Tokyo Literary Godfather

Itagaki Kazuhiko saw the articles evaluating the two young writers in these literary magazines, and he was not in a hurry, just smiled.

Naoki Yamazaki is indeed a very prominent writer this year. He just won the Ranpo Award and his works are also selling well. However, it is not surprising that a talented author like Naoki Yamazaki will always emerge every four or five years.

And Kei Fujiwara is a creative talent that can't be met, it hasn't appeared before, and it should be unlikely in the next few decades. Itagaki Kazuhiko, as a veteran publisher who has worked for decades, couldn't be more clear about this.

And the reason why some media and readers praise Naoki Yamazaki so much now is that this person even surpasses Kei Fujiwara. On the one hand, because of the publication of Naoki Yamazaki's new work, it is just a means of publicity that corresponds to the publication of the publishing house's public relations department.

On the other hand, it is also due to the tolerance and surprise of readers and the media to a newcomer who has just shown his talent. Back then, the mainstream critics were so tolerant of Kei Fujiwara. The movie "White Night Walk" turned him into a figure in heaven and earth. But now, more and more people are beginning to look at his shortcomings. .

Kazuhiko Itagaki knows this truth well, so he is not too worried that Kei Fujiwara's unique position in the publishing industry will be replaced by Naoki Yamazaki. The game atmosphere of novice experience servers is usually very friendly and relaxed. After a year or two, when the novelty of the game wears off, the evaluation will return to reality.

However, Itagaki Kazuhiko looked at the articles in the magazine, touched his chin subconsciously, and suddenly had other thoughts in his heart.

Having said that... But Keiya Fujiwara hasn't published an original novel for a long time. It has been nearly a year since "Apocalypse of Gambling" was published, and the other published works after that are almost all adaptations of his TV series and movies.

If this Naoki Yamazaki can stimulate Kei Fujiwara and let him pick up the pen again, it would be a good thing...

Just as he was thinking, the phone in the office rang suddenly. Kazuhiko Itagaki looked over and saw that it was Kei Fujiwara's number.

It is estimated that a new movie is about to start shooting, I hope Chunqiu Society can help him promote it.

Itagaki Kazuhiko smiled and said to himself, he is used to being prostituted by Fujiwara Kei. Spring and Autumn Club has advertised for Kei Fujiwara for free several times, without charging advertising fees. To say that Fujiwara Kei is really a person who does great things, there is no embarrassment at all. On the contrary, prostitution becomes more and more convenient.

However, Fujiwara Kei also signed a contract with Spring and Autumn Society for the next four novels, and Spring and Autumn Society got what they wanted. For them, this contract is worth much more than the advertising fees.

Itagaki Kazuhiko answered the phone, and before he could say a word, he jerked up suddenly, his ass seemed to be electrified, and almost jumped out of the chair directly.

"Is that so? Fujiwara...is it an original work?"

"That's right." Keiji Fujiwara's voice came from the receiver.

Kazuhiko Itagaki suppressed the ecstasy in his heart, could it be that Naoki Yamazaki really put him under pressure? This is... wonderful.

If I knew that this method would allow this guy to write new works, I would have done it a long time ago.

"So... what is the subject matter? Do you have an outline? How many chapters have you written?"

"There's already a whole book, and I'll fax it to you directly. As for the subject matter, it should be considered a fantasy subject."

"Fantasy?" Itagaki Kazuhiko was stunned for a moment, "Is it a change of character?"

"Oh, no no." Fujiwaratani denied: "It's not a mystery novel, it's just a pure fantasy novel, and it's about time travel."

Time travel?

Itagaki Kazuhiko was stunned, is this creating a new story template? Time travel? Is it a science fiction theme?

Since Kei Fujiwara's debut, the choice of novel themes is not only ever-changing, but also eclectic. From being a socialist at the beginning, to changing patterns and original patterns, and then breaking through the shackles of mystery novels and writing professional novels, and now starting to write fantasy novels again?

In fact, for the author, it is risky to give up the subject matter that he is good at. Of course, Kei Fujiwara is very confident about changing the subject matter, but as the editor Kazuhiko Itagaki, after hearing that Kei Fujiwara decided to change the subject matter again I still felt a little uneasy.

If it were another author, Itagaki Kazuhiko would have already tried to dissuade him, but after all, it was Fujiwara Kei, so Itagaki Kazuhiko said: "Okay, I'll take a look at it later. By the way, this must be original, right? It's not like you are about to A novel version of the movie that was released?”

Kazuhiko Itagaki has had enough leftovers from Kei Fujiwara's film and television works, although Kei Fujiwara's film and television adaptations will bring certain guarantees to the sales of the booklet. But always publishing these books is not good for consolidating the reader base in the long run, because most of the people who come to buy these books are film and television viewers.

Moreover, such adaptations cannot be published in magazines, and there is no bonus to the magazine's income. Therefore, compared with these adaptations, Kazuhiko Itagaki hopes that Kei Fujiwara will produce original works, but if they don't write them, it is not easy to force them.

"Of course not." Fujiwara Kei said with a smile, and gave a firm answer, which reassured Itagaki and Yan.

At this time, the fax machine suddenly rang. Itagaki Kazuhiko walked over and pressed a few times on the fax machine. After a slight roar, soon, the paper filled with type was spit out one by one.

Itagaki Kazuhiko hung up the phone and started reading.

"Jieyou Grocery Store? It doesn't sound like a fantasy novel, but more like a life-style story full of warm atmosphere..." Itagaki Kazuhiko muttered. Then move your eyes to the first word on the first line, and start reading a little bit to the right and down.

…

Kei Fujiwara hung up the phone. He was fully confident in the future of this novel. At this point, Keigo Higashino's three strongest works have all been published.

The probability of Keigo Higashino's good works, mediocre works and bad works is close to 1:1:1. About one-third of all his works can be classified as good works, such as the Kaga series, the Galileo series and " The Cross of Nothingness" and other books.

But among all his works, there are three that can be regarded as the three pearls among his many works, and they are the works that completely established his position in the Japanese literary world. In addition to "White Night Walk" and "The Devotion of Suspect X", there is another book, "Jieyou Grocery Store".

And this book is also the best-selling book among all Higashino Keigo's works, even surpassing "The Devotion of Suspect X" by hundreds of thousands of copies.

This book is also very special. Keigo Higashino is a suspense mystery writer. Most of his books are based on mystery themes. Even if there are a few works that do not have many mystery elements, they are still inseparable from the suspense color.

However, this book "Jieyou Grocery Store" has been loved by readers because of the warm and healing stories in the book. There is no conspiracy or suspense in the book, but only touching emotions and romantic and heartwarming stories. This is a book that goes against Keigo Higashino's usual style.

And it is this book that separates Keigo Higashino from his identity as a simple mystery novelist and lets readers know that Keigo Higashino's books can be good-looking even if they don't commit murder.

Kei Fujiwara decided to take out this book not because he saw those articles in the magazine. The publication of "Worry-Free Grocery Store" at this time was something he had already planned in his original plan.

The serialization of "Jieyou Grocery Store" has been completed and the official single volume will be released in mid-to-late 1998. In 1998, Kei Fujiwara planned to focus entirely on movies, and this novel would be the only original novel he published that year. It can be regarded as stabilizing his reader base in the literary world.