Sakaki here. You know, the writer who hasn’t done all that much writing for HJ (or any publisher for that matter) in the last two years or so. I guess you could say I’ve been occupied with many long and intimate chats between myself and an editor I’ll simply refer to as “K.”
Yes, they were long and intimate indeed.
“I’m thinking zombies.”
“A little dark, don’t you think?”
“That’s the point.”
“Yeah, I don’t think so.”
“What if I made the main character tear through zombies left and right with a nice, big smile on his face?”
“No whack-job protagonists.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really.”
“Well, maybe I’ll just figure something out myself!”
“Well, maybe you will!”
Thus, When the Clock Strikes Z came to be.
A zombie apocalypse setting with a chill atmosphere, like that of a camping trip.
At first I thought, “Is that even doable?” But then I came across a treasure trove of relatively light-hearted, post-apocalyptic fiction that’s been gaining traction in recent years. Boy, how wrong I was to doubt.
For some insight into the creative process:
“Thoughts on the character design drafts I sent you earlier?”
“The art itself is superb, but I do have one gripe.”
“That being?”
“The glasses.”
“What about them?”
“Remember how you removed the glasses from Bluesteel Blasphemer’s front-cover heroine because otherwise the book wouldn’t sell? Well, this time around, I specifically made sure to give Tetsuko and not Otoha the glasses, even though it pained me. Yet here they are.”
“I can’t quite put my finger on it, but something about Otoha just screams glasses. I had another editor look over the text, and they felt the same way. I suspect there’s something subliminal at play here.”
“It’s just her metaphorically bespectacled soul reaching out to yours.”
“Oh, I see.”
And just like that, Otoha, who wasn’t the student council president or much of a bookworm, had glasses.
The work will be split into multiple seasons of two to three volumes each, delivering the plot in small, bite-sized pieces. I’ve already finished writing up a manuscript for the second volume, so hopefully it should be out pretty soon.
Ideally, I’d like to keep this series running for three to four seasons. With your continued support, the stars may yet align.
—Ichirou Sakaki, 2/27/2018