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Thomas Noah Wood headshot in Barcelona

Thomas Noah Wood

Thomas Noah Wood is an author and educator from the American Midwest. His second home is Japan, where he is a professor of American Literature at a major Tokyo-area university. He has resided in Japan for four decades.

 

For 17 of those years, he was also a humor columnist for The Japan Times. No joke. He has written articles on travel and culture for numerous other Japan-based English publications. Fiction is his specialty. East and West romance is his typical target. Dark humor is his tool.

 

His non-fiction books in Japan include Japanese Made Funny, a catalogue of language errors (most of which he made himself), and Top Tokyo Sights, a guidebook for the city, and shelves of English education publications aimed at Japanese learners.

 

He likes:

 

Strong coffee. Chocolate. Airports and the joy of going anywhere. Not having to get up in the morning. Chocolate. 

 

He hates:

 

Promoting himself. Politics. Crowds. Combing his hair.

K.C. Finn, Readers' Favorite

Author Thomas Noah Wood delivers fantastically interesting ideas and unusual social dynamics in this collection that will be sure to please fans of culture clash, character-driven fiction, and spicy romantic dramas. There’s an interesting theme of displacement throughout the tales as different pairings clash and try to come to some kind of settlement, and this is mirrored wonderfully by the physical atmosphere of the work and the cinematically described settings.
 
It’s clear that the author is well-researched in both the cultures he melds together, which makes for some educational reading too for anyone curious to learn more about Japan. For me, ‘Moon Girl’ was a personal favorite with its direct dialogue and surprising turns. Overall, I would highly recommend The Keeper of Dragonflies: And Other Twisted Tales of Japan for fans of varied story anthologies that will keep you entertained and enriched throughout.
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