This collection of marvelously off-kilter short stories – the American debut of acclaimed Japanese writer Yasutaka Tsutsui – portrays the consequences of a world where the fantastic and the mundane collide and throw the lives of ordinary men and women into disarray. In “The Dabba Dabba Tree” Tsutsui describes the hilarious side effects of a small conical tree that, when placed at the foot of one’s bed, creates erotic dreams that metamorphose into communal farce. In “Commuter Army”–a sly commentary on the ludicrousness of war–a weapons supplier whose rifles cease functioning after just one shot becomes an unwilling conscript in a war zone. “The World is Tilting” imagines a floating city that slowly begins to sink on one side, causing its citizens to reorient their daily lives to preserve a semblance of normality. In “Rumors About Me”, an ordinary office worker finds himself the subject of intense media scrutiny, his every action documented in the tabloids. And in the title story, we learn just how obscenely absurd the environment on Planet Porno can seem to a group of hapless research scientists. With a sharp eye towards the insanities of contemporary life, Yasutaka Tsutsui crafts in Salmonella Men on Planet Porno an irresistible mix of imagination, satiric fantasy, and truly madcap hilarity.

Salmonella Men on Planet Porno: Stories

Literature & Fiction

TSUTSUI, Yasutaka

Contemporary

Pantheon

An irresistible mix of imagination, satire, and humor, these stories by acclaimed Japanese author Yasutaka Tsutsui imagine the consequences of a world where the fantastic and the mundane collide. The opening story, “The Dabba Dabba Tree,” details the hilarious side effects of a small conical tree that, when placed at the foot of one’s bed, creates erotic dreams. In “Commuter Army,” a sly commentary on the ludicrousness of war, a weapons supplier becomes an unwilling conscript in a war zone. “The World is Tilting” imagines a floating city that slowly begins to sink on one side, causing its citizens to reorient their daily lives to preserve a semblance of normality. And in the title story, we see how obscenely absurd the environment on Planet Porno appears to a group of scientists. The stories in Salmonella Men on Planet Porno winningly combine madcap hilarity and a sharp eye toward the insanities of contemporary life.

Salmonella Men on Planet Porno (Vintage Contemporaries)

Humor & Entertainment

Humor

Vintage

Widely acknowledged as Yasutaka Tsutsui's masterpiece, Paprika unites his surreal, quirky imagination with a mind-bending narrative about a psychiatric institute that has developed the technology to invade people's dreams. When prototype models of a dream-invading device go missing at the Institute for Psychiatric Research, it transpires that someone is using them to drive people insane. Threatened both personally and professionally, brilliant psychotherapist Atsuko Chiba has to journey into the world of fantasy to fight her mysterious opponents. As she delves ever deeper into the imagination, the borderline between dream and reality becomes increasingly blurred, and nightmares begin to leak into the everyday realm. The scene is set for a final showdown between the dream detective and her enemies, with the subconscious as their battleground, and the future of the waking world at stake.

Paprika (Vintage Contemporaries)

Literary

Nanase works as a maid to avoid revealing her ability to read people's minds, but her psychic powers inevitably draw her into the lives of her employers

What the Maid Saw: Eight Psychic Tales (English, Japanese and Japanese Edition)

Kodansha USA Inc

After finding a broken beaker in the science lab, Kazuko finds herself back in her own past and learns she can travel through time, but her attempts to use the ability to help others always change the future and may bring bad consequences.

The Girl Who Runs Through Time, Vol. 1

Comics & Graphic Novels

Tsugano, Gaku

Manga

The Girl Who Runs Through Time, Vol. 2

Nanase, a beautiful young telepath, comes back to her hometown to settle down... but her life soon becomes more than unsettling. Using her telepathic powers, Nanase combats vengeful enemies and stumbles across others possessing telepathic powers.

Telepathic Wanderers Volume 1

Tokyopop

Telepathic Wanderers Volume 3

The life of a telepathic can sometimes be a blessing...and a curse. Tsuneo finally stops seeing the future, and instead, replays one simple scene over and over--that of saving Nanase. He follows his instinct and travels to Hokkaido, where Nanase resides. But shortly after his arrival, Nanase notices something sinister closing in on them...and the shocking truth behind Tsuneo's visions is revealed! "A feast for the mind" -Newtype

Telepathic Wanderers Volume 4

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Fifty-seven-year-old Takeshi has just been involved in a traffic accident. When he wakes up, he is in a strange bar and is no longer crippled as he has been for most of his life, but able to walk without crutches in his everyday business suit. Looking around, he sees a number of familiar facesIzumi, a colleague who had died in a plane crash five years before; his childhood friend Yuzo, who had become a yakuza and had been killed by a rival gang member; and Sasaki, who had frozen to death as a homeless vagrant. This is Hella place where three days last as long as 10 years on earth, and people are able to see events in both the future and the past. Yuzo can now see the yakuza that killed him as he harasses a friend of his. The actress Mayumi and the writer Torigai are chased by the paparazzi into an elevator that drops to floor 666 beneath ground level. The vivid depiction of afterlife portrayed in Hell admits the traditional horrors, but subjects them to Tsutsui’s unique powers of enchantmentwitty, amusing, and praised for its poetic style and the wizard-like light touch of the author’s shifting focus.

Hell

Alma Books

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Books by TSUTSUI, Yasutaka