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Doing the Work
Doing the Work
‘I think there should be a National Service of Hospitality. The best way to see the true face of humanity is to serve it a plate of chips.’
Camilla Grudova on bad-mannered customers.
Doing the Work
‘Anyone who has ever worked night shifts will understand the vertiginous feeling that comes with staring down the day from the wrong end.’
A.K. Blakemore on working nights.
Doing the Work
‘I was constantly reading job ads, trying to find my holy grail – a job I could stand to do, and someone foolish enough to hire me.’
Sandra Newman on learning how to play professional blackjack.
Doing the Work
‘I loved being a receptionist. What I loved about it was playing the part of being a receptionist.’
Emily Berry on being a temporary office worker.
Doing the Work
‘Every part of you would swell, including your eyeballs, and no matter how much water you drank, you were always dehydrated.’
Junot Díaz on working for a steel mill.
Shinichi Hoshi
Shinichi Hoshi was one of Japan’s most accomplished and influential science fiction writers. He wrote 1001 short-short stories in his 26-year career, and received the twenty-first Mystery Writers of Japan Award for his book Moso Ginko (Delusion Bank). A short film based on his story ‘Hana to Himitsu’ (‘Flowers and Secrets’) won an award at the Venezia International Children’s Movie Festival. Hoshi is also the author of many novels, including Koe no Ami (Voice Net) and Buranko no Mukode (The Other Side of the Swing).
More about the author →Translated by Eli K.P. William
Eli K.P. William is a Canadian novelist based in Japan. His dystopian trilogy, The Jubilee Cycle, is set in a future Tokyo. The series includes Cash Crash Jubilee (2015), The Naked World (2017), and A Diamond Dream (forthcoming fall 2021). His first full-length novel translation is A Man (2020), also the first novel by Akutagawa Prize winning author, Keiichiro Hirano, to be published in English. To learn more visit his website or follow him on Twitter.
Image © Kuromusi