Kumotawa Confluence - Yuriko, Convenience Store, and Map

While I wrote Kumotawa Confluence, my urban fantasy novel set in modern Japan, I also tried out various ways to visualize the environment and characters. Here is an anime version of Yuriko (looks much younger as an animated character), the SuperQuickly konbini, a map to the Mount Kumotawa I drew up, and a mystical looking picture of the trail up to the shrine.  I've also included an early sketch of the front of the SuperQuickly konbini. The konbini is a key setting in the novel and it makes it a unique urban fantasy set in a modern Japan. I don't believe there are any other fantasy stories like this (even Japanese urban legends of haunted konbini don't come close) with this blend of elements. There are Japanese novels like Convenience Store Woman and Convenience Store By The Sea which focus much more on personal stories and store operations, though.

Yuriko and Ghost. Stalwart buddies braving the fog. She looks much younger as an anime character. Cats look like cats!

An early image of the SuperQuickly convenience store. I carried the clean white with red trim throughout the book.

The SuperQuickly konbini (convenience store) at the base of Mount Kumotawa. Yuriko, one of the main protagonists, a former special forces operator is a manager here.

Mount Kumotawa gets it name from Kumo as in cloud, and tawa as in fortress or tower. A fog shrouded mountain of mystery where yokai dwell. These days it is also a tourist attraction with great views from the top to the Seto Inland Sea.

Mount Kumotawa with the shrine halfway up and the SuperQuickly at the base.  The access road to the shrine runs in switchbacks up on the right side.

A rendering of the wolf-lizards that Yuriko battles.

I imagined that parts of the pathway up the Kumotawa shrine had an atmosphere like this in the early morning or evening. It would be much spookier in the fog.

Honden at Kumotawa Shrine. This is the main shrine building or hall of any Shinto shrine. A great deal of action occurs at the shrine.

Kumotawa Confluence incorporates Japanese mythological elements, action you would find in a military thriller, magic from fantasy, and selected elements from anime. It is a character-focused action drama that emphasizes the bonds between people. You have a secluded Sword Princess who craves friendship, teen girls coming of age, a parallel-world hopping cat, grizzled ninja mentors, special forces veterans using their skills to the max, and a mother rebuilding her relationship with her daughter. It is a narrative that starts small and ends big with world-changing consequences.

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/108238/kumotawa-confluence
More about my writing. https://tokyoexcess.blogspot.com/p/my-sf-writing.html

To help launch the book, I am serializing it at Royal Road, where you can read it for free. 

This novel will be released as both an ebook and a print book in the future.