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Uketsu is an enigmatic presence on YouTube and an author specializing in horror and mystery. He always appears in videos wearing a white mask and black body stocking, with his voice digitally distorted. His true identity is unknown. Both his novels Strange Pictures and Strange Houses (forthcoming from HarperVia ) were massive hits in Japan, where he lives. Jim Rion has lived in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan since 2004. He began professionally translating Japanese to English in 2015, primarily in cultural and travel fields. From 2018, he began working with local sake brewers on international expansion, and in 2022 Stone Bridge Press published his book Discovering Yamaguchi Sake, a guide to all the sake breweries in his home prefecture. He has published translations of two horror/Cthlulhu mythos books with (now defunct) publisher Kurodahan Press, and from 2022 began working with Pushkin Vintage on translating Japanese crime and mystery fiction into English. The first work, The Devil's Flute Murders by Yokomizo Seishi, was published in 2023. His translation of Strange Pictures by Japanese horror/crime writer Uketsu, is scheduled for publication in January 2025.
""Deliciously unsettling and refreshingly unique, Strange Houses will lure you in and keep you captive with every clever twist."" -- Kristen Perrin, New York Times bestselling author of How to Solve Your Own Murder Praise for Uketsu's Strange Pictures: -- ""I loved it! It has the twists and fair-play style of a Golden Age whodunit, mixed with a wonderfully innovative use of illustrations. Delightfully macabre and fiendishly clever. Seemingly unconnected stories tie themselves into a complicated knot, which Uketsu masterfully unravels."" -- G. T. Karber, author of the national bestseller Murdle ""A labyrinthine and multilayered horror mystery, full of cryptic images . . . wonderfully complex and carefully crafted . . . This is a story where revelations and new questions wait around every corner, and Uketsu keeps readers guessing until the very end."" -- New York Times Book Review ""Dare you say what you see? Not if it's between the unnerving pages of Strange Pictures by anonymous Japanese enigma Uketsu. . . . This refreshingly original, eerie treat of a puzzle invites the reader to immerse themselves in the darkest of mysteries. So captivating I read it in a day. So disturbing I thought about it all night. Uketsu is a disrupter, the master of quiet horror."" -- Janice Hallett, internationally bestselling author of The Appeal ""[A] triumphant international debut ... with a surprisingly strong emotional core that will keep readers glued to the page until the unsettling conclusion. This intricate puzzle box is a must for horror fans."" -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) ""Part Rubik's Cube, part Russian doll, part kaleidoscope and altogether irresistible. Strange Pictures is heady, giddy, genre-blurring stuff and so fizzy with invention and possibility that I almost pity the next novel I read."" -- A.J. Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window and End of Story ""A creepy little delight of a brainteaser . . . Strange Pictures is innovative and a lot of fun."" -- The Guardian ""Already a sensation in Japan, this unconventional story detail[ing] nine simple drawings and the dark secret that ties them together. . . . is as creative as it is fleet and offers a whirlwind ride."" -- Variety
