This is how K. Bird Lincoln's latest urban fantasy was described to me: "a half-Japanese college student discovers her mythological parentage."
Sold.
I learned more details on Lincoln's author page*: " half-Japanese girl finds out she's the daughter of mythological, dream-eating Baku, yearns for delicious artisan chocolate, meets a handsome stranger with a secret of his own, and fends off attacks by creepy community college professors and water dragons."
Although I'm a fairy/folk tale/mythology nut, I don't know much about Japanese mythology (thanks, Eurocentric education). When I looked up Baku, I learned that is the spirit who can eat people's nightmares.
"A child having a nightmare in Japan will wake up and repeat three times, "Baku-san, come eat my dream." Legends say that the baku will come into the child's room and devour the bad dream, allowing the child to go back to sleep peacefully."
My son is starting to have nightmares. Maybe calling on Baku-san will help him fight through them. We have to stay careful though, because if you call on Baku too much, s/he may gobble up your good dreams as well. What does that leave you with?
I've enjoyed quite a few stories published by World Weaver Press lately, including The Falling of the Moon, Covalent Bonds (a geek romance anthology that is making me rethink the romance genre), and He Sees You When You're Sleeping (an anthology of Krampus stories). Once I finish Dream Eater, I'll let you know how it fares for lovers of mythology/urban fantasy.
K. Bird Lincoln's Japanese-inspired urban fantasy novel DREAM EATER will be available from World Weaver Press in early 2017. Here's how to add it to your Goodreads to-read shelf.
*I love that Lincoln calls this "my online presence."
^I got this from Wikipedia, who lists their sources as:
- M.Reese:"The Asian traditions and myths".pg.60
- Jump up^ Hadland Davis F., "Myths and Legends of Japan" (London: G. G. Harrap, 1913)
