VIZ MEDIA’S HAIKASORU IMPRINT ANNOUNCES A HUGO AWARD WIN FOR AUTHOR KEN LIU’S SHORT STORY “MONO NO AWARE,” FEATURED IN

THE FUTURE IS JAPANESE

Author Wins Science Fiction Literature’s Most Prestigious Honor For Story About A Japanese Astronaut Contemplating His Childhood

San Francisco, CA, September 6, 2013 – VIZ Media’s Haikasoru imprint is proud to announce that author Ken Liu’s short story, "Mono no Aware,” appearing in the acclaimed anthology THE FUTURE IS JAPANESE, has won the 2013 Hugo Award for Best Short Story. The Haikasoru imprint offers some of the most compelling contemporary science fiction and fantasy stories for English-speaking audiences, and is the first imprint based in the U.S. dedicated to Japanese science fiction and fantasy in translation.

The Hugo Awards, presented annually since 1955, are one of science fiction’s most prestigious honors and are voted on by members of the World Science Fiction Convention (WorldCon), which is also responsible for administering them. The 2013 Hugo Awards Ceremony recently place at LoneStarCon 3, in San Antonio, Texas.

THE FUTURE IS JAPANESE, edited by Nick Mamatas and Masumi Washington, is an anthology collecting science fiction from, and about, Japan, by some of the world’s best genre writers. Ken Liu’s short story, "Mono no Aware,” tells the tale of the last Japanese survivor aboard an American space habitat after an asteroid has destroyed the Earth. This is the second story for which Ken Liu has won a Hugo Award.

THE FUTURE IS JAPANESE carries an MSRP of $14.99 U.S. / $17.99 CAN and is available from most major North American book retailers. An eBook edition is also available for the Amazon Kindle, Apple’s iBooks Store, the Barnes & Noble’s Nook Books Store, and the Sony Reader™ Store.

"I'm very, very grateful to the voters who have conferred this honor on me,” says author Ken Liu. “I wrote 'Mono no aware' because I loved the characters and the ideas that motivated them, and I'm glad to see these resonated with readers."

“We are thrilled Ken Liu’s story, Mono no Aware, won the Hugo Award,” says Masumi Washington, Haikasoru Editor-in-Chief. “Succinctly illustrating the Japanese concept of mono no aware through the eyes of Hiroto, a man who was just a child when the world ended, the story is a wonderful introduction to the work of this talented author. We invite readers to explore it along with a dozen other fantastic science fiction, fantasy and cyberpunk tales that are contained in THE FUTURE IS JAPANESE.”

Ken Liu is a Chinese-American science fiction writer, poet, lawyer and computer programmer. His short stories have appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Asimov's Analog, Lightspeed, Clarkesworld, and other magazines, as well as several anthologies, including the Year's Best SF. He is also a translator of science fiction and literary stories from Chinese into English. Liu’s short story "The Paper Menagerie" is the first work of fiction, of any length, to have swept the Nebula, Hugo, and World Fantasy Awards. His novella, "The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary,” was also nominated for a 2012 Hugo Award.

For more information on THE FUTURE IS JAPANESE and the Haikasoru imprint, please visit the dedicated website at www.haikasoru.com.

About VIZ Media, LLC

Headquartered in San Francisco, California, VIZ Media distributes, markets and licenses the best anime and manga titles direct from Japan.  Owned by three of Japan's largest manga and animation companies, Shueisha Inc., Shogakukan Inc., and Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions, Co., Ltd., VIZ Media has the most extensive library of anime and manga for English speaking audiences in North America, the United Kingdom, Ireland and South Africa. With its popular digital anthology WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP ALPHA and blockbuster properties like NARUTO, BLEACH and INUYASHA, VIZ Media offers cutting-edge action, romance and family friendly properties for anime, manga, science fiction and fantasy fans of all ages.  VIZ Media properties are available as graphic novels, DVDs, animated television series, feature films, downloadable and streaming video and a variety of consumer products.  Learn more about VIZ Media, anime and manga at www.VIZ.com.

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