Postscript

As I’ve mentioned in the past, I’ve traveled to Transylvania twice The first time was on my own dime. The second was for a television program. As we traveled by van, what caught my eye in the ever-changing scenery outside the windows were the little villages. That was the basis for the setting of this Vampire Hunter D tale.

Isn’t a village in a foreign land in itself enough to form a fantasy? When you think about it, fantasy is basically rooted in the tales of the forests, streams, and mountains at the edge of civilization. I suppose this Vampire Hunter D story continues that tradition.

D’s tale is based in fantasy and Westerns. While both genres are set out on a frontier, they’re still like oil and water. The Western, with its setting in dusty, wind-whipped badlands, is a far cry from the haunted forests and lakes that form the cornerstone of fantasy. It would be strange to find a gunfighter with a pair of six-shooters stuffed in his belt wandering through a deep forest. In a movie it would be jarring, but fortunately a novel can make it work. D is someone who walks in two worlds—a knight from a foreign land, in a manner of speaking. The setting may be a tiny village, but it could hide cosmic secrets. I hope you’ll enjoy that aspect of the book.

 

An August day, 2010

While watching Higanjima (2010)

Hideyuki Kikuchi