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Read more about the locations, supernatural creatures, and magical lore introduced in the book.
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When a runaway Soul Eater and his deranged werecat team up with a drug-dealing Faerie Vampire and a heartsick Shinigami Reaper for a Japanese gangster demon, there's going to be trouble.
Cruel and Unusual Magic takes place in the weeks before Julian Lake meets Lexie Carpenter, the soul-lost heroine of Fear Club: The Masquerade; and Fear Club 2: The Summoning.
Julian comes to Japan seeking revenge against the sorcerers who sacrificed his lover to their dark magic. But first, he needs a rare enchanted cord made of braided demon skin. The cord is capable of binding any supernatural creature, even a Soul Eater. In Tokyo's red light district where the gangsters are demons hiding in plain sight, Julian comes to the aid of a local crime boss. As thanks, the demon promises to help Julian acquire the cord. Bur first, perhaps the Soul Eater could look into a small problem of an unruly mountain tribe hijacking the gangster's shipments?
Aided and abetted by his werecat, Hex, Julian is joined by several companions. Each has their own agenda for traveling with him to the Lake of the Dead. The vampire is licking his fangs over the enhanced blood of a Soul Eater. The young Shinigami Reaper is searching for a missing ghostly lover. And the werecat, well, she's just in it for the fish.
Cruel and Unusual Magic takes place in the weeks before Julian Lake meets Lexie Carpenter, the soul-lost heroine of Fear Club: The Masquerade; and Fear Club 2: The Summoning.
Julian comes to Japan seeking revenge against the sorcerers who sacrificed his lover to their dark magic. But first, he needs a rare enchanted cord made of braided demon skin. The cord is capable of binding any supernatural creature, even a Soul Eater. In Tokyo's red light district where the gangsters are demons hiding in plain sight, Julian comes to the aid of a local crime boss. As thanks, the demon promises to help Julian acquire the cord. Bur first, perhaps the Soul Eater could look into a small problem of an unruly mountain tribe hijacking the gangster's shipments?
Aided and abetted by his werecat, Hex, Julian is joined by several companions. Each has their own agenda for traveling with him to the Lake of the Dead. The vampire is licking his fangs over the enhanced blood of a Soul Eater. The young Shinigami Reaper is searching for a missing ghostly lover. And the werecat, well, she's just in it for the fish.
Osoreizan and Lake of the Dead
Soul Eater Julian Lake is sent from Tokyo by Baron Inazauma, an Oni (demon) gang boss to look into shipments being hijacked by an unruly gang of Mountain Demons. Osoreizan, the Terrible Mountain, BodaiJu Temple, and Lake Usorian are really places just as strange and mysterious as their stories imply in Cruel and Unusual Magic. For centuries this place has served as a spectral bridge between the world of the living and the realm of the dead. Not an embarkation point, but rather a communication hub, buzzing with messages between ghosts, gods, and man on an invisible celestial telegraph. The temple was founded in 862 by the Japanese monk Enin, following a dream that led him from T'ang Dynasty China back to his homeland and these high, lonely peaks. After a journey of 30 days – so the story goes – he found this silver, poisonous lake surrounded by sulphur springs that popped and boiled and bubbled in a valley of volcanic rubble. Enin obviously saw far beyond the land's physical form. Travelers reach Osorezan from the busy fishing port of Mutsu up a winding trail to the crater lake. For centuries this journey was made on foot. Now cars, and incredibly, tour buses slowly grind up the narrow, paved road. A city bus makes the journey up and back several times a day! The route is lined with tiny shrines where weary pilgrims would stop to rest or pray. Statues of Jizo or Kannon, Goddess of Mercy, cloaked in tattered red or white cloth peek out from between close set boughs of pine and cypress. The temple has sulphur-fed hot spring baths open to all visitors and divided for men and women. The baths meant to be a transformative experience and they truly are. Pilgrims bathe before or after their visit to the temple, the Valley of Hell, and the Lake. It is meant to cleanse away your troubles and pain and leave you feeling renewed. And it truly does. I have made two pilgrimages to Osoreizan and it is like nothing I have ever experienced. Which is exactly why I wanted to put it in one of my books about magic! Unfortunately for Soul Eater Julian Lake, he has no interest in a spiritual experience on his visit to this place. It is only a means to reach his end game of resurrecting his murdered love, Caroline, and getting his hands on an enchanted Fudo cord. 
One of the sulphur-fed hot spring baths at Bodai Ju Temple.
