Good Night Papa: Short Stories from Japan and Elsewhere

Author(s): Simon Rowe

Short Stories | NZ - Fiction

Rear cover blurb: Some of the tales told within Good Night Papa: Short Stories from Japan and Elsewhere: A recovering alcoholic mail pilot crashes his plane in the desert with a bottle of gin on board - The Finke River Mail (Australia) A retired taxi driver takes a job driving call girls to pay his debts and receives an unexpected gift from a mysterious passenger - Good Night Papa (Japan) A snobbish widow must enlist the help of local cannery workers when an oversize family heirloom arrives by ship from New Zealand - Baby Grand (Fiji) A kung fu master finds a way to channel the creative talent of a recalcitrant student - The Girl Who Made The Kung Fu Master Cry (China) A fugitive seeking redemption realises his fate rests in the hands of a novice Buddhist monk - The Pilgrim (Japan) When an enormous python terrorises a beach resort in Bali, only one man has the ability and business acumen to turn the problem into a tasty success - Tuna Steak (Indonesia) A restaurant waitress uses her wit to have her husband released from prison when her beach resort town is overrun by a tide of seaweed - Weed (Mexico) Two rival gangs with plans to demolish an old neighborhood are brought to their knees by a barbershop full of ninja - The Foonabiki Barbers (Japan)


Product Information

Good Night Papa (the short story) was adapted to screenplay and won the Asian Short Screenplay Contest (U.S., 2013). It was judged by Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Tomorrow Never Dies, The Lady) and produced by JBF Entertainment as a short film in 2014. The Pilgrim, in screenplay form, reached the top eight in the HollyShorts Film Festival (2014) and the semifinals of the Scriptapalooza short screenplay contest in Hollywood, L.A (2016). The Hunting Party was shortlisted for the Big Issue Fiction Edition (Australia, 2015) and Baby Grand made the shortlist of the Overland Victoria University Prize (Australia, 2016). Tuna Steak appears in Flesh: A Southeast Asian Urban Anthology which was launched at the London Book Fair (2015), and the final story, a short screenplay called The Foonabiki Barbers, reached the semifinals of the HollyShorts Film Festival in Hollywood, L.A. (2015).

"Good Night Papa is evocative and precise, with a tinge of noir crime about it. Rowe is a fine craftsman." (Readings Bookstore Carlton, Victoria, Australia - Winner, Bookstore of the Year Award, 2016 London Book Fair); "Peopled by some of the most wonderful characters ever created! A witty, vivid and highly entertaining read. 5 stars." (Rosetta Books, Maleny, Queensland, Australia); "Each well written story has strong distinctive characters and very satisfying endings. I read the whole lot in one sitting." (Page & Blackmore Booksellers, Nelson, NZ)

Simon Rowe grew up in small town New Zealand and big city Australia when orange Fanta came in glass bottles and AM radio was king. He now writes and teaches in the samurai castle town of Himeji, in western Honshu. His stories have appeared in TIME Asia, the New York Times, the Weekend Australian, the South China Morning Post and the Paris Review.

General Fields

  • : 9780646961958
  • : Atlas Jones & Co.
  • : Atlas Jones & Co.
  • : January 2017
  • : Australia
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Simon Rowe
  • : Paperback
  • : 1701
  • : 192