Hideki Desu

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Writer: Mark lee Pearson
Reader: Jim Sadler
Producer: Lee Rawlings
Assistant Producer: Tony Eccles
Music: Lee Rawlings and Simon Belshaw

PODCAST

My wonderful friends at JLT-AUDIO-STORY-PRODUCTIONS were kind enough to record my story, Hideki Desu, which was published in Space and Time Magazine last year. The story can now be downloaded and listened to at their website:

PODCAST OF HIDEKI DESU

Review of Hideki Desu at TANGENT

Reviewed by Steve Fahnestalk

TANGENT

“Hideki Desu,” by Mark Lee Pearson, surprised me. Since the title character, Hideki, is described as "a short, serious kid in a white button-down shirt and large horn-rimmed glasses,” I immediately had two thoughts: Hiro Nakamura, from the TV series Heroes; and, Oh, cripes, another Japanese story by someone who has only read manga and seen Japanese movies.

To the first thought, I can say, "well, maybe, in a way,” but to the second, "no way!" Pearson is obviously familiar with Japan, and that knowledge adds a certain vividness to the story that can't be gotten out of books and movies; only first-hand knowledge will serve. (When you know what you’re talking about, it really shows.)

Gaijin (foreigners) are needed in Japan, because every Japanese sarariman (literally, "salaryman") wants to learn English as a way to make more money, but Hideki has a novel way of doing so… he eavesdrops on gaijin dreams. Our unnamed gaijin protagonist meets Hideki on a Tokyo train platform and from then on things become more surreal than even a westerner familiar with Japan can imagine. "Hideki desu" means "I'm Hideki"—and by the end of the story you won't have a clue who Hideki really is. Nicely done and quite fun to read, and you don't need to know a word of Japanese to enjoy it.

Excerpt from Hideki Desu

I was famished, so Hideki took me to a noodle bar.
“You like stand-up soba?” He twists the noodles from the soup and threads the long strands of buckwheat through his teeth.
“First time,” I said.
“Your girlfriend never took you?”“She was a ramen girl.” I snapped my disposable chopsticks apart and jabbed them into the bowl.
Hideki is jittery; his eyes are like little black fish darting about in his horn rimmed glasses.
Just then, there was a movement in the soup. I felt something tugging on my chopstick. I stepped back from the bar, “What the—”
The noodles parted to reveal a bulbous pair of bloodshot eyes staring out at me. One of the noodle creatures twisted itself around my chopsticks; I could see the fangs in its open mouth.
Someone screamed; it could have been me. I don’t remember exactly, but the inside of the entire soba bar was suddenly alive with panic.
“I knew it. Get out of here.” Hideki swipes the bowl off the bar and sends it hurtling across the floor, then grabbing my hand he drags me out of the shop.
The last thing I remember seeing were thousands of noodle-like worms sliding across the floor, their bulbous eyes fixed upon the Soba Chef. I saw him kicking in vain as they slithered up his legs, constricted around his body and sank their fangs into his throat as he fell whimpering to the floor.

Hideki Desu appears in the Spring 2009 edition of Space and Time Magazine. Many thanks to the very talented David Grilla for illustrating this excerpt.

Hideki Desu...

has finally made it into print and my name is on the cover of SPACE AND TIME!



Space and Time Magazine