The Sacred Era: A Novel

Description

The magnum opus of a master of speculative fiction that established Yoshio Aramaki as a leading representative of the genre, The Sacred Era is part post-apocalyptic world, part faux-religious tract, and part dream narrative. Through the main character's journey into inner and outer space, the novel translates the substance of religious and mythic texts into the language of science fiction.

Yoshio Aramaki was born in Otaru, Japan, in 1933. Trained as an architect, Aramaki has published widely in science fiction in Japan. One of his early novellas, "The Writing on the White Wall Shines in the Setting Sun," won the 1972 Seiun Award, the Japanese equivalent of the Hugo. Baryon Tensor Posadas is assistant professor of Asian Languages and Literatures at the University of Minnesota. Takayuki Tatsumi is professor of English at Keio University.

"A visionary science fiction novel, in which the devil lives in the details, literally, The Sacred Era is a compelling look at belief, collapse, and transcendence."-Nick Mamatas, co-editor of The Future is Japanese and Phantasm Japan "The Sacred Era is the most important work of Yoshio Aramaki, talented Japanese science fiction writer. This brilliant post-apocalyptic tale explores past and present, sacred and heretic, inner and outer space, and the beginning and end of life through the eyes of a young pilgrim to a mysterious planet."-Motoko Tanaka, Tamagawa University, author of Apocalypse in Contemporary Japanese Science Fiction "Engrossing in both its imagery and philosophical exploration, The Sacred Era traverses the far reaches of the cosmos but ultimately revels in the personal and the human."-Foreword Reviews "This wildly-inventive story about one man's journey to a mythical planet will leave you dizzy (in a good way)."-Tor.com "So ambitious and unfettered that you won't read many books like it."-World Literature Today "The plot weaves together theology, illusions and scientific discovery in an imaginative and dream-like way that leaves an impression."-The Japan Times "Yoshio Aramaki's unique vision of a complicated, dystopian future is masterfully crafted and intellectually engaging."-The Quarterly Conversation