Not all houses are haunted....

Sometimes all it takes is just a single room.

Previously, we looked at color associations with fear in
Skittles! Taste the Rainbow of... Terror?

Recently though, I was inspired by another theme, ROOMS.

Not houses.
because haunted houses haven't been done to death or anything.
But ROOMS.

Bright, well-furnished rooms.
Dingy, dark rooms.
But all of them, unequivocally, creepy rooms.

I can only work in English and Japanese so those are the two cultures I will be working in.  So far my list, in no particular order, is as follows:


♡ Stephanie's Room (audio link) - who says you can never go home again?  creepily demented in a happy, cheerful sorta way. 

♡ The Occupant of the Room (audio link, text link) -  as if hotel rooms weren't filled with enough creepy, crawly unseen things.

♡ The Room in the Tower (audio link, text link) - dreams and "reality" mix to create a haunting, unsettling piece, aka. nightmare fodder.

♡ The Yellow Wallpaper (audio link, text link) - disturbing enough in the original text yet made even more so by the brilliant execution of the reader.

♡ The Red Room (audio link, text link) - rather mild mannered, but a classic.

♡ Number 13 (audio link, text link) - how can you not have a bunch of room-themed ghost stories without at least one reference to the magic number "13"?!

♡ The Other Wing (audio link, text link) - horror is sure to follow where children are involved.


If you have read the above or can suggest others in either language, we would love to hear of them!
list last updated 2011/08/15

Thanks for visiting!
Stay tuned and happy listening. (^_-)-☆

☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆

All translations copyrighted and owned by myself. All copyrights of their respective owners. No part of this web site may be produced, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner.

My Dream? - 現代怪談

Lately I have been working on bigger and bigger pieces, but then came across a few smaller ones that were worth doing.
SLACKER! 
No.... Sorry to take away your fun. ^^ 
But shorter isn't always simpler.  Particularly in the world of literary/art translation, shorter means that you have fewer chances, less wiggle room to express ideas or capture the atmosphere of a story. In some cases, shorter can be much more brain-wracking as I was painfully reminded of back when I did THE SEA. The “poem” at the end.... I am still not happy with it, but neither could I ever work it into something better.
 
So as can be said in many other situations - enjoy the journey, however brief it may be.
ご了承くださいませ～。^^

My Dream?
A Modern Japanese ^*Kaidan

original story copyrighted by author @ http://syarecowa.moo.jp/160/29.html
translation copyrighted by M. L. Mills, 2011

＊＊＊

I had this awful dream.
There were hands on my neck, tightening, strangling me.
I couldn't see the other person's face. It was obscured, like I was seeing through a mist.
Desperately trying to shake them off, I grabbed hold of their wrists, but without the slightest effect.
Little by little, I felt my consciousness slipping away.

I awoke the same moment I lost consciousness in my dream.
My body was robed in an uncomfortable sweat. Without thinking, I reached up and felt my neck.
The thought crossed my mind that this would be the perfect ghost story if only there were hand-shaped bruises left on my neck.
I entered the bathroom and threw off my clothes and froze, staring into the mirror.

They were there.
Clearly there.
Purplish, hand-shaped bruises.

On my wrists.

＊＊＊

Thanks for visiting!
Stay tuned and happy listening. (^_-)-☆

☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆

^*Kaidan: a traditional Japanese “ghost” story usually involving the unexplainable, a flexible concepts of time and space, strange meetings, love gone wrong, the supernatural… Curious and sometimes terrifying stories, but never centered on nor featuring either gore or sex.

Original text story: http://syarecowa.moo.jp/160/29.html
(Japanese only.)
Audio recording: http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm14689364
(Account with nicovideo required. Japanese only.)

☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆

All translations copyrighted and owned by myself. All copyrights of their respective owners. No part of this web site may be produced, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner.

'tis the ♪season ♫・・・AGAIN！

As I mentioned in another post previously, one of the many reasons I ♡'d Japan was the fact that you get to celebrate Halloween TWICE a year! .～*・°☆

Ahhh, yes, ♡twice♡.
Just recalling that little fact makes my heart go all pitter-patter.

To recap (if you missed last year's post) or refresh your memory (if you simply forgot about it at the bottom of a chocolate martini), here's the rundown:

August is when the Japanese celebrate Obon (お盆). Obon is basically a similar idea to Halloween - spirits of the deceased returning to walk the Earth - except that their Obon wanderings normally last several days whereas Halloween is just that one night stand.

In celebration of this joyous (and potentially creepy) season, and as the gateway drug to the upcoming Halloween Horrors, we are releasing another series of Kaidan this month. (Throughout the year, yes, but AUGUST in particular.)

Kaidan, if you, the gentle reader recall are basically traditional Japanese “ghost” stories usually involving the unexplainable, a flexible concepts of time and space, strange meetings, love gone wrong, the supernatural… They are curious and sometimes terrifying stories, but never centered on nor featuring either gore or sex.

The newest one is already available!

Facts Surrounding the Death of 'M'

There will be at least two more releases this month, so in the meantime, enjoy and until the next installment is released, you can check out some of the past ones by clicking on "kaidan" in the Label cloud.


Thanks for visiting!
Stay tuned and happy listening. (^_-)-☆

☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆

All translations copyrighted and owned by myself. All copyrights of their respective owners. No part of this web site may be produced, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner.