Afterword
Unless you’ve played one of the games I’ve worked on, this is likely the first time I’ve greeted you, dear readers from abroad. I’m Souki Tsukishima, one half of the two authors behind the Japanese version of emeth: Island of Golems.
This work is our—Souki Tsukishima and Tora Tsukishima’s—first novel translated into English, and our first time writing an afterword with the knowledge that it will be translated into another language… It’s harder said than done!
I have absolutely no idea what kind of afterword would interest readers overseas. It’d defeat the purpose if I write something strange that ruins the overall impression of the novel. How should I tackle it…?
Though I say that, we won’t get anywhere if I keep rambling on about such things, will we? So I’d like to take this opportunity to write an afterword in line with what you would find in a typical Japanese light novel. You might end up thinking, “This has a completely different feel from the rest of the book!” but I hope you can excuse the change in style.
Now then, getting back on topic. emeth was our debut novel in Japan. The light novel boom had hit Japan around then, and we had many encounters with new works that made us think, “I want to write a story like this.”
At the time, I was residing in a labor camp in Tokyo’s slums, as one of fifteen people living in the same room. With that room as our Tokyo headquarters, my partner Tora Tsukishima and I came up with the concept for emeth and worked out its finer details.
I wanted to experience a variety of things that could serve as good plot material for a book. So while I lived a similar lifestyle as our protagonist Cliff, those days still managed to be fun despite the poverty.
But as I was living out my life like that, I came to a single conclusion: “Even if I can find good material for a novel by living like this, I won’t ever be able to write the novel itself!”
For you see, we were fifteen street children living communally in a cramped room! I couldn’t even begin to hope for a moment of peace and quiet that would allow writing to occur. Just when I was trying to figure out how to solve this problem, a reporter from a major newspaper dropped by our neck of the woods.
“What business do you have here in Japan’s Shoulder Coast, where the dregs of society are?” I questioned him.
He had the nerve to answer that he was in the process of gathering interviews from, “Japan’s Hardworking Youth at the Bottom of Society.”
This jerk’s just admitted he views us as the lowest class of society! I thought angrily, but since I had nothing better to do anyway, I went ahead and entertained him with his interview.
Reporter: “Why did you choose to live a life of poverty?”
Me: “I was originally writing novels with my partner back in our hometown, but when I arrived in Tokyo to search for good material, I couldn’t escape poverty and ended up where you find me now.”
Reporter: “Is that so? Ahahaha!”
Me: “Yup, it is. Hehehe.”
…What the hell was with this interview? Who were they writing the article for anyway? Those were the obvious questions that came to my mind. Then, he completely did me in with the last question of the interview.
Could you believe that of all the possible things, he had the gall to end with, “What is your dream?”
That’s it, ladies and gentlemen! What a question to pose to someone who has to live by pinching pennies to make ends meet, in the slums of a major city!
I stayed silent for a whole five seconds. “My dream? To find somebody stronger than me, duh!” I answered with the first thing that came to mind, confusing him and forcefully bringing the interview to an end. Three days later, I returned to my hometown, met up with my partner there, and finished writing this story.
In any case, who could predict that the story we had finished writing back then would go on to win the grand prize in the 3rd Square Enix Novel Awards—a competition from Square Enix, a company internationally renowned for the Final Fantasy series and much, much more—to be officially published, and to even wind up with an English translation some ten-odd years later? I have to say, you never know where life will take you.
Those days I spent living in the slums proved effective for my career as a writer, just like how Cliff is able to become a Golem Tamer after all the crazy twists and turns.
Cliff is another version of ourselves, while this book is the “Gandolf” we successfully created. The story is quite serious and profound for a light novel, but it all falls into place when you think of it this way—especially the rough and depressing parts. Nothing would make us happier than if our overseas readers enjoyed reading it as much as we did writing it.
With that said, please allow me to leave a word of thanks to everyone who has supported us.
First of all, a special thank you to Miss Charis Messier and Cross Infinite World for picking up this novel and making an English release possible. Without your efforts, emeth would have never sprouted the wings to fly into the hands of readers outside of Japan.
Next, my utmost thanks to Mura Karuki for drawing the gorgeous illustrations for the international version. Through your illustrations, the world of emeth has gained a new perspective and color.
And then, to the Japanese version’s staff: Ken Nakagawa, Hinase Momoyama, Koutaro—the story we once worked on together has gained new life.
I must also thank my partner Tora Tsukishima, who always coauthors with me, and our teammate Moyashi Himukai. Even ten years after we embarked on this career, you are both still my greatest and dearest comrades in arms.
Last but not least, thank you to my family and friends, and to everyone who was involved in the creation of this book in Japan and its distribution abroad. Thanks to your support, emeth will get to travel the world once more.
And, most of all, to you, the reader, who opened this book—allow me to thank you with all the gratitude possible.
Thank you very much! Let us meet again somewhere!