My Debut Short Story Collection Is Officially Out In The World
Transformation through travel, drinks, food, magic and more
Hi everyone,
It’s a special day for me today. It’s the culmination of two years of uncertainty, writing, more writing, a hell of a lot of editing and more writing to bring out my first short story collection Transmutations.
The collection started from the place of being stuck in place. Locked down and needing to shift directions. I also really fucking missed travelling and so I imagined where I wanted to go in the world, where I’d already been and started writing.
Transmutations was the result and thank you to my publisher Midwestness for bringing it to life.
A collection of change, Transmutations examines how people move forward, get stuck in place, reach for something new and accept the things they can’t control.
Here’s a breakdown of all the stories:
🎷The Snap Beings Ain’t Salty
Jazz musician Marcel de Marigny has always dreamed about making it big in the Big Easy and beyond.
A new gig comes up that could take the band to the next stage. But there’s strange things lurking out in the bayous and Marcel better be ready to play his heart out.
🍶 Kika Sai
Sake is woven into the fabric of Japanese culture and the legacy of many families. Mariko Kimura is determined to keep her family’s legacy alive by producing awesome nihonshu.
✉️ Biennio Rosso
The Great War is over, but the unrest in Europe has only begun. Two old soldiers reflect on their decades-long friendship across Italy and Manchester.
🍨 Just Desserts
In the City of Angels, a Greek goddess has made a home for herself as a chef and restaurant owner. Tasked with putting on a banquet, she’s ready to prove why she’s damn good at what she does.
🦖 When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth
A day at Blackpool beach for a father and son turns into an excavating mission.
🌭 Empty Stomach
A world-famous professional eater and foodie is forced to confront the sins of his past at a hotdog eating contest.
🎣 Fishing Trip
Absurdity rules the day during the Cod Wars between the UK and Iceland (yes, this was a thing).
🤼♂️ Ring Rust
An old wrestler and ring promoter gets back into the squared circle to prove he’s still the man.
🧳 Budapest
An exploration of depression and the therapeutic benefits of travel.
🌬️ The Wind Rider
Two huntresses go on a mission to complete a sacred ritual and prove themselves to their tribe. Blood is the answer.
🎡 Carnival Season
A young man escapes to Trinidad with his brother to forget about his failed marriage and bury his head in the sand.
But carnival is in the air and there are all kinds of pleasures to be found in the night.
⚓ Kotwica
Magda Brant made a promise to her grandfather to scatter his ashes in Warsaw. History, fairytales and hope collide.
🥃 The Curse Of The Entrepreneur
A whisky auction in Edinburgh sets the stage for a couple of successful businessmen to reflect on the past, present and future.
🔒 Saudade
The world has gone into lockdown and time stands still. How do you find purpose in the mundane and the uncertain? These themes are explored.
I also wanted to share Kika Sai with you all. It’s one of my favourite stories from the collection.
To celebrate the launch of Transmutations I’m giving a whopping 50% off The Premium Serve membership for the first year for today only.
When you sign up, you’ll also receive a free copy of my other book At The Dead Of Dusk, additional stories and content from the short story collection, deep dive drink essays and more.
Kika Sai
The Kimura Brewery blossomed with the aroma of steamed rice escaping from the fermentation tanks. To Mariko, it was the smell of a new sake season, the smell of memory, of simpler days brought to life. She strolled by the tanks, making conversation with the kurabito, asking how they were and the health of their families. No member of the team was left out.
Mariko stopped by the koji room and she got the familiar sensation of stepping into a sacred place. The heat inside the room felt pleasant on her skin, like basking in an onsen bath. The workers bowed politely in greeting and she returned the gesture, indicating that they could continue. Each man worked in union, walking up and down the line of trays, sprinkling the mould out onto the rice in perfect synchronicity. It was like watching a graceful dance unfold, every movement choregraphed to the rhythm of music only the men could hear.
Her ritual complete, Mariko went to the upper floor of the brewery to her office. She made herself a green tea, settled down to check over some of the figures from last year’s sales and was glad to see there was a steady incline in revenue. Her gaze flashed to her family’s kamon on the wall, a crest of the three-legged crow Yatagarasu, and she imagined her ancestors were smiling on her.
The Kimura clan had been producing nihonshu in Yamaguchi Prefecture for over three hundred years and had served the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu at the height of his power. Mariko was proud of her samurai heritage, but she’d never set out with a plan to take over the brewery from her father as kuramoto and toji. When she was younger, being the owner and head brewer was so far outside of her plans that she wouldn’t have been able to picture it. Now, she couldn’t think of doing anything else.
Her phone buzzed and she read Akihiro’s text, a reminder that their table was booked for 7:30PM. She smiled at her son’s diligence and at the thought of needing to be reminded about her own birthday meal. Mariko was often so busy working that she could forget to check her calendar. Today she turned 47 years old. The same age as her father when he’d taken over the brewery from his father. There was something auspicious about that.
