cover image In the Realm of Ash and Shadow

In the Realm of Ash and Shadow

Kenneth W. Harmon. Eiledon, $19.99 trade paper (352p) ISBN 978-0-578-59150-6

Harmon (The Amazing Mr. Howard) charts an unlikely and romantic ghost story in this tender outing. While on a mission to drop leaflets over Hiroshima during WWII, American bombardier Micah Lund’s plane goes down. Micah dies in the crash, and Japanese factory worker Kiyomi Oshiro comes across his body in the wreckage. Micah’s ghost then follows Kiyomi, and witnesses her grueling life as a widow near starvation who must contend with her demanding in-laws and eight-year-old daughter Ai. The ghosts of two Japanese men explain the afterlife, and Micah learns he can meet the living when their spirits leave their bodies during sleep. He starts visiting nightly with Kiyomi, and despite Micah’s not knowing Japanese, they can communicate in the liminal space. Kiyomi chafes at her in-laws’ pressure to remarry, and ventures into the country to look for food. Meanwhile, Micah grows worried about Kiyomi and Ai after having a vision of a blinding light overtaking the city, and hopes they don’t return. In the vivid final section, featuring richly imagined witches and demons, Micah and Kiyomi embark on a perilous quest to save Ai. This speculative view of Hiroshima at the end of WWII rewards the suspension of disbelief. (Self-published)