Mid-August is Japan's traditional ghost season, when the spirits of the dead are believed to return to visit their families. Japanese also believe that nothing takes the heat from a sweltering summer night better than a spine-chilling tale of ghosts. The story below, first published in The Japan Times, is my fictional tribute to that tradition.

I did not sit down one day and decide to write a novel entitled, "Chop-Chop the Killer Whore." There’s a story behind it. A true story. And the story begins on Sept. 29th, 1958. On that day, in tiny Wyoming, Illinois, my Aunt Donna was murdered.

A comet is not a matchstick hissing through the night and a galaxy is not a scoop of sugar tossed against the sky.

Two years ago, I had a bet going with my younger son about who could lose 10 kg faster. So I bought a Wii Fit unit.

“The Keeper of Dragonflies” is the initial work in my online short story collection of the same name.

When it came to designing the cover of my comic thriller Chop-Chop the Killer Whore, I knew exactly what I wanted.