Waiting on Wednesday: Loups-Garous by Natsuhiko Kyogoku

(Meme from Breaking the Spine)


Summary:

Virtual reality. Murder. Werewolves. And teen girls! In a future where nothing is as it seems, can old legends come true? In the near future, humans will communicate almost exclusively through monitors, making real interaction a rarified and weak occurance for those living in a near totalitarian society. In this new world of communication, children are only allowed to interact personally on school grounds. So when a serial killer starts slaughtering junior high children the communication routes go under futher surveillance. And despite all the safeguards put in place to avoid physical interaction, the killer's latest victim turns out to have been in contact with three young girls: Mio Tsuzki, a certified prodigy; Hatsuki Matsuno, a uiet but opinionated classmate; and Ayumi Kono, her best friend. And as the girls get caught up in trying to quell curiosity under such terrorist scrutiny, Hatsuki learns that there is much more than meets the eye of their monitored communications.

Through kelakagandy's excellent post on the English-Translated Japanese Novels coming out in 2010, I found out that we are getting new works by Natsuhiko Kyogoku!! Am sooooo excited!! =D He's the author of works such as The Summer of Ubume (Haven't read it yet? What are you waiting for?! Buy a copy now) and Mouryou no Hako aka The Box of Goblins (which only spawned like, an amazing anime tv series and a live-action movie, to name a few. It's that good.) And it's from the Haikasoru publishing line, a new line from Viz to bring more translated Japanese SFF lit to the English speaking world. I had a good experience reading their Usurper of the Sun and have full confidence in both Kyogoku's storytelling abilities and Haikasoru's quality in their translations.