Carcoma

Pirates they be, the damned and the outcast, sworn never to set foot on dry land again, endlessly sailing the seas toward the unknown, certain death their only release. But man proposes, fate disposes. These jaded souls stumble across an amazing find: a mysterious marine creature who, against all expectations and much to the captain’s displeasure, sets crewmembers against one another. For the Carcoma, a dread wind is about to blow…

In the present day, a young boy plays in the forest and falls asleep under a tree. Protected by the fox god, his dreams take him far back in time, to discover his past lives. Once a samurai, the dream gods confront him with the massacres he has committed. Later, as a tattoo artist, he will experience the post-World War II omerta and the banning of this subtle art.

Little by little, the reader is introduced to the history and culture of Japan, through a number of references that will delight the more experienced without puzzling the average reader, such as the game with the shogi coins.

For the first time ever, Hannah, a little girl from the big city, is spending the summer with her grandfather. As it just so happens, he’s the Guardian of an astonishing forest, where trees go for a walk when they get bored, animals can speak, pigs magically regenerate, and 120-year-old gnomes are in the throes of teenage angst… Once she gets over her initial surprise, Hannah is delighted to discover this fantastical place.

Tanis has always been different, blessed by the gods, or so she’s been told. The problem is she just wants to have fun like other kids her age, though she is inclined to braving forbidden tombs and awakening sleeping gods… She will soon learn, however, that in ancient Egypt, one doesn’t defy the gods with impunity.

Four children wake up on a deserted island. After taking refuge in an abandoned boarding school, they find an automaton who, every night at midnight, gives them a mission. If they fail or refuse to take up the challenge, the consequences could be terrible. From mission to mission, the children explore their surroundings, encounter other participants, and discover the reasons behind their presence on this island…

On the sun-drenched Caribbean island of Cuba, a former CIA agent, a young Cuban-American woman and a dodgy private eye kidnap a starlet for the mob in order to pay back an old man’s gambling debt, incurred when the Havana Leones baseball team suffered a crushing defeat in the inaugural match at the brand new latinoamericano stadium. Meanwhile, all sorts of national and international political intrigue plays out as a group of revolutionaries led by a young man named Fidel Castro prepare to march on the Cuban capital, fueling the rumor mill, striking fear in hearts, and inspiring notions of murderous deceit in the minds of those in power. An engaging noir thriller in tropical hues.

In the waning days of hunting and gathering, as settlements grow and flourish, humankind faces a stark choice: nomadism’s freedom and the hard life that goes with it, or sedentary society, with its refinements and hierarchies. These forking paths become more mutually exclusive, stirring enmity and conflict, but human squabbles prove petty in the face of natural disaster when it comes, towering and indifferent. In this Stone Age fable with curiously contemporary overtones, told with vibrant colors and a sweeping sense of story, Nicolas Puzenat touches on so many enduring mysteries, from religion to conscience to the anxiety of freedom.

A pebble and a riverbank are witnesses to the endless meetings of Mona, who came to forget Eko, and Eko, who after eighteen months away comes to make up with her. When she hurls a pebble into the water—a pebble suffused with her sorrow—Mona sends her friend into a time loop he alone knows about: a day without end that sees Mona tossing the pebble in and Eko doing everything he can to prevent her.