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James Kendley

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If Japan, with its lively American expatriate community, resembles Paris in the Roaring Twenties, then James Kendley is its Hemingway—but with greater technical proficiency, a larger spirit, a broader emotional repertoire, and an incomparably richer imagination.

— Bizarro fabulist Tom Bradley

Available now

Click the cover for more information at amazon.com

A journey of recovery, redemption, and the terrible freedom of the open road.
Part travelogue, part deep dive into the belly of alcoholism and madness, this book also touches the weird world of Kendley’s paranormal series for HarperCollins, The Drowning God.


Other books by James Kendley

Click on covers for more information from the publishers.

Critical Mass: The Devouring God

I enjoyed the vivid sense of place … the city becomes more than just a backdrop here, since the history of the place is important to the plot. Snippets of history, culture and day-to-day life gave the story an extra push that immersed me in the lives of the characters. The author lived and worked in Japan, and his experience as an American living abroad certainly informs his descriptions.

It’s refreshing to find an urban fantasy that doesn’t rely on a large organization bent on keeping the paranormal secret. If their straight jobs fall through, or they get fired, they’re on the street. There isn’t a secret quasi-governmental agency ready to swoop them off to safety. It raises the stakes, thus improving my enjoyment of the story.

Before you assume this book is all travelogue and mundanity, let me remind you that this is a horror story to the core. There are whispers of cannibalism in the history of this city, and the thing Takuda, Suzuki, and Mori are after is very, very hungry. It drives ordinary people to ritualistic murders that are both beautiful and grotesque in their execution.

Kay Nash, horrorwriters.com

From the Blogosphere

My tor.com blog post about five books that changed my mind about Japan and directly influenced The Drowning God and The Devouring God. British horror legend Ramsey Campbell takes part in the comments.

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About

James Kendley has written and edited professionally for 40 years, first as a newspaper reporter and editor, then as a copy editor and translator in Japan, and currently as a content wrangler and novelist living in northern Virginia.

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Blog Posts

  • Whose house? Not ours yet…
  • The Wine Ghost, Pt. III: A Japanese Gentleman of Impeccable Taste
  • Unfriending the Darkness, Part II: The Adolescent Mob
  • The Wine Ghost, Pt. II: The Flea Circus
  • Herringbone
  • The Wine Ghost, Pt. I: Revisiting an Old Friend
  • Tom Bradley’s Energeticum/Phantasticum
  • The Rare Earth Age of Sci-Fi
  • Knowledge Mapping for PMP® Exam Success
  • Unfriending the Darkness, Part I
  • The Role of the Troll
  • Blame Horror Movies, Pt. II: Late-Night Time Capsules
  • Blame Horror Movies, Pt. I: The Mystery of Dead Ernest
  • Family Romance: Our Cup of Meat
  • Guest post by KD Porch: Radio-reared
  • Why So Macabre?
  • Manifesto
  • Fun & Games 4: A Puzzling Experience
  • Fun & Games 3: Krankenhaus Rock
  • Fun & Games 2: Breakfast in Bedlam
  • Fun & Games 1: Rules and Prizes
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