Chōhei Kambayashi

Chōhei Kambayashi (神林長平, Kambayashi Chōhei^?) (born 1953) is a Japanese science fiction writer.

Born in Niigata, Kambayashi graduated Nagaoka National College of Technology. He debuted in 1979 with the short story "Dance with a Fox",^[1] which was an honorable mention of the 5th Hayakawa SF Contest. He quickly became fan favorite, and during 1980s and 1990s, he won the Seiun Award seven times (five for novels, twice for short stories).^[2] In a 2006 SF Magazine poll he was ranked third best Japanese SF writer of all time.^[3] He was the chair of honor of the 24th Nihon SF Taikai, Japan's national SF convention, in 1985.^[4]

Kambayashi received Nihon SF Taishō Award in 1995 for Kototsubo.^[5] He was the chairman of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of Japan in 2001-2003.^[6]

His writing often blurs the reality and alternate reality. Early works, such as May Peace Be On Your Soul,^[7] were often compared to Philip K. Dick,^[8] as Kambayashi himself acknowledges that the Dick's works lead him to science fiction writing.

Probably his most popular work is Yukikaze.^[9][10] It was made into an animated video series in 2002-2005.

Another popular work, Enemy Is Pirate,^[11] which consists of eight books (as of 2009), is a more lighter tone space opera series. There was an animated video series released in 1989.

Bibliography

Titles with asterisk * are short story collection. Titles with dagger † are series story collection.

• Kitsune to odore (狐と踊れ^?, Dance with a Fox) (1981, ISBN 4-15-030142-5); New edition (2010, ISBN 978-4-15-030995-4) dropped "Teki wa kaizoku" and added "Rakusa", "Tsuta momiji", "Bakurei", "Kisei". *
• Anata no tamashii ni yasuragiare (あなたの魂に安らぎあれ^?) (1983)
• Shichidō otoshi (七胴落とし^?) (1983)
• Teki wa kaizoku, kaizokuban (敵は海賊・海賊版^?, Enemy Pirates, Pirate Edition) (1983)
• Kotobatsukaishi (言葉使い師^?) (1983) *
• Sentō yōsei yukikaze (戦闘妖精・雪風^?) (1984); Revised version: Sentō yōsei yukikaze <kai> (戦闘妖精・雪風<改>^?) (2002); English translation: Yukikaze (2010) †
• Taiyō no ase (太陽の汗^?) (1985)
• Purizumu (プリズム^?, Prism) (1986) †
• Uchū tansaki mēwaku ichiban (宇宙探査機 迷惑一番^?) (1986)
• Koyoi, ginga wo hai ni shite (今宵、銀河を杯にして^?) (1987)
• Aoi kuchizuke (蒼いくちづけ^?) (1987)
• Kikai tachi no jikan (機械たちの時間^?) (1987) †
• Jikanshoku (時間触^?) (1987) *
• Teki wa kaizoku, neko tachi no kyōen (敵は海賊・猫たちの饗宴^?) (1988)
• Runatikan (ルナティカン^?) (1988)
• Kafuka toshi (過負荷都市^?) (1988) †
• Yū no sekai (Uの世界^?) (1989) †
• Teiō no kara (帝王の殻^?) (1990)
• Shinsetsu ga ippai (親切がいっぱい^?) (1990)
• Kanpeki na namida (完璧な涙^?) (1990) †
• Ware katarite sekai ari (我語りて世界あり^?) (1990)
• Teki wa kaizoku, kaizoku tachi no yūutsu (敵は海賊・海賊たちの憂鬱^?) (1991)
• Shi shite saku hana, mi no aru yume (死して咲く花、実のある夢^?) (1992)
• Izayoi no tsuki (猶予の月^?) (1992)
• Tengoku ni sokkuri na hoshi (天国にそっくりな星^?) (1993)
• Teki wa kaizoku, futeki na kyūka (敵は海賊・不敵な休暇^?) (1993)
• Kototsubo (言壷^?) (1994) †
• Teki wa kaizoku, kaizoku ka no ichinichi (敵は海賊・海賊課の一日^?) (1995)
• Tamashii no kudōtai (魂の駆動体^?) (1995)
• Raitojīn no isan (ライトジーンの遺産^?) (1997) †
• Teki wa kaizoku, Ei kyū no teki (敵は海賊・A級の敵^?) (1997)
• Guddo rakku sentō yōsei yukikaze (グッドラック 戦闘妖精・雪風^?) (1999); English translation: Good Luck, Yukikaze (2011)
• Eikyū kikan sōchi (永久帰還装置^?) (2001)
• Rāzefon jikan chōritsushi (ラーゼフォン 時間調律師^?) (2002)
• Koyubi no saki no tenshi (小指の先の天使^?) (2003) *
• Bakugekiki no tobu sora (麦撃機の飛ぶ空^?) (2004) *
• Hadae no shita (膚の下^?) (2004)
• Kyōzō no teki (鏡像の敵^?) (2005) *
• Teki wa kaizoku, seigi no me (敵は海賊・正義の眼^?) (2007)
• Anburōkun arō sentō yōsei yukikaze (アンブロークン アロー 戦闘妖精・雪風^?, Unbroken Arrow) (2009)
• Teki wa kaizoku, tanpenban (敵は海賊・短篇版^?) (2009) *

Notes

1. ^ "Dance with Fox" (狐と踊れ, Kitsune to odore^?) (1979). In a collection of the same title (1981).
2. ^ "星雲賞リスト" (in Japanese). http://www.sf-fan.gr.jp/awards/list.html. Retrieved 2009-05-10. 
3. ^ Locus Online
4. ^ "Japan National SF Convention History". http://www.nippon2007.org/eng/translat/sfconv/e_histry.html. Retrieved 2009-05-10. 
5. ^ Word Pot (言壷, Kototsubo^?) (1994)
6. ^ "History of SFWJ" (in Japanese). http://www.sfwj.or.jp/club.html. Retrieved 2009-05-10. 
7. ^ May Peace Be On Your Soul (あなたの魂に安らぎあれ, Anata no tamashii ni yasuragi are^?) (1983)
8. ^ Ryohei Takahashi (1983). "Kaisetsu". In Chohei Kambayashi (in Japanese). Kotobazukaishi. Hayakawa Shobō. ISBN 4-15-030173-5. 
9. ^ It was 9th in the domestic novel ranking of All-Time Best survey of S-F Magazine in 2006. ("Hayakawa's SF Magazine's All-Time Best SF". March 10, 2006. http://www.locusmag.com/2006/News/03_HayakawaAllTimePoll.html. Retrieved June 8, 2009. )
10. ^ Battle Fairy Yukikaze (戦闘妖精・雪風, Sentō yōsei yukikaze^?) (1984). Revised slightly in 2002 as Battle Fairy Yukikaze <bis> (戦闘妖精・雪風<改>, Sentō yōsei yukikaze <kai>^?). A sequel is Good Luck Battle Fairy Yukikaze (グッドラック　戦闘妖精・雪風, Guddo rakku sentō yōsei yukikaze^?) (1999). The third part was published in July 2009 as Unbroken Arrow (アンブロークン・アロー　戦闘妖精・雪風^?).
11. ^ Enemy Is Pirate (敵は海賊, Teki wa kaizoku^?)

References

• The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, page 641
• Ran Ishidō. "Kambayashi Chitai" (in Japanese). http://isidora.sakura.ne.jp/kam/top.html. Retrieved 2009-06-13. 

Persondata
Name	Kambayashi, Chohei
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Date of birth	1953
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Date of death
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