catani, Spanish romance/fantasy author Lucía González Lavado, Italian essayist/novelist Danilo Arona, American theologian and writer Robert M. Price, erotica author Elizabeth Black, bizarre author and editor of “Bust Down the Door and Eat All the Chickens” Bradley Sands, Doctor Who short story writer Richard Salter, Japanese novelist and video game scriptwriter Midori Tateyama…

…and about a metric ton of other writers, including all those I failed to list… and me.

Should I get it?

If you want to. I’m not going to use this space to ask you to. I will tell you that if you like short stories, you’re apt to enjoy this. But I’d be amazed if everything you read would be to your liking. Heck, not everything I read was to my liking. But by and large, this is worth every penny you’d spend.

But most importantly, this is for charity – a good cause. In addition to compiling and editing, Brent sought out the charitable groups with which to be involved. He asked what we thought. He kept up a regular dialogue with the writers about what we felt and who we wanted to be involved with. This is more than just a good cause, it’s one that the editor chose with great care, and one we all had a hand in selecting.

It is currently in print – available new and used – from Amazon. The price varies, but seems to be running in the $10 - $15 range. It is also available for your Kindle, iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry, PC, or Mac.