Feeling nostalgic, Mariko wandered to the bottling room to help the staff label the nihonshu. She picked up a bottle of Kika Sai, the brewery’s junmai daiginjo sake, tracing her fingers over the kanji that adorned the label.
When her father had become ill, she and her son had been living in Seattle, working as a graphic designer and hair stylist. She’d returned to Japan to look after him with her mother and for a time, it looked as if he was going to recover. Cancer didn’t care for hope or optimism. In the end, all they could do was make him comfortable and give him the sendoff that he wanted.
The funeral had been in the Shinto tradition, twenty steps that purified and honoured the deceased. Through each step, Mariko saw her father through new eyes. His strength. His passion. His desire to keep tradition alive. He was her home coming. Kika sai. The final step in a Shinto funeral where the ashes were placed inside the family shrine. Whenever someone took a sip from the bottle, they were imbibing a part of her father’s story.
Mariko moved onto Three Hearts, sake made in the honjozo and yamahai styles. It was the brewery’s latest offering and as she studied the playful octopus that curled around the bottle, her inner critic wondered if there was more preparation that needed to be done. How would it be received by the public? Was there time to update the logo? Could the rice be polished more?
Mariko shook her head, the thoughts tumbling out. Of course everything would be fine. She needed to stop worrying and let herself truly feel the anticipation of launching the product in the coming months. She continued to work into the afternoon and then left the brewery to get changed for the meal.
The train ride into Yamaguchi City went quickly and Mariko walked through the streets on her way to Sakemai, a reasonably-priced restaurant in the centre of the city, enjoying the sights of the temples that reflected the traditions of a place that had come to be known as the ‘Kyoto of the West.’ In her opinion, Yamaguchi was more laid-back than Kyoto. Less hectic. People took their time in Yamaguchi. Enjoyed every small detail.
Akihiro was waiting for her when she entered the restaurant. He waved to her from a booth in the corner and Mariko took a moment to appreciate the handsome young man he’d grown into. Since he’d started university in Shimonoseki, Mariko didn’t get to spend as much time with him as she used to. It was in these small pockets of leisure between work and study that Mariko had come to savour and she made the most of it by hugging Akihiro.
“Have you been eating well? It looks like you’ve lost weight. I knew I should have sent you more home-cooked meals. There’s no substitute for that.” Mariko said, half-teasing, half-serious.
“The university provides excellent meals, mother,” Akihiro pushed his glasses up to stop them from falling down his nose. “And so does Sakemai. Happy birthday again.”
“Thank you, Aki-kun. It’s good that we’re still able to spend time like this.” Mariko smiled, browsing the menu, her eyes scanning the selection of nihonshu, as much out of an intention to drink as to see if she recognised bottles made by friends at other breweries. She ordered a glass of raifuku chokarakuchi and while deciding on her food, she asked Akihiro about how his course was going.
“I feel good about it. Economics is stimulating but it’s also tough. The final paper is coming up in a few weeks and it’s stressing me out.”
“That’s natural. Remember that no matter how hard the road gets, you’ve always got the family business to come back too.”
“I know. But the calling of data analysis feels like the loudest thing in my life right now.”
Mariko understood that she and her son were cut from the same cloth. They were both curious souls who needed to leave their own mark on the world. No matter where Akihiro ended up, she would be proud of him.
Despite how busy the restaurant was, their food came in quick succession, a colourful kaiseki banquet: hearty miso soup, glittering sashimi, fluffy mountains of rice, grilled wagyu beef, steamed chawanmushi, all arranged on beautiful plates that matched the artistic feel of the venue. Mariko mixed and matched with the sake, testing the flavours, analysing the different sensations that fizzed and popped on her tongue.
Akihiro ate in a clinical fashion, picking one plate off at a time, taking small sips of water to quench his thirst. “Are you working on any new types of sake?” He asked, dipping a piece of sushi in a bowl of soy sauce.
“You already know about Three Hearts. I’m also experimenting with a sparkling variety for the western market. Haven’t thought of a name for it yet.”
“It’ll come to you, mother. You’re the most creative person I know.” Akihiro browsed the drink menu. “Shall we order a bottle to celebrate your day?”
Mariko raised her eyebrows. Akihiro wasn’t usually the drinking type but then perhaps university was changing him. She could see the shine on him. The blossoming of a young man who was finally becoming more comfortable in his own skin.
Akihiro ordered a bottle of junmai daiginjo Akashi-Tai, poured it out into two choko cups and raised his in a toast. “Kanpai!”
“Kanpai!” Mariko drank deeply, anchoring herself to this moment in time, with the noise of laughter and conversation around her flowing as freely as the drink that had brought her life meaning.
Transmutations is currently available through Amazon US and UK in Kindle form with physical copies soon to follow.
If you do end up buying it, it’d also be super helpful if you could leave an honest review on Amazon. It goes a long way for indie authors.
Happy reading!
Best,
Jamie