Working Titlez’s working mission is to deliver book industry news along with tips and resources for authors — and the not-at-all-shy brag about Stephens Press books and authors. This one clearly rates as book industry news — the word “book” being a bit questionable.
So, folks, the Japanese ARE ahead of the curve on this one. This is the same Japanese publishing industry that published more than one bestseller written entirely via text messages on a cell phone.
It seems Japanese child rearing includes tales of a monster that lives in toilet bowls, known to pounce on misbehaving little boys and girls. How this facilitates potty training is beyond me, but I digress.
Koji Suzuki, a writer considered the Stephen King of Japan, received a commission from the Hayashi Paper Corporation for a horror story with a toilet-related theme. The tale, it turned out, was to be printed on a roll of toilet paper!
The nine-chapter novella that resulted, called Drop, tells of a nasty spirit who makes his home in a toilet.
The perfect hostess gift?
Oh dear. A boogyman in the potty? The toilet is frightening enough to little kids. Well, in that case the Japanese must be constipated from avoiding the toilet, so they’ll have time to read a novella while they wait for number two. That it’s a horror story about the potty monster is so fitting. Gotta scare the poo out of em!
How utterly weird. Nice packaging though!