Shinigami: Japanese Reapers
Shinigami literally means "Death God" in Japanese. The term became well known overseas -- and in Japan -- thanks to the wildly popular manga/anime and then movie series, Deathnote, and anime like RIn-ne and Bleach. These Reapers seem to harvest more souls in anime and entertainment than anywhere else, but they do have a history in Japanese Shinto and Buddhist folklore.
Shinigami death spirits are sometimes portrayed as spirits that lead the dead into the afterlife or --in a more sinister turn -- convince people to die, especially by their own hand. Buddhist Spirit Mara, whose roots go back to India, is sometimes called a 'shinigami' as it is a spirit of death and is often classified as a demon, not a God. Shinigami turn up in some classical Japanese literature -- generally in a negative context -- but have really come into their own, ironically, in modern times. And why not? They are a delicious addition to a story and precisely because they don't have a folk-heavy past, we writers can take Shinigami and make them our own. In my novel Cruel and Unusual Magic, a young Shinigami, Kai Sugi, joins Soul Eater Julian Lake on his adventures at the Lake of the Dead in Aomori Prefecture in Japan's far north. Kai has the power to absorb the souls of the dead and send them on, though he never explains exactly where 'on' leads to. A good place or a bad place? In the book, he was left with a human family as a baby and began to come into his powers in his teens. I plan on developing his story when I continue Julian Lake's adventures in Japan in a follow-up to Cruel and Unusual Magic. Death Note, Japanese movie. Death Note, Japanese animation. Fudo: Buddhist Demigod Warriors
Fudo guardian deities are very much a part of life for the Japanese. This good-luck ema tablet is from a Fudo temple in Tokyo famous with pilots, airline crew and savvy travelers. Believers come here to pray to the Fudo for a safe journey and happy landings and pick up a charm.
Karasu Tengu Karasu Tengu (Crow Tegu) are mountain spirits and guardians of nature.
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The entrance to the main hall at BodaiJu Temple.
Buddhist votive tablets and offerings to loved ones near the lakeshore.
The stone turtle guardian at the purification fountain. In the book, the spirit of this creature manifests as Julian approaches the temple
A demon tile from BodaiJu temple. As you can see, I didn't make them up!
The Baths: There are several small bathhouses standing a short way from the main hall of Bodai Ju Temple. They are divided for men and women. Here, pilgrims come to bathe away the burdens of their past. Although Osoreizan is famed for its spiritual connection to the dead, the priests and the temple are very much concerned with improving the visitor's hearts and minds in THIS world. A visit to this temple and a bath in these renewing waters is truly a transformative experience meant to help visitors shrug off the burdens of their past.
I thought of having Julian Lake bathe here but honestly, he is not ready to be transformed. His hatred against the other members of the Club is still to all-consuming for him to contemplate any sort of peace. Bakkei Neko: Japan's Demon cats
Nearly everyone has seen the Japanese lucky beckoning-cat statues called Manneki Neko. Not all cats are lucky. Japanese have many tales of evil cat spirits or pets that transform into murderous beasts. They call them Bakkei Neko (ba-kei ne-koe), monstrous/demonic cats.
In Cruel and Unusual Magic, Julian and Hex meet the Fudo Demigod Tora and her Bakkei Neko, Maru. Maru is so large, Tora can ride him. Maru may be monstrously large but he is not an evil demon cat. Instead, he helps Tora protect humans from Japanese Yokai - supernatural creatures -- and Oni -- Japanese demons. Hex, Julian's werecat, develops a crush on the manly Tom. Cats were often associated with the dead In ancient Japan — some cat spirits of legend steal corpses. Bakkei Neko are not born but made. A house cat can become a Bake Neko (also called neko mata),though the timeline for this is anywhere from ten to a hundred years depending on the legend. Their tail mysteriously splits in two once their paranormal powers manifest and some may kill their master and shapeshift into their place. (Thumbs at last! Come to me, my can opener, my darling...) Anyone who has seen Japanese street cats will notice that bobtails prevail. It’s a recessive gene common in Japanese cats. To become a Bake Neko, tails must be long. Bobtails cannot turn into Bake Neko,since they have no long tail to split in two as part of the transformation. Perhaps one reason for the bobtails enduring popularity. Sanrio's Hello Kitty is a bobtail, did you know? No transformation into a demon for her!!
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Under construction. More coming soon!
ShinjukuShinkansen - Bullet Train |
The Robot Restaurant |