KAPPA BY RYUNOSUKE AKUTAGAWA, TRANSLATED BY ALLISON MARKIN POWELL AND LISA HOFMANN KURODA Twilight of the Republic and imagination of Lovecraft’s universe

and imagination of Lovecraft’s universe

these enthralling tales of terror plunge readers into a world of creeping dread

A Blightking’s helm is a corroded relic

It’s eat or be eaten

and yet his reputation as a sensation and detective novelist has long overshadowed his inventive contributions to the ghost story genre

KAPPA BY RYUNOSUKE AKUTAGAWA, TRANSLATED BY ALLISON MARKIN POWELL AND LISA HOFMANN KURODA Twilight of the Republic and imagination of Lovecraft’s universeThe Kappa is a creature from Japanese folklore known for dragging unwary toddlers to their deaths in rivers: a scaly, child sized creature, looking something like a frog, but with a sharp, pointed beak and an oval shaped saucer on top of its head, which hardens with age. Akutagawas Kappa is narrated by Patient No. 23, a madman in a lunatic asylum: he recounts how, while out hiking in Kamikochi, he spots a Kappa. He decides to chase it and, like Alice