Summary
Minor nobleman Yamada no Goji, a demon hunter of Heian period Japan, is a hard-bitten private investigator of supernatural mysteries, who plies his hand-to-mouth trade with the help of a ghostly informant Seita and a drunken lapsed Buddhist priest named Kenji.
Yamada's former lover Teiko, wife of the previous emperor Suzaku and mother of current emperor Reizei's heir Takahito, enlists him to dispel malicious gossip undermining her position and ensure her son's succession to the throne. Partnered with Teiko's brother Prince Kanemore, Lord Yamada retrieves a purloined letter purported to prove her innocence, only to see it result in her disgrace, exile, and suicide.
Subsequently, Yamada succeeds in discrediting Teiko's enemy, Lord Fujiwara no Sentaro, and apparently safeguarding the succession, only to see the threat re-emerge in a new form. A seemingly reformed Sentaro has been installed at the head of a prominent monastery north of the capital, and a menacing spiritual pall gathers over the city that panics even its supernatural residents. People are dying in inexplicable ways, and Kanemore and Yamada are both convinced that Takahito's life is also in peril.
Complications ensue as Yamada's ghostly ally Seita vanishes, and he is approached by the beguiling Lady Snow, who holds out the possibility of clearing the name of his disgraced late father.
Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu was an Irish writer of Gothic tales, mystery novels, and horror fiction. He was a leading ghost story writer of his time, central to the development of the genre in the Victorian era. M. R. James described Le Fanu as "absolutely in the first rank as a writer of ghost stories". Three of his best-known works are the locked-room mystery Uncle Silas, the lesbian vampire novella Carmilla, and the historical novel The House by the Churchyard.
Ramsey Campbell is an English horror fiction writer, editor and critic who has been writing for well over fifty years. He is the author of over 30 novels and hundreds of short stories, many of them winners of literary awards. Three of his novels have been adapted into films.
Urban fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy, placing supernatural elements in an approximation of a contemporary urban setting. The combination provides the writer with a platform for classic fantasy tropes, quixotic plot-elements, and unusual characters - without demanding the creation of an entire imaginary world.
The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter is a monogatari containing elements of Japanese folklore. Written by an unknown author in the late 9th or early 10th century during the Heian period, it is considered the oldest surviving work in the monogatari form.
In Japanese traditional beliefs and literature, onryō are a type of ghost believed to be capable of causing harm in the world of the living, injuring or killing enemies, or even causing natural disasters to exact vengeance to "redress" the wrongs it received while alive, then taking their spirits from their dying bodies. Onryō are often depicted as wronged women, who are traumatized, envied, disappointed, bitter, or just furious by what happened during life and exact revenge in death. These kinds of ghosts appear extremely vengeful, ruthless, heartless, brutal, cruel, deranged, egotistical, selfish, bloodthirsty, and cold-hearted.
Teito Monogatari is an epic historical dark fantasy/science fiction work; the debut novel of natural history researcher and polymath Hiroshi Aramata. It began circulation in the literary magazine Monthly King Novel owned by Kadokawa Shoten in 1983, and was published in 10 volumes over the course of 1985–1987. The novel is a romanticized retelling of the 20th-century history of Tokyo from an occultist perspective.
Banchō Sarayashiki is a Japanese ghost story (kaidan) of broken trust and broken promises, leading to a dismal fate. Alternatively referred to as the sarayashiki tradition, all versions of the tale revolve around a servant, who dies unjustly and returns to haunt the living. Some versions take place in Harima Province or Banshū (播州), others in the Banchō (番町) area in Edo.
Ugetsu Monogatari is a collection of nine supernatural tales first published in 1776. It is the best known work of Japanese author Ueda Akinari.
Ghosts are an important and integral part of the folklore of the socio-cultural fabric of the geographical and ethno-linguistic region of Bengal which presently consists of Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura. Bengali folktales and Bengali cultural identity are intertwined in such a way that ghosts depicted reflect the culture it sets in. Fairy tales, both old and new, often use the concept of ghosts. References to ghosts are often found in modern-day Bengali literature, cinema, radio and television media. There are also alleged haunted sites in the region. The common word for ghosts in Bengali is bhoot or bhut. This word has an alternative meaning: 'past' in Bengali. Also, the word Pret is used in Bengali to mean ghost. In Bengal, ghosts are believed to be the unsatisfied spirits of human beings who cannot find peace after death or the souls of people who died in unnatural or abnormal circumstances like murders, suicides or accidents. Non-human animals can also turn into ghosts after their death. But they are often associated with good luck and wealth in Bangladesh.
Kristen Painter is a USA Today Best Selling American author, known for her Nocturne Falls and House of Comarré series. Prior to becoming a full-time author Painter worked as a college English teacher, maître d', personal trainer, and jewelry salesperson.
Worshipping Small Gods is a collection of fantasy short stories by American writer Richard Parks. It was first published in trade paperback by Prime Books in January 2007, with a hardcover edition following from the same publisher in May of the same year.
On the Banks of the River of Heaven is a collection of fantasy short stories by Richard Parks. It was first published in hardcover by Prime Books in November 2010.
Yamada Monogatari: Demon Hunter is a collection of historical mystery fantasy short stories by Richard Parks, the first volume in a series featuring his sword and sorcery character Yamada no Goji. It was first published in simultaneous trade paperback and ebook form by Prime Books in January 2013.
The Heavenly Fox is a fantasy novella by Richard Parks. It was first published in hardcover by PS Publishing in February 2011. A subsequent ebook edition appeared in October 2013. It was nominated for the 2012 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature.
Yamada Monogatari: The War God's Son is a historical fantasy novel by Richard Parks, the third volume in his Yamada Monogatari series featuring his sword and sorcery character Yamada no Goji. It was first published in trade paperback and ebook by Prime Books in October 2015. A subsequent audiobook edition was issued by Audible.
Yamada Monogatari: The Emperor in Shadow is a historical fantasy novel by Richard Parks, the fourth volume in his Yamada Monogatari series featuring his sword and sorcery character Yamada no Goji. It was first published in trade paperback and ebook by Prime Books in September 2016. A subsequent audiobook edition was issued by Audible.
Bibliography of fantasy writer Richard Parks:
Yamada Monogatari: Troubled Spirits is a collection of historical mystery fantasy short stories by Richard Parks, the fifth volume in a series featuring his sword and sorcery character Yamada no Goji, a hard-bitten investigator of supernatural mysteries, who plies his hand-to-mouth trade with the help of the lapsed Buddhist priest Kenji. It was first published in trade paperback and ebook form by Canemill Publishing in October 2022.
