Introducing Heavy Light

I just finished the first scene of my new manuscript, Heavy Light (click "Read More" to see). I won't tell you what the whole story is about just yet--what I want to know is, does it leave you hungry to find out more? Leave your thoughts in the comments. <3

The system is down!

I was hoping to get out a big post today, but my home Internet connection is down thanks to a storm last night. I'm writing this on the blogger iPhone app, which, putting it frankly, sucks.

Last week was Obon Yasumi, a big holiday week in Japan. It's about honoring the dead, but most people use it to go traveling. My wife and I went to Lake Biwa (Biwako) for a belated honeymoon. It was fantastically relaxing, and the beach was so fun.

And what better to bring on a beach vacation (at least if you're me) than a fat stack of comics?

Well, I didn't bring them exactly. On the first night we went into town and popped into Tsutaya (a popular movie rental chain) where I found that they also rent out manga. My town does not have a manga rental store or even a nearby Book Off, so I was pretty stoked. I wanted to do a review of all five, but they were not all... worth it.

Anyway, a pic from my favorite (a BL book about bugs):

He's on a horse.

I guess this isn't bad for my first use of pen & ink since high school (I'm 25). Of course I'm looking at it and already seeing areas that could be better. Draw it again 20 times?

This is Hippa from Darcy's WIP, Lycoris King. He lost his arm in battle. He's a sensitive soul.

J-pop Fridays: JPN by Perfume

I'm no music critic, but I thought I'd make a semi-regular habit of sharing my recent listens with you. Lately I've been loving the band Perfume and their most recent album, JPN. Maybe you've heard of them?

Perfume is everything I like: catchy beats, cool electro pop sounds, clean vocals, pretty girls. And I'm not easily won over by girl groups (for instance, I find AKB's music unbearably boring.)

While we're talking - Perfume's members are 23 and already gaining international popularity. I'm 25 and a little jealous.
 
It was really difficult to pick a song to share because they're all so good, but I decided to go with track two, "Laser Beam." To me, it sounds like what you'd get if you transported three girls from twelfth-century Japan into the year 2121 and told them to go on a tour of the solar system. Here's the official preview vid: