Fireflies (31 page)
Authors: Ben Byrne
Acknowledgements
This novel was inspired and informed by numerous works of non-fiction and fiction, of which I am particularly indebted to the following:
Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II
by John W. Dower
Japan at War: An Oral History
by Haruko Taya Cook and
Theodore F. Cook
Japan Diary
by Mark Gayn
Hiroshima
by John Hersey
The Japan Journals: 1947â2004
by Donald Richie
Further reading:
Modern Japanese Literature: From 1868 to the Present Day
by Donald Keene
The Scarlet Gang of Asakusa
by Yasunari Kawabata
The Setting Sun
by Osamu Dazai
Confessions of a Mask
and
Runaway Horses
by Yukio Mishima
Confessions of a Yakuza
by Junichi Saga
The Sea and Poison
by Shusaku Endo
The Children
and
The Makioka Sisters
by Junichiro Tanizaki
A Drifting Life
by Yoshihiro Tatsumi
The Essential Haiku: Versions of Basho, Buson, & Issa
by Robert Hass
The author would like to thank the following people for their help, advice, and support during the writing of this book:
Will Eglington
Pete Harris
Kieran Holland
David, Gordon, and Sally Mitchell
James Parsons
Carrie Plitt and all at Conville & Walsh
Averil & Conor Sinnott
Jo Unwin
Susan Watt
Janie Yoon, Sarah MacLachlan, and all at House of Anansi
Author photograph: Ben Byrne
BEN BYRNE
Â
was born in 1977 and studied Drama at the University of Manchester. He later moved to San Francisco, where he worked for several years as an international consultant, ethnographic filmmaker, and musician, and during which time he travelled often to Japan. He returned to England to dedicate himself more fully to writing, and his short fiction has appeared in
Litro
magazine.
Fireflies
is his first novel. He lives in London.
About the Publisher
House of Anansi Press was founded in 1967 with a mandate to publish Canadian-authored books, a mandate that continues to this day even as the list has branched out to include internationally acclaimed thinkers and writers. The press immediately gained attention for significant titles by notable writers such as Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, George Grant, and Northrop Frye. Since then, Anansi's commitment to finding, publishing and promoting challenging, excellent writing has won it tremendous acclaim and solid staying power. Today Anansi is Canada's pre-eminent independent press, and home to nationally and internationally bestselling and acclaimed authors such as Gil Adamson, Margaret Atwood, Ken Babstock, Peter Behrens, Rawi Hage, Misha Glenny, Jim Harrison, A. L. Kennedy, Pasha Malla, Lisa Moore, A. F. Moritz, Eric Siblin, Karen Solie, and Ronald Wright. Anansi is also proud to publish the award-winning nonfiction series The CBC Massey Lectures. In 2007, 2009, 2010, and 2011 Anansi was honoured by the Canadian Booksellers Association as “Publisher of the Year.”
