Saturday, May 3, 2008

* Kono Tensei's "Hikari" (short story, fantasy): Normal humans being overrun by "luminous folks"!

A strange family - man, woman, & their three kids - are moving through the countryside. They are "not human... I don't even think they're alive... They don't sleep... They don't eat... They don't even sweat. They don't get angry. They don't argue. All they do is smile." When a blade cuts their skin, no blood pours out - there are no innards inside - only strange light shines out! Title is apparently the Japanese word for light.

Whichever town they land in soon ends up getting converted to their own kind - light folks. Rest of the people end up abandoning the town. So humanity is sort of getting divided into two - normal flesh-and-blood people, & light folks. Former are getting to be a minority, & they're afraid.

Collected in.

  1. Gene van Troyer & Grania Davis (Ed)'s "Speculative Japan: Outstanding Tales of Japanese Science Fiction and Fantasy".

Fact sheet.

First published: Shukan Shosetsu, 3 May 1976; translated by Dana Lewis.
Rating: C
Download full text.

Note: Why is this post so short?

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