Upcoming Vertical titles and events

Hello everybody!

I think most of you know this already, but Vertical actually publishes books (gasp!) and we actually have a huge slew of them coming out right this minute.

First, J-Horror: The Definitive Guide to The Ring, The Grudge and Beyond by David Kalat comes out at the end of the month. For horror cinema fans, this book is a MUST read. It is a concise and entertaining catalog and description of basically every Japanese horror film ever made available to American viewers post-Ugetsu.

Even if you’re not a horror cinema fan per se, I recommend the title for the anecdotes alone. I can’t tell you how satisfying it is to find out that Hideo Nakata (original director of The Ring, Ringu, and a TIME Magazine “100 most important people” member a few years ago) got his start in adult video, or that there is a sub-genre of J-Horror called “toilet ghosts”. Don’t take my word for it. Go get the book, and meet the author at NY Comic-Con on Saturday Feb. 24, talking about the industry and the films that made the difference.

Come to his panel and you’re automatically entered to win:

THE ULTIMATE VERTICAL HORROR PACKAGE

That’s The Ring Trilogy, Parasite Eve, The Crimson Labyrinth, and of course, J-Horror.

ALSO (as if you didn’t already know), TO TERRA… by Keiko Takemiya drops in two weeks. It’s the space opera to end all space operas, with all the juicy details to make it so…except astronauts in adult diapers. (Sorry for anyone who already heard this joke from me in the newsletter…which you can subscribe to by responding in the comments board.)

Also appearing at Comic-Con is, well, us! Vertical is holding a panel on the future of manga, Sunday Feb 25 from 3-4pm. All attendees are automatically entered to win the first four volumes of Buddha and Volume 1 of To Terra…

So do it. Come out and see us.

And speaking of giveaways, for a limited time, we’re offering copies of May in the Valley of the Rainbow (which actually is a bit like if Children of Men and Pan’s Labyrinth were written by Oliver Stone and based on facts) to three anyones who wants to review it (alternately if you’re studying Southeast Asian guerrilla movements, you ought to have this book too). Write to info(at)vertical-inc.com