Mighty Tales

"The Convenience Store Ballerina" makes the cut for
The Best Asian Short Stories 2019.

An excerpt:

"Was his a thankless job? It all came down to perspective. The way Tanaka saw it, garbage collecting wasn't about cleaning up after others; it was a civil duty, a responsibility to keep the town clean--his town—and get paid for it. Besides, he enjoyed the solitude and the restfulness of the city after dark. But there were nights when the city wouldn’t sleep. When he and Watanabe would happen on strange things, like husbands beating their wives, kitchens on fire, high schoolers petting in parks, passed-out drunks—men and women—and sometimes, altercations. Once, they watched as a foreigner, an Englishman someone said, stand on his roof in his underwear and scream down at the police who were forced to dodge roof tiles which the crazed gaijin pitched at them. Nighttime was for those who couldn’t handle the daytime."

GOOD NIGHT PAPA REVIEW
by Koi Kye Lee
at Kitaab

Good Night Seine!

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The Storyteller

Simon Rowe grew up in small town New Zealand and big city Australia. He writes short fiction and screenplays from a small room in an old house overlooking a samurai castle in Himeji city, western Honshu. His stories have appeared in TIME Asia, the New York Times, the Weekend Australian, the South China Morning Post and The Paris Review.