Ghostworld

Author: Crisosto Apache

Punblisher: Gnashing Teeth Publishing (2022)

Most journeys begin without knowledge of ever beginning. Ghostword is inspired by Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s A Fool’s Life (Eridanos Press, 1987), written on June 20, 1927.

Akutagawa’s writing influenced the Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, who developed two films based on Ryunosuke’s stories, The Grove (1950) and Rashomon (1950). Akutagawa’s A Fool’s Life is a collection of fifty-one short “poetic vignettes” after which the composition Ghostword is inspired and mimics slightly, but in three parts.

This collection is heartbreaking and fiercely introspective, while challenging the reader to confront their own beliefs.