Editorial 3.1 by Amanda Weiss Dear Reader, Welcome to our fifth issue, “Interstices.” Speculative literature is frequently defined by its perceived boundaries: science fiction versus fantasy, genre fiction versus literary fiction, escapism versus realism. Yet these boundaries are porous and fictional: “genre-bending” literary trends like magical realism, slipstream, fabulism, and weird fiction have long questioned…
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Magical realism is a genre that has long intrigued scholars and artists alike with its blurred boundaries between the fantastical and the real. As a genre that blends the everyday with the extraordinary, it has become a significant narrative tool for authors grappling with the complexities of political, social, and cultural struggles.
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Magic has long existed in the fabric of Japanese storytelling—woven into folklore, ghost tales, and the blurred boundary between the seen and unseen.
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Brunhild the Dragonslayer: A Review by Britta Kallin Brunhild the Dragonslayer is the English translation of the Japanese book Ryugoroshi no Brunhild by Yuiko Agarizaki, published in 2022. The book is a “light novel” (a type of young adult literature in Japan), and includes a prologue, four chapters, an epilogue, and an afterword. The English…
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“Remembering Akiko Tanaka” by Zhujun Wu Editor’s note: Akiko Tanaka was the Japanese translator of The Lord of the Rings and is the inspiration for this issue of Hivemind Magazine. The following is an original biography written by a student whose life was directly impacted by Tanaka-sensei’s life as a translator, cultural ambassador, and family…
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