Why subscribe?
Always free. Bi-monthly (see NOTES for more frequent content). Relaxed, fun subject matter, nothing high-brow. Concise. Never going to talk down to readers. Looking to engage.
Content
Reviews, creative (person) interviews, crowdfunding projects, original fiction, culture, pop culture, and more, focusing on samuraipunk, cyberpunk, mecha, weird and general scifi genres, especially in, but not limited to, the indie creative circles and Japan. If you have something you’d like to show me, CONTACT ME.
What is SAMURAIPUNK?
Samuraipunk — samurai+punk (among other things)
Simply put, samuraipunk is feudal Japan brought into the future. Samurai films mashed with post-apocalyptic films. Akira Kurosawa meets George Miller/Byron Kennedy. It doesn’t have to be, of course. But when I’m working on stories set in the milieu, I envision monsters, mutants, destroyed cities, buried technological “treasures”, unspeakable horrors, and Augmented samurai (cyborgs) protecting the last vestiges of humanity against overwhelming odds. It’s adventure/action scifi.
This is not (to me) the fantasy samurai or “Asian” flavor fantasy that is quite common. Nor is it historical Japan fiction, or gamelit/litRPG (if you aren’t familiar with either, no worries, keep reading). I believe those are well-trodden and very comfortable genres that have told some great stories. That said, it very well could be incorporated into or be those genres. I’m not here to set down rules.
I also want to stress that samuraipunk will not be overly concerned with samurai or Japanese culture. It will, of course, feature some, but I don’t want to bog down the story or the reader with details that simply don’t move the story forward. Perhaps a footnote or two might be necessary now and again, but I think they are best avoided. This is not fiction for those exclusively interested in Japanese culture/language, it’s adventure, so let’s have some fun.
