Hana Walker's Half-life by Our Man in Abiko

I got to know the silhouette behind the man, Our Man, first through Twitter and then through working on Quakebook. I'd admired his blog from afar for a while before that and had always kind of hoped that someday our blogs would meet. I'm happy that we did finally get to meet and become friends, even if it was hastened by disaster. So I'm not saying I'm objective. I think Our Man in Abiko and his family are super. They throw one hell of a Christmas party. I couldn't be happier for him or prouder that he got the novel finished. I got to see some earlier drafts, and I love how the book has evolved.

What's it about? It's about an orphaned half-Japanese, half-British teenager (a 'double') who takes on a little detective work. She commits to too much before she realizes that the yakuza are involved — and right before the big quake hits. Her adventures take her to tsunami-ravaged Ishinomaki and through all the landmarks of exotic Abiko. As far as I know, it's the first English-language novel explicitly set in post-quake and tsunami Japan.

My friend Jo wrote a good and more in-depth review that you should read. (You should read her blog all the time; she writes smart and thoughtful things, often about books and reading and also about Japan and all that. [While I'm at it, she also wrote a good book that you should read, The Teas That Bind, about her experience here in Japan pre- and post-quake. Download immediately or order a paperback below.]

But the main point is that if you're reading this, there's a good chance you'll like Hana Walker's Half-life. Buy it now for Kindle via the link below, and I'll get something like 16 cents 15 cents out of the deal. So there you go — I am doubly unobjective. Then, as Hana Walker herself might say, who isn't?