About the Horror Picture Book Volume 2 Is It There or Not

“It’s dark up there… I couldn’t stop wondering what was up there.”

Deceptively simple picture books with sinister stories.

You went to live with Grandma in her rambling old house. High above the rafters is a world of darkness. You can’t shake the feeling that something is lurking there.

Natsuhiko Kyogoku and Naoko Machida spin a riveting web of fear of the unknown. Natsuhiko Kyogoku was born in Otaru, Hokkaido. As a novelist, he has been blending mystery, folklore, and the supernatural since The Summer of the Ubume, his debut novel. His work has influenced a generation of Japanese writers of mystery fiction. His other work available in English includes the near-future thriller Loups-Garous.

Naoko Machida is an illustrator and picture book author born in Tokyo in 1968. A two-time winner of the Japan Picture Book Award, Machida is known for her evocative, whimsical, often cat-centric artwork. Machida illustrated Fumiko Takeshita’s Namae no nai neko (The Cat with No Name), which dominated Japanese picture book awards in the year of its publication with seven wins. Another notable work, Neko wa rusuban (The Cat Stays Home), has reached audiences in China, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand, Spain, and France.

Masao Higashi is a critic and scholar of horror and fantasy literature born in 1958 in Kanagawa. He served as editor-in-chief of the fantasy magazine Genso Bungaku and the ghost-story journal Yu, both of which he founded. His critical study Tono monogatari to kaidan no jidai (The Tale of Tono and the Era of Ghost Stories) won Best Critical/Biographical Work at the 64th Mystery Writers of Japan Awards.