Download or read book The Short Story Collective written by Andrew Innes and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2021-11-02 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Yui thought of nothing and focused her mind on it. This was going to be easy. Except, was that not a contradiction? If she was thinking of nothing, wasn`t that nothing, something? In that moment, the city felt a hundred miles and a thousand years away." The Short Story Collective is a thirteen-part journey through contemporary Japan with the odd stop along the way to visit both the past and the future. In the title story, a young writer meets a drunken salamander who shares a tale passed down through the generations. In "The Koan", a young lady doubts her own existence after completing a thousand marathons through the misty mountains of Kyoto. In "Digital Detox", we meet a crafty farmer who cleverly lures gullible tourists to his country house. In "When in Rome", the reader is introduced to a trio of tourists who epitomize the phrase Tourist Pollution. In "Anger Management", the owner of a sake brewery battles to control his temper in a country where public expressions of emotion are very much frowned upon. In these stories and more, the reader is introduced to a perspective on Japan that is at times dark, occasionally surreal, yet always engaging. Innes has been featured in Tokyo Weekender, The Font, and The Best Asian Short Stories 2021. The Short Story Collective is his first